CIVI

Question 1

Impeachment

Answer 1

Trump accused of : obstruction of Congress / abuse of power

Question 2

Near Impeachment

Answer 2

Presidents Nixon and Bill Clinton
- Nixon : Watergate Scandal (1972) : Republicans were accused of spying Democrats
It was discovered by 2 journalists from the Washington Post
( movie : Pentagone Papers , by Spielberg)

Question 3

Worst enemies of Trump

Answer 3

Nancy Pelosi

Adam Schiff

Question 4

Housing first model : big success in Finland

Opposite of staircase model

Answer 4

HFM

1) homeless people get their flat
2) they get rid of their addiction

Question 5

Biden and consequences of the virus

Answer 5

an immediate, pragmatic response (including resorting to the army): no deep long-term changes. “People don’t want a revolution”! Intends to stick to the current ‘health system’ relying mainly on private insurance policies.

Question 6

USA politic sytem

Answer 6

fear of ‘big state’ & federal intervention

Question 7

Jeffrey J. SELINGO

Answer 7

“One person’s freedom ends where another’s begins.”

Defending ‘freedom of speech’ in ALL cases can be extremely dangerous. Some speeches cannot be tolerated if they really jeopardise others’ freedom and dignity

Question 8

The First Amendment

Answer 8

guarantees freedoms concerning religion, expression, assembly, and the right to petition. It forbids Congress from both promoting one religion over others and also restricting an individual’s religious practices. It guarantees freedom of expression by prohibiting Congress from restricting the press or the rights of individuals to speak freely. It also guarantees the right of citizens to assemble peaceably and to petition their government.

Question 9

role of university

Answer 9

university & higher education should remain the place of ideas and sciences (in a very broad sense) rather than ideologies and opinions.

Question 10

the civil rights movement

Answer 10

started in the mid-50s with the Rosa Parks incident, in Montgomery, Alabama. It was led by Martin Luther King, a non-violent activist, and aimed at giving black people, especially in the south of the USA, the same civil rights (=droits civiques) as the ones the white population enjoyed. After about 10 years of fight It resulted in desegregation laws.

Question 11

real democracy?? hmmmm

Answer 11

poor Afro-Americans are often practically forbidden to vote through ‘clever’ measures in some states

Question 12

• Medicare

- Medicaid

Answer 12

• a federal program that provides health coverage IF you are 65+ OR under 65 AND have a disability, no matter your income.
• a state and federal program that provides health coverage IF you have a very low income.

Question 13

” I have a dream “

Answer 13

The article shows that, although the civil rights movement officially put an end to legal segregation and secured ‘equality’ for black Americans, M. Luther King’s ‘dream’, as expressed in his famous speech during the march on Washington DC in August 1963, is still far from being a reality.

Question 14

affirmative action
: vient des États-Unis. Il a été créé en faveur des descendants d’esclaves, mais également pour tous les citoyens victimes d’une quelconque discrimination, en plein Civil Rights Movement. Le 1er à utiliser cette expression = le président USA John Fitzgerald Kennedy, reprise ensuite / Lyndon B. Johnson.

Malgré la promulgation de lois en faveur de l’égalité, les Noirs aux USA restaient en retard /rapport au reste de la population américaine. L’objectif était de les aider davantage, afin qu’ils soient plus représentés dans les emplois qualifiés, dans les universités, dans les médias… Par exemple, ds 1960’s, des emplois préférentiels ont été mis en place.

Néanmoins, la discrimination positive a été remise en cause dès la fin 1970’s. En 1978, la Supreme Court condamne les quotas de la faculté de médecine de l’Université de Californie par l’arrêt Bakke. En 1996, un référendum d’initiative populaire met fin à la discrimination positive dans les universités publiques en Californie (Proposition 209)…

Answer 14

As early as the late 1960s, many politicians understood that proclaiming legal desegregation was not enough. Hence the implementation of ‘quotas’ through ‘affirmative action’ programmes. Their goal was to give Afro-Americans access to universities and public positions that had been barred to them until then. To a certain extent, Mr Obama becoming president in 2008 was proof that such policies could work—a black president was unthinkable in the 1960s!

Question 15

the affirmative action strategy nowadays

Answer 15

the affirmative action strategy in favour of black Americans tends to be replaced nowadays by more sweeping programmes aiming to reach all struggling Americans, regardless of their ethnic origins.

• regardless : sans tenir compte de , en dépit de

Question 16

The pandemic crisis has revealed ..

Answer 16

.. the limits of the US social system and Bernie Sanders , to a lesser extent, Joe Biden, have put the ‘social question’ at the centre of their campaigns. The fight against poverty, access to health care for all, reducing university tuition fees, are & will be essential stakes in the next election, as the number of jobless and citizens slipping into poverty is steadily increasing (33m unemployed/jobless people : au 7 May 2020).

Question 17

Britain remains one of the most unequal western societies : Social classes in Britain often remain insuperable obstacles : a regional accent (especially if it sounds northern) or a working-class one remain strong social markers and can close many doors.  State schools (= free) with high educational standards are very difficult to enter; some of them still have an entrance examination/test (‘the eleven plus’) to select candidates at the age of eleven, which fuels fierce debates! The other option parents have is ‘public schools’ (called like that in in Britain but they are PRIVATE!), which are often expensive and also selective. 
Universities & higher education obviously accentuate disparities as they are expensive (sometimes extremely expensive) AND selective. A vicious circle: to enter them (the best ones), students must come from the very best schools and have to pay hefty tuition fees (=d’importants frais de scolarité) and/or go into heavy debt (=s’endetter lourdement)… and to be part of the economic & political elites (=’the upper class’), you must  precisely come from these circles.

Answer 17

a