myths and heroes

In the 19th century, it was commonly agreed that women were inferior to men
and thus unable to take important decisions. By the end of the century, in the
United Kingdom, a movement was funded in reaction to this popular belief : the
Suffragettes were women who wanted to fight for their rights : their goal was that
women would be given a better education and would be granted the right to
vote. They started to take peaceful actions but it didnt work, no one listened to
them. Thats the reason why, in 1903, a suffragette, Emmeline Pankhurst, and
her two daughters decided to go one step further, even if it implied bypassing the
law. Their motto was deeds, not words ! They broke shop windows, wrote on
the walls, chained themselves in front of the Parliament.

A lot of women were assaulted and arrested. Some went on hungerstrikes but
they were force fed. The first martyr of this movement was Emily Davidson. She
ran out in front of the Kings horse on Derby Day in June 1913. This shocking
event marked a turning point in the struggle in so far as mentalities started to
evolve, added to the fact that during the First World War, women had to do mens
jobs.
In 1918, women over 30 were granted the right to vote. Ten years later (in 1928),
women over 21 could vote. The Suffragettes movement sets a good example of
how iconic figures, i.e. heroes, such as Emily Davidson were willing to sacrifice
their lives to prove their demands were not foolish. It also shows how deeplyrooted some myths or beliefs are, which makes them even more difficult to
debunk.
An extract from the film Made in Dagenham (2010) draws our attention to the
fact that women were still officially discriminated against in Great Britain in the
second half of the 20th century. This extract takes place in a Ford car factory in
London and stages underpaid women who demand equal pay to men. To be
heard, they have decided to go on strike. Their spokeswoman, Rita, tries to
convince the Secretary of State for Employment, Mrs Castle, to guarantee an
Equal Pay Act. Mrs Castle negotiates and suggests 75% of the mans wages under
the condition that the women go back to work. The fact that women were less
paid than men for an equivalent job relied on the idea that when it was done by a
woman, a task was less valuable. Once more, it took much determination to
make mentalities evolve and to obtain official and legal recognition.
Discrimination against women was also significant at home in so far as women
could not have a bank account on their own and in the case of divorce, they lost
everything. Still, in 1968, several laws were passed, such as the Equal Pay Act or
the Matrimonial Property Act, and entailed a deep change in the way women
were viewed in the British society. These various laws aimed at reducing
inequalities between men and women both in the public and professional and in
the private sphere.

To conclude, we saw, through the examples of the Suffragettes and of

industry workers, that women suffered from preconceived ideas and thanks to
their will, some of them gradually made mentalities evolve to be given the
chance to live in a more egalitarian society. These women may be considered as
heroes even though they were often despised at their times.

idea of progress

m going to talk about the notion of the idea of progress . Progress is the action to
go forward , to grow up , to be better . In our society , the progress is frequently
associated to the "New tecnologies". Indeed throughout history tecnological
progress has improved the living conditions of population but can we live without
tecnologies now ?

In the first place , I will say that we need new tecnologies because the
tecnological progress is a reflection of our need and our consumption . We invent
tools to make life easier , to do things faster and better . In that way computer ,
internet , cell phones are essential because it allowed an mass exchange of ideas
in the entire world . For example we can have a discussion with a friend thousand
of miles away from our home . Besides , we can have access to any information
at the touch of a buttom from almost any location . In addition we could
mentionned the progress in the medical research , thanks to the improvement of
the medical equipments . Indeed , the discovery of many useful drugs and
vaccines has saved millions of lives . It's undeniable that new tecnologies helps
to have some confort and a long life .

Nevertheless , progress creating another problem which is the assistanship and

excessive consumption can lead to failure . The media regulator ffcom which
made a study about the evolution of the media show that excessive
consumption . Indeed the results has revealed a society which is addictive to the
social network and entertainements . Thus , British people spend one quarter of
their waking time using the media . In fact there is a risk of losing social contact .
When there is a blackout people become aware of the importance of the social
contact . They help each other and there is a good atmosphere . Moreover they
take conscious that they buy more and more high-tech gadget to satisfy needs
that are basically useless . Some community even rejected the progress as the
Amish because of their religious beliefs . But it remains in the order of exception .
Indeed they live in a church and they are isolate so it's not a solution .

As a conclusion , we can't live without tecnologies but we must pay attention to

the way we use it. I mean everything today works with electricity so even if we
would totally stop using any kind of media during our whole life , we couldn't do
that because what we need to do depends to a media

spaces and exchanges

The notion I am going to deal with is Spaces and Exchanges. To begin with, Id like to give
a definition of the notion. An exchange is an act of giving and receiving something else in
return. It can also be seen as a continuous movement or circulation. There are different kinds
of exchanges (media, people, trade). To illustrate the notion, I have chosen to talk about
immigration in the USA. We may wonder to what extent immigration may be considered as a
form of exchange.

Over the last decades, the US-Mexico border has been a burning and debated issue.
Its one of the longest borders in the world, and also one of the busiest. Indeed, it has
become a strategic place for legal and illegal business. Not only the commercial exchanges
take place there: it is also a nerve center for drug dealing. The boarder acts like a magnet for
Mexican immigrants who dream for a better life in the USA. Currently, drop off is limited in
Mexico and the standards of living are much lower than in the USA. Contrary to Mexico,
which is struck by unemployment and poverty, the USA appears as a land of opportunities as
far as the job market is concerned. Thats the reason why many destitute Mexicans cross the
border, whether legally or illegally. While they move to America hoping for better prospects,
Mexican immigrants are often offered menial and painful jobs and accept low ages.
That is the paradox of the situation of Mexican emigrants. They represent more than half of
the emigrants in the USA, and while some Americans aim at limiting their numbers, others
view them as a cheap labour force. As a result immigration is a highly controversial issue.

On the one hand, the border is watched over by patrols or militia, such as the military
men, whose goal is to prevent illegal immigration even if it implies resulting to violence. They
help patrols catching the rest illegal immigrants and ask for tighter border control in order to
limit immigration. On the other hand, part of the American economy seems to be based on
this unskilled workforce, ready to ensure difficult working conditions in restaurants, or else
farm labours. To answer those who are convinced that undocumented immigrants are taking
away jobs from American citizens, pro-immigrants insist on the painfulness of these jobs
convinced that American workers would not accept to work in such conditions. In any case,

this migration pattern is the basis of all kind of exchanges. As we have just said, it enables
economic exchanges: while Mexicans are given the opportunity to improve their living
conditions, the US economy benefits from that adaptability. Besides, immigration tends to
create a multicultural society with the emergence of TV channels in Spanish for example.
Another illustration of these exchanges is Spanglish: it shows the influence of Spanish over
the English language. Currently, its not just a matter of linguistics: it has also become a
commercial strategy to target the Latino community in the United States. When big American
firms want to sell their products to the Spanish speaking community, they often use
Spanglish in their ads. Its a way of appealing to Latinos whose purchasing power is
expected to triple over the next few years.
As a conclusion, we can say that even if Mexican immigration remains debated, it is
indisputably a source of economic and cultural wealth for the USA. Nevertheless, the
American dream sometimes turns out to be more of an utopia than reality.

places and forms of power

Im going to deal with the notion Places and forms of power . First, Ild like to
give a definition of the notion. Power is the ability to exercice authority and influence over
others. It can be exerted in different spheres : economy, politics, media In relation to the
notion, the topic of my presentation will be the power of media. We may wonder to what
extent the press can be considered as a form of power.

The press is commonly nicknamed the 4th power. The three first powers being the
executive, the legislative and the judicial powers. By extension, the 4th power refers to the
various means of communication which can be used as counter powers to limit the three
other powers. The media has become so influential that they can be considered as a power
in itself.
Indeed, there is no denying that the freedom of the media is the guarantee of the healthy
functioning of a democracy. It can thus be used as a lobby against political misconducts for
instance. These scandals are usually referred to by the press as sleaze . We can find
several examples of secretaries of State who had to resign because of revelations of
financial scandals by the press. One of them, David Laws has become famous because he
only stayed 18 days in service, the case of fraud being fully exposed by the Daily Telegraph
right after he was appointed. Some analysts even add that British tabloids use their power to
discredit those who cross them. As John Whittingdale, a conservative politician, said : The
tabloid press () make or break reputations . Yet, some journalists feel so powerful that
they might be tempted to bypass the limits. That is what caused the shutdown of the famous
tabloid News of the World in 2011. Some of its reporters hacked into the voicemail of victims
of murders. In reaction to that highly immoral behaviour, advertisers decided to boycott the
newspaper, which contributed to its closure. That quest for money and fame led by some
journalists also shed light on their broad field of action.
As a result, we can see that while the press is expected to limit any kind of political
dysfunctions, its power is not always wittingly used.

Whats more, with the emergence of the internet, the way information is broadcasted have
evolved. That is what is called the fifth power . It can be partly defined as the power of the
internet. The major difference with the press lays in the fact that the internet has made
information generalized. Anyone can have access to it and even contribute through such
sites as Wikipedia. We may wonder whether it is because of that globalization that Wikileaks
has had such an impact. Wikileaks is an on-line organization which releases secret
information from anonymous sources. It has revealed secret files and created a real mess in
the international scene. It also raises a major issue : what are or what should be the limits to
convey information be? Shouldnt classified elements remain secret ? Indeed, some
traditional media have reproached Wikileaks for endangering the lives of those involved in
the cases revealed by the organization.
We may conclude by saying that the media, whether the press or the internet, are necessary
in so far as they act as a necessary power to prevent political misbehaviours which are likely
to happen. Nevertheless, it appears that giving complete freedom to the media may turn out
to be dangerous.