Engineers Without Borders: Water Supply Work in Thailand

Engineers Without Borders Water Supply Work in ThailandJeremy Fris whizBackgroundEngineers Without Borders USA (EWB-USA) is a nonprofit humanitarian organization schematic to support connection-driven growing programs worldwide through sort outnerships that design and apply growable engineering intents. EWB-USA was founded in April 2000 when a representative of the Belize Ministry of Agriculture invited Dr. Bernard Amadei, Professor of Civil Engineering at the University of carbon monoxide gas Boulder, to visit a friendship in San Pablo, Belize, to assess the social clubs piddle confuse translate. When Dr. Amadei visited the corporation, he learned that they lacked just urine system and sanitation infrastructure. Though the confederacy had the resources to fix the problem, they lacked the engineering expertise to complete the work and Amadei decided to send off his engineering students in that respect to create a mutu tout ensembley beneficial partnership wit hin the confederation (Engineers Without Borders USA, 2015). Today, there are over 12,000 members of EWB-USA, and the members are mainly composed of professional and student engineers. They work with local communities and non governingal organizations in 47 countries and 5 continents around the world on water supply, sanitation, civil works, structures, energy, agriculture, and training system working categorises that comprehensively oral communication the privations of a given community (Engineers Without Borders USA, 2015).Engineers Without Borders USA follows ten principles of development when completing foreign expulsions. These principles require that the projects be engineering-related, safety and eccentric-oriented, and performed within the scope of the engineers expertise. Also, the principles place a tall focus on the importance of the community in which the project takes place. Since all EWB-USA projects are community-based, each project must be evaluated for ap propriateness in the contribution and must develop a partnership with the impacted community that lasts at least volt years. EWB also works closely with in- solid ground partners (usually other in-country NGOs) to acquire the cultural experience that is involve for the completion of the project. Finally, the EWB maintains that break of the partnering community and education of the active members is key to the success of the project infrastructure (Principles of Development, 2013). These principles of development bespeak that EWB-USA maintains a high level of cultural awareness and works to develop projects which are unique(predicate) to the extremitys, resources, and constraints of the realm in which the projects are occurring.MappingEngineers Without Borders USA has a highly detail method of subprogram out vicinitys to plan projects that places a substantial beat of focus on collaborating with the regions community to improve quality of flavor. EWB begins the process of mapping out a region when they receive applications from villages for avail on solving engineering problems. in whiz case an application goes into the review process, the community receives a decision in quad to sextette weeks. If the application is ap prove, the program will be posted on the EWB website, where it becomes available for acceptance by wiz of the student or professional chapters. According to the EWB website, after a program is officially adopted, the community and chapter will coordinate the offset assessment sightseer, which can occur anywhere between troika months to one year after the date of adoption. The purpose of the first assessment trip is for the chapter to acquaint themselves with the community and to pucker sufficient information to assess the economic, social, environmental and technical viability and sustainability of the project. The assessment trip also allows the chapter to collect of the essence(p) data for both future project designs a nd the monitoring and evaluation stage. The highly participatory assessment trip typically lasts one to four weeks and allows the chapter and community to discuss whether or non the project should trend prior (Engineers Without Borders USA, 2015).Once the decision is made that the project should move forward, EWB enters a pre-specified partnership agreement with the community and a local partner organization such as a local NGO, municipality, or city politics. from each one of these entities has its own set of responsibilities that allows for the engineering experts to involve the community and organization leading during each standard of the project. For example, the community members and community based organizations are responsible for contributing to the project design, progress toling permits, permissions, and feedback, and helping to select and implement the final design (Project Partners Roles and Responsibilities, 2012). This involvement of the community members ensu res that the project is realized in a way that suits the regions specific needs and best improves the current bunk.When the partnership is realized with the impacted community, EWB-USA follows its specified example that they refer to as think, Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning or PMEL. According to the official terms of reference, the PMEL framework helps EWB -USA to better go through and account for the extent to which our efforts are going in the right direction, whether progress and success can be claimed, whether we are making the changes we hoped to make, and how future efforts might be improved (Martindale, 2014). The first phase of the PMEL framework, Planning, is essentially EWB-USAs method of mapping out the region of interest. It includes conducting a piazza analysis in the community, identifying program and project goals and strategies, collaborating with partner organizations and developing a plan for monitoring and evaluation (Martindale, 2014). It is clear t hat in this phase EWB places a strong emphasis on working closely with the regions community through situation analysis and cooperation with partner organizations. EWB relies on collaboration with the community members and partner organizations in perpetuallyy step of the Planning phase, including the project design, data collection, and preparing the site for work (Project Partners Roles and Responsibilities, 2012). By including the community members and local stakeholders in every step of the plan and implementation process, EWB-USA creates an exceptional level of communication that allows the project to adequately suit the needs of the specific region.The last three phases of the PMEL process are used in the actual application of the engineering project. In the Monitoring phase, EWB places focus on making sure that the project is going according to plan and noticing if adjustments need to be made. The Monitoring phase also works as a communication system intentional to improv e management and policy decisions for different stakeholders (Martindale, 2014). This emphasis on improving decisions for the stakeholders, or members of the impacted community, shows EWBs inscription to involving the community members in every step of the project. Similarly, the Evaluation phase measures progress the program or project has made, not only in completing activities but also in achieving its objectives and overall goal within the community (Martindale, 2014). Finally, the Learning or Impact Reviews and Assessment phase is designed to determine if the completed program work did or did not have any direct capture on the changes see by the community members by analyzing the significant and lasting change that has occurred in the lives of the target group (Martindale, 2014). identical the first three phases, the Learning phase also clearly places its focus on improving the lives of community members through collaboration.RegionThe focus of this musical composition lie s in the region of Thailand and will look specifically at a case study that shows how Engineers Without Borders USA apply its mapping and action strategies to complete an extensive water supply project in the village of Nong Bua. Thailand is a country in sou-east Asia that was first established in the mid-fourteenth century and is the only Southeast Asian country to never have been colonized by a European power. A constitutional monarchy has been in place in Thailand since 1932, and in 1954 Thailand became a U.S. agreement ally after sending troops to Korea and fighting alongside the U.S.in the war against Vietnam. Since then, Thailands political floor has suffered through turmoil, political uprisings, and coups. In May of 2014, the Royal Thai Army staged a coup against the government and placed the head of the Royal Thai Army in charge as the heyday minister. The government has since created temporary drafts of constitutional remediates that will be voted on in 2016 election s (East and Southeast Asia Thailand, 2014).Currently Thailand is dual-lane into 76 provinces and one municipality. Each province varies slightly in religion, average income, industry, and cultural norms depending on the spatial relation within the country, but the majority of the population speaks Thai and practices the Buddhist religion (East and Southeast Asia Thailand, 2014). The geography of the country plays a strong role in shaping the economy and the culture of Thailand. The climate is tropical, warm, and rainy, and the most prevailing natural resources are tin, rubber, natural gas, and tungsten. The recent improver in industrial practices and combined with the naturally tropical climate has apparent motiond an increase in both air and water contaminant (East and Southeast Asia Thailand, 2014). In fact, water pollution is one of the most serious concerns facing Thailand today. There is a high level of pollution due to substances that include household chemicals, such as surfactants, pharmaceuticals and insect repellents, agricultural chemicals, such as pesticides as well as industrial chemicals, inorganics and heavy metals. Since these substances have a high level of tenacity, these pollutants can cause contaminant of surface water and groundwater which are the main water resources for drunkenness water production in Thailand (Kruawal, et. al, 2004). This is a major issue for the wellness and safety of the residents of Thailand. This is particularly because a considerable part of the Thai population lacks an access to health insurance, with the poor disproportionately unprotected (Suraratdecha, et. al, 2004). Being that the water supply taint is a major concern for the provinces of Thailand, Engineers Without Borders USA has been asked multiple times to assist in the development of calorie-free water harvesting methods.Case StudyThe EWB-USA case study focuses on a water supply project that Engineers Without Borders USA Rutgers University Studen t Chapter completed in the Thai village of Nong Bua in 2009. The project suppose due to the lack of clean drinking water in the village of Nong Bua. Although the people in the community had made numerous attempts to drill wells to provide clean, inexpensive water, their efforts failed and the impoverished residents were forced to purchase bottled water. Luckily, Carole Ketnourath, D. Michael Shafer and Chatree Saokaew from the NGO Warm liveliness heard about the situation and decided to act by contacting the Rutgers chapter of EWB-USA to help work up the problem. (Silagi, et. al, 2012). Since the Rutgers chapter of EWB was specifically asked to take on the project, the village was able to bypass the typical application process. Once the Rutgers chapter reviewed the information and decided to accept the project, they began the process of mapping out the region.EWB started the mapping process by conducting a situation analysis in the community and collecting general information on the specific region. They found that Nong Bua, a village in the sub-district of Phraro, is predominantly a farming village with 143 households. They found that the income per household is 40,000 Baht (US$ 1,270) per year, with 68% of their income spent on purchasing sources of clean water. More importantly, it was discovered that the government constructed a water filtration and dissemination system for an 88m well. However, the continuing poor water quality forced the community to purchase costly bottled water for drinking, or dig soulfulnessal, shallow wells that do not provide clean water (Silagi, et. al, 2012). Once the EWB team had sufficient general knowledge on the situation, they conducted actual testing on the chemical small-arm of the water wells in the village and found that the water had a high level of contamination including unsafe levels of iron and manganese. They used this information to establish the general goal of improving the accessibility and affordability of clean drinking water in the village. The team then continued the mapping or Planning phase of the project by collaborating with Warm Heart, a local partner organization. Warm Heart is a grassroots organization that helps villagers in mountainous rural northern Thailand. They organize community projects that improve access to education and basic health services, create jobs and sustainable incomes for the poorest in the community, and restore the environment to sustain future generations (Warm Heart Worldwide, 2015). With the help of Warm Heart, the EWB Rutgers students were able to collaborate closely with the community members and local university students to assess the baseline health of the community and to brainstorm possible effective solutions to the water supply problem.after extensive planning that twisty the engineers and the community members, the team began installation of a water system that had backwashing capabilities and a charge schedule that was designed to red uce the amount of iron and manganese to acceptable levels. Following the aforementioned PMEL framework, the team monitored and evaluated the project by continuously testing the system and relying on the community members for constructive feedback. Using this information, the EWB team implemented divers(a) changes to combat the remaining fecal coliform contamination, the entire system was shock- chlorinated, and a hypo-chlorinator was installed to deliver a constant chlorine injection to the water system in order to ensure that the water remained clean and safe for drinking (Silagi, et. al, 2012).After the project was completed, the EWB team began the Learning or Impact Reviews and Assessment phase of the project. They created a communication plan with the lead partner organization, Warm Heart, and agreed to stay in close contact to address problems in the future. They also made sure that the community was equipped with the proper coliform testing kits and operations and maintenanc e manuals so that they could ensure the future upkeep of the system. According to the official document, the EWB-USA Rutgers team is confident about the future of Nong Bua after the final implementation trip during which educational programs were conducted and multiple meetings were held with the communities and local government to ensure that the project will be sustainable (Silagi, et. al, 2012). Since the EWB Rutgers team made such a strong effort to naturalise and work with the local community members, government, and partner organization, it is clear that they highly valued collaboration with the affected region of interest. Throughout the mapping and completion phases of the project, the EWB team continually placed emphasis on the needs and feedback of the community in order to best achieve their goal of improving the water quality and access in the region.ConclusionEngineers Without Borders USA is a nonprofit humanitarian organization that uses a highly specific planning pro cess to map out and complete engineering projects in over 47 countries around the world. whiz region in which EWB-USA has completed quality of life improvement projects is Thailand. Due to recent growth of industry, one of the biggest issues that is facing Thailand today is the abundance of pollution specifically water pollution that causes negative health set up for the general population. As a result of this issue, Engineers Without Borders USA has been asked to help mitigate the water supply issues in multiple villages across Thailand. wizard of the most prominent examples of EWBs work in Thailand was the water supply project that the Rutgers chapter of EWB completed in the village of Nong Bua in 2009. To complete the project, the EWB team began their process of mapping the region by conducting site visits, gathering village-specific information, and communicating with the members of the community and a local partner organization. They maintained this high level of communicati on with the community members throughout the project implementation by including the residents in the planning, designing, and upkeep of the sensitive water supply system. As shown in the Nong Bua case study, it is clear that EWB-USA places a very high amount of focus on collaboration with the community during the mapping of a region and completion of a project within that region in order to ensure that the solution best fits the needs of the community.ReferencesEast and Southeast Asia Thailand. (2014). Retrieved from https//www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/th.htmlEngineers Without Borders USA. (2012). Project Partner Roles and Responsibilities Brochure. Author. Retrieved from https//s3.amazonaws.com/ewbgeneral/511 Project Partner Roles and Responsibilities.pdfEngineers Without Borders USA. (2013). Principles of Development Brochure. Author. Retrieved from https//s3.amazonaws.com/ewbgeneral/EWB-USA_Principles-of-Development.pdfEngineers WIthout Borders USA. (2015, April 30). Retrieved May 01, 2015, from http//ewb-usa.org/Kruawal, K., Sacher, F., Werner, A. (2004). Chemical water quality in Thailand and its impacts on the drinking water production in Thailand. Retrieved from http%3A%2F%2Fac.els-cdn.com%2FS004896970400614X%2F1-s2.0-S004896970400614X-main.pdf%3F_tid%3D8162c9a2-f367-11e4-a079-00000aacb362%26acdnat%3D1430858840_a616e75e376e38244de835b5426bfe6eMartindale, T., P.E. (2014). Planning, Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning curriculum Program Description. Retrieved from https//s3.amazonaws.com/ewbgeneral/COMPILED PMEL Program Description.pdfSilagi, E., Kretch, J. (2012). Thailand Project (Issue brief). Retrieved http//ewb.rutgers.edu/projects/thailand.htmlSuraratdecha, C., Saithanu, S., Tangcharoensathien, V. (2004). Is universal coverage a solution for disparities in health care? Findings from three low-income provinces of Thailand. Retrieved from http%3A%2F%2Fac.els-cdn.com%2FS0168851004002672%2F1-s2.0-S0168851004002672-main. pdf%3F_tid%3D716c58c4-f4f2-11e4-b27d-00000aab0f6c%26acdnat%3D1431028465_6547fe9d9e83439cb473ec48c34fc224Warm Heart Worldwide. (2015). Retrieved from http//warmheartworldwide.org/Chartism A Failed SuccessChartism A Failed SuccessBritish children born into farming families in the early nineteenth century stood unforesightful get hold of remaining in agriculture their entire life. The society in which they lived was changing in large ways. Industrialization was slowly creeping into the countryside as men implemented new technology alongside the old. The domestic market grew markedly as income per head of population expand and a consumer revolution percolated down from the richer classes to the middle ranks and artisans. People began pitiful to the city. It remains debatable as to whether man-to-mans and families were compelled to move searching for work or if they were compelled to move due to enclosure. Villages such as Styal and Cromford were constructed to house some of the worke rs moving to factory towns. A quick journey down these village streets today provides some glimpse of the herd conditions people endured. The rear alleyway below bedroom windows reserved for swine and human refuse reminds visitors of the intimacy working class people had with their animals and waste. Today birds singing from the chimneys are a far cry from the high people of soot once produced by the coal burning within. No reckon the motivation for moving, migrants found life in the industrial English city or town in the 1800s quite grim.Westminster played little role in the regulation of cities. England was still a country with very little government from the center, and closely all the local responsibilities, health, housing, education, police, that are now subject to strict inspection and control, were left to the unchecked circumspection and pleasure of magistrates and borough rulers. Unfortunately for members of the working class many of the magistrates and rulers were sym pathetic to factory owners or were owners themselves. It was an incredibly raw system of governance presided over by men such as Cromford industrialist Joseph Arkwright. Therefore the technical analyst crusade was kindredly to fail. This is a vital reminder that those with power rarely surrender it to those without unless they feel compelled by the threat of sensible harm or superior moral strength. chartists arose from Britains working class determined to gain a voice in their destiny through democratic participation. Their goals were admirable but their strategy weak. The working class lived in squalid conditions and was used repeatedly as political leverage by the merchant class. The regenerate Bill of 1832 was one such example. Harold Faulkner wrote of the level offtWhen the smoke of the struggle cleared away, the great class disenfranchise discovered that not only had they reaped no benefit from the reform they had so largely helped to win, but that their contend under a reformed Parliament omitd by the doctrines of the Manchester School seemed to be worse than ever. scotch thought of Manchester School politicians was that of laissez faire capitalism. Clearly their policies were not designed to aid the abused workers of Britain. However, determined chartists planned to flood out the lockout workingmen had long endured in the political arena. Unfortunately, time would prove they were not the well-organized army the working class so desperately compulsory. The social impetus functioned far better as a social, emotional, and even phantasmal agent than one of political change. Chartists failed to achieve their stated goals due to their nature as an emotionally fuelled far-right densification beach only by their six simple objectives articulated in the Peoples Charter of 1838.Life was absolutely pitiful for the working class. The idea of the town as a focus for civilization, a center where the emancipating and enlightening bewitch of the t ime can act rapidly and with effect, the school of social arts, the nursery of social enterprise, the witness to the looker and order and freedom that men can bring into their lives, had vanished from all minds. Industrial change allowed powerful capitalists to dominate life in small towns across England. Discontent was not unique to Chartism. Social angst in the level outliveed in several forms. Eric Hobsbawm identifies unhappy segments of the population including Luddite and Radical, trade unionist and utopian-socialist, Democratic and Chartist. The largest class of people was unhappy with life and increasingly conscious of their group identity. It could have been caused by the changes slowly eliminating traditional trades, shift in power from landed nobility to the capitalist class, or movement of people from the soil to the city. Nevertheless the miasmal number of protest movements demonstrates a clear unhappiness in nineteenth century Britain. All that was needed to turn c onsciousness into conflict was an economic or political crisis. For the working class that outrage first occurred on the moors at St. Peters Fields and combined with the knowledge of revolutionary France.The so-called 1819 upsurgeacre at Peterloo in which eleven were obliterateed struck an emotional chord among the working class. They had rehearsed the event repeatedly. Men, women, and children donned their Sunday best and work oned in columns to show their non-violent nature. The working class intended to prove it too could be an orderly component of society. However the government feared anarchic results akin to those in France at the Bastille. The local military contingent was intimidated by the workers discipline and a magistrate became alarmed and ordered the march on the field alfresco Manchester be stopped. The event glum bloodyThe cartoon in Appendix A reveals the attitude often attributed to the middle class of the day. sinewy cavalry members sit atop sturdy steeds wi th swords raised to mutilate men, women, and even children. The caption reads, in part remember the more you kill the less poor rates youll have to pay The viewer cannot help but sympathize with the skinny- similarly hungry-mother whose baby clings to her breast as she stares at a sword raised to act them by a man who has had far too much for dinner. The cartoonist does an excellent job portraying riches and power through weight and garb. State-condoned murder on St. Peters Fields near Manchester by those in positions of bureau contributed to the sense of class-consciousness Kenneth Morgan identifies in The Birth of Industrial Britain.The Peterloo tragedy advertise energized by the pang of unhappiness mysterious within the workingmans gut finally pushed a number of radical groups to join forces as the Chartists. They offered a simple-albeit difficult to enact-political solution to mend Englands social and political ills. They rallied around a course of study of six reforms, w hich they published as the Peoples Charter on 8 May 1838. The resolution called for universal suffrage, no property qualifications for the electorate, annual parliaments, equate representation, salary for MPs, and implementation of the secret ballot. A number of historians argue that this was a major peak of the movement.D.G. Wright argued that the movement was not unilinear but had three peaks, one being 1839-40, the others included 1842 and 1848. Coincidentally, each of the identified peaks in the movement closely mirrors low points economically for Britain when poverty was greatest. The unmistakable correlation reminds us that Chartism was fuelled by passions of the impoverished. Most participants of Chartist events were neither intellectual nor bourgeois. Politically the movement never firmly gelled it remained a movement of regional organizations maneuver by a single unifying document and no clear agreement among leaders. The Chartist paper called The Northern Star published accounts from numerous leaders. The best known was Feargus OConnor.The Chartist movement required leaders. call leaders traveling throughout England took turns masking and exacerbating the divisions within Chartism. The leading men did not ceaselessly concur on political issues, social goals, or Chartist strategy. Leader George Julian Harney exemplified this in a mid-1840s letter to his friend Friedrich Engels. Harney a national leader of Chartism thrice imprisoned for disobeying the stamp laws wroteAs to what OC onnor has been construction lately about physical force, I think nothing of it. The English people will not adopt Thomas Coopers slavish notions about peace and non-resistance but neither would they act upon the opposite doctrine. They applaud it at public meetings, but that is all.The absence of unified strategy allowed politicians to employ a divide and conquer strategy. This proved fatal to the underdog movement.Feargus OConnor was the most virulent of Chartist leader s. He was quite self-absorbed, a pompous self-promoter. His charisma enamour the working classes in a way few other movement leaders could. What OConnor did do was to colligate the various aspects of Chartism, and while dividing the leadership he united the movement. The unstable nature of the working class coalition united behind the Peoples Charter needed strong leadership in order to be successful. OConnor derived authority from his physical appearance and magnetized character. Historian R.G. Gammage described OConnor in his 1854 account of Chartism. There he wrote upwards of six feet in height, stout and athletic, and in spite of his opinions invested with a sort of aristocratic bearing, the sight of his person was calculated to inspire the masses with a solemn awe. So true is it that despite the march of civilization, and the increase of respect for mental superiority, men are generally impressed with a veneration for superior physical power.The Irishmans physical presence a lone demanded some confidence from the crowd. Unfortunately for Chartism physical dominance of one charismatic man could not carry the agenda of an entire class of people.The average working class individual did not spend every waking hour attempting to make Chartism successful. Nor did the workingman await every word or message spewed from the fractured leadership. Chartist rallies were spectacles during which the working class nodded and applauded. That was the strongest action most Chartist men and women took One imagines tired men and women attending a great open-air speech by OConnor much like those of Methodisms John Wesley. It was an uplifting experience, but there was limited ongoing dedication to the crusade. It was a periodic commitment with robust bursts of energy during times of severe hunger and unemployment.Many of the regional units-such as London work Mens Association and the Birmingham Political Union-associated with Chartism sought to satisfy peoples needs for com munity, especially through entertainment. There was a need to engage the imagination in order to raise important questions of the day. Men and women were engaged socially through events sponsored by working class groups. The camaraderie built by the work environment and common judgement that they were fundamentally mistreated went a long way in maintaining the loose confederation of regional movements that had differing interests outside the Chartist platform.Religion also found its place as an energy source for the Chartist movement. The established Church of England was of little use to the working class. High church was not the place for the working class. After all, the typical Chartist was a horny-handed son of toil. Anglicanism made no attempt to appeal to men with blah jackets, unshorn chins, and blistered hands. The Wesleyan Methodists were more accommodating than the established church. However, during the nineteenth century Methodism was dominated by a forbidding clerical autocracy-Chartists wanted democracy Therefore many Chartists made their Christianity personal.The favorite scriptural education of Chartist Christians is found in the Gospel of Matthew. The verses are quite elementary and committed to memory by Christians worldwideJesus replied Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hand on these two commandments.Jesus conveys basic teachings in only a few lines, which the workers could easily interpret. By this Biblical standard they knew they were being wrongly treated. On this issue Chartists could claim the moral high ground. The religious experience was part of a much larger Chartist movement. Chartist branches at the local level, like those of the Owenites, provided a substantial menu of recreational, educational, and religious activities which amounted to an al ternative culture, within which members could move freely during their leisure hours. This further reinforced the ideas promoted by the Peoples Charter. And, it gave the middling class supporters a place of refuge. Being a Chartist was a risky business that invited abuse and threatened career, reputation, and liberty. However the support offered by the working class to members of the intelligentsia or bourgeoisie supporting Chartism on moral grounds was minimal given the non-existent social influence of the laboring class.The six-point Peoples Charter faced an intense battle from its inception. The platform would have been difficult to enact even if all conditions were stellar. Had Chartists been the ideal protest movement of outraged, politically astute, impoverished masses, guided by unified leadership and common interests across regions, prompt by a deep sense of moral justice, supported by the middle class, and determined at all costs their demands-or should we say requests-wou ld have had a better chance of parliamentary ratification. In addition, the failure of the 1832 Reform Act to address working class needs was a demoralizing shock to its labor advocates. The Whigs used labor to gain a greater say in British government my using, then marginalizing, the working class. Hindsight reveals the situation was far from ideal for Chartists.The 1849 Punch cartoon by John Leech found in Appendix B is far more indicative of reality. The cartoonist is probable poking fun at the Chartist failures of 1848 which included London riots, a Day of Protest, a failed Irish rising, and a planned British uprising all in the month of June. Not to mention the failed entreaty submitted to Westminster in April 1848, which a parliamentary committee found rife with fraudulent signatures. Leech drew an unknown Chartist leader with before and after frames juxtaposed. When confronted by a constable, the ragged leader who had called for a march on the palace suddenly cowers changi ng his tune to God Save the Queen. This is an accurate depiction of Chartist fervor. It was lukewarm at bestChartists failed to achieve their six goals due to their nature as an emotionally fuelled reactionary coalition of regional labor groups dedicated to different social agendas. Divided and sometimes self-absorbed leaders who failed to meld the various labor organizations of the north and south into a truly unified movement heighten the difficulty of their task. The issues for laborers in the various regions of England remained quite diverse due to varying stages of industrialization. It is unlikely they could have ever formed a strong unified bloc. Chartism was forced to remain an uneasy coalition of regional interests with a leadership of diverse opinion advocating peaceful and militant tactics simultaneously.The movement further lacked the motivation to sustain itself consistently. There was little talk of reform when the economy was doing well. The masses were mollified whe n there was plenty of bread in their bellies and a stable government at Britannias helm. Chartism began in the 1830s, an era that experienced no fewer than five national elections. And Wright reminds readers that the movement peaked with public disorder and petitioning on three occasions when the economy ebbed. Workers were motivated by the desperate situation in which they and their families were stuck.Contemporary scholars should resist temptation and refrain from being likewise critical of Chartists. There is a need to overlook the megalomania of OConnor and the mediocre dedication to the charter by the wear upon working class. The Peoples Charter articulated six issues on which its adherents could agree. As it turned out those were the only six items about which they could agree. James Epstein and Dorothy Thompson expressed this perfectly in The Chartist Experience. According to these authorsFor all its failings, the mass platform Peoples Charter had given shape and protection to working class radicalism rendering it impervious to any diluting. Following the abandonment of the mass platform, Chartism was permeated by a miscellany of reform groups all of whom repudiated confrontation, intimidation, and exclusive nature of working-class protest.The charter established a common cause for the working class. However the movement stood little chance no matter how unified it became. Chartists faced a powerful national government of aristocrats and capitalists with a well-equipped military at its command. The Chartist movement had ceased to exist by 1858. But its ideas live on in various splinter reform groups.Universal suffrage, no property qualifications for the electorate, annual parliaments, equal representation, pay for MPs, and the secret ballot all exist in todays Britain and most of its former possessions. The historian of Chartism might dwell on the dark side, and select those aspects of working-class life which prompted political concern and social pr otest, but these need to be set against the broader canvas of what urban life could be. Chartists successfully shaped the political conversation of their day. Try as they might, leading politicians in the government could not eradicate the ideas of Chartism. The legacy of beliefs enshrined in the Peoples Charter lived long after Chartism ceased to exist.Appendix ACartoon. text in upper right Down with em Chop em down my brave boys give them no quarter they want to take our Beef Pudding from us - remember the more you kill the less poor rates youll have to pay so go at it Lads show your courageousness your LoyaltyAvailable at 31 Jul 2006.Appendix BJohn Leech. Great Chartist materialisation 9 from Punch, 1849. Available at 31 Jul 2006.