Monday, 6^th January 2014

   An expected opposition of the Cold War :

the chess match between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky in 1972

  by MATHIS Emilie, MAAMERI Louiza et ARZIMAN Manon

 We have been working  in a cross curricular project on the media; ("Means and places of power").

This article is taken from the Washington Post, a famous American newspaper. It was published on January 19^th 2008, two days after the death of the American genius chess master, Bobby Fisher. This document entitled “Bobby Fischer, World Champion Known as the “Bad Boy of Chess” was written by Joe Holley, a Washington Post Staff Writer.

The article deals with the genius chess master Bobby Fisher and describes his life and his career in a few lines. He played a major part in the Cold War, which was a political and ideological opposition between the USA and the USSR that started after mid-1940's and lasted to the early 1990's. He (an Amrican)  won the World Championship against Boris Spassky (A Russian)  in 1972 and thanks to his victory, he reinforced the American supremacy to the detriment of the Soviets.

We can rely on this article because it was published in a worldwilde famous newspaper which is the Washington Post and the journalist only talks about facts and doesn't give his own opinion.

Fischer died on January 17^th 2008 in a hospital in Rejkavik in Iceland, because of kidney failure. He is still considered by many people as the greatest chess player in the  world, even if his behaviour was quite strange and if  his political ideas were debatable.

We chose this document because it is a contemporary one but also because it deals with Bobby Fischer’s death. Moreover, this event was largely  covered since it was related to the Cold War and it reminded us of Bobby Fischer’s past . Besides, we wanted to see the American point of view, that’s why we chose to study an article published by an American newspaper, like the famous Washington Post.

THE CHESS MATCH OF THE CENTURY

Written by BLATTER Elise, SPEISSER Eve, WASSER Sarah & WINNINGER Mathilde

The document we chose is a caricature taken from the newspaper "Los Angeles Times" (the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the USA), published on Monday 7th August 1972.  It was realized by Frank Interlandi, an L.A. Times editorial cartoonist, so we can rely on it as this newspaper is distributed all over the USA.

This document was made in the middle of the World Chess Championship (US - Bobby Fischer against USSR - Boris Spassky), approximately during the 12-13^th games.  This match was an unexpected opposition of the Cold War between 1947 and 1991 which divided the two countries and the entire world.  Indeed, the confrontation between these two grandmasters took place from July 11th through September 1^st 1972 in Reykjavik, Iceland.

First of all, we wanted to study an picture rather than an article because it may be more meaningful. Then, this document is focused on an American point of view during the chess match of the century.

Indeed, with this caricature we can understand how Fischer was considered in the eyes of the Americans. So we can compare him to the soviet Spassky.

We can see a mistreated woman which is holding a billboard in her hand on which is written "Hooray for Bobby Fischer»: it means that Bobby Fischer wasn't appreciated by the Americans, contrary to Boris Spassky who was well-trained, very charming and popular in his homeland.

The caption written at the bottom of the picture "I must be the only one in the country who appreciates genius!" means that Fischer was a chess genius for the American people but also a gamesmanship with a lot of requests.

 Apparently, Fischer had just one supporter in the US whereas Spassky was supported by the entire soviet nation and a team.

With this document, we can understand that as well as being a chess genius, Fischer was perceived by most of people as someone being pathologically paranoiac, an arrogant gamesmanship and even a degenerate. Indeed, he was devoured by fame which drove him to madness.

We can also say that the two players didn’t stand on equal terms because of their different personalities: Fischer a temperamental person against Spassky a serious-minded and cultivated person. Moreover, Spassky had a lot of supporters all over his country contrary to Fischer who was mainly criticized…

However, Fischer’s genius has finally allowed him to win the chess match against Spassky.  Therefore,  he became the first American to receive the title: Chess champion of the World. After all, the eccentric Fischer is definitely the master ... of chess…

Reviewing a performance

by Inès Haller

The performance was called An ultimate decision. It took place on Monday 17th March 2014, at our High school . Shane, Rory, Mollie and Eve were the diferent characters in  the play. The person who wrote the performance was Xavier Hock.

The performance fell into a comedy andeven more specifically  into a romantic comedy because of the love story between Mollie and Rory.

The actors were good. They were  deeply involved in  their characters. The characters were stereotypical. Mollie stood out because she was the main character. The actors used their voices, movements and gestures a lot. There was sometimes dancing and clapping in the hands .... and the actors moved a lot across the stage. We liked all the actings.

The stage was bare, it wasn’t decorated. From my point of view we didn’t need a pompous set because the  costumes told the story. The lighting was effective. It captured the attention of the spectators. We noticed different props like a water gun, a hat and a book. The technical aspects of the performance ran smoothly.

During the performance we were interested and a little bit upset because, at some points, the story was hard to understand. The audience was interested and implied into the play. The students who took part to the play were good but some of them were a bit too shy. We could wonder what was going to happen afterwards. I recommend this play to others because the story is interesting and funny.

An Ultimate Decision

 On The 17th March, our class met the "Red Eagle" and watched their performance called “An Ultimate Decision” which took place at the lycée Leclerc. It was an EITC production with 4 actors, 2 men: DANIEL ANDREWS and JACK SIMPSON and 2 girls: JENNA SAIZ and RACHEL WILE. The play was  a comedy written by Xavier Hock and performed by: EITC.

 Now let’s speak about the acting! Although every actor portrayed his character differently, they had a common point: they enjoyed the acting and had fun at playing their roles. We could not imagine that the characters could be interpreted in another way. Some characters were shallow, like Jim, Jesse and Miss Twining and if we take Molly, she was a stereotypical character because, as  she was an artist , she wore glasses, and pink overalls. (the props for an intellectual character: the glasses and artistic fantasy: the pink overalls) If someone asked us if an actor stood out in this play, we would unhesitatingly answer “Yes, Jack Simpson amazed us with his overacted playing”. Indeed, although every actor had exaggerated gesture and movements, Jack was the best at using his voice ....to hurt our ears.

 The set was simple but not bare. We could just see a curtain on the right and on the left . The curtain was black. Even if the set was simple, it showed well the theme of the play: two different worlds, the world of imagination and the real world. Only the stage was illuminated. There were some spotlights which focused on the actors. Costumes were different in both worlds. In the real world they were dressed "normally". In the Realm of Imagination they were dressed with bright colors, with Harlequin clothes, showing the colourful world of imagination. There were different props like Mollie's book, the guitar and the water gun. We were particularly surprised when the actor wet the public with the water gun. For us that was the funniest part. (OK it was an easy trick...but it worked!) Without the costumes and the curtain to show us the different worlds, we would have had difficulties to understand.

From our point of view this performance was very well played, even if we understood the girls better than the boys. They shouted less, so their part was more understandable. During the play we were interested and entertained because the actors played with the students. The audience laughed a lot and danced with the actors. The pupils playing in the performance were very good too. They learned their part well and looked like real actors. I certainly recommend this play to my friends because the actors were really kind. They played well with the audience but they spoke fast. Even if we did not understand everything it was a very good experience. The funniest moment was when students danced with the actors. The end was slightly predictable. To conclude the performance was very funny and very interesting for us.

Electing a mayor - The French elections

By Gabriel Sutter In France, the president is elected every 5 years by all French  citizens. There are "regions", divided into multiple" departments", and the smallest democratic  scale is the  local council.. It represents the next door democracy. The local council is the smallest administrative subdivision in France but it is also the oldest, because it succeeded to cities and parishes oduring the Middle Ages. Every local council has a mayor at its head, helped by tdeputy mayors. On January 1st, 2014 we counted 36 681 municipalities, among which 36 552 in mainland France.

             The elections (how to be a candidate, how to vote)

First, the Frenchman who wants to be the  mayor of a village or a town has various manners to be candidate. It depends on the size of the municipality. If there are more than 1000 inhabitants in the municipality, candidates group together on a list. This list is a group of people who would like to be in the local council. At the elections, the electors vote for the whole list, for the whole group.

With fewer than 1000 inhabitants, candidates sset up a list too, but elections are different : electors needn’t vote for the whole list, they can vote for individual candidates.

The number of candidates depends on the size (the number of inhabitants) of the municipality, and there has to be  gender equality in municipalities (since 2014).

To vote, a citizen has to register on an electoral list at the local City Hall before the 31^st of December preceding the elections. He must be over 18, be a French citizen and have all his civil rights . Things changed in 2014. Indeed, European citizens  could vote, provided that they were registered and of age.

 The elections (statistics ,reactions on the new changes of 2014 and new practices)

In 2014, the community councillors were composed of 60% men and 40% women. Actually, local councils with fewer than 1000 inhabitants needn’t have a gender equality. In 2008, towns  with more than 3500 inhabitants had to respect  gender equality, but in 2014 the threshold was  lowered. However, 26 878 municipalities are still not concerned. In small villages, only 35% of women were elected. According to the figures of "Insee", they were only 21 % in 1995 and 34,8 % during the last elections, in 2008. They are 40 per cent now.

Besides, municipalities collaborate very often with their neighbouring communities.They have  common duties or  interests such as  the garbage collection, the building of roads and other means of  communication.

            In 2014, the biggest defeat of the local elections was for the Socialist Party (left winged party), they lost 155 cities of 9000 inhabitants. The FN (extreme right party) won about 10 local councils and mayors. The UMP (right winged party) is the big winner of these elections, they won many seats.

The Right are credited 45,91%votes, when the Left wins 40,57% of the votes.

The FN won more councils than expected, they won  1,2% of the communities. The PS lost 16% of the communities of those gained in 2008.

             In Strasbourg, Roland Ries, the socialist candidate, was elected. In Alsace the trends are the same as on the national scale. Mainly  right winged parties  won the elections.In Alsace, right winged political parties have been the most represented for years.

             After these elections,which were a failure for the socialist party, the government was reorganized and a new Prime minister (Manuel Vals) was promoted.

Sutter Gabriel - 1S1 - Anglais - Electing a mayor - The French elections

http://www.fusac.fr/understanding-municipal-elections-france/