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L’équipe du magazine The AxelRad Reporter est heureuse de vous présenter son premier numéro. Le magazine est une initiative de trois étudiantes du département d’anglais, avec le soutien d’un enseignant. Si les élections de mi-mandat aux Etats-Unis seront notre ligne éditoriale, nous vous proposons également des rubriques orientées vers l’art, la culture ou l’écriture. Chacun peut contribuer au magazine et à son évolution. Si vous souhaitez nous envoyer un article, nous proposer des améliorations ou simplement nous soumettre vos idées, vous pouvez nous contacter à l’adresse mail suivante : [email protected]
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One can be pretty lost when put in front of the mountainthatis the American system of government and elections. We can all agree on this, it can be rather complicated for an outsider. But it is, actually, not that quite easy for Americans either. From my personal experiences back in high school when I went there, people-especially the youth- did not do well in terms of understanding their own system. However, as you may already know midterm elections are coming very soon, so why not take it as it is: a perfect occasion to dig a little hole in this huge mountain? First of all, midterm elections are called this way because of the chronological order in which they fall during a presidential term. Indeed, in the US a president is to be elected for four years and there are national elections every two years, therefore they happen right in the middle of a presidential term. Now you may ask yourselves who are the main stakeholders? Similarly to our “Sénat” and our “Assemblée Nationale,” the US has two chambers which are in charge of the legislature; The House of Representatives and the Senate. The 435 seats of the House of Representatives are to be renewed every two years and are fixed by the law according to the population of each state. On the other hand, onlya third of the Senate’s 100 seats are to be renewed every two years, so their members are elected for six years on the basis of two members for each state. As Mark Harkins said “The founders didn’t want politicians to get too comfortable.” These elections are a good way to understand if the people are still following the President agenda and if they still support him. It is also a way for them to « punish » the Government choices in the first years of the term. Most of the time the president party loses seats in both chambers; except for events such as 9/11 which created a very strong national feeling and a will to support the president. Here, you can understand why they are this important, indeed, the President needs the support of the legislature to create laws, if he loses his majority the last two years of his term may feel very… worthless, for him anyways. Specialists are quite concerned on the subjects as President Trump’s majority is getting thinner and thinner in polls, as of today’s news, it might not be however as huge as Obama's loss of seats in his midterms -the biggest loss of seats since Eisenhower. Does the mountain seem less imposing? Let’s be honest here, probably not, however, let’s hope that this little help may give you a better understanding of what is happening in the USA at the moment, and encourage you to seek information on the subject. And, who knows, you may soon see the other side of the mountain. AuteurMina Haki Voting is a serious matter in the United States right now. As candidates urge Americans to go to the ballot, Barack Obama decided to join the debate. The former president delivered a crucial speech on 7 September at the University of Illinois. If he first appeared relaxed and informal, he quickly regained his seriousness to address his audience on important matters. After citing a few example of the United States’ glory through its history, he came to mention the alarming situation the United States is facing. Donald Trump’s presidency was his major target, in fact Obama kept pointing out how wrong things are working in the White House. From the way the government deals with the national deficit to the global climate agreement, the former president discredited President Trump by the means of solid arguments. Yet, he also firmly called for national unity. Despite his will to raise awareness on the dysfunction of the current government, he emphasized the great importance of solidarity. At a time when the Head of State of the world’s greatest power seems to be doing his best to rekindle old tensions, it is essential to see figures like Barack Obama raise their voice. Both time and place were chosen carefully. At the end of his speech, Obama encouraged students to vote. He insisted on the fact that the only effective weapon against discrimination and injustice is voting: a duty which most young people did not fulfill. The speech aimed to open the younger part of the people on the weight of voting. The only response president Trump gave was: “I’m sorry, I watched it but I fell asleep”. A weak argument to which Stephen Colbert, an American presenter, objected: “When Obama was president I could actually sleep at night”. AuteurPauline Perrier-Drezen People are willing to stand up for environment More than ever climate change is an issue that concerns the whole world. Every country has to deal with it and, most importantly, find a way to fix it. Although you could expect the world’s greatest power to be an example, Donald Trump decided to cancel the Paris climate agreement instead. This matter was even mentioned in Barack Obama’s recent speech for he highlighted how grotesque the situation is. Now, depending on your level of interest, environmental issues can either be something abstract or a real problem. I personally am part of the second group of people for I have sadly seen the direct damages of pollution over nature. Once, I volunteered in Spain to clean some beaches. With a group of six or seven people we would remove one by one the rubbish left on the beaches. And the result was terrifying. The amount of garbage was so huge that we did not have time to be proud of ourselves for removing them: we all understood the gravity of the situation. Yet, this experience left me hoping that raising people’s awareness could actually make a difference. But, how can we expect people to be concerned when their president is rejecting any responsibility on the matter? Well, they actually are. Over the last few weeks, many people gathered all across the United States to protest against Trump’s policies. Despite how blind Donald Trump is about global warming, the Americans are willing to protest against it and show their determination to make things change for good. Along with other huge gatherings all around the world for the “Rise for Climate” movement, in San Francisco a march was held. Among the 30, 000 people gathered, Sheridan Noelani Enomoto, a Native Hawaiian, said to a local newspaper: “The health of the land reflects the health of the people, and right now we’re not in a good place”. Different nationalities and ethnicities led the movement, proving that the cause can unite people from different cultural backgrounds. Everybody is affected by global warming. From California to Texas, they have all experienced the damages of climate change. That is why people stand together. According to the San Francisco Gate, more than 800 demonstrations took place in 90 countries. (Everyone can make a difference. Every small step matters. So, if you’re interested in discovering ways to limit your impact on environment, visit the WWF website: http://wwf.panda.org/get_involved/live_green/) for the internet version AuteurPauline Perrier-Drezen |