Anglais : Spaces and Exchanges (Brexit)

Anglais : Spaces and Exchanges (Brexit)

I'm going to talk about the notion Spaces and exchanges. First of all, i would like to give a definition of exchange. An exchange is the act of giving or receiving something in substitution for something else. In today’s modern-day world these exchanges can take several forms: economic, cultural and immigration. These different cultural, economic, sociological and language interactions have transformed and characterised our modern-day world – sometimes for better, sometimes for worse. Today, i would like to speak about the United Kingdom and Brexit. Brexit is an abbreviation for "British exit," and is the name given to the United Kingdom’s departure from the European Union. This concept is very well explained in the video "Brexit explained" of Channel 4 news, which i saw in class. This happened on November 29, 2017 because of article 50. We can ask ourselves if the United Kingdom did well to leave the European Union? To answer this, the arguments for and against Brexit will be presented.

On the one hand, the United Kingdom has decided to leave the European Union for several reasons. Even if the opinion is quite shared in the United Kingdom, a small majority of the United Kingdom's population is for the Brexit, this is what i have seen in class with a video (« The people speak on Brexit »). In this video there were 7 people who voted for the United Kingdom to leave (from the European Union) . First, for an economic reason, because the United Kingdom is the 5th biggest economy in the world, it doesn't need the European Union.

According to them, the United Kingdom can be totally independent and can trade with other countries.In addition, in this video a woman tells us that the United Kingdom needs skilled workers and many low skilled workers are coming from the European Union (and are usually immigrants). From a political point of view, according to the arguments in favor of Brexit, the European Union is be anti-democratic and exercises some control over the United Kingdom, brexit would give more control to the United Kingdom.

On the other hand, there are reasons why the United Kingdom should remain in the European Union. Firstly, it must not be forgotten that the United Kingdom is the 5th biggest economy in the world thanks to the European Union. From an economic point of view, Brexit is a big risk because the European Union and the united kingdom would lose a lot of money. To illustrate our argument, in class, i read the article "Minis could be the latest victim of Brexit as BMW's boss hints at moving production out of UK" from The Independent newspaper. This article informs us that because of Brexit the car brand "mini" will move its production in to Europe. This is an example, but there are many others. Conversely, other English companies based in the European territory will move to the United Kingdom following Brexit. In class, i also studied the article "five voices from put it to the People" of The Guardian that show 5 views of 5 English people against Brexit. In this article we can read that the brexit worries many English people. In addition, many europeans people will lose their jobs and will be forced to leave the United Kingdom. It would be better and more thoughtful to stay united.

To conclude, we have seen the different impact that Brexit would have on the European Union and the United Kingdom (but also on the world). I chose the Brexit theme because it is a news fact that perfectly illustrates the notion of space and exchange, because we are talking about territories and material and immaterial exchanges. In my opinion, the departure of the United Kingdom from the European Union would be a loss for the country. In the coming years, the united kingdom may regret its choice and it will be too late (There are already many English people who regret their vote choices for Brexit). I think that the European Union needs the United Kingdom and the United Kingdom needs European Union. What about the future of young English people and the United Kingdom?

Anglais : Myths and Heroes (Blacklisted)

I'm going to talk about the notion Myths and Heroes. First of all, i would like to give a definition of myths and heroes. A myth can be defined as a story about gods or heroes, it can be a popular belief or a tradition or a false notion. Moreover, a hero is a person who is admired for their courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities, it can be the main character in a book or a film or a person with superhuman qualities. To illustrate this notion, today I would like to talk about blacklisting. A blacklisted person is someone who is considered to be a bother and is therefore victimised. We can ask ourselves if can be blacklisted persons in the USA can be considered to be heroes? We will first talk about people blacklisted suspected of being communist before discussing people blacklisted suspected of witchcraft. To answer this, the histories of witches, McCarthy's policy and Sacco and Vanzetti will be presented.

At first, i will refer to the situation of about the history of the witches in the 18th century. I have seen in class, the movie “The crucible” adapted from Arthur Miller’s play. In the movie « The crucible » based on Arthur Miller’s play, the women considered to be witches might be banned from certain activities or even executed as some persons denounced these women because they practiced witchcraft. Apart from, it is not the truth because , in reality, they practiced the science to heal sick persons. But they might have being accused of treating people with magic remedies. So, they were hanged, burned or drowned. They were victims but also heroes as they had to be brave.

Secondly, between 1950 and 1960, there is another witch hunt in the USA which is the called Red Scare or McCarthyism. This period was when the US government was afraid communist foreigners would infiltrate the country. McCarthy, a republican senator, was appointed to hunt potential communists. So, a lot of people were accused to have links with the communists, even many directors were suspected. Those who were suspected of communism were blacklisted and summoned on a trial. As I saw in class with the excerpt from the movie "One of the Hollywood" directed by Karl Francis.The drama focuses on screenwriter/director Herbert Biberman and his efforts to make what would become the historic political film, produced without studio backing after he was blacklisted for belonging to the American Communist Party.

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