Arquivo para a ‘Politics’ Categoria
The crisis precedes the promising advent
11
Dec
Courage is needed (we’ve already posted here 
about the cardinal virtue of “fortitude”) in times of crisis, values, instability, confused social relations and many pre-occupations.
It is normal in these personal or social times for the mind to project itself into the past or future, the future generating anxieties and the past remorse or anguish, of course if misinterpreted or misplaced, because in general it is a passage to a promising future, an advent, something to come.
We can’t be suffocated by worries that haven’t materialized yet, but we can’t be so innocent or provincial as to only look at the world around us; life and the world go beyond our own horizons and there is always something promising ahead.
Byung-Chul Han wrote about the Palliative Society: pain today, reflections on the pandemic, but with a broad horizon that saw a society that wants to abolish pain and suffering, but they exist and are an inalienable part of life.
Wars, now with the prospect of a truce (see previous post), a social crisis of values and the loss of many previous conquests, is not just a sign of crisis, it is a sign that something will come, there is an advent that all of humanity is waiting for.
But everyone has their own anxieties, a future that they imagine and even a return to the past, a Paris at its peak that the Christmas lights can inspire, a Lisbon with its good national values (it’s sad that a nationalist is born there).
But this can be a lever for thinking about a sustainable future, a new era in which not only the Eurocentric world is enlightened, but also historically colonized peoples.
In African or African-American culture there are celebrations, which although they also originate in Canada and the Caribbean region, are celebrations that run from December 26 to January 1, Kwanzaa.
The values of community and family unity after a violent Watts riot (caused by police abuse of a young black man in 1966), a black professor Dr. Maulana Karnga, president of the Center for Black Studies at California State University created “matunda ya kwanza”, which means “first fruits”.
This is an example of the birth of a “good fruit” as a result of a crisis, creating a celebration with songs, dances and drumming with African drums, the reading of stories and poetry typical of the culture and a large traditional meal eaten by families or social groups.
Here, the principles of Suali culture (a traditional language in Kenya, but spoken by many African peoples) are recalled, a candlestick (Kinara) is lit with candles of various colors, there they recall the “Harambee” which means “gather all things” and “let’s do it together”.
These principles are no different from good Western culture (the kind that doesn’t colonize and respects local values and cultures), so it’s possible to think of an advent for all of humanity that goes beyond the crises and obstacles of the present.
End of wars and the magic of Christmas
09
Dec
Can this time of year infect the world in such a way 
as to turn the tide of war, the scenario of this first week of December seems to say yes.
The dictator of Syria, Bashar al-Assad, who ruled Syria for almost a quarter of a century, has fallen. While the London Observatory for Human Rights says that he fled in a private plane, the Russian Foreign Ministry, a traditional ally, has declared that he has “resigned”.
The leader of a coalition of opponents, Abu Mohammed al Jolani (he now goes by his real name Ahmed Al-Shara), led the Organization for the Liberation of the Levant (Hayat Tahir al Sham, or just HTS), from extremist origins (he was linked to Al Qaeda) and adopted a more moderate stance, gaining allies.
Syria’s Prime Minister, Mohamed Ghazi al-Jalali, has declared himself willing to collaborate with the insurgents, saying that he will extend his hand to “any Syrian who is interested in the country in order to preserve its institutions”, but it is likely that he will also resign or be removed from office.
Talks are also progressing under the patronage of US President-elect Donald Trump, a meeting with President Makron of France and Zelensky of Ukraine, and the international scene has been gripped by the prospect of peace that is now apparently possible.
In Latin America, at a meeting in Montevideo last Friday (6/12), after 25 years of negotiation, the leaders of the South American bloc signed an agreement with the European Union. For Brazil, the agreement makes strategic sense to promote learning and improvement in how our productive sectors generate commodities, which are the primary goods in the production sector: agricultural, livestock, mineral and environmental, in which the country is abundant.
In short, everything seems to be building a new harmony and fostering the Christmas atmosphere, but we need a lasting peace where the sectors involved don’t feel “defeated”, we need a balanced global economy without protectionism or unfair competition and, above all, we need a frontal attack on serious social and environmental issues.
Christmas exists, the beautiful illuminations in Lisbon (video), for exemple, and many others across Europe are trying to recapture a climate of hope and peace, there’s even a movie from the film industry (it’s not a theological movie) about the Virgin Mary (it was released on September 6th) and therefore the birth of Jesus.
And Europe hasn’t woken up
02
Dec
The creation of the euro, despite the controversial
exit of England, not the United Kingdom, because Scotland tried to make a referendum on the issue and the British Parliament rejected it, the attempt to create a European concept and policy did not fail, it just did not advance in the essentials.
Its deep humanist and cultural roots were suffocated by idealist and Enlightenment ideologies.
Sloterdijk’s book Se a Europa despertar (If Europe wakes up, in branzilian version) outlines the essentials of what the real Europe would be, its borders and its ethnic bases, what its practically abandoned religious identity would be, it’s not immigration that’s undermining this vision of identity and unity, but the question Sloterdijk asks in his book is what scene do Europeans draw in their decisive historical moments? What ideas animate them, what illusions mobilize them? And it’s not difficult to point out their misconceptions, both in terms of ethnic and cultural bases.
Father Manuel Antunes, too, in his book Repensar Portugal (Rethinking Portugal), written before the European Union, said that his country should turn towards Europe, that before it was a little corner of Europe that turned its back on it and turned towards its African colonies.
Colonization and wars, intestinal, because there were religious wars at the end of the Renaissance, and the Peace of Westphalia, a treaty that removed the religious question from the disputes, but Europe had other border and ethnic disputes, until it culminated in two world wars.
They ended up involving the whole world, because there are interests that go beyond borders, but we have to understand that a true European identity and unity has not yet been built, the borders have been opened, but now they seem uncertain and threatened by the involvement in the war in Eastern Europe.
Sloterdijk’s main thesis in this book is that the model of colonization that gave Europe the idea of an Empire of the Centre (as the author calls it) opened up a vacuum in the post-war period that created a generation of intellectuals who sought a new imperial model, so the author concludes that it has failed to understand that it is no longer a center and has difficulty with this.
The wars are therefore a way of bringing back the idea of empire, the opposite of what Sloterdijk proposed in his book, which would be to abandon this model. This is also the conclusion of Father Manuel Antunes, who adds a model of “social democracy” to Portugal.
Sloterdijk, P. (2002) Se a Europa despertar. Trad. José Oscar de Almeida Marques. Brazil, São Paulo: Estação Liberdade.
Wisdom and love in hominization
28
Nov
Wisdom is not the same as intelligence, culture
or cunning, it is something clear and pure that is full of life, so it is also a virtue, called cardinal along with justice, fortitude and prudence.
Culture is linked to the cultural tradition of peoples, it can and must be linked to wisdom because it is the only path that can help the process of civilization (or hominization as Edgar Morin calls it) become a safe and sustainable path.
Those who need to dominate by force walk the path of power, there may be something of intelligence there, in general there is, but it is used in the opposite direction to civilization, the argument that wars have helped evolution is only valid because they have learned bitter lessons from war, which they could have learned if intelligence were truly high and imbued with love.
Cunning is the most dangerous intelligence because it is generally linked to power and oppression, it creates intelligent paths, but they are full of traps for oneself and for others, it is not a path of solidarity and communion between peoples and cultures.
Cunning is the most dangerous intelligence because it is generally linked to power and oppression, it creates intelligent paths, but they are full of traps for oneself and for others, it is not a path of solidarity and communion between peoples and cultures.
So the virtue of nature is the one that brings man closer to divine consciousness, or to our divine consciousness, and in this way man finds a solid path to his hominization.
The wise man knows how to live in poverty and wealth, he knows how to control himself in war, prudence is the virtue that is most allied in this respect, he knows how to live in peace, he doesn’t get agitated by it because he knows that it is the true state of grace, those who need goods or abundance to live well are closer to vices than to virtues.
Along with love, the virtue of wisdom contains the others, together with prudence, courage (fortitude) and justice, not that of men, which is imperfect and without mercy, but divine justice.
False prophets and hope
26
Nov
Bad religion and false prophecies are those that
do not announce the good news; there is no historical or truly prophetic reading of what the divine kingdom is: peace and hope.
Yes, it is true that we are in dark times, but it is still necessary to announce peace and hope. It is a fact that man has built civilization on wars and revenge to this day. However, it was peace and hope that developed agriculture, commerce, and the production of social goods. Even in the midst of wars, hope survived and made its way.
They are bad Bible readers. When the disciples asked when the times of destruction would come, the reading says in Luke 21:8-9, “Jesus answered, ‘Watch out that you are not deceived. For many will come in my name, saying, “I am he!” And again: ‘The time is near’. Do not follow these people! When you hear of wars and revolutions, do not be terrified. These things must happen first, but the end will not come right away”
The reading about world conflicts continues (Luke 21:10-11): “And Jesus continued: “Nation will rise up against nation, and country will attack country. There will be great earthquakes, famines and plagues in many places; fearful things will happen and great signs will be seen in the sky”, but this is not the prophecy but rather what men will do before a time of peace and a true civilizing process on the planet. We learn more through pain than through reason and love. Even though these times are said to be rational, the vision of the whole, of the Earth as a homeland common to all peoples and nations, has not yet arrived. Worldly power prevails, attempts at plunder and revenge among peoples, and there is nothing divine in this, it is just the insanity of a shallow and antisocial rationalism.
The hope is that it will lead men to another level of civilization, that will help the poor, that will renew life and healthy models of development. Even what is considered a principle of sustainability is unable to manage the Earth’s resources.
A new civilization will be the one that survives these dark and intemperate times, as the forgotten cardinal virtues say (last week’s post by philosopher Philippa Foot): temperance, prudence, wisdom and courage are forgotten moral virtues, but not for everyone.
War escalation and hope
25
Nov
The use of long-range weapons by Ukraine and
hypersonic missiles that can carry atomic payloads have already been tested in the war, and the threat of war with European countries has even appeared on Russian TV and made headlines around the world.
NATO military bases in Germany, Warsaw and London appear on a supposed map of first strikes in case Russia feels threatened, internally it has already changed its statutes on the use of nuclear weapons, breaking international agreements, and the Kremlin has authorized an increase in the production of missiles for these nuclear payloads.
The psychology that can be understood about Putin is that he’s not bluffing, and the Nordic countries seem to be the most afraid of a Russian attack. Norway distributes a handbook to its population on what to do in the event of environmental disasters or wars, alluding to this, and Finland and Sweden (pictured above) have already prepared for this hypothesis and are new members of NATO.
The war between Israel and Hezbollah continues to escalate. On Saturday (23/11), an Israeli attack killed at least 11 people and injured 23. The type of missile used is capable of hitting even bunkers and, according to the authorities, there was a strong explosive explosion after the attack.
At least there are attempts at peace agreements there, but negotiations seem to be stagnating. In Eastern Europe, it is hoped that after the take office Donald Trump, who won the US elections, some kind of agreement will be reached, but Ukraine would certainly lose part of its territory.
Hope is never forgotten among people who want peace, more than that who reject hate speech and war, because many of those who talk about peace don’t really want it, they believe that some kind of “victory” is possible on battlefields, where everyone loses.
So we can do our bit, if the war becomes unpopular the governments will move, the only thing that can move them is public opinion, because not even a possible economic, environmental or civilizational catastrophe moves them, despite the rhetoric.
Bad thinking, bad politics and bad religion
20
Nov
The structure of the civilizational crisis that we
are experiencing, the nuclear threat has become real after the release of missiles into Russian territory these days, the energy crisis and the problem of world misery are on the civilizational agenda, but thought, politics and religion (in their deviations) do not perceive them clearly.
It’s about making allies and not building bridges and breaking down political, cultural and even religious walls. Enlightenment thinking still dominates the West, a shallow cultural vision invades the discourse of even the most educated and religion, when it’s not pure commerce, deviates towards human precepts and preconceptions that have little or nothing pure and divine about them.
On the subject of thought, an interesting text to read is Edgar Morin’s “Cabeça bem-feita: repensar a reforma, reformar o pensamento” (Well-made head: rethinking reform, reforming thought, brazilian edition). He says of the crisis that was already present in discourses on “civilizational malaise”: “So that we can, at the same time, integrate and distinguish human destiny within the Universe; and this new scientific culture makes it possible to offer a new and capital knowledge to the general, humanistic, historical and philosophical culture, which, from Montaigne to Camus, has always raised the problem of the human condition” (Morin, 2003, p. 38). 38).
He says in the book’s introduction: “Knowledge has become increasingly esoteric (accessible only to specialists) and anonymous (quantitative and formalized). Technical knowledge is likewise reserved for experts, whose competence in a restricted field is accompanied by incompetence when this field is disturbed by external influences or modified by a new event.” (Morin, 2003, p. 19).
But the networks have invaded the discourse of experts and made cultural and political knowledge worse, now under the influence of the “digital swarm” (read Byung-Chul Han: The Swarm), a wave of bad politics and bad religion has been unleashed and invaded by “influencers”, pseudo-prophets and politicians whose anti-civilization conduct already denounces their falsehoods and evil.
It’s time for opportunists, for little thought (it has already reached the select layer of “cults”) and for bad religion, which prophesies evil, disorder, and announces as a “prophecy” the religion of easy profit, of contempt for culture and cultures other than one’s own.
But the light persists, the resistance persists among those who proclaim the good news and a more human world, the new civilization and the protagonism of what is good, beautiful and human; and little by little what is outdated thinking, bad politics and false religions and prophets will disappear, it will be a long and painful process, but the night only persists in the absence of light.
From those who have little (thought, culture and faith) even the little will be taken away.
MORIN, E. A cabeça bem-feita: repensar a reforma, reformar o pensamento / Edgar Morin; tradução Eloá Jacobina. – 8a ed. -Rio de Janeiro: Bertrand Brasil, 2003.
COP20 and geopolitics
18
Nov
The topic will not be touched upon directly, as
Arab countries such as Egypt and Turkey are taking part in the conference and Russia will be present through Foreign Minister Serguei Lavrov.
Brazil is hosting the conference, which is expected to last until Monday. The G20 or Group of 20 was formed with an economic purpose after the successive financial crises of the 1990s. In 1999, finance ministers and heads of central banks from the 19 largest economies in the world, plus the African Union and the European Union, aimed to create a strong economic group that would coordinate global actions in the economy.
These countries account for 90% of the world’s GDP and 80% of world trade (including intra-EU trade) and two thirds of the world’s population. We would expect something of great economic interest, but issues such as gender options and geopolitics (indirectly the topic will be touched on) should be avoided and, as in previous editions, the climate should be the big topic, but there is an expectation that the topic of taxing large fortunes will be taken forward.
The basic text is already being drafted behind the scenes and the final text is expected to be presented in the early hours of Tuesday morning. The meeting is important for peace, even if it is not the subject of the meeting, but the talks between the leaders and ministers of these countries will improve relations.
Meanwhile, the war in Eastern Europe is taking on dramatic contours, the Ukrainian capital Kiev has been constantly attacked by drones and the United States has given Kiev permission to use long-range missiles that could hit targets inside Russia.
In the Middle East, Israel is expected to reach an agreement with Lebanon, but the bombings continue and Iran is not taking part in the negotiations, so Hezbollah remains at war.
It is hoped that in addition to the traditional issues of gas emissions and climate problems, COP20 will launch some kind of nod towards peace, given that Russia, China and the United States will be present at the conference.
Going beyond earthly consciousness
14
Nov
At the end of the century, we seemed to
become aware of our reality.
Suddenly, new conflicts erupt and the dormant wars awake: ethnic hatreds, racial and ideological hatreds. Morin wrote about this moment:
“Still until the 1950s-1960s, we lived in an unknown land, we lived on an abstract Earth, we lived on an object Earth. Our end of the century discovered the Earth-system, the Earth Gaia, the biosphere, the cosmic parcel, the Fatherland. Each of us has our genealogy and our earthly identity card. identity card. Each of us comes from the Earth, is from the Earth, is on the Earth.
We belong to the Earth that belongs to us” (Morin, 2003, p. 175).
So what would this awareness be, Morin writes:
– “the awareness of the unity of the Earth (telluric consciousness);
– the awareness of the unity/diversity of the biosphere (ecological
ecological awareness);
– the awareness of the unity/diversity of man (anthropological awareness);
– becoming aware of our anthropo-bio-physical;
– becoming aware of our dasein, the
fact of “being there”, without knowing why;
– becoming aware of the planetary era;
– the awareness of the Damoclean threat;
– the awareness of the doom on the horizon of our lives, of
every life, every planet, every sun;
– the awareness of our earthly destiny. “ (Morin, 2003, p. 175)
Although he recognizes that he needs to go further, as he writes: “And it is through these awarenesses that messages can now come from the most diverse horizons, some from faith, others from ethics, others from humanism, others from ro- mantism, others from the sciences, others from the awareness of the planetary iron age” (Morin, 2003, p. 176), he is stuck with the idea of the humanism of the Enlightenment “which recognizes the quality of all men” (idem), but comes up against human limitations without knowing how to overcome them.
“Mastering nature? Man is still incapable of controlling his own nature, whose madness drives him to dominate nature by losing control of himself. Mastering the world?” (Ibidem), the author is not clear about the awareness of the divine in the ‘most diverse horizons’.
Without being part of the imaginary high point of civilization, which sees a new civilization in the distance, which the author himself acknowledges: “This man must relearn earthly finitude and renounce the false infinity of omnipotent technique … “ (p. 177), but the cosmos is not the limit.
Morin, E. e Kern, B. (2003) Terra-Pátria. Transl. Paulo Neves, Brazil, Porto Alegre: Sulina.
Civilizing civilization
12
Nov
This is one of the central chapters of Edgar Morin’s
book “Terra-Patria”, and it is always important to remember that this was long before the current war crisis, which is the culmination of one of the most dangerous points in the crisis of civilization.
He wrote about what it means to civilize: “The quest for hominization, which would bring us out of the planetary iron age, urges us to reform Western civilization, which has become planetary in both its riches and its miseries, in order to bring about the era of planetary civilization” (Morin, 2003, p. 110).
The motto is beautiful, it seems so simple when we talk about love, but achieving it is much more difficult than you might think: “Nothing is more difficult to achieve than the desire for a better civilization” (Morin, 2003, p. 110).
It’s like when the French Revolution took place, its trinitarian motto: “Liberty, Equality and Fraternity” seemed simple and achievable, but Morin warns that the democratic norm of 1848 is complex because: “its terms are both complementary and antagonic: liberty alone kills equality and fraternity; imposed equality kills liberty without achieving fraternity; fraternity, a fundamental need for a community bond lived between citizens” (Morin, 2003, p. 112).
These antagonisms range from economic selfishness to political hatred, and also the exercise of democracy: “ … requires both consensus and conflict, it is much more than the exercise of the sovereignty of the people” (idem). requires both consensus and conflict, it is much more than the exercise of the sovereignty of the people” (idem) and this limit that requires tolerance has been crossed.
So what we have at stake is “… the difficulty of establishing democracy after the totalitarian experience. The rule of the democratic game requires a political and civic culture whose formation has been impeded by decades of totalitarianism; the economic crisis gives rise to an excess of conflict that threatens to break the democratic rule” (Morin, 2003, p. 113) and in various parts of the planet this rupture has already happened.
Morin wrote in a prophetic tone for the times (written in 1993): “Correlatively, the collapse of the great hopes for the future, the profound crisis of revolutionaryism, the exhaustion of reformism, the flattening of ideas in everyday pragmatism, the inability to formulate a great project, the weakening of the conflict of ideas to the advantage of conflicts of interest or ethnic or racial ethnocentrism …” (p. 114).
We need to overcome these weaknesses in order to rediscover the path of the common good and social welfare, which is not far off, the problem is that this path, like love and fraternity, is not so simple and requires the resilience to do good by doing it.
MORIN, E.; Kern, B. Terra-Pátria. (2003) Terra-Patria. Transl. Paulo Azevedo Neves da Silva. Brazil, Porto Alegre : Sulina.
