Notion: Location and forms of power.

I am going to talk about the notion of forms and locations of power. First of all, I would like to give a definition of the word power. The word power implies strength, authority. It is the ability a person, a group or a nation has to control a group of people. This exercise of power has two main outcomes. Either the members of the community accept the laws in order to create cohesion. Or they will refuse to comply, resulting in conflicts and problems. To illustrate this notion, I have chosen a document entitled “A legendary prisoner”. In my presentation I will try to answer the question: how can we resist power of oppression?

This document is Barack Obama‘s foreword in Nelson Mandela’s “Conversations with myself”. This extract gives us insight of what Mandela endured the fight against Apartheid. It highlights his sufferings and the huge sacrifice he imposed on himself as well as how can his actions inspire us to stand up to what we believe in.

The image this extract has of Mandela is the true definition of resistance against oppressive powers. We can see that he had a great deal of self-confidence and believe greatly in the cause he’s fighting for. In addition, hard work was needed a lot, for it was not an easy task. The document also shows that any human is able to achieve what they desire: at the end, Mandela is also a mere mortal, not just a political figure. The oppressive power of Apartheid was thus overcome thanks to these qualities.

To conclude, I think that in order to resist governmental powers, we must be very determined to get what we want. Plus, we must be willing to go through challenging events, and never lose hope.

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