3.3-+Democracy+is+YOU

** This page will be open till the __13th December.__ Just on time for the 1st term evaluation if you have not yet done anything or very little on the WIKI. Don't you think so?:)) Come on, will you? Please, edit the page and make my day, OK? ** ** a. How can you justify this title? Is it possible that sometimes we owe a lot to only a few? ** **Think of Winston Churchill's Speech in the House of Commons:** "The gratitude of every home in our Island, in our Empire, and indeed throughout the world, except in the abodes of the guilty, goes out to the British airmen who, undaunted by odds, unwearied in their constant challenge and mortal danger, are turning the tide of the World War by their prowess and by their devotion. ** Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few. ** All hearts go out to the fighter pilots, whose brilliant actions we see with our own eyes day after day; but we must never forget that all the time, night after night, month after month, our bomber squadrons travel far into Germany, find their targets in the darkness by the highest navigational skill, aim their attacks, often under the heaviest fire, often with serious loss, with deliberate careful discrimination, and inflict shattering blows upon the whole of the technical and war-making structure of the Nazi power." ** Can you think of any other similar situations in the course of history when the same happened? **
 * 3. 3. Democracy is YOU **

I think that anyone who gives their live for the nation, should be considered as a hero. For example, the police, they always put their lifes at risk in order to give us, civilians, protection and safety, so we owe them a lot. Therefore, before we judge them for their astonishing heavy weight, and by the fact that 'donuts' are their god, we must remember what they do to turn this world into a non-violent-world .- Nuno Branco12F I agree with Nuno because not evry patriote can be considered as a hero. as he said he have to think about the ones who save our lifes everyday, such as police men and firemen. There are around the world many people who did courageous acts and they are not recognized by anyone. Mariana Ferreira 12th F


 * Well i don't think that it is completely true, it depends on the cases, there are some few times when actually there is a small group of people that accomplished something big, but I think in most cases it's the "power" of many people that converges into a small group enabling it to accomplish something, and most of the time I think that's what happens, it's not a single person but many people that can make change. For example, soldiers are con decorated heroes and everyone knows that, mostly because they risk their lives every day to help their countries when they're in war, but most of the time people forget that behind them there are thousands of man struggling around computers, communicating with the battleground and planing everything so that most of those soldiers on the battlefield can come back alive to the ones they love . Even policemen and firemen, what could they do without the support of donors or the technology they use today to better do their job, of course they are the ones doing it, but it's those little things that make it so much safe and easy, and still most of the times we think of one instead of the rest. The small group accomplishes things but without a larger group's help, such is almost impossible.** // Diogo Pinto //

=== Well, for me there is a huge variety of situations in which the whole society owes to one or few. To start, those who invented things that are ordinary to us and are part of our everyday lives, but where somewhere in time created by someone who had a briliant idea or dedicated his entire life to research. Things that have no direct relation to democracy but are indeed crucial for the society's development. For example, there were some events in our country's history that were due to te courage of a minority. The first that comes to my mind in the revolution of 1974. Although it takes a lot to make such a revolution, there are some small steps that all of us can take. In our school, in colleges and other places we have the possibility to participate actively in the social life and speak out. For me, that's a start. Who knows...maybe a future great man or woman, a politician for example, walks among us! Watch out ! Emilia ===

I think Sir Winston Churchill himself is someone to whom we owe a lot. Her youngest daughter, Mary Soames, 76, keeps writing articles about Churchill's "wilderness years". He became Britain's Prime- Minister in May 1940, while Hitler's forces were rolling across Europe. In spite of having shown he was trustworthy and having his own channels of information during WWII, the previous government could barely rely on Churchill's resourceful help, which made him feel extremely revolted and frustrated. However, Churchill's efforts to protect his nation will always remain imprinted in british people's minds as he was able to save lots of them. He was pretty successful in making war storm clouds fade away. Vitória Melo

It's easy to understand the title of this new page. As we've been talking about this last few lessons, Democracy is a political system where, in theory, everyone has the right to speek. That idea of every person having her/his own rights leads to think that it depends on each one of us, that comforting idea that, if you want to, you can make a change! Well, there are indeed some cases where the statement and point of view of singular people left a mark in our history. However, I tend to feel that if we really want to make a change, we should organise in groups, so that that group can be more heard. You know what they say in portuguese Two heads think more than just one. So, if you're looking to really stand out, and leave your mark, you should gather with some people who share your ideals and fight for them. Further, if we see things in this perspective, Democracy is YOU can also be an appropriate title, as You can also mean more than one person. Mariana Marques

** b. Now, do some revision work of our worksheet and the videos you watched in class [|Democracy by New York kids] and [|Democracy by Malaysian kids] and point out the definition you considered to be the best and why. **

** 'Democracy is whatever you can and can't do'. That's my favorite definition because at the bottom line, 'Democracy' is the ability to be free to express you own opinion, without having the police or government trying to chase you. Nuno Branco ** I liked the Malaysian kids more than the New York kids because in Malaysian they were telling what they would like their country to be like, it was genuine and a wish from their innerselves. In New York, even though that isn't children's fault, they have the power to make the country a better one and they don't do it because of political issues. Mariana ferreira 12thF


 * It's like you don't even know how much you miss something until you lose it, because i agree with Mariana, the Malaysian kids seem more sincere than the new Yorker's which seem a bit too staged. It's like when you go home after a long day and you are starving and all you have is a stupid piece of bread, and you think to yourself "There is no way i'm going to eat a piece of bread", while if it was some kid in Africa, it would probably be one of the happiest days of his life because he has something to eat. And that's a bit what happens in the clips, the New York kids like democracy but they've been living all their lives with it that they don't know anything different, they can read about it but they never felt it, and that's why it seems a bit less genuine, they only lived the good life; while the Malaysia kids, tha need it with all their hearts because they've been through tough times and they want change, they need it, that's why they seem more sincere. When you live the good life you can't guess how it is to live a bad life, you've never been there, only the ones who passed through it know how unbearable it is**. // Diogo Pinto //

I really liked two definitions of democracy. The first one was “nobody is talking and you get to talk”. I believe this is a very simple and naïve way of seeing democracy but to a certain extent it is accurate. The truth is that in a democracy you should be able to express yourself by speaking your mind, voting and choosing what you consider to be best for you. The second one is “we can go out by ourselves and play”. It’s curious the funny way children see democracy. I thought this one was really cute, as we should be able to do what is good for us and, again, make that choice by ourselves. Núria Paulo.

I gotta agree with you, Nuria, I also liked very much the first definition. Just knowing that if you want to, you get to talk on each problem you consider it's important to, gives you feelings of security and a bit of independence, as, in theory, you're not being manipulated by anyone, you're free to talk. Another thing I would like to stand out is the fact that you get to talk also gives you a feeling of integration in the society. It's like you're in a MEGA-debate, and you are one of the people who has a word to say, a comment to make. That way, it's good to know that you're included in this MEGA-debate where hopefully we don't need to be as formal as the roleplays two weeks ago were :P Mariana Marques

"Democracy iswhatever you can and can't do", that's my favorite definition because for me democracy is all about having the opportunity to make your owne choices, to speak your mind, to have a voice. Nuno Pipa

**c. "FAIR GAME" project** **Let's wait a bit because class 12th E has not finished viewing the movie! :)) Any comments you would like to make without disclosing the 2nd part of the film? And what about any suggestions for the project? Any bright ideas, my heroes? :P** I really enjoyed watching this movie :) I was always curious about the functioning of agencies like CIA, Mossad, FSB, MI5 and MI6 and our own SIS and SIED. Even though I concur that there's corruption in all of them, I can't help wondering what their lives are like and this movie gave me an insight into the life of an actual CIA agent and what they have to do.About the project, I think we could do some sort of role-play, but where a person has no idea who the others he/she is playing with are. You know, full of secretism :P Marta  I agree with your personal interpretation of the work of a secret agent and your opinion about the movie without really disclosing its 2nd part... :)) In relation to your project, I loved it. A top-secret roleplay!... What a fantastic idea! Let's try it! Do you think the others are going to be as thrilled? ANAHi, BBigBoss! What were you trying to write really? Some advice to the wise: write your text first on a word file and then edit the page and copy it here. No need to be afraid. Just leave some space after the previous person and then do it, OK? If you still have any problems, send the text to my mail and I'll put it here. RIGHT?! Nice and easy:))

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I always have been curious about those kind of agencies. From what I've already seen from the movie, what bothers me the most is all the secrecy in the life of those people. We know that sometimes it is difficult to conciliate the personal life with work, but in this case it's even worse. They have to hide everything, even from their loved ones. I can't imagine how it must be for them to spend so much time apart from their family and lie, and for those who are close to them, how tough it is to accept and live submerged in such uncertainty. That scene in which Sean Penn is sitting on the stairs, she arrived home and told him that she had to leave again..it's a harsh situation :| Emilia Mota =====

That is indubitably a 'must-see' movie. It demonstrates the hard times that the CIA investigators pass trough their lifes. It has to be difficult for them to hide their true identity from their beloved ones, i can't imagine if i were at that situation. For those who haven´t saw the end, it is going to be unpredictable do not lose it...- Nuno branco12F

From what I've seen from the movie and from watching Covert Affairs, being a covert agent is hard. You have to hide your entire life and only family members are allowed to know who you truly are. But, in the end, it's all worth it to them. They're protecting their country. About the project, just ask them if they're interested in something like that. I think it'd be a good idea :) Marta Ferreira

As I said this film wasn't the one I loved the most, not because of the characters' perfomance, which were great by the way, but due to the fact that this type of films are not in my 'top list'. Despite all of this, it was a good filme which did not only transmit a message but it also transmit a lot of culture and wisedom. Mariana Ferreira 12thF

I think one of the interesting details of this film was the fact that it's based on a true story, the story of a woman that beyond the typical role of a woman as mother and wife, is a CIA agent whose identity has been compromised by her husband when he published the hidden truth about the possession of nuclear weapons that Iraq was accused generating USA vs Iraq war. Her life suffered a curious twist, and despite any national or international political issues, everything can change from one day to another, and every story has two versions. Ana Margarida 12thF

I'm not a big fan of this kind of movie but this one was different. The fact that the film is based on a true story influences the way we saw the movie. Knowing that behind the fiction is a real woman that lived all this story and saw her life being destroyed changes our way of viewing it. In general I liked it not only by the story but also by the cast performance. Rita Pinto 12thF

I must say I agree with Emilia. The worst part of the film is when the main character has to lie to her family. Everything revolves around lies and secrets. Despite having not seen the entire movie yet, I am not a big fan of this kind of movies but I have to admit it is an interesting movie because it is based on real events. Furthermore, it shows a mother’s perspective who works for a highly important and powerful intelligence agency. This way she must separate family life from work which I believe is a harsh task. She is a well trained professional who has to deal with facts without, for instance, arming her own family. Moreover, she must be a master of omission and impartiality. We have to understand that this woman and her work are real, that it isn’t fiction. We are confronted with a kind of battle between the couple Valerie Plame/Joseph Wilson and the White House which ends up by revealing Valerie´s real identity as a CIA agent, ruining her career and her husband’s credibility as an ex-ambassador.In my point of view, I think she will end up by suffering a lot with this entire conflict situation and her family will not be the same anymore. **Carolina 12thE** **This movie represents not only how diffcult is to concilliate our personal life with our work but also how hard is nowadays to keep a secret of our actions. We must be careful with our friends, with our family even with people we don't know in order to guarantee our work in organizations such as CIA. There's no place for mistakes. On the other hand, this movie has a little bit of the essence "Charlotte Gray" has. Of course, the type of historical situation is completely different, however it's true that as Charlotte wasn't able to trust in no one, CIA agents also have that incapacity. We haven't seen yet the all movie but I'm enjoying it because it's not the kind of film I usualy see. Teresa Silva**
 * The secrecy around inteligence agencies somehow represents the hipocrisy of a democratic government, since the people don´t have the power to decide on international matters concerning espionage. But a country cannot reveal its classified investigations because, lets face it, everyone has enemies and the world is like a chess board to politicians. Creating excuses to invade a country with the goal of pursuing family vengeance is the example present in this movie, among many others. Alexandre Paya**

In espionage people are nothing more than assets, and the movie shows us just that, intelegency agencies use people and after they get what they want they stop helping the "assets". Plus the part of the movie in which the main chatacter is exposed as a spy, shows us that even our country can betray us if we don't follow their agenda or if we "rock the boat". About having to lie to the family and friends when you are a spy I believe that is indeed hard but the spy made a choice to be a spy, and so it must take the consequences that come with it, most of the people that work in this kind of jobs don't have a personal life at all. A while ago there was a news report in which they interviewed members of the portuguese special forces and they said said that while they were working there it would be very difficult to have a personal life, so anyone that goes into that line of work must be prepared to make sacrifices. __Telmo 12th E__

This movie pointed out a reality about which we don't have a clue on its huge proportions. It's useless to say that we're well informed about politics and its games because there are holes that we can't even imagine that were possible to exist. First thing is that our supposed freedom of speech and action is a dellusional problem, no matter how remarkable our bravery may be classified it's always rewarded with psychological violence. "They will bury us", said Valerie P. Wilson. Our system is thoroughully manipulated due to political purposes. And the bigger the empire is, the hardest this obscurity turns into. Bush's government was one of the highest examples of lack of transparency and honesty. But like I said when it comes to politics there are no full pictures and many other regimes like this or a lot worse may come into surface someday. As we're only respectful while talking about what we know, this film provides us a great ammount of arguments to criticize. Meanwhile, it also manages to highlight the importance of a strong plight against corruption, dirty power and lies and that alongside a fair game runs VICTORY! I'd finally like to underline one of the movie main themes that concerns to the role of science among all this. Scientists' work is usually taken for granted and they end up devalued after fitting the profits. That's why they keep leaving their original country, because they're abandoned in the first place, their work is not appreciated at all. In spite of living on the edge of wars, technological improvements and scientific progress also represent health care, knowledge, opportunity. Therefore, they must not lack protection. __**Vitória Melo**__

I think the movie is very good. It represents very well the beggining of the conflict between Iraq and USA and also the control that the US government has over people. Bush administration completely destroyed the Valerie's life, just because of an article he wrote in a newspaper. We can see that even in countries as developed as the United States of America there isn't freedom of speech. Gonçalo Henriques

I believe this was a very good choice of movie. Even though I had already seen it, I didn’t find it this time any less well-made or interesting. In fact, I really liked it as it dealt with a true story of a CIA agent, her personal and professional life and the way these two sometimes were mixed. Furthermore, it showed us that we are constantly being misled and lied to, meaning we don’t actually know what “goes behind closed doors”. However, I think it is the patriotism and strong believes of people like Joe Wilson who make it possible for us to face the truth and somehow keep believing in the government and in our country. Besides, I agree with Vitoria in what concerns to the lack of protection towards scientists, whose work should not be devalued. Núria Paulo.

Well I would like to say that in the beggining I thought that this film wasn't going to fulfill my expectations but it did. I have to confess that I didn't knew anything about this story but I think this show us that even the White House has it scandals. This has been kept in secret for that much and probably if it wasn't Obama winning the elections we could might never knew about this story. Despite of all the problems involved into to this story I have to say that this movie was a great choice not only because it revealed this scandal but it also was able to show us the life of a CIA agent. Furthermore, we could see that this agents have a life equal to all of the normal people and they could be anywhere.

Filipe 12ºE

==== From my perspective this was a really interesting viewing activity not only by the topics approached in the movie but also because of the variety of opinions about those same topics presented by the different characters. This movie´s message is clear and plain simple : each and everyone one of us deserves to be heard and to speak up the truth without being closed off by the power or the greed of high positions such as president of the United States. My favorite character in this movie was Joe Wilson, Valerie´s husband for the bravery and courage displayed throughout the movie. He was the one who never left her wife when things went downhill. He is a man of action and anti conformity who fought for what he believed in: The Truth. ==== =Pedro 12ºE=

**For me this film is one of those that must be seen by every one, despite, in my opinion, of not being the most atractive movie to watch, it was some really good points and it's set upon some very important topics. This movie shows us the corruption there is in the goverments, more specifically in the US goverment, and the importance of the people having a voice and that we should stand up for what we believe in. Nuno Pipa** That's so right Paya. It really is the hypocrasy of a democratic system, that's why these first definitions we spoke about were, in my opinion, in theory. Because, let's face it, in reality, democracy isn't that perfect system every country should be packaged with. However, I also agree that some information must be classified, as if there's an investigation going on, and if there's some kind of leak of information, that can question the process and put it in danger. As we could see, in some way, that happened in the film. On the other hand, after the process is finished, truth should prevail ! And, people should know about it. During the process, in my opinion, the press puts too much pressure on the people who are dealing with the issue, smearing some details, and causing people's manifestations and strikes. So, there's the advice, the press shouldn't interfere with so much in classified issues, at least not during the process. Regarding to the movie, I think it deals well with the logistics associated with the job that a CIA Agent struggles with. It is good, for us, outsideres, to know this kind of stuff and maybe eliminate some doubts that might exist. Mariana Marques **This page is now locked. Next time, DON'T MISS THE DEADLINE! SORRY:((**