Access to English: Social Studies (2018) (utdrag)

John Anthony • Richard Burgess • Robert Mikkelsen

ACCESS to English: Social Studies

Programfaget Samfunnsfaglig Engelsk

PREFACE Welcome to the second revision of Access to English: Social Studies, a textbook for the fivehour course in English with a focus on social studies (Samfunnsfaglig engelsk – programfag i studiespesialiserende utdanningsprogram). This revision brings the book up to date with regard to recent social, economic and political developments in the English-speaking world, with particular reference to the UK and the USA. These are times of great change in both countries, and in the world as a whole, and our aim has been to throw light on some of the underlying forces bringing about these changes and to invite discussion about their consequences.

The new edition follows a structure that will be familiar to those who have used other textbooks in the Access series. Each of the five chapters contains a Focus text – or, in the case of chapters 5 and 6, two Focus texts. These have been specially written to provide you with a clear, up-to-date overview of the themes dealt with in the chapter. Embedded in these Focus texts there are short, authentic texts taken from various sources that exemplify, support or elaborate on these themes. In addition each chapter has longer texts – some factual and some literary – that provide independent perspectives and an opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of particular aspects of the issues dealt with.

Chapters 1 and 2 provide a historical background to the UK and the USA respectively, focusing on the forces that have shaped the two countries as we know them today. Chapters 3 and 4 deal with the countries’ political systems and traditions and how they continue to impact on present-day political life. Chapters 5 and 6 deal

with the social challenges and tensions that characterise British and American societies today and take an in-depth look at two specific issues – Devolution in the UK and Black ­America.

While the texts in the book concern the field of social studies, we would emphasise that ­Access to English: Social Studies is primarily designed to improve your English language skills. For each text there is a wide range of tasks dealing with many aspects of language usage and inviting you to put your developing skills into practice, both orally and in writing. The particular skills required at examinations have been given special attention. In addition to these individual tasks, there is a four-part Writing Course at the back of the book aimed at helping you write different genres of text. The new fourth part deals specifically with exam tasks. On the website (see below) you will find a Text Analysis Course aimed at helping you master the challenging art of writing about texts.

The book in your hands is an important part of Access to English: Social Studies, but by no means the only one. There is also an extensive website (access.cdu.no) that provides interactive tasks, updated articles, useful links for the indepth assignments found in “Digging Deeper”, systematic work on selected films – and much more. The website is free of charge for students, while teacher resources are subject to a license fee. The book itself is available digitally, both as Unibok and Brettbok.

We hope you will find using Access to English: Social Studies an enjoyable learning experience!

John Anthony Richard Burgess Robert Mikkelsen

Note on punctuation and spelling: Chapters 1, 3 and 5 follow British English conventions regarding punctuation and spelling.

The other chapters follow American rules.



3

CONTENTS New Beginnings (Roddy Doyle)

7

novel extract

14

timeline

16

factual text

28

listening (interview/song)

30

speech

32

factual text / paintings

36

timeline

38

factual text

53

listening (factual text)

55

poem

56

poem

58

essay extract

64

factual text / paintings

66

short story

CHAPTER 1 SMALL ISLANDS – BIG HORIZONS: BRITISH HISTORY Main Events: First Settlement to the First World War Background: An Empire Emerges Sarah’s Story / The Trimdon Grange Explosion Queen Elizabeth’s Speech at Tilbury Art and Society: Two Paintings Main Events: The First World War to the Present Focus: Victorious Decline The Battle of Kinder Scout The Soldier (Rupert Brooke) Dulce et Decorum Est (Wilfred Owen) Shooting an Elephant (George Orwell) Portraits of Two Elizabeths A Matter of Timing (Bernardine Evaristo) Introduction: Text Analysis Course

72

CHAPTER 2 THE NEW WORLD: AMERICAN HISTORY Main Events: Settlement to the Second World War Background: Becoming America Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?

The Declaration of Independence (Thomas Jefferson) Chicago (Carl Sandburg) Main Events: The Second World War to the Present Focus: Superpower The Crucible (Arthur Miller) Ambush (Tim O’Brien) Names/Nombres (Julia Alvarez) Ghazal: America the Beautiful (Alicia Ostriker) Digging Deeper: Chapters 1 & 2

4

Contents

74

timeline

76

factual text

84

listening (song)

85

extract

88

poem

90

timeline

92

factual text

112

extract from play

120

short story

124

listening (narrative)

126

poem

128

in-depth research tasks

CHAPTER 3 POWER AND POMP: POLITICS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM Background: Democracy in Britain Welcome to Westminster (Nick Clegg) Focus: Brexit – Untying the Knot Our Parents Betrayed Us Documentary: Grenfell Tower – The 21st Floor Film Study: A Street Cat Named Bob The Last of the Pink Bits

130

factual text

142

extract from autobiography

148

factual text

167

listening (interview)

170

documentary film tasks

173

film tasks

177

factual text

184

factual text

193

factual text

214

factual text

218

speech tasks

222

novel extract

229

listening (extract from autobiography)

231

listening (news article)

232

factual text

237

listening (factual text)

238

in-depth research tasks

240

factual text

246

factual text

261

listening (extract from article)

262

newspaper article

270

travel book extract

277

factual text

295

poem

299

newspaper article

303

short story

310

listening (factual text)

CHAPTER 4 WE THE PEOPLE: POLITICS IN THE UNITED STATES Background: The Rules of the Game Focus: On the Playing Field – Practicing American Politics Electing a President Donald Trump’s Inaugural Address The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood) What Happened (Hillary Rodham Clinton) Another Perspective The Anglo-American World: Political Influence India and Zimbabwe Digging Deeper: Chapters 3 & 4

CHAPTER 5 THE CHANGING FACE OF BRITAIN: UK SOCIETY TODAY Background: Nostalgia Isn’t What It Used to Be Focus I: Social Fault Lines in 21st Century Britain My Public School Days (Adam Ramsay) Who Are Generation Z? (Caelainn Barr) How I Became a Brit (Bill Bryson) Focus II: Devolution in the UK – a Disunited Kingdom?

For the Opening of the Scottish Parliament, 9 October 2004 (Edwin Morgan) The Storm over Welsh-first Schooling (Louise Tickle / Steven Morris) Walking the Dog (Bernard MacLaverty) The Queen in Ireland

Contents

5

CHAPTER 6 THE DIVIDED STATES OF AMERICA: US SOCIETY TODAY Background: In the Pursuit of Happiness Americanah (Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie) Focus I: The Great American Decline?

The Impact of Decline: Three Perspectives – Poor and White in America (J. D. Vance) – The Death of a Great American City (David Uberti) – Gone Girl (Gillian Flynn) American Debates – The Creation Museum Wants Your Children (Adam Serwer) – #MeToo:

How a Hashtag Became a Rallying Cry Against Sexual Harassment (Nadia Khomami) – Why

Opioids Are Such an American Problem (Owen Amos) – The Shame of Fat Shaming (Gina Kolata) Focus II: Black America The Help (Kathryn Stockett) I Have a Dream (Martin Luther King, Jr.) Darkness in America Another Day, Another Murder (Jill Leovy) Digging Deeper: Chapters 5 & 6

312

factual text

316

novel extract

324

factual text

337

text collage

338

opinion piece

340

feature article

342

novel extract

346

text collage

347

news article

349

news article

350

factual text

352

news article

356

factual text

372

listening (novel extract)

374

speech

379

factual text

387

listening (book extract)

390

in-depth research tasks

Writing Course 1: Writing Expository and Analytical Texts 391 Writing Course 2: Writing Introductions 395 Writing Course 3: Writing Conclusions 400 Writing Course 4: Answering Exam Tasks 403

access.cdu.no: – Text Analysis and Writing Courses (see p. 403 for an overview) – Interactive tasks: comprehension, vocabulary, language – Self-evaluation – Novel and film study – Listening material – Resources for Quick Research and Digging Deeper – Access Updates

+ = challenging task

6

Contents

CHAPTER 1:

Small Islands – Big Horizons British History

Lee Campbell: “Union”, 2009

Competence aims in focus: The aims of the studies are to enable students to: – elaborate on and discuss how key historical events and processes have affected the development of British society – elaborate on and discuss linguistically demanding texts – use suitable language appropriate to the situation in a variety of oral and written genres – produce texts in a variety of genres with clear content, appropriate style, good structure, and usage that is precise and accurate – interpret a selection from British literature from the 1900s up to the present (Translation: udir.no)

Quiz: How much do you know about British history?

MAIN EVENTS: THE FIRST WORLD WAR TO THE PRESENT 1918

1921

1926

The First World War ends when Germany surrenders; all women over 30 and most men over 21 get the vote

Anglo-Irish Peace Treaty is signed, resulting in Partition of Ireland

Australia, New Zealand, Canada and South Africa are recognised as autonomous

1940

1945

1947

Winston Churchill becomes prime minister; Battle of Britain begins with heavy raids on cities

The Second World War ends in victory; Labour wins the general election by a landslide

India gains independence from Britain

1966

1967

1971

England win the World Cup in football

Abortion and homos­ exuality are legalised

First British soldier is killed in Northern Ireland’s “Troubles”

1986

1997

1998

Major national industries are privatised

Labour wins the general election; Diana, Princess of Wales, dies in a car crash in Paris; Scotland and Wales vote in favour of devolution

Good Friday Agreement brings “the Troubles” to an end in Northern Ireland and establishes a devolved Northern Irish assembly

2010

2012

2014

After an undecided election result, Conservatives and Liberal Democrats form a coalition under David Cameron

London hosts the Olympic Games

Referendum on Scottish independence ends in victory for the “Remain” side

36

Chapter 1

1928

1929

1939

All women over the age of 21 get the vote

Wall Street Crash sparks the Great Depression

Britain declares war on Germany in response to the invasion of Poland

1948

1957

1963

Post-war immigration from the Commonwealth begins; National Health Service (NHS) is established

Ghana becomes the first British colony in Africa to gain independence

The Beatles release their debut album

Independence arch, Ghana

Beatlemania!

Police struggle to retain young Beatles fans, 1965

1973

1979

1982

Britain joins the European Economic Community (later to become the EU)

Conservative Margaret Thatcher becomes Britain’s first female prime minister (resigns 1990)

Argentina invades the British territory of the Falkland Islands; the Falklands War ends in a British victory the same year

2001

2003

2005

Britain joins the USA in strikes on Taliban-controlled Afghanistan (withdrawal starts in 2013)

Britain joins the USA in an invasion of Iraq (withdraws in 2011)

Terror bombing of London Underground

2016

2017

Referendum on the European Union ends in victory for the “Leave” side; Cameron resigns and Theresa May becomes prime minister

UK officially starts the process of withdrawal from the EU; terror attacks in Manchester and London; snap election results in a weakened Conservative government

Small Islands – Big Horizons

37

CASE MOURNING IN AMERICA

By Nancy Gibbs, Time Magazine, Sept. 24, 2001

By Sept. 24, 2001, there had been some time — not much, but some — to understand the scale of the day. Time Magazine tried to analyze the national mood as the new reality set in.

Hijacked United Airlines Flight 175 from Boston crashes into the south tower of the World Trade Center and explodes at 9:03 a.m. on September 11, 2001 in New York City

In a week when everything seemed to happen for the first time ever, the candle became a weapon of war. Our enemies had turned the most familiar objects against us, turned shaving kits into holsters and airplanes into missiles and soccer coaches and newlyweds into involuntary suicide bombers. So while it was up to the President and his generals to plot the response, for the rest of us who are not soldiers and have no cruise missiles, we had candles, and we lit them on Friday night in an act of mourning, and an act of war.

That is because we are fighting not one enemy but two: one unseen, the other inside. Terror on this scale is meant to wreck the way we live our lives – make us flinch when a siren sounds, jump when a door slams and think twice before deciding whether we really have to take a plane. If we falter, they win, even if they never plant another bomb. So after the early helplessness – What can I do? I’ve already given blood – people started to realize that what they could do was exactly, as

100 Chapter 2

precisely as possible, whatever they would have done if all this hadn’t happened.

That was the spirit building in New York and Washington and all across the country, faith and fear and resolve in a tight braid. Because the killers who hate us did the unthinkable, nothing is unthinkable now.

Lower Manhattan was a sharp steel forest where volunteers and fire fighters dug around the clock without rest. The search dogs were overwhelmed; there was just too much flesh to smell. One emerged with a torn, blackened teddy bear in its mouth. Rescuers found the bodies of airline passengers strapped in their seats, a flight attendant with her hands bound. Doctors at the triage stations grieved that there were not more survivors to treat. All they could do was wash the grit out of the rescuers’ eyes. Every so often the Klaxon sounded, another fractured building about to faint.

Medics had to keep moving the morgue. Even the rescuers had to be rescued from the hidden caves, the shifting rubble, the filthy air. When the rains came Thursday night the peril merely increased, as the ash turned to porridge and the fires hissed and spat.

The rest of the city was strangely quiet, missing something, like when you have a tooth pulled and keep feeling for the space with your tongue. The World Trade Center towers were so big they had their own ZIP code; will that number now be retired, like that of a baseball hero suddenly gone? Amid the cortege of families wandering from hospital to hospital – Have you seen my wife, she was six months pregnant, on the 94th floor? – one man had a postcard of the Twin Towers, with the message written: THEY ARE MISSING. I AM LOOKING FOR THESE TWO GREAT BROTHERS OF NEW YORK. At Washington National Cathedral on Friday, the Day of Remembrance, they sang these old hymns, the ones sung after wars broke out and Presidents died.

There sat five Presidents and the generals and statesmen who came to hear lessons about mercy and justice, about the temptations of vengeance and the duties of leadership. Congress had become a coalition government; defense is not foreign policy anymore, it’s domestic. President Bush declared a state of emergency and called up the reserves; Congress wrote a $40 billion check. Soldiers at home and around the world were on high alert, and ready; 200 of their comrades had been burned and buried alive at the very

command center of armed force. “This nation is peaceful, but fierce when stirred to anger,” the President said. “This conflict was begun on the timing and terms of others. It will end in a way and at an hour of our choosing.”

But it will also come in a way we still cannot imagine, because we are fighting an enemy we have never met. Suicide bombers are supposed to be

17-year-old zealots with nothing to live for but the hope of a martyr’s welcome by 72 virgins in paradise.

These men, the FBI reveals, lived middle-class lives, had degrees and jobs and wives and kids and a willingness to leave them all to kill us. Among the casualties last week was our sweet certainty that anyone lucky enough to be able to live in America, share its vices and freedoms and gifts, surely would not want to destroy it.

The despair is unrelenting, and the funerals have hardly begun.

It will take us months, years, to understand what has been changed by this, and how. Irony is no longer safe for comics; comedy itself is in tears. (excerpt – source: see p. 411)

TASKS a) “Terror on this scale is meant to wreck the way we live our lives.” How successful has terror been at achieving this aim in the many years since 9/11? b) The article gives many specific descriptions of the aftermath of the attack. Which do you think are the most moving and evocative? c) Looking back, how do you think the world was changed by 9/11?

A firefighter rests near the destroyed World Trade Center on September 12, 2001. Of the 2,977 victims killed in the September 11 attacks, 412 were emergency workers in New York City

The New World

101

Alicia Ostriker (1937–) is an American poet. Joyce Carol Oates, another famous American author, has said of her poetry that it is “essential for understanding our American selves.” In the following poem Ostriker reflects on the innocence and pride of her perception of America when a child and how it changed as she grew up.

“I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

– This is “the Pledge of Allegiance”, which is recited every mor­ ning in grade schools across America as the students stand up in class, put their hands over their hearts and face the American flag.

Ghazal: America the Beautiful

By Alicia Ostriker

Do you remember our earnestness our sincerity in first grade when we learned to sing “America The Beautiful” along with “The Star-Spangled Banner” and say the Pledge of Allegiance to America We put our hands over our first-grade hearts we felt proud to be citizens of America I said One Nation Invisible until corrected maybe I was right about America School days school days dear old Golden Rule Days when we learned how to behave in America What to wear, how to smoke, how to despise our parents who didn’t understand us or America Only later understanding the Banner and the Beautiful lived on opposite sides of the street in America ghazal = a form of poetry composed of a minimum of five couplets to pledge å love allegiance troskap, lydighet / truskap, lydnad indivisible udelelig/udeleleg earnestness oppriktighet/oppriktigheit Golden Rule = a rule of ethical conduct referring to Matthew 7:12 and Luke 6:31: do to others as you would have them do to you amber (rav)gul grain korn

126 Chapter 2

Only later discovering the Nation is divisible by money by power by color by gender by sex America We comprehend it now this land is two lands one triumphant bully one still hopeful America Imagining amber waves of grain blowing in the wind purple mountains and no homeless in America Sometimes I still put my hand tenderly on my heart somehow or other still carried away by America

TASKS 1 DISCUSSION

2+ WORKING WITH POETRY

a

a

One purpose of the Pledge of Allegiance to which Ostriker refers has been to give children one common symbol of unity in a nation made up of many different cultures. What do you think newly arrived children like Julia Alvarez (p. 124) would have thought of this? b This poem gives two very different views of ­America. In one it is a proud, unified and indivisible nation. It the other it is split between being “a triumphant bully” and “hopeful.” Which of these two “Americas” do you think has the upper hand in the United States these days? Why? c+ In this poem we follow the poet’s experience of America from childhood to adulthood. How do her experiences change? Has the author given up her hopes about America at the end of the poem? d+ Is there any symbol or ceremony in Norway that plays a similar unifying role to that of the Pledge of Allegiance in the United States? If so, what? If not, should there be?

Imagery: How does the poet make use of the image of putting a hand over the heart? b Word play: The world “invisible” is confused with “indivisible.” What point does the poet make here? c Repetition: How is the repetition of words and phrases used in this poem? What is the effect of this repetition? d Free verse: This poem is written in free verse, without punctuation. Put in punctuation where you think it belongs. What effect does this have on the poem?

3+ QUICK RESEARCH AND DISCUSSION Work in groups of three. This poem calls to mind things familiar to Americans, but not necessarily to people from elsewhere. For example, it refers to three well-known songs: – America the Beautiful – The Star Spangled Banner – School Days Choose one song each, find its lyrics and present them to your fellow pupils. Then discuss how the author has made use of the song in her poem.

The New World

127

DIGGING DEEPER: CHAPTERS 1 & 2 Students of this course are to present an in-depth project dealing with a topic connected to English for Social Studies. All in-depth projects have certain stages of work: – First comes choosing a topic you find interesting.

– Then comes finding information about the topic – that is, doing research. At access.cdu.no you can learn how to work in-depth with social studies issues – for example, how to find and evaluate sources, interpret statistical material and cite sources correctly.

– Finally the results of the work are presented. It could be a written report or an essay of some kind; it could be an oral presentation, or perhaps a website that the class can visit. Exactly how it is done will differ from project to project.

Below you will find a set of possible topics for such in-depth work. You will find resources for all of them at access.cdu.no. These topics are not meant to be definitive. It may be that they simply start you off in a certain direction.

TOPICS TO INVESTIGATE 1) How did the British gradually become masters of the Indian sub-continent? What has been the most important legacy of this long involvement?

2) Choose one of the following former British colonies in Africa and analyse the legacy of British influence on the country today: South Africa, Zimbabwe, ­Zambia, Sudan, Nigeria, Kenya.

3) What impact did the First World War have on British society? Possible areas to focus on include democracy, empire, the economy, demography, social attitudes or gender roles.

4) What was the “enclosure movement” in Great ­Britain? How was it connected to industrialisation?

How did it affect life in the countryside?

5) Choose two historical events you think were crucial in defining who the British are. Explain what you think makes these two events so important.

128 Chapter 2

6) Choose one of the following Native American tribes: Shawnee, Choctaw, Potawatomi, Cherokee, Chippewa, Iroquois, Creek, Chickasaw, Seminole, Winnebago, Sioux. Find out where they originally lived, the way they were governed and their relations to their neighbors. Then explain what has happened to them since the Europeans came to America.

7) The United States has been involved in many conflicts since 1945. Choose one of the following conflicts. Explain how America became involved in the conflict and what its effects were, or are today: Korea – Vietnam – Grenada – Kuwait (Desert Storm) – Somalia – Serbia (Bosnia or Kosovo) – Afghanistan – Iraq – Libya – Syria 8) Choose an ethnic group found in the United States and make a short report on it including information about when its members came, how many came, where they settled and how many identify with the group today. What stereotypes are associated with this group? Examples of such groups are Italian Americans, Chinese Americans, Mexican Americans, Somali Americans, Norwegian Americans, Scottish Americans, etc.

9) Why did the US and the Soviet Union feel so threatened by one another after the Second World War? Did the Cold War ever come close to being a hot war? Why did it end?

10) The phrase “a city on a hill” was first used to describe the new Puritan colony in Plymouth, New England. It expressed the idea of America having a sacred, God-given mission to lead humanity by example. This came to be part of “American Exceptionalism” – the belief that the United States was unique in idealistic goals. Make a report on the ideas of American Exceptionalism today.

SELF-EVALUATION Go to the section called “Self-evaluation” at access.cdu.no to rate your performance in English according to the goals in the subject curriculum.

CHAPTER 3:

Power and Pomp Politics in the United Kingdom

Mural by street artist Banksy on the side of a disused building in Dover, UK

Competence aims in focus: The aims of the studies are to enable students to: – elaborate on and discuss political issues and systems in the English-speaking world, with a special focus on the United Kingdom – use a nuanced, well-developed vocabulary to communicate on political issues – summarise, comment on and discuss differing viewpoints on political issues – elaborate on and discuss linguistically demanding texts with a political perspective – use information based on figures and statistics as a basis for communicating on political issues (Translation: udir.no)

Quiz: What do you know about British politics?

All across the country, there was misery and rejoicing.

All across the country, what had happened whipped about by itself as if a live electric wire had snapped off a pylon in a storm and was whipping about in the air above the trees, the roofs, the traffic.

All across the country, people felt it was the wrong thing. All across the country, people felt it was the right thing. All across the country, people felt they’d really lost. All across the country, people felt they’d really won.

– Ali Smith, from Autumn

?

Sit in pairs or groups and choose one of the following tasks: a) How much do you know between you about the European Union (EU)? For example, how many countries are members? Where is its “capital”? When did it come into existence, and why? What is Norway’s relationship to it? b) What do you understand by the terms “left” and “right” in politics? What sort of policies would you associate with one side or the other?

Focus: Brexit – Untying the Knot

rejoicing glede, jubel pylon lysmast knot knute crucial avgjørende, kritisk / avgjerande, kritisk momentous (meget) viktig, avgjørende / (særs) viktig, avgjerande divisive splittende/splittande

148 Chapter 3

On 23 June 2016 British voters went to the polls in a referendum on whether to leave or remain within the European Union. The result is history: by a margin of 3.78%, the UK electorate voted to leave. It ranks as one of the most crucial events in modern British history. It put into reverse a process of integration into Europe that had gone on for over four decades and it set the country on a course into unknown political and economic territory.

Under normal circumstances, parliament is relied on to take decisions on behalf of the people it represents – even momentous ones, like going to war. So why was a referendum called? The short answer is: because in 2013, in his second period as prime minister, David Cameron of the Conservative Party had promised one if re-elected in 2015. The divisive issue of EU membership, he said, had poisoned British politics for too long. For the good of the nation it needed to be put to rest once and for all. It was a promise he, a supporter of EU membership, would come to regret.

Reluctant Europeans EU membership has been controversial in the UK ever since the country joined what was then called the European Economic Community (EEC) in 1973. Although they voted conclusively to remain (67% in favour) in a referendum in 1975, the British had always made rather reluctant Europeans. Brussels bureaucracy and interference were frequently the butt of ridicule and anger, especially in a predominantly right-wing, Euro-sceptic press.

At government level (particularly in the case of Conservative governments), Britain was consistently sceptical of EU developments in the direction of political union and a greater consolidation of power in Brussels, opting out of passport-free borders in 1985 and refusing to join the Euro in 1992. Margaret Thatcher (see p. 47) was particularly vocal in her defence of British sovereignty in the face of what she saw as meddling Brussels bureaucrats and oversized British contributions to EEC budgets, memorably telling other European leaders on one occasion “We want our money back!” However, it is worth remembering that she was in favour – and indeed was one of the architects – of the Single Market that allowed British firms to compete on an even playing

reluctant motvillig, nølende / motvillig, nølande interference innblanding, inngrep butt mål, skyteskive predominant overveiende / i det store og heile consolidation styrking, samling to opt out å trekke seg fra, å hoppe av / å trekke seg frå, å hoppe av vocal uttalt, høyrøstet / uttalt, høgrøysta sovereignty råderett, suverenitet meddling geskjeftig (uønsket) innblanding / geskjeftig (uønskt) innblanding Single Market EUs indre marked / indre marknad Nigel Farage, then-leader of the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP), celebrates with fellow Leave supporters after Britain voted to leave the European Union

Power and Pomp

149

CASE WHAT THE MEDIA SAID Researchers at Loughborough University have analysed 1,127 news stories published by ten daily papers prior to the EU referendum, and found a five-all split in terms of their pro- and anti-EU coverage. However, when Here are some quotes from newspapers on both sides:

weighted to circulation, researchers found Leave commanded a thumping 82% of the national daily newspaper readership.

Glossary: see p. 416

We are about to make the biggest political decision of our lives. The Sun urges everyone to vote LEAVE. We must set ourselves free from dictatorial Brussels.

Throughout our 43-year membership of the European Union it has proved increasingly greedy, wasteful, bullying and breathtakingly incompetent in a crisis.

Next Thursday, at the ballot box, we can correct this huge and historic mistake.

It is our last chance. Because, be in no doubt, our future looks far bleaker if we stay in.

To remain means being powerless to cut mass immigration which keeps wages low and puts catastrophic pressure on our schools, hospitals, roads and housing stock.

In every way, it is a bigger risk.

The Remain campaign, made up of the corporate establishment, arrogant europhiles and foreign banks, have set out to terrify us all about life outside the EU. (The Sun, editorial, 13 June 2016)

We are told membership is essential because it provides access to a market of 500 million people; yet there is a market of six billion people beyond its borders and nothing would stop us continuing to trade with Europe anyway. Other non-EU countries trade more with the single market than we do but don’t have to pay into the EU budget for the ­privilege of doing so.

A world of opportunity is waiting for a fully independent Britain. This country is a leading economic power, its language is global, its laws are

trusted and its reputation for fair dealing is second to none. To say we cannot thrive free of the EU’s constraints is defeatist and flies in the face of this country’s great mercantile traditions.

In supporting a vote to leave, we are not harking back to a Britannic golden age lost in the mists of time but looking forward to a new beginning for our country. We are told it is a choice between fear and hope. If that is the case, then we choose hope.

(The Daily Telegraph, editorial, 20 June 2016)

All reason tells us that the great issues of our time have little respect for national borders. Not one of them can be properly tackled at the level of the nation state. Impose controls on a multinational corporation and it will move to a softer jurisdiction.

Crack down on tax evasion and the evaders will vanish offshore. Cap your own carbon emissions in isolation and some other country will burn with abandon. In so far as any of these problems can be effectively addressed, it is through cooperation. A better world means working across borders, not sheltering behind them. Cutting yourself off solves nothing. That, fundamentally, is why Britain should vote to remain in the club that represents the most advanced form of cross-border cooperation that the world has ever seen.

Thursday’s vote is in some ways a choice between an imaginary past of which too many in this country cannot let go and a future about which all of us are inescapably uncertain. If it goes in favour of leave it will hand Britain’s young people a country that most of them do not intend to vote for.

Is that fair? It may push Scottish nationalists to proceed with a break-up of Britain that was rejected less than two years ago. Is that responsible? It will put the settlement in Northern Ireland – the fragile prize won so recently from decades of hatred – at risk. Is that worth it? Not at all. Instead we should be putting our shoulders to the task of building a democratic, devolved, multicultural Britain with a fair deal for all, connected to the world and working with our European neighbours.

(The Guardian, editorial, 20 June 2016)

The past can be a wonderful nostalgic dream, the idealised Britain fondly imagined as containing “long shadows on county grounds, warm beer, dog lovers and pools fillers and old maids bicycling to Holy Communion through the morning mist”.

The past also contained tuberculosis and rickets, polio and smallpox, fewer workplace rights and “No Dogs, No Irish, No Blacks” signs in pub windows. The past was unkinder than the present, a place in which same sex relationships were not just a sin but a crime, and pride meant the most inventive way of putting Johnny Foreigner’s nose out of joint.

Now it is hate which is the crime and international organisations are the community halls of the 21st Century global village that we must live in. The EU is not perfect, but it makes it inconceivable France and Germany will ever go to war again.

Brexiteers now claim we can magic up sovereignty by leaving the international organisation

which gives us access to 500 million customers and feeds three million British jobs which go with that.

What we will get back by leaving is more control over immigration. If your child lost the school place you set your heart on, or you cannot get a GP appointment or you blame EU migrants for taking jobs, Brexit can be your revenge.

But if your life has been saved by one of the 50,000 EU migrants who keep our hospitals on their feet, you may wish to think twice before cutting the NHS off at the knees. The 330,000 migrants who arrive here annually need to be addressed, but Brexit does not do it.

This referendum is not just about our previous history. Where you put your X on the ballot paper is about making our own history. It is not about our past, but how we forge our future. And it is a once in a lifetime opportunity.

(The Mirror, editorial, 21 June 2016)

TASKS a) Sum up the arguments for and against leaving the EU given in these newspaper editorials. Which side has the better arguments, in your opinion?

b) British people are sometimes said to be “obsessed by the past”. Are there any signs of this in the extracts?

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Pop. (M) Remain

SCOTLAND

Leave

Britain

64.1

48%

52%

England

53.0

47%

53%

London

8.5

60%

40%

Scotland

5.3

62%

38%

Wales

3.0

48%

53%

Northern Ireland 1.8

56%

44%

Edinburgh Should Britain remain in the European Union?

Remain Leave

NORTHERN IRELAND Belfast

50%

IRELAND

WALES

Cardiff

ENGLAND

London

Scotland voted strongly for continued membership. In the run-up to the Scottish independence referendum (see p. 277) two years earlier, the No side had used EU membership as an important argument against independence – if Scotland left the UK, the argument went then, it would also be leaving the EU, with no guarantee that it would be allowed back in. Now suddenly the boot was on the other foot – with Brexit, Scotland would be forced by England to leave the EU against its will. In Northern Ireland too, a majority voted to remain, fearing that Brexit would mean an end to the open border between

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Northern Ireland and the Republic, seen as a vital factor for both trade and the peace process in the province.

Brexit fallout and a General Election David Cameron resigned as prime minister just hours after the referendum result was announced. Having staked his career on a Remain vote and lost, he had little choice. He was replaced by Theresa May, his former Home Secretary and also a Remainer. She was faced with the unenviable task of putting together a cabinet of ministers who, just days before, had been at each other’s throat on either side of the referendum campaign. On the other hand, she had inherited a working parliamentary majority from her predecessor and could draw consolation from the fact that, whatever problems she was facing, her opposite number on the other side of the House was in even greater difficulty.

Jeremy Corbyn had been elected leader of the Labour Party after ­Labour’s defeat in the 2015 election under extraordinary circumstances.

? a) What are “Leavers” and “Remainers”? b) Where was support for EU membership strongest and weakest? c) Why could a Scot who had voted against Scottish independence and for remaining in the EU legitimately feel frustrated?

May 2017: Prime Minister Theresa May (top) launching the Conservative Party general election manifesto, and Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn (bottom) speaking during his general election campaign launch

to stake å risikere, å sette på spill / å risikere, å sette på spel Home Secretary innenriksminister/ innanriksminister predecessor forgjenger/ forgjengar consolation trøst/trøyst

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Joy for the old …

The shadow cabinet consists of those members of the main opposition party who “shadow” the cabinet ministers of the party in power, i.e. they have particular responsibility for the same policy areas (e.g. defence, agriculture, foreign affairs, etc.).

? a) Why did David Cameron resign, and who succeeded him? b) Who was Jeremy Corbyn popular with when he became elected? And who was he unpopular with? c) Why did Theresa May call a snap election in 2017? How did the plan backfire?

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He was one of four candidates and was regarded as a rank outsider, being a radical left-winger with no cabinet or shadow-cabinet experience. However, a new selection system was introduced, where all party members rather than just Labour MPs voted. This led to a massive grassroots movement, dubbed “Corbynmania” by the press, in which thousands of new members registered, mostly young people. In the event, Corbyn was elected leader by a comfortable margin. However, when Corbyn rose to address the House as the new Leader of the Opposition, he knew that the majority of the Labour MPs sitting behind him not only hadn’t voted for him, but regarded him as a calamity.

Meanwhile, the tabloids searched their archives for old photographs of Corbyn the radical lefty sharing podiums with Irish Republicans, Islamist activists and nuclear disarmers. Prominent figures in the party pronounced that Labour under Corbyn would be unelectable.

It was perhaps these voices that Theresa May heeded when she called a snap election in 2017. An enhanced parliamentary majority and a clear endorsement from the British electorate would strengthen her hand in Brexit negotiations, and it seemed sensible to strike while the opposition was in disarray with an unelectable leader. However, for the second time in a year, a Conservative prime minister misjudged the nation. Labour and Corbyn confounded the media pundits and, although they didn’t win, gained 30 seats. The Conservatives held on to power, but now as a minority government dependent on the support of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) of Northern Ireland. (See p. 130 for the election results.)

… and woe for the young

New political fault lines The results of both the Brexit referendum and the 2017 General Election reveal a shift in the political landscape of Britain. For one thing, the distribution of Brexit and Remain votes bears little relation to the ­Labour vs Conservative divide that dominates Westminster politics. The issues of EU membership and immigration cut across traditional party lines. Both in the Tory heartlands of rural England and in the Labour strongholds of the industrial north, Leave voters were in the majority.

Meanwhile, the cosmopolitan and multicultural cities voted Remain.

One of the explanations for this is that the referendum saw a return to the ballot box of a group of voters whose voice had not been heard for some time, namely older, white voters in poorer neighbourhoods. Taken for granted by a Labour party that was increasingly focused on winning the middle-class vote, many of these traditionally Labour voters had simply turned their backs on the political process. They felt that the ­social changes introduced by “New Labour” policies (see p. 48) had brought little benefit for them, while the new political class, consisting largely of socially liberal university graduates, seemed to represent values and an identity very far from their own. For these so-called “left-­ behinds”, a vote for Brexit was not just a vote against the EU and immigration, but also against a political establishment that had ignored them.

In addition, the age fault line was unmistakable: it is estimated that 61% of the over-65s voted for Leave, while 75% of the under-25s voted for Remain. Having never experienced pre-EU Britain, many young voters were most anxious about their prospects for employment and

p. 156: rank fullstendig, regelrett shadow-cabinet skyggeregjering/ skuggeregjering calamity katastrofe nuclear disarmer nedrustningsforkjemper/ nedrustingsforkjempar to heed å bry seg om, å ta hensyn til / å bry seg om, å ta omsyn til snap uventet, plutselig / uventa, plutseleg to enhance å forsterke endorsement støtte, tilslutning disarray uorden, forvirring to confound å forvirre, å forbløffe pundit ekspert, forståsegpåer / ekspert, forståsegpåar distribution fordeling benefit nytte, utbytte political establishment politisk maktelite fault line skillelinje/skiljelinje prospect framtidsutsikt

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President John F. Kennedy delivering his inaugural address after taking the oath of office on Capitol Hill in Washington Jan. 20, 1961 (top) and Donald Trump following in his footsteps on the same date in 2017 (bottom)

Some of the most famous quotes from inaugural addresses: – Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933, referring to the challenges of the Great Depression: “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”

– John F. Kennedy in 1961, generally calling for joint efforts: “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.”

– Ronald Reagan in 1981, referring to the aim of reducing the power of the federal government: “In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.”

Donald Trump’s Inaugural Address January 20, 2017 was Donald Trump’s Inauguration Day – the day he was sworn in as President of the United States. Presidents take the oath of office on Inauguration Day, and in addition every President since George Wash­ ington has given an inaugural address. An inaugural ad­ dress differs from typical political speeches in that its pri­ mary purpose is not to persuade or focus on very con­ crete policies or actions. Rather, it is a ceremonial speech that reflects more general political principles. Tradition­ ally, some of the aims of an inaugural address are: 1. To unify the American people by focusing on com­ mon values and aims.

2. To outline some political principles that will guide the president in his/her choices.

3. To show that the president is ready to take on the job as head of the executive branch by recognizing the power, the challenges and the limitations of the job.

Go to access.cdu.no to find the video and manuscript of Donald Trump’s inaugural address.

Then work with the tasks that follow.

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inaugural address innsettelsestale/innsettingstale oath of office embetsed/embetseid

TASKS 1 RHETORIC Form groups of four and work with the following.

A speech is a different form of communication than the written word. Often it tries to persuade, inspire and move its listeners. To that end it has a particular set of tools at its disposal, tools that taken together are known as rhetorical methods. As a public speaker, Trump made extensive use of these tools. Looking at his speech, see if you can find examples of some of these tools in action. a Words and phrases (refrains) that are repeated to underline points and give rhythm to the lines spoken. (Repetition) b Using rhythm, length of sentence line or exclamations to increase the speech’s intensity. (Parallelism and varied sentence length) c Quoting directly from another text (Allusion) d Use of literary devices (Metaphor and simile) e Exaggeration (Hyperbole or overstatement) f Repetition of sounds to give the text a flow (­ Alliteration) g+ What are the effects of using these tools?

2 STRUCTURE The first part of this speech up to the phrase “America First” is about what has been wrong in America. The second half is about what will be done to put it right.

Make a list of problems Trump mentions in the first part and of the solutions he suggests in the second part.

Compare your list with that of a fellow student. Have you missed anything?

3 GENERALIZATIONS An inaugural address makes use of many general, sweeping statements, rather than specific plans. Find four such statements in this speech and then compare them with what another student has found. What effect do these statements have on the speech?

4 VOCABULARY Work in pairs. a Inaugural addresses are meant to be easily understood. Nonetheless, they can make use of some difficult or unusual words for effect. Look through Trump’s speech and pick out the six words or

phrases that you find most difficult. Find their definitions and then work in pairs, reading them aloud from the speech and asking your partner to explain what they mean. Take turns for every other word.

Then meet with another pair and do the same. b+ How does the use of these words affect the impact of the speech?

5 WATCHING THE SPEECH Watch President Trump’s speech at access.cdu.no. a Make a note of everything you find interesting about his use of voice – such as how he raises or lowers his voice, which words or phrases he stresses, changes in tempo, etc. b Now go back, watch it again and add notes on how he uses body language to underline his points and add meaning to his statements. c+ Finally, discuss the effects of these techniques on the speech in groups or in class.

6+ GIVING A SPEECH Review the rhetorical methods mentioned in task 1 above. Now use some of them to compose a short speech of your own. Choose a topic you find interesting – be it for personal, political, religious or some other reason. Prepare your speech and then join two other students. Take turns giving your speeches to one another.

Tips: A good speech has an introduction (why I am here), sets a theme (what I am speaking about), a content (what my opinion is), and a conclusion (this is my point).

7+ COMPARING SPEECHES On January 20 2009, Barack Obama gave his inaugural address on the steps of the Capitol. Listen to this speech at access.cdu.no, where you will also find the manuscript of the speech. Then use the following questions to compare it with Donald Trump’s inaugural address. Read the questions first so you are prepared. a Which of the two has more formal language? Give examples. b Which of the two is longer?

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TASKS c

c+ Then write your own comment on the inaugural address.

Identify uses of the pronouns “we” and “our”. Who are included in “we” and “our” in the two speeches?

What is the effect of using these pronouns that way? d Find examples of references to common values such as freedom and democracy in the two speeches. Are these used for the same purpose in the two? e Which general principles for policies are outlined? f Are there references to God? If so, how are these references used?

9 WRITING a

Look at the latest figures for President Trump’s popularity at access.cdu.no. Has his popularity gone up or down lately? Is there anything in recent news stories about Trump that might suggest a reason for this change? Write a short report. b You have your own blog dealing with President Trump on a daily basis. Find out what he did yesterday (or another specific day) and write a short entry commenting on his actions. c Write a Twitter reply to three tweets from President Trump. Compare your tweets with one another. You can find his tweets at https://twitter.com/­ realdonaldtrump. d+ Write a short essay on the following topic: “The impact of the election of Donald Trump on ­America’s reputation in the world”. See the Text Analysis Course at access.cdu.no for essay types.

8 SUMMING UP a

How successful do you think President Trump was in fulfilling the three traditional aims of an inaugural address? b Make a summary of positive and negative reactions to Donald Trump’s inaugural address around the world, including at least two American news sources. One of these American news sources should be more conservative and the other more liberal. You will find sources at access.cdu.no.

10 WORKING WITH A VENN DIAGRAM

Suburban/Country

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OVERLAP

Democratic Party – Liberal

Republican Party – Conservative

Antiabortion

Donkey symbol

Religious

Elephant symbol Giant coalition

Pro-immigrant

Gun laws

Low taxes Urban

American

Pro-gun

Government regulations

Patriotic

Environment friendly

A Venn diagram is used to compare two topics. Copy the diagram on the right and fill in key words that describe each party. In the middle part, write key words that you think suit both parties. Below are some suggested words you might want to use, but you should also try to come up with some words of your own.

p. 221: complaint klagemål amendment tilføyelse/tillegg to ratify å anerkjenne, å stadfeste arms våpen seizure pågripelse, arrestasjon / pågriping, arrestasjon search warrant ransakingsordre bail kausjon excessive urimelig/urimeleg

FACTS: THE BILL OF RIGHTS When the Constitution was drawn up in 1787, a chief complaint of its opponents was that it did not guarantee individual freedoms or states’ rights strongly enough. In response, they drew up ten amendments and these were ratified in 1791.

Taken together they are known as the Bill of Rights.

The Bill of Rights focuses, above all, on the rights of the individual. Some of the principle freedoms pro­tected by it are listed here (the numbers refer to the Amendment): 1

Freedom of religion. Freedom of the press and free speech (i.e. no censorship).

Individual freedom to hold meetings and to demonstrate for political ends.

2 The right to keep and bear arms to secure a well-regulated militia.

3 Private property shall not be used to house the military.

4 Protection from unreasonable search and seizure by officers of the law (i.e. a search warrant must be presented – this point is often mentioned in police movies!).

5 Protecting individuals from having to testify against themselves in a court of law.

6 Public trial by jury.

7 Trial by jury in civil cases in federal courts.

8 Bail should not be excessive; punishment must be fair and humane.

9 The fact that the Constitution lists certain rights does not mean that the people do not have other basic rights.

10 See “Federalism”, page 184.

Changing economic and social conditions in the US throughout the years have made it necessary to adopt additional amendments to the Constitution. Some of the more interesting amendments include: 13 Forbidding slavery (1865) 19 Giving women the right to vote (1920) 22 Limiting Presidents to two terms in office (1951) The 14th Amendment (1868) guarantees all persons “equal protection of the law,” and has been used by the Supreme Court to strike down many forms of discrimination based on race, color, gender or religion. It was also used in the landmark Roe v. Wade decision (1973) that legalized abortion.

What would the United States look like if the rights guaranteed in the Constitution and Bill of Rights were taken away? What kind of society might arise in America then?

That is something many authors have tried to imagine through the years. In 1985, the Canadian author Margret Atwood envisaged this from a feminist perspective in The Handmaid’s Tale. It is set in the near future, in which right-wing Christian fundamentalists have replaced the government of the United States with the Republic of Gilead. Gilead is a totalitarian state in which fertile women are kept in sexual slavery as “handmaids” and forced to bear children for infertile couples. Women are not allowed to work, own property, control money or read. They are “protected.”

?

In 2016 the novel was made into a highly acclaimed TV series that won numerous awards. Although 30 years old, the tale it told seems to appeal to present-day audiences. Before reading the following excerpt, consider what political trends and events mentioned in this chapter might have made its message relevant today.

The Handmaid’s Tale

By Margaret Atwood

Offred (“Of Fred”: all Handmaids are named after their master) is a Handmaid in the Republic of Gilead. She may leave the home of the Commander and his wife once a day to walk to food markets whose signs are now pictures instead of words because women are no longer allowed to read. She must have sex with the Commander once a month and pray that he makes her pregnant, because in an age of declining births, Offred and the other Handmaids are only valued if they can have children.

Offred can remember the days before, when she lived with her husband Luke; when she played with and protected her daughter; when she had a job, money of her own, and access to knowledge.

But all of that is gone now …

totalitarian totalitær fertile fruktbar decline nedgang, tilbakegang lawn plen edge (ytter)kant

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The lawns are tidy, the façades are gracious, in good repair; they’re like the beautiful pictures they used to print in the magazines about homes and gardens and interior decoration. There is the same absence of peo­ ple, the same air of being asleep. The street is almost like a museum, or a street in a model town constructed to show the way people used to live. As in those pictures, those museums, those model towns, there are no children.

This is the heart of Gilead, where the war cannot intrude except on television. Where the edges are we aren’t sure, they vary, according to

the attacks and counterattacks; but this is the center, where nothing moves. The Republic of Gilead, said Aunt Lydia, knows no bounds.

Gilead is within you.

Doctors lived here once, lawyers, university professors. There are no lawyers anymore, and the university is closed.

Luke and I used to walk together, sometimes, along these streets. We used to talk about buying a house like one of these, an old big house, fixing it up. We would have a garden swing for the children. We would have children. Although we knew it wasn’t too likely we could ever af­ ford it, it was something to talk about, a game for Sundays.

Such freedom now seems almost weightless.

We turn the corner onto a main street, where there’s more traffic.

Cars go by, black most of them, some gray and brown. There are other women with baskets, some in red, some in the dull green of the Marthas, some in the striped dresses, red and blue and green and cheap and skimpy, that mark the women of the poorer men.

Econowives, they’re called. These women are not divided into func­ tions. They have to do everything; if they can. Sometimes there is a woman all in black, a widow. There used to be more of them, but they seem to be diminishing.

You don’t see the Commanders’ Wives on the sidewalks. Only in cars.

The sidewalks here are cement. Like a child, I avoid stepping on the cracks. I’m remembering my feet on these sidewalks, in the time before,

“Aunts” are women who work for Gilead. They are responsible for overseeing the training and indoctrination of Handmaids, overseeing births and women’s executions.

“Marthas” are domestic servants to wealthy or high-ranking families.

Elisabeth Moss as Offred in a scene from the TV series The Handmaid’s Tale. Moss won an Emmy award for outstanding lead actress for this role in 2017

skimpy snau, for liten domestic husholdnings-/ hushaldsto diminish å redusere, å svekke

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CASE TWO REFERENDUM SPEECHES On the evening before the referendum on Scottish independence in 2014, the UK Prime Minister David Cameron delivered a final speech to activists of the Better Together campaign. That same evening Scotland’s First Minister Alex Salmond spoke to Yes Scotland supporters. Below are extracts from these two speeches: David Cameron: “We meet in a week that could change the United Kingdom forever. Indeed, it could end the United Kingdom as we know it. On Thursday, Scotland votes, and the future of our country is at stake. On Friday, people could be living in a different country, with a different place in the world and a different future ahead of it. This is a decision that could break up our family of nations, and rip Scotland from the rest of the UK. And we must be very clear. There’s no going back from this. No re-run. This is a once-and-for-all decision. If Scotland votes yes, the UK will split, and we will go our separate ways forever.

I want to speak directly to the people of this country today about what is at stake. I speak for millions of people across England, Wales and Northern Ireland – and many in Scotland, too, who would be utterly heart-­ broken by the break-up of the United Kingdom. Utterly The First Minister of Scotland Alex Salmond (left) and Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron sign the referendum agreement on October 15, 2012

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heart-broken to wake up on Friday morning to the end of the country we love, to know that Scots would no longer join with the English, Welsh and Northern Irish in our Army, Navy and Air Force, in our UK-wide celebrations and commemorations, in UK sporting teams from the Olympics to the British Lions.

The United Kingdom would be no more. No UK pensions, no UK passports, no UK pound. The greatest example of democracy the world has ever known, of openness, of people of different nationalities and faiths coming together as one, would be no more.

This would be the end of a country that people around the world respect and admire. The end of a country that all of us call home. And we built this home together. For the people of Scotland to walk away now would be like painstakingly building a home – and then walking out the door and throwing away the keys.

We are on a constant mission to change our country for the better. The question is: how do you get that change? For me it’s simple. You don’t get the change you want by ripping your country apart. You don’t get change by undermining your economy and damaging your businesses and diminishing your place in the world. But you can get real, concrete change on Thursday: if you vote No.”

Alex Salmond: “We meet on the eve of the most exciting day in Scottish democracy. And we meet here to celebrate, not to presume, not to pre-empt. We are the underdogs in this campaign as we always have been. We know that the Westminster establishment will throw everything they’ve got at us before the close of poll tomorrow night. And therefore it behoves each and every one of us, recognising that underdog status, to campaign with our utmost until 10 o’clock tomorrow evening to persuade our fellow citizens that independence is the right road forward for Scotland.

The reaction of the Westminster establishment to this demonstration of people power is telling, is it not?

It’s the reaction of a powerful few who believe that they always know what’s best for the many, that power should be in their hands. So the Westminster parties cobbled together separate, contradictory proposals for what they say are more powers, none of which offers any answers to the issues that this nation faces.

So tomorrow we can deliver for Scotland real power.

The power to choose hope over fear, opportunity over despair. We can write a new chapter in the story of this ancient nation. It’s the best opportunity we shall ever have to enshrine the things that we cherish most: Principles of equality and social justice. A National Health

Service properly funded and always in public hands.

Pensions guaranteed to a whole generation to whom we own such a debt. Job-creating powers for a powerhouse parliament offering hope to young people.

Developing a just welfare system that doesn’t penalise those with disabilities. And a chance to remove the obscenity of weapons of mass destruction from our soil.

If the vote goes against us, I pledge to accept that result with dignity and with respect for the people. But if the vote is Yes, I have no doubt whatsoever that there will cease to be a No campaign and a Yes campaign, there shall be a Team Scotland to take this nation forward.” (excerpts – sources: see p. 412)

TASKS a) Which of the two speeches do you find most convincing, and why? b) David Cameron was a centre-right politician, while Alex Salmond was on the left. How do you see this reflected in the issues they focus on? c) The No campaign was accused of relying on fear tactics in its campaign. Can you see any examples in Cameron’s speech? d) The Yes campaign was accused of making extravagant promises. Can you see any examples in S­ almond’s speech?

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CHAPTER 6:

The Divided States of America US Society Today

San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick (center) kneels with teammates during the national anthem before an NFL football game in 2016. “Taking the knee” started as a protest by Kaepernick against police brutality towards African Americans, but mushroomed into a divisive debate in a country roiled by racial strife

Competence aims in focus: The aims of the studies are to enable students to: Quiz: How much – elaborate on and discuss how key historical events and processes have affected do you know about the development of American society living in the USA? – elaborate on and discuss questions related to social and economic conditions in the United States – elaborate on and discuss current debates in the United States – elaborate on and discuss linguistically demanding texts with a social perspective – use information based on figures and statistics as a basis for communicating on social issues – present a major in-depth project with a topic from Social Studies English and assess the process (Translation: udir.no)

#MeToo: How a Hashtag ­Became a Rallying Cry Against Sexual Harassment

By Nadia Khomami

It started with a story detailing countless accu­ sations against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein. But soon, personal stories be­gan pouring in from women in all industries across the world, and the hashtag #MeToo became a rallying cry against sexual assault and harassment.

The movement began on social media after a call to action by the actor Alyssa Milano, one of Weinstein’s most vocal critics, who wrote: “If all the women who have been sexually harassed or assaulted wrote ‘Me too’ as a status, we might give people a sense of the magnitude of the problem.”

Within days, millions of women – and some men – used Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to disclose the harassment and abuse they have faced in their own lives. They included celebrities and public figures such as Björk and Olympic gymnast McKayla Maroney, as well as ordinary people who felt empowered to finally speak out. The story became a conversation about men’s behavior towards women and the misuse of power at the top.

“It is about so much more than Harvey Weinstein,” said Caroline Criado-Perez, cofounder of The Women’s Room. “That’s what #MeToo represents, it’s happened to pretty much every woman you know. I think it’s really important that we don’t allow this to become a story about this one bad guy who did these terrible things because he’s a monster, and to make it clear that actually, it’s not just monsters, it happens in every country every day to all women, and it’s done by friends,

colleagues, ‘good guys’ who care about the environment and children and even feminism, supposedly.”

The internet age has better equipped people to deal with these issues. Social media has democratized feminism, helping women to share experiences of sexual violence. “I don’t think we should underestimate how much of an impact is being made by the way in which women can just speak out about their experiences, because we’re just not represented in the news media, and films and literature,” said Criado-Perez. “Until the internet came along, we just weren’t having these conversations about what it’s like to be a woman, what it’s like to walk down the street and be harassed and cat-called.” (adapted – source: see p. 412) Editor’s note: The Merriam-Webster Dictionary Word of the Year for 2017 was feminism. It was the most looked up word throughout the year, with several spikes of interest that corresponded to various news reports and events.

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CASE THREE DAYS IN CHARLOTTESVILLE

By Amdé Mengistu, August 15, 2017 Amdé Mengistu is a writer for Harper’s Magazine. In the following he writes about a visit to his old college town – Charlottesville, Virginia – to observe a demonstration by members of far-right (also known as “alt-right”) ­organizations.

I love Charlottesville, so I couldn’t miss the Nazi party.

I wanted to go back to the town and feel my old home place. I wanted to truly resist, not by fighting back, but by giving an alt-right marcher a warm, black hug.

AUGUST 12 11:53 a.m. – I’m eating a flaky biscuit with Virginia ham when Will texts me: “Come out back if you wanna see some shit.” We go out the back door, through the parking lot and up to a street full of screaming ralliers of the American Right. It feels strangely familiar, like a perverted version of a UVa football gameday. Filled with the energy of the crowd I start shouting: “Wahoo-wa, Wahoo-wa, Uni-V-Virginny-Yah!” From the middle of the street, a burly white guy in jeans and a hunting vest sees me and his eyes bulge out with glee. He begins aping a gorilla and making loud monkey sounds. His impression was fantastic. I walk up to my buddy Will and he advises me, “oh, man, don’t engage, just observe.”

This is a very white event, from the scores of

marchers shouting past us, to their scattered onlookers on the curb. It is often hard to distinguish who was who.

I see more whites in Black Lives Matter gear than I do black people altogether.

Marching for the Right there are, as one might expect, grizzled, bearded men with Confederate flags and muddy work boots. But there are also metrosexual dudes heiling Hitler in brown leather oxfords. There are men in faux combat gear, with painted bike helmets, knee and elbow pads, broom handles and sticks, and goggles for the pepper spray. And there are men in real combat gear, with assault rifles, flak jackets and ammo belts. They have the outfits, if not the fitness, of actual soldiers – pot-bellied warriors of a generation raised on the American couch. Of the hundred white-supremacist marchers that pass us, maybe five are women. Will shakes his head and sighs, “I tell you what, this is not a place to pick up chicks.”

I look uphill at the rally site and see purple smoke wafting toward us, and the air begins to taste sharp and bitter. A young man in dark jeans and a white shirt grabs my shoulder with one hand, his other holding a rebel flag and a Plexigas shield. “Hey”, he says, “I just wanna apologize for that guy there” and he points to the fellow still whooping like a primate. The young man is full of conflict; his eyes well up with tears and he glances at his flag and back at me and said, “I don’t believe in that stuff and that’s not why …” I grab his

Charlottesville: Medics work on people run over by a white racist in a car

Glossary: see p. 416

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White nationalists, neo-Nazis and members of the “alt-right” during the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia

hand, thank him, and pull him into a hug. A Black Rebel hug. Behind him, someone yells “faggot,” and behind me someone scolds him, screaming that he has no right to apologize for his fellow marcher. The real minority in Charlottesville today are people with the ability to see their political opponents as fully human.

1:30 p.m. Back inside The Whiskey Jar – A young, white photographer with an excellent camera and a blond ponytail sits next to me at the bar. He scrolls through his footage taken moments ago and jumps up, hollering, “yes!” when he gets to a clip of a neo-Nazi getting pummeled. He notes my disgust and says, “I only like it when it’s them gettin’ hit, you know …”

I overhear two distraught women tell Will they just saw a car run over a person and I hear ambulances screaming outside. I walk toward the action and two white men are holding up a young woman with long black hair; she’s an Asian-American cradling her elbow, red with blood. She and at least two others must have been knocked off their feet, because she’s wearing two mismatched sneakers, neither of which fit her. I think, this is what it takes to walk in other Americans’ shoes.

Water Street is full of people and blood and sobbing and shock. Photographers are shooting at a crying girl on a gurney and a woman yells at them, “Stop taking pictures! She’s just a child! You’re disgusting!”

2:30 p.m. – Writers and politicians tweet out their

disapproval. Moral rot fells their party so low that con­ser­ va­tives claim moral high ground by denouncing Nazis.

Many still struggle to distinguish between the hate of White Supremacy and the haters of White Supremacy.

6:30 p.m. Sundown Town – I walk back in a daze to the safety of Starr Hill. I don’t yet know how many people were killed and I can imagine one of the day’s gunmen scoping me as a potential conquest. I just hope Trump supporters are tired of all the winning. I ride out of town to Will’s farm before nightfall. (excerpts – source: see p. 412) TASKS a) Judging from the event described in this text, do you think the far right should be banned from holding demonstrations in the future or should they still have their democratic right to protest? b) The author notes that “This is a very white event. I see more whites in Black Lives Matter gear than I do black people altogether.” Why is this an ironic statement? c) “The real minority in Charlottesville today are people with the ability to see their political opponents as fully human. “ What does Mengistu mean by that? Do you agree? d) Discuss the irony in the sentence “I think, this is what it takes to walk in other Americans’ shoes.”

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TASKS 1 AFTER READING

5 TERMS FOR RACE

Go back to the stereotypes about black Americans you discussed before you began reading. Can you connect any of them to the information you have been given in this article? How can such stereotypes best be combated?

Through the years many terms have been used to denote the people taken from Africa and forced into slavery in the United States. Here are a few:

2 WHAT HAPPENED WHEN? Here are some important dates in black American history. Write a sentence for each, explaining what took place that year. (You may want to design a timeline – such as the one on p. 14.)

1619 – 1787 – 1808 – 1861 – 1865 – 1877 – 1896 – 1909 – 1948 – 1954 – 1963 – 1964 – 1968 – 2008 – 2012 – 2013 – 2016

3 DISCUSSION a

Does what you have read about the situation of blacks in America today make you more optimistic or more pessimistic about their future? Why? b What impact did the election of Barack Obama as president have on the black community in the United States, do you think? c What American black person has most recently caught your eye? In what field does this person work? What was it about this person you found memorable? Compare your answers with those of two other students. d+ Some argue that literature should stay away from politics. Others believe that there is no literature that is not in some way political. Use the poem on p.

358 as a point of departure to discuss these views.

4 VOCABULARY a

Find words in the text that mean the same as these Norwegian words: integrering – (rase)skille/skilje – attentat – borgerrettigheter/borgarrettar – opprør – jevnbyrdig/ jambyrdig b+ Without using your dictionary, write brief definitions in English for each of the following nouns. Then make a sentence using each. Finally, compare your definitions with your English-English dictionary’s. abolitionism – welfare program – segregation – civil rights – suppression – racism – non-violence – supremacist – discrimination

370 Chapter 6

– “Negro” is a term derived from Spanish (for black) and used by both slave owners, Abolitionists, freed slaves and others up to the 1950s.

– “Colored” is a somewhat wider term that has also been applied to Native Americans and Asians, as well as blacks, through the years.

– “Black” is a term used alternately by racists in the South during segregation and by both the Civil Rights Movement and the militant Black Power movement in the North in the 1950s and 1960s.

It is considered a neutral term today.

– “Afro-American” or “African American” is a term popular since the early 20th century, but particularly since the 1970s.

– “Nigger” (derived from Negro) is a negative term used by white racists since slavery began, but it also has a long history of use within the black community, particularly in poor urban neighborhoods. Rap artists use it about themselves and others as a mark of identification with poor and oppressed blacks. It is often then spelled with a “z” – “Niggaz.”

Before desegregation in the Deep South

a

Which of these terms have you heard or read most often? Where? b Which of these terms would you choose to use if you were to write about the issue? c Place the terms in the order you find most acceptable to least acceptable. Compare your ranking with that of other pupils and defend your choices.

6 WRITING Choose one task. See the Text Analysis Course at access.cdu.no for help on genres. a Write a short expository essay in which you take one of the the following viewpoints: “The election and re-election of Barack Obama as president changed/ did not change the fundamental situation of blacks in America.” b You are a Norwegian exchange student in the USA. Your social studies teacher asks you to give a brief talk to your American class about the relationship between different ethnic groups in Norway. Write the manuscript for your speech. c+ Racism is found in many forms and in many countries. What is it that they all have in common? Write a personal text in which you outline what you see as the basic characteristics of racism around the world. d+ Using “Strange Fruit” (p. 358) and the information in the Focus text as your point of departure, write a text in which you discuss what blacks have endured in America.

8 QUICK RESEARCH Choose one task. a Work in pairs. Choose one person from the list below and write a brief biography of him or her in your own words.

Rosa Parks – Langston Hughes – Alice Walker – Robert Johnson – Toni Morrison – Malcolm X – Spike Lee – Muhammad Ali – Billie Holiday – Louis Armstrong – Denzel Washington – Alex Haley – Kanye West – ­Thurgood Marshall – LeBron James – Miles Davis – Sammy Davis, Jr. – Jay Z – Michelle Obama – Michael Jordan – Will Smith – Oprah Winfrey – Alicia Garza b How active is the Black Lives Matter movement c­ urrently? c What actually happened at the demonstrations in Charlottesville? Make a short report, including what happened to the person who ran over a demon­ strator. d Find out what “taking the knee” means, and what controversies this phenomenon has sparked. e Who were the “Little Rock Nine”?

7 ANALYSIS – “THREE DAYS IN CHARLOTTESVILLE” a

Rewrite this text (p. 368) from a third-person point of view. You can begin with, “Amdé Mengistu arrived in his old college town on August 15, 2017 with the intention of giving …” Then explain how this changes the tone and impact of the text. b Check out the genre characteristics in the Text ­Analysis Course at access.cdu.no and then write a paragraph in which you analyze what kind of text “Three Days in Charlottesville” is. How effective is the way the writer has written this text in terms of connecting with the reader?

Little Rock, Arkansas, 1957: Elizabeth Eckford is met with hostile screams and stares from fellow students and onlookers on her first day of school

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The following article examines the American system of justice. In doing so, it focu­ ses particularly on the relationship between law enforcement and the black com­ munity in the United States.

What are your impressions of prisons in the United States? Where did you get these impressions from?

?

Darkness in America

You are afraid all the time, and there is good reason to fear. You are alone with enemies all around you. No one cares about you. You can be attacked where you are, but it is more dangerous when you must move in the open. Groups roam the territory looking for victims. You cannot hide. There is no authority to call on that you trust. Over and over you ask, “How did it come to this?” But it has come to this for the foreseeable future.

Who are you? Where are you? You are not a soldier or a spy on some mission in a foreign land. You are not an undercover agent. You are not an explorer in some alien Jungle. You are an inmate in an American prison.

These words come from Robert A. Ferguson’s book Inferno: An Ana­ tomy of American Punishment. It is one of a number of books and articles that have come out over the past years exposing and criticizing the American courts and prison systems from a variety of perspectives.

Why has this issue become an increasingly important part of public and political debates in the USA?

to examine å undersøke, å granske law enforcement politiet, politimyndighetene / politiet, politimyndigheitene to roam å streife omkring inmate innsatt, fange / innsett, fange to expose å avsløre

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Incarcerated Americans 1920–2017 2.5

2.0

Millions

1.5

Prison 1.0

0.5

0 1920

Jail

1930

1940

1950

1960

1970

1980

Year

1990

2000

2010

2017

Juvenile Detention

Note: Prisons are run by the state or federal government. Jails are run by local authorities.

Source: see p. 412.

holds more inmates in its jails and prisons than do France, the UK, Germany, Japan, Singapore, and the Netherlands combined.

Moreover, the punishments to which these prisoners are subject have become harsher as the decades have gone by. For example, though solitary confinement is defined as torture by international law, at least 80,000 American prisoners are being held in complete isolation. It has even come to be considered normal procedure in many “Supermax” (maximum security) prisons, the number of which has increased from 1 to 53 since 1984. Similarly, today at least 162,000 inmates are serving life sentences. That is one in every nine inmates, a huge increase since the 1980s. To many observers, the American system of justice seems to have spiraled out of control. This is one reason for the increasing attention it has gotten.

Whose justice?

There is another, equally important reason why this issue is gaining more public attention. Justice is supposed to be “blind” – that is, it is supposed to be equally applied to everyone irrespective of background.

But many claim that this is not the case in America. There is one group

solitary confinement (plassering i) enecelle, isolat / (plassering i) einecelle, isolat irrespective of uten hensyn til, uten tanke på / utan omsyn til, utan tanke på

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execution henrettelse/ avretting rampant voldsom/enorm fine bot

382 Chapter 6

which suffers more than others: black Americans. Blacks are only 12– 13% of the population of the USA, but they make up 39% of its prison population. About half of all the prisoners serving life sentences are black. Of prisoners awaiting execution on “death row”, over 40% are black. In general, one in every three black men in America can expect to spend some time in prison, compared to only one in every seventeen white men. The author of Inferno has pointed out that an African American man has a better chance of going to prison than going to college, getting married or going into the military.

The reasons for this imbalance are many and complicated. One is certainly that more blacks live in poverty than most Americans do – and it is among the poor that crime rates are higher everywhere. Another reason is that many blacks live in run-down central city areas where gangs, drugs and crime are rampant. And of course, the discrimination of blacks described in this chapter, the bitter, destructive legacy of slavery and segregation, plays a part in this as well.

In addition to these factors, blacks are often subject to “racial profiling” by the American justice system – to being singled out by the police and the courts for fines, arrest, trial and imprisonment at a much

WRITING COURSE 4: ANSWERING EXAM TASKS At access.cdu.no you will find the Text Analysis Course for this book (see “Introduction” on p. 72) and the Writing Courses and Text ­Analysis Courses for Access to International

English. Taken together, these courses and the Writing Course in this textbook will prepare you for answering the exam tasks.

COURSES AT ACCESS.CDU.NO: Writing Courses Vg2

Text Analysis Courses Vg2

Text Analysis Courses Vg3

Writing Paragraphs

What Is Text Analysis?

Genre Characteristics

Text Coherence

Informal and Formal Language

Expository and Analytical Genres

Essays

Language Features and Their Effect

Persuasive Genres

Evaluating and Using Sources

Rhetorical Devices and Their Effect

Personal and Expressive Genres

Literary Devices and Their Effect

Four Text Types

Analysing Genres

Working with Statistics

The Directorate of Education and Training has also produced Exam Reports where the exam committee reviews spring exams and explains the tasks and what is expected of a good answer. These are available on the Directorate’s website (udir.no). Another important document on the Directorate’s website is the Kjennetegn på måloppnåelse. Examiners use this document when setting exam grades. Read it carefully to understand what is expected of you.

The exam Currently, there are two parts to the exam. The first part comprises Task 1a and Task 1b, referred to as the short tasks, usually with a thematic link to each other. The second part of the exam, Task 2, currently has four tasks where the student chooses one and writes a long text.

In the three texts you write, you should strive to be as coherent as possible, using linking words and developing your ideas and responses to the tasks as clearly as possible. There should be a logical progression between words, sentences and paragraphs. Use the Writing Courses in this book and at access.cdu.no to learn how to write better exam texts.

The grade for the exam is based on a holistic assessment of the entire paper, so to get a good grade, you will have to do a good job on all three tasks.

Task 1a This task tends to focus on the first two of the three sections in the curriculum (language and communication). You are asked to look for language features and/or literary devices in a text, for example a speech, article, commentary or advertisement. Typically, the question asks: Briefly comment on the effect of language ­features and/or literary devices in the text below. Use examples in your answer.

The problem many students have is that they tend to write about the content of the provided text, but the task instruction is to comment on the effect of some of the language and/or literary devices in the text. The conjunction “and/ or” means you could look at both or focus on either language features or literary devices.

Here is a brief extract from a Task 1a from an earlier exam. The instruction was the one given above. The text is an extract from a speech from then-President Barack Obama about racial violence in the US. Writing Course 4

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