Vivonne's Euro 4 and Euro3

Today Marion has chosen to speak about Joseph John Kony and the video about him on the Net.

A brief reminder of who he is , seems necessary:  he is the head of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), a Ugandan guerrilla group.

While initially enjoying strong public support, the LRA turned on its own supporters, supposedly to "purify" the Acholi people & turn Uganda into a theocracy ( a form of government under divine guidance).  Kony proclaims himself the spokesperson of God  ( porte-parole)  &

 a spirit medium, has nurtured a cult of personality, and claims he is visited by a multinational host of 13 spirits, including a Chinese phantom.

He ordered the abduction( enlèvement)  of children to become child-sex slaves and child soldiers. About 66,000 children became soldiers and two million people have been internally displaced since 1986 In 2005, Kony was indicted for war crimes and crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, but has evaded capture.

On March 5^th  a  30-minute documentary entitled Kony 2012 for the campaign group Invisible Children Inc was released.The intention of the production is to draw attention to Kony in an effort to increase United States involvement in the issue. By  March 17^th, the video has

been viewed more than 80 million times .

The group Invisible Children describes itself as a movement seeking to end the conflict in Uganda

However  some activists have voiced concerns about the methods used by Invisible Children, such as manipulating the facts, to promote its cause.

So, watch Marion’s presentation again , watch the video and try to answer Marion’s question : do you think this big campaign could accelerate  the work of the investigators ? is it only to increase our awareness of such horrible facts ( nous sensibiliser) Has  Invisible Children  used the video to promote its ideas ?

Here is the link to the video : http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/uganda/9129085/Joseph-Kony-2012-online-video-campaign-to-bring-Uganda-war-criminal-to-justice-goes-viral.html

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Today, we’ve listened to an oral presentation about Commonwealth Day by Raphaël and Léo ( who this time hasn’t forgotten his USB key  !) Last week, they made delicious Nutella^TM-filled slices !

You can see how pleased they look

 Since 1994 a theme has been chosen for Commonwealth Day  and this year ( on March 12^th), it was Connecting Cultures. 

What they have not really mentioned is what the Commonwealth is.

The Commonwealth is a voluntary association of 54 independent countries, almost all of which were formerly under British rule.

The origins of the Commonwealth come from Britain's former Empire. Many of the members of the Commonwealth were territories which had historically come under British rule at various times by settlement, conquest or cession.

After achieving independence, India was the first of a number of countries which decided that, although they wished to become republics, they still wanted to remain within the Commonwealth.

To reconcile these aims, the 1949 London Declaration recognised King George VI as Head of the Commonwealth. Following his death, the Commonwealth leaders recognised Queen Elizabeth II in that capacity.

Each year, The Queen attends the Commonwealth Day celebrations in London. Since 1977, Commonwealth Day has been celebrated throughout the Commonwealth on the second Monday in March.

On that occasion , The Queen delivers an address to the Commonwealth, broadcast throughout the world.http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/video/video-queens-commonwealth-day-event-features-rufus-wainwright/article2367037/

Every four years , there are the Commonwealth Games

If you want to look at the complete list , you can go here : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Member_states_of_the_Commonwealth_of_Nations

The largest member of the Commonwealth is Canada, at nearly 10 million square kilometres.

The most populous Commonwealth country is India, with nearly 1.1 billion people.

The smallest member is Nauru, with only 13,000 inhabitants.

You’ll find attached the nice slideshow they have made( 2 formats)

Today  Yuto and Elias have made an oral presentation on Australia day which is  on the 26th of January. Nice chocolate cakes  too !

General information

Before learning more about it , you should first know a bit more about Australia, so read the page here : http://panique.com.au/trishansoz/index1.html   

You should also know about the flag which is also called the Commonwealth Blue Ensign. It has three main design elements on a deep blue background:

• The British Union Jack flag is in the upper left corner - noting Australia's ties to Great Britain
• The Southern cross  constellation (5 stars) is on the right side of the flag - the Southern Cross is a major navigational constellation in the Southern Hemisphere
• The large, white, seven-pointed Commonwealth Star (also called the Star of Federation) - it is symbolic of the original states of Australia.

Australia Day : History   The colonization  of Australia by the English :

    In 1770 an expedition from England lead by Captain James Cook sailed to the south pacific. They were supposed to make astronomical observations. But Captain Cook also had secret orders from the British Admiralty to find the southern continent.

They landed in a bay on the east coast on the 29th of April 1770. Cook first called this place Stingray Bay, then he changed it to Botanist Bay and finally called it Botany Bay because of all the strange and unusual plants there.

He called this new land New Wales and then changed it to New South Wales. He claimed the land for England (even though the land already belonged to the Aborigines).

 A penal colony : They decided to establish a penal colony by bringing convicts ( bagnards).The  first fleet arrived in Botany Bay but the landing party was not impressed with the site, and moved the fleet to Port Jackson and settled in Sydney Cove on January, 26^th 1788.751 convicts and their children disembarked, along with 252 marines and their families.

The vast majority of the convicts to Australia were English and Welsh (70%), Irish (24%) or Scottish (5%),Most of the convicts were thieves who had been convicted in the great cities of England. Only those sentenced in Ireland were likely to have been convicted of rural crimes.

Two more convict fleets arrived in 1790 and 1791, and the first free settlers arrived in 1793. From 1788 to 1823, the Colony of New South Wales was officially a penal colony comprised mainly of convicts, soldiers and the wives of soldiers.

è So  Australia Day commemorates the arrival of the First Fleet at Sydney Cove in 1788.

How is it celebrated

Outdoor concerts, community barbecues, sports competitions, festivals and fireworks are some of the many events presented in communities across Australia.

The Order of Australia awards are also a feature of the day. The Governor-General and Prime Minister both address to the nation. On the eve of Australia Day each year, the Prime Minister announces the winner of the Australian of the Year award, presented to an Australian citizen who has shown a "significant contribution to the Australian community and nation", and is an "inspirational role model for the Australian community".

One of the highlights of the day is the regatta : to be viewed here : http://australiadayregatta.com.au/

Today we’ve listened to an oral presentation on the American and English Bills of Rights By Timothée and Léo.

Thanks for their nice chocolate cake which was supposed to represent the flag of England ( The Cross of Saint Georges) Unfortunately , the icing has melted a bit. It was nonetheless very good.

Here is what you should remember…

The English Bill of Rights  

General information

The Bill of Rights is an act of the Parliament of England

The Bill of Rights was passed by Parliament on 16 December 1689.

After Catholic oriented King James II abdicated his throne, following the Glorious Revolution, a statutory form of Declaration of Rights was presented to William and Mary in February 1689, by the Convention Parliament, inviting them to become joint sovereigns of the kingdoms of England and Scotland.

Its contents

It limited the power of the monarchy

·         The royal power to suspend and dispense with law was abolished

·         the crown was forbidden to levy taxation or maintain a standing army in peacetime without parliamentary consent.

·         It also included the right to bear arms for self defense and right to petition the monarchy.

·         the succession should pass to the heirs of Mary, then to Princess Anne (later queen) and her heirs

·          no Roman Catholic could ever be sovereign of England.

è By its provisions and implications it gave political supremacy to Parliament and was supplemented (1701) by the Act of Settlement.

èIt reestablished the liberty of Protestants to have arms for their defense within the rule of law

The Bill of Rights (1688 or 1689) was one of the inspirations for the United States Bill of Rights

The American Bill of Rights  

General information

It  is the collective name for the first ten amendments to the United States Constitution. 

When the Constitution was ratified in 1789, many people were concerned that it did not protect certain freedoms. They thought that the Constitution should be changed or amended to protect these freedoms. On December 15, 1791, ten amendments were added to the Constitution. These amendments guarantee certain freedoms and rights, so they are known as the Bill of Rights.

Some of the freedoms and rights protected in the Bill of Rights include:

• Freedom of Religion
• Freedom of Assembly
• To Keep and Bear Arms
• Freedom of Speech
• Freedom of the Press
• Protection for those Accused of Crimes

They were introduced by James Madison to the First United States Congress in 1789 as a series of legislative articles.
They came into effect as Constitutional Amendments on December 15, 1791, through the process of ratification by three-fourths of the States

Further details

You can watch thisslideshow which is very informative: http://madison-ms.lausd.k12.ca.us/kashj/ushistory/rights.htm, or here http://www.texaslre.org/downloads/bore.pdf  

Then if you feel like it ,  you can test your knowledge with this game : http://www.texaslre.org/BOR/billofrights.html