Places and Forms of Power notion PDF

Preview

Summary

Notion lieux et formes de pouvoirs...

Description

Places and forms of power I have chosen to introduce the notion of Places and forms of power, but first I would like to define it. The word “power” defines the ability to influence people, whether it is in politics or in social science. People with power have the ability to make things happen. As for the term “places”, it represents important institutions such as the United States, a powerful country. We can wonder to what extent images strongly influence immigration in the United States. We will first see the power of the image, in order to show the social and political powers. (Presentation des documents) The border between Mexico and the United States is one of the longest borders of the world. Because of the high rate of poverty in Mexico, many Mexicans try to cross the border hoping for a better future, a better life. President Trump being against the Mexican immigration put in place a new reform in order to restrain the number of incoming illegal immigrants. He decided to separate children from their parents when arriving at the border since the children are innocent, they can be taken care of, but the parents, coming illegally can’t get the same care. John Moore, a Pulitzer Prizewinning photographer is photographing Mexican immigrants crossing the border with the United States. His pictures have been seen by millions of people, but one of them became a symbol of the immigration debate in America. This picture was then used on the front cover of the Times, a famous American newspaper. The two-year-old girl crying from John Moore’s picture is here facing President Donald Trump, looking down at her, almost smiling, with a caption on the side saying, “Welcome to America”. Through this picture, we can see the power of the image, criticizing a facet of the society, and in this case, American politics. It was in order to refrain immigration into the United States, that President Trump gave a new role to the ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement). Because of this new role, some protests were made all over the United States. On a lot of signs, we can read “I prefer crushed ICE”, meaning that they disagree with the new policy. These images were seen everywhere on the globe, and more and more protests were made to stop this new policy. Ever since Mexican immigration started in the United States, the debate of whether or not the United States should allow Mexican to cross the border is predominant in the medias. It has always been a mixed feeling for the population. The cartoon (p. 124) expresses this mixed feeling. Indeed, it represents a Mexican man standing in front of a wall from which Uncle Sam is handing him his hand in order to make him cross. But the whole in the wall is rather small, and the Mexican man will not be able to cross. This cartoon shows that Americans want to help the Mexicans, but at the same time they don’t think that is it such a good idea. The power of the image is stronger than one may think, and has an impact on the social and political powers. In the United States, the social and political powers are very important. In order to maintain a cohesion in the society, the President has to sometimes renounce on his policies. Regarding the policy about separating children from their parents that are then being detained for coming to the country illegally, President Trump had to sign an executive order some time after its start in order to stop it. Indeed, this practice created a widespread criticism from the population, but also from across the political spectrum. Until President Trump’s mandate, the conditions for illegal immigrants were not good, but the families stayed together. But as soon as Donald Trump was elected president, his campaign being led with the argument of keeping immigrants out of the country, with the help of the construction of the wall at the border, he put up in place ICE’s new

policy. Both the social and political powers influenced by the power of the image which played an important role in ending Trump’s policy. Also, a main issue is raising with the number of immigrants decreasing. In fact, the United States’ economy relies partly on low-wage immigrants, usually working in farms where a lot of Americans do not want to work. As it is represented in the cartoon (p.124), the consumers, meaning the American population cannot live without the help of immigrants. The workforce being so cheap for immigrants, the country is saving a lot of its money. The power of the image influences both the social and political powers that are more than involved with the situation concerning the whole country, and the well-being of its economy. Thanks to the power of the image, the population can realize they have to do something about the situation. But despite the fact that they realize it, they may not be able to do anything, the population not having as much power as the President does. To conclude, we can say that the power of the image influences both the political and social power in the United States, but sometimes it is not enough....