Arquivo para a ‘Social Network’ Categoria
A specter rounds Europe
10
May
This was the initial text of the Communist Manifesto written
in 1848 when workers did not have the current labor rights, with inhuman working hours, without vacations, without any assistance due to illness and with precarious work contracts with few guarantees.
There is now another spectrum, that of a new world war that would have devastating effects due to the power of current nuclear weapons and a truly global scale of involvement, where few countries could be left out of the war effort.
Ukraine is just the first scenario in an economic, military and even civilizing dispute involving Russia and China on one side, with smaller allies such as North Korea, Belarus, Cuba and Venezuela and some sympathy from world left forces. .
The Victory Day celebrated yesterday in Russia, under which there were expectations that proved exaggerated, Russia was in fact decisive in the defeat of Nazi Germany by the bloody Battle of Saint Petersburg (at the time Leningrad), but the parade of planes so awaited by the fighters and the so-called “Apocalypse plane” (Tu-95MS) that would carry atomic weapons, did not happen.
It is worth remembering that a rehearsal was done before the parade and maybe they didn’t happen because they were in combat position in other regions.
Russia claimed weather conditions, but the photos (see photo above) show a good time, by the milder speech, although it claims the current war as an extension of the war that defeated Nazism, it didn’t even have the formal declaration of war on Ukraine nor the expected threats to NATO, also Zelensky, President of Ukraine, declared that “evil has returned”.
Traditionally, Victory Day is very effusive, in 2015 16,000 soldiers participated, 200 armored personnel and 150 planes, but in 2020, due to the pandemic, it was postponed and reduced in size to only 14,000 soldiers.
Putin’s speech at this year’s parade tried to justify the war in Ukraine by trying to co-opt victory over Nazism, but there is a certain fragility in this, since it is still necessary to strengthen morale and justify the war, which was previously called “operation Special”.
As Hannah Arendt analyzes in “The origins of totalitarianism”, this power does not follow a logic, so the specter of war haunts several European nations and the question is who will be next.
Covid 19 rising trend in Brazil
09
May
In numbers Publisher by the Brazilian Ministry of Health itself,
ranging from May 4th to 5th, Saturday and Sunday in general there is underreporting, the epidemiological bulletin has already recorded a high of around 8.9% with 21,682 new infections and 137 deaths from the disease. .
This trend has continued since the beginning of the month and reaching the rate of 15% will be considered a new high and a new wave, although the number of deaths is lower and a moving average remains below 100 daily deaths, being average and having number above 100 could rise again, as the average number of infections is higher and the number of deaths is lower because the strain is less lethal than the previous ones.
The calculation of moving averages is done by experts using the records of the last 14 days and dividing the total by 14, it is possible to have a broader view of the current moment of Covid.
There is no clear analysis of this slight increase, perhaps a seasonal effect of the arrival of the cold that favors respiratory infections, but this would be very premature because it is happening in the southern hemisphere in less than a week, perhaps the greater capacity of infections of the second omicron lineage, BA.2, the worrying thing is that it favors the circulation of the virus and the danger of new variants.
Except for specialized sectors that alert to the issue, little attention is paid to the most accurate information about this future of SARS-Covid, only the situation in China that remains serious and now even with reports of inhumanities due to an excessive and strict #lockdown.
In Brazil it is electoral period and this does not favor correct information about Covid.
Phenomenology as a method for dialogue
04
May
Phenomenology is essential for a true dialogue because it
presupposes a “starting point” philosophically said, it presupposes an epoché (a suspension of judgment in the Greek sense) but the phenomenological epoché is a putting in parentheses, that is, it admits the dialogue with tradition or with the reader or interpreter of the text.
It emerged as a method in opposition to positivist thinking, through the studies of Edmund Husserl (1859-1938), and as a method of philosophical investigation it will capture the essence and meaning of a certain thing, said by Husserl: “there is no consciousness, only consciousness. of something”, and this comes from a subcategory that is intentionality, Franz Brentano and Tomás de Aquino had worked this but only with a psychological or mental sense.
Said by Husserl it is: “the description of what appears or science that has as objective or project this description”, thus part of the idea that we project our intentionality when describing.
Heidegger will place it, retaking ontology now on a different plane from the psychological and placing it as a method: “the expression ‘phenomenology’ means, above all, a concept of method”, in this sense it will also be a break with idealism and traditional rationalism.
“One of the contributions of phenomenology to philosophy is in the way it treats judgments and meanings. Martín Heidegger does not separate reason from emotion, nor the subject from the object”.
The question of the existence of Being turns to the concern with the way of human experience, or our preconceptions or even our rationalizations, it cannot be isolated from the relationship with the world and with the Others, all contemporary philosophy seeks a a way of being objectified, isolated, whether objective or subjective, because this deviation is also observed in the field of poetics, subjectivity and religion.
The Being must represent a presence, a manifesto, or a relationship with the Other, and a requirement is the symmetry of this relationship, where each one is able to make a “void” to contain the Other, an epoché of their preconceptions, without which there is no dialogue.
A first look at this dialogue is the hermeneutic circle proposed in the figure above.
War on new frontiers
03
May
As we stated in the last post, peace requires peaceful, but 
nations seem to raise their tone as the Russian government is expanding the borders of its conflicts, now it has cut off gas to Poland and Bulgaria, threatens Moldova, which has a small conflict region (called Transnistria and claims its independence), while NATO increases support.
A gaffe in the narrative of putting Ukraine as a Nazi, from Chancellor Sergei Lavrov saying that Ukrainian President Zelensky’s being a Jew would mean nothing, claimed that “Hitler also had Jewish blood”, and was immediately repudiated by the governments of Israel and Germany.
Also the fact that Ukraine would have bombed a Russian city Belgorod (two others would have also been targets), was denied by the local mayor Vyacheslav Gladkov, thus the Russian narrative is complicated and the conviction of expansionist objectives grows.
In practice this will mean a formal declaration of war on Ukraine and the end of negotiations, , while the only acceptable condition for Kiev is the withdrawal of Russian troops from Donbass.
The entry of NATO forces into the conflict is imminent, and the deployment of weapons is already decided, for now only Ukrainian troops will use it, many volunteers went there to fight, but there is no news of any organization or country that has recruited soldiers.
What is worrying is the inexistence of pacifist forces that actually exist in the conflict, even the number of demonstrations is limited, in general, as happened in Serbia there are pro-Ukraine and pro-Russia groups in a growing alignment also of public opinion.
Germany declared that economic sanctions will continue until a peace treaty is signed, it is a pressure, but entering the war through NATO it has a decisive role.
Fighting remains intense in the Donbass region, while Mariupol is completely under siege and struggling to evacuate wounded civilians and soldiers, Kiev was bombed despite the presence of the UN Secretary General, who also had talks with Putin.
There is no prospect in peace talks, Russia increasingly demands as its forces advance, it wants an overland corridor from Donbass through Mariupol to the Crimea already annexed in the previous 2014 war.
Always hope, because the future of civilization depends on it, the moment, however, is dark.
Study reveals danger in new variants
02
May
The world number of deaths from Covid 19 decreases, but
with resistance to say that the variants can be less lethal and make the number fall to zero, while the health crisis hits China’s largest cities hard, including now the capital Beijing, without a clear diagnosis.
In Brazil, the falling number now seems to stabilize with small increases, at times it exceeds 100 daily deaths of the moving average, reaching 200 and the number of infections does not fall, reaching close to 20 thousand cases, which is the scenario future?
A Brazilian study, carried out by researchers from USP-Brazil at the Institute of Biomedical Sciences (ICB) and the Institute of Chemistry (IQ) as well as researchers from the Hospital Sírio-Libanês do Brasil, reveals that the new variants of SARS-COV-2 are more likely to circumvent the population’s immune defenses and should emerge in the coming months.
The work was published by the journal Viruses and reviews more than 150 articles, investigated the immune system’s evasion capacity, transmissibility and effectiveness with vaccination in addition to the mutation potential and the result serves as a warning.
The article reads verbatim “Growing evidence has shown that mutations are being selected in favor of variants that are more capable of evading the action of neutralizing antibodies” and shows that the authorities’ lack of concern with the pandemic is political.
In terms of protocols, individual concerns follow, there is no clear public policy
The peace of the pacific
29
Apr
There are several misconceptions about peace, some were
pointed out by Kant such as pacts that hide future conflicts, the just revolt against totalitarian regimes, but there is no way to build peace without peaceful ones, the idea that you want peace, prepare for peace. war is a mistake, or with the violent, act as violent, etc. hide small and large wars.
Every exercise of power is asymmetrical, points out Byung-Chull Han (The Swarm), in the book that makes an essay exactly on the new media, and that says that there is only symmetry if there is respect.
So, respect for cultures, the diversity of opinions and ideas, of religious freedom, of different types of personal choices, of course that do not imply disrespect for the Other, is a starting point for peace, so there must be peaceful ones to build peace.
The idea of more weapons, of more aggression that can intimidate opponents hides that there is no peaceful principle in these attitudes, that there is no respect as Chul Han asks, and for those peoples, countries and nations that have peaceful principles, such as Finland and India for example. , it is worrying to see warmongering attitudes.
On the other hand, Makron’s victory in France is an encouragement mainly due to the defeat of totalitarian thinking in the country that is the source of modern republican democracy.
Peace must also be the basis of any religious thought, admitting that there is something or someone superior should strip us of the pride of judging oneself superior to someone, some people, race or gender, but history shows that it was not always like that, I remember. here the Peace of Westphalia, which was a pact so that religions would not encourage hatred between states, with this the idea of a secular state.
In several biblical passages Jesus makes the first greeting to his disciples: “Peace be with you”, of course he speaks of the peace of the peaceable, and in the verse of the beatitudes he says that they will be called “sons of God” (Mt 5,9) , that is, they are not Christians if they do not desire peace.
Also to his disciples, Jesus, who appears resurrected in his third appearance and asks Peter insistently (Jn 21:15-17): “After they had eaten, Jesus asked Simon Peter: “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” Peter replied, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.” And he said again to Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter said, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.” The third time he asked Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” and Pedro gets sad and says “you know everything”.
Yes Jesus knew that even among religious it would be difficult to understand peace and unity.
Perpetual Peace concept
28
Apr
Perpetual Peace was Kant’s political proposal, in a way it is expressed in the liberal view of thought about peace, with some nuances in countries from the Soviet period, but as a rule, the normal there is the Roman vision of the pax romana that was the submission of enemies.
As we saw in the previous post, for Kant, smart as snakes and false as doves, Machiavelli, in a very different way in his “Prince”, also spoke of dividing and ruling, a principle that is analyzed by Kant ( Divide et impera, p. 39), in this case it stops as a false freedom of opposing ideas when the supreme chief “disunites them and isolates them from the people”.
The work To perpetual peace was written by the German philosopher Immanuel Kant, in 1795. The uniqueness of Kant’s contribution lies in his faith in a perpetual peace that is built because reason has more strength than power, “… reason, from the seat of the highest moral legislative power, condemns war as a juridical way and, on the other hand, makes the state of peace an immediate duty, which, however, cannot be established or guaranteed without a pact between peoples: – there must therefore be a federation of a special type, which can be called the federation of peace (foedus pacificum), which would be distinguished from the peace pact (pactum pacis), since the latter would try to end a war …” (KANT, 2008, p. 17-18).
But when would it then be fair to make war? What would be the limit of reason? Kant speaks first of revolt within a nation subjected to a tyrant: “Is revolt the legitimate means for a people to reject the oppressive power of the so-called tyrant [non titulo, sed exercitio talis (‘tyrant in the exercise of power, not in your denomination’)]? The rights of the people are forfeited and no injustice is done to them (the tyrant) through dethronement; in this respect there is no doubt. However, it is most unjust on the part of subjects to claim their right in this way, and they cannot complain of injustice if they are defeated in this struggle and then have to endure the most severe punishments” (Kant, 2008, p. 47).
As we saw in the previous post, for Kant, smart as snakes and false as doves, Machiavelli, in a very different way in his “Prince”, also spoke of dividing and ruling, a principle that is analyzed by Kant (. Divide et impera, p. 39, in this case it stops as a false freedom of opposing ideas when the supreme chief “disunites them and isolates them from the people”.
There are interesting points in his proposal divided into articles: a republican civil constitution (today there are peoples with other forms of government and which are not always tyrannies), a “federation of free nations” as the principle of hospitality (the problem of migrants today) and then he makes a series of “supplements” to perpetual peace, but basically it’s a defense of reason.
It also touches on the interesting point, as we have already said with regard to world wars, that peace must not be based on possibilities that can open new future wars.
Today, it is necessary to analyze the light of the original culture of the peoples, not only indigenous and various pre or post-enlightenment nations (where a certain form of reason prevails, remember the Greek State and Roman law), and also the economic, war and now also cyber.
Perpetual peace isn´t or any other form of lasting peace must look to a more humane and fraternal civilization, without which any argument for war is possible.
KANT, I. A paz perpétua. Trad. Artur Mourão. Portugal: Universidade da Beira Interior Covilhã, 2008
Twitter, Cyberculture and Perpetual Peace
27
Apr
The purchase of Twitter by Elon Musk for $ 44 billion,
the Space X and Tesla billionaire, makes social media increasingly tied to the political field and shakes the empire of traditional media.
One of Musk’s basic ideas is to make the network less controlled (the moderator function) and with more text possibility, at launch in 2006 it was 140, in 2017 it was expanded to 280 and will probably add larger texts, Musk is the owner of the tool Revue.
NetFlix lost 200,000 subscribers (a little for 100 million subscribers, but a trend), CNN faces serious problems with an editorial discourse (7 out of 10 viewers) tries to change the focus, it is the mainstream media suffering from the advancement of new media , and everything indicates that the war in the military and ideological field will move to the cybernetic field, the drones practically retire the idea of using tanks and drones airplanes and flight autonomy, making war unequal in strength and war material more equal .
But the release of arbitrage on Twitter worries, although the open source algorithm proposal is interesting, but the big question is Musk’s ideas about war?
Of course, all this is reprehensible due to the number of civilian victims they cause, the human tragedies that develop there, also among soldiers who are on a battlefield where many would not want to be.
Kant’s Perpetual Peace proposed a precept of reason over power, but a strange saying appears in the middle of its text (we will analyze the text in the next post), which is prudent as serpents and gentle as doves, in the text Biblical (Mt 10:16) it is also possible to translate “simple as doves, but the Kantian interpretation is divergent:
“…Be wise as a serpent”; morality adds (as a limiting condition): “and without falsehood like doves” (Kant, 2008, p.34), and Kant himself points out that “the two things cannot coexist in a precept” an evident contradiction, Perpetual Peace It’s more complex, of course.
This is the problem with the new media, it is necessary to use the resource that is often used in politics of a certain “falsehood”, or dubiousness, whether to mislead opponents or to deceive the people.
There is no way to establish peace if there is no respect for conflicting cultures and values, of course within reasonable humanitarian limits, the first is life itself put in check in war and the second is enabling the survival and self-determination of peoples to decide their destiny.
Kant, I. (2008) A Paz Perpetua (Perpetual Peace). trans. Arthur Mourao. Portugal: University of Beira Interior Covilhã.
The war, Brazil and Finland
26
Apr
As the war escalates in Eastern Europe, Russian objectives become
clear, greater control over the sources of energy and material available for war, this includes the Azovstal Steel Mill, where there are civilians and the battle has intensified.
There is the alleged deception of saying that the east would make an overland corridor to the Crimea annexed in the 2014 war, but this was never a problem for Russia because of its air fleet, and it has another exclave which is Kaliningrad, and it is also That’s why Ukraine started bombing Russian oil depots.
Vargas’ dictatorial Brazilian government even flirted with Nazism, but in July 1939, on a US visit to the Chief of Staff of the Brazilian Army, General Góes Monteiro, the US government promised to cooperate with Brazil’s military and economic re-equipment. in the construction of Companhia Siderúrgica Nacional (the former CSN).
At the time, Brazil was given a credit of 17 million dollars with Eximbark, and an American base was installed in Rio Grande do Norte, strategic for military flights to Europe.
Before this period, Finland also had heavy industries that could help in the war, Sweden also had and provided material for both Germany and the allies, but in 1939 Stalin, then president of the Soviet Union, decides to invade Finland.
Finland’s parliament is deciding now to join NATO, and Russia threatens retaliation, last week Maria Zarakhova, spokeswoman for Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said: “We have given our warnings, both publicly and through bilateral channels. ; they (both countries) know that, so there are no surprises. They have been informed about everything, about what (an eventual NATO membership) will entail”.
This causes a new escalation in the war and also involves Sweden that wants to join NATO.
The clash between Russians and Finland, which began on November 30, 1939, called the Winter War (photo), although with an army and smaller power, the Finns resisted the war and maintained the morale of the troop, the pact had just been made. the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact (ministers of Russia and Germany, respectively), where Finland would remain neutral, but would lose part of its territory, a good part of its industrial park and pledged to maintain neutrality in the war, but Russia broke with the Germany and invaded Finland.
The peace treaty was signed on March 12, 1940, ceding 10% of Finnish territory to Russia and 20% of its industrial capacity to the Soviet Union.
More military might and war industries mean that there is no end to the war, greater NATO involvement means that global escalation is approaching, but hope for peace remains through increasingly difficult agreements.
Covid Resilient and health policy
25
Apr
The reason why the falling Covid is so resilient in the country has two 
explanations: the medical one, as the number of deaths falls slowly while the number of infections has a slower decline since the predominant variant is less lethal (see the graph in Brazil) and the other is a sanitary policy, since sanitary protocols are no longer used, except in rare environments.
It is not just about the economic fact, since all economic sectors have returned to activity and a global crisis is looming on the horizon due to a war that is escalating and is already affecting the food and fuel sector, with a very bleak future scenario.
However, there are activities that could be very well controlled, public parties (or private parties that have become an alternative), rules of operation in school environments and diverse cultural spaces (including religious ones) and the maintenance of masks since everyone has one.
The governors of the northeast (Brazilian) are already talking about the use of masks, but the real concern is with the drop in health investment levels and we may have other cases soon, such as the traditional viral waves at the beginning of winter and dengue.
A seminar with several international health authorities was held last Wednesday (2/23) with the theme “Global Health Agenda: Perspectives for 2022”, mediated by Fiocrus senior researcher Luiz Augusto Galvão.
All participants somehow expressed concern about safe health policies that guarantee control of the Pandemic, which is attenuated, but without guarantees of its end, Brazilian researcher Mariângela Batista Galvão Simão highlighted that a scenario of eradication of Covid is possible:
“That’s because today we have tools and know-how that we didn’t have before, but it won’t happen if we’re complacent,” he declared.
