Posts Tagged ‘peace’
The political animal and the ontological being
23
Apr
We imagine from most narratives that Greek politics is
Vessel Hollow
a great model for contemporary society, but Sloterdijk’s correction is as accurate as possible: “The truth about the form of the world imagined by Plato and Aristotle is certainly that city and empire they are figures of the agrarian era” (Sloterdijk, 1999, p. 43).
It is difficult to believe, however, “if Plato defined political knowledge as a pastoral art in reference to featherless bipeds, then it is clear how agro-ontological motives advanced even in the fundamental definition of the essence of power in cities – agriculture and animal husbandry are the reservoirs of contemplation, from which political discourses must draw their plausibility, even if the gaze passes from the garden of the academy to the agora” (pg. 44).
The importance escapes even Sloterdijk, since in modern industrialized European society the “peasant experience” that even Heidegger blames is so, and the “extra-agrarian motives” came “from the workshops of artisans, namely blacksmiths, to advance in the consciousness of the political-philosophical world, and of the ports, a commander, in Greek kybernetes, could become a suggestive figure of power” (page 44).
Coexistence with nature is also resumed in Sloterdijk and his disciple Chul-Han: “it has always been a risk for the city that it uses more than creates man; more than that, it drives him to the last flowerings like reproductions that are too simple; in both the biological and cultural sense, it is more greenhouse than field or garden” (page 45).
Before the development of Chul-Han’s psychopolitics, it can already be found in Sloterdijk: “dominators, politicians and bosses are, according to this logic, above all detonators of functional cruelty – which they obviously do well to create for themselves, under names like reason of state, common good, justice, planning, among others, an acceptable face, if possible sincere” (page 47).
Sloterdijk develops here the true concept of “humanity” “breaks down here into groups that intensify through tensions, and groups that become stagnant in suffering, pain, in the great civilization, acquires a terrible double face; it acts in some as a stimulator, in others as an obstructer; for the minority, lack has an educational effect; for the majority, it acts as a destroyer of souls” (page 48), it is worth clarifying that Sloterdijk is not religious.
To conclude this post, she detects contemporary illness: “the intimate strangeness of master and servant now links them” (page 48) and “the paradox of exclusive inclusivity then takes its toll; people begin to hunt people, kill them in large numbers, exterminate entire hordes and tribes, sell and buy them… “ (page 49).
We have not yet moved far away from Zoom, the exclusivities and non-inclusivities are there.
SLOTERDIJK, Peter. 1999. No mesmo barco: ensaio sobre hiperpolítica (In the same boat: essay on hyperpolitics). Trans. Claudia Cavalcanti. Brazil, São Paulo: Estação Liberdade.
Hyperpolitics and war
22
Apr
When Peter Sloterdijk wrote “All in the same 
boat: essay on hyperpolitics” we were on the threshold of the third millennium, Manuel Castells was writing Sociedade em Rede and Edgar Morin was writing about Cabeça Bem done, rethinking reform, reforming thought, they were attempts to wake up and make humanity move towards a less dark future.
Sloterdijk also wrote “If Europe awakens”, he calls it the Empire of the Center and pays attention to its colonialist past and the need for a new future and rethinks war, a topic so linked in the country that triggered the Second World War.
These are all thoughts that tried to redirect a dark future from the possibility of a new war. In Everyone in the Same Boat, Peter Sloterdijk revisits the political project that was born in classical antiquity, the attempt to organize the State, and says: “How can they “talk” to such large numbers of people and convince them to feel like they are participating in what is “great” – until they reach the willingness to face death in exercises of millions against forces of equal order of magnitude, in order to assure “their own “successors what ideologues call the future” (Sloterdijk, 1999, p. 31).
Contrary to the optimism of Castells and Morin, not only justifiable, but desirable, of a more civilized and humane future, Sloterdijk warns that this connected hypersphere, see that social media were just nascent for these three great thinkers, was for the German, a dangerous future of hyperpolitics.
“The first gestures of this instinctive holism are attempts to describe the cosmos as a larger house and people as larger families” (Slotertijk, p. 32), and adds that in fact, “homo politicus and homo methaphysicus belong together historically; promoters of the State and prospectors of God are evolutionary twins” (Sloterijk, p. 33), of course it is not the view of everyone, much less of men in power, the great statesmen who think in this holism no longer exist and now it is the empire of force and monolithic, authoritarian and hateful thinking.
The Greeks’ political project for him can be called “metallomaniac”, but he warns that this is the man who “meddles in big, bigger issues to have something that he will look at and then abandon. But should they call those who, once they have grasped great things, will never abandon them? I propose megalopaths” (page 34).
Also great empires: the Persian, the Roman, the Mongols who came to dominate half of Europe, the Turkish-Ottoman and more recently Napoleon and the “forgotten” colonies in Africa that were nothing more than an extension of the Central Empire, as Sloterdijk calls it the Europe.
“State Humanism has since been the search for a fair center – and since the Roman reception of this Greek idea, this search has carried its name still known today: Humanity” (pages 35-36).
Sloterdijk questions this model of homo politicus, the “pontifex maximus”, “how do we become raja? How do we become Caesar? How do we become consul, senator, emperor? How must someone live to enter the history books like Metternich, Lord Morlborough or Bismark? (page 37).
The idea of politics as metanoia, this was the initial intention of Paideia for example, is no longer true in war, Sloterdijk quotes Goethe: “the man who does not suffer scourges cannot be educated”.
Eminent danger of war and hope for peace
08
Apr
A drone attack on the Zaporizhzhia plant last
week triggered an alert from Russia that promptly denounced the danger and consequences of a nuclear disaster would be dire.
It was not clear exactly what weapon was used against the nuclear plant (photo), only that they were drones and that one had been detonated on site. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which has experts on site, said only that the information was “consistent” with the entity’s observations, that is, a drone had exploded near the Plant.
International analysts still see the conflict as unlikely due to the catastrophic risk due to the possibility of using nuclear weapons, in addition to conventional combat, the use of cyber and hybrid attacks would be put into motion, initially in Eastern Europe, but with the risk of expanding to Europe and other continents.
Even though NATO holds a significant advantage in both geopolitics, Finland and Sweden joined NATO and Hungary, which sought a position of neutrality, is now strengthened with a military technology agreement made with Sweden, which facilitated its entry into NATO.
Russia, however, has military capabilities combined with economic resources and the modernization of its military apparatus, in addition to a support agreement with China and North Korea, so maintaining peace and preventing conflicts must be done through constant dialogue, but Russian diplomacy continues to play hard and says that dialogue with NATO is “zero”.
Both Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Kremlin spokesman Dimitry Peskov make statements that imply that the conflict with NATO is already underway, diplomatic strategy or pure rhetoric, the fact that tension levels are rising .
NATO responds with military exercises and troop movements on the borders, in January an exercise involved 90 thousand soldiers, new training was announced by NATO commanding general, Christopher Cavoli, the operation called Defensor Firme 24 (Steadfast Defender 24) had already been carried out in other years, but now it takes place amid an intensification of bombings against Kiev.
The hope is that the balance is fragile and both sides know this, and the risk of war would be catastrophic, even though analysts avoid saying that there would be limits on actions.
Polycrisis and hope
05
Apr
Rumors of confrontation between Russia and NATO have worsened in the
last few hours, however, the hope for peace and the resistance of the Spirit, as portrayed by Edgar Morin, remain alive.
In addition to Morin’s polycrisis (just as poly is multiple and is also city polis, Krisis also has the meaning of decision-making power) professor Adam Tooze (Financial Times article), of history at Yale University (USA) expanded and updated: pandemics, droughts, floods, mega storms, forest fires, war in Ukraine (and now in the Gaza strip0, energy and food prices, etc.
In his reasoning, without directly pointing out the professor “discovers” the complexity and a new transdisciplinary vision of the “whole”: “A problem becomes a crisis when it challenges our ability to deal with it and, thus, threatens our identity. In a multiplicity of crises, the shocks are differentiated, but they interact in such a way that the whole is more ambiguous than the sum of its parts”, he states in the article. (in the image the painting by Tsherin Sherpa (Nepal), Lost Spirits, 2014.)
Morin said: “Linked to the domain of calculation in an increasingly technocratic world, the progress of knowledge is incapable of conceiving the complexity of reality and in particular human realities. The result is a return to dogmatism and fanaticism, and a crisis of morality while hatred and idolatries spread” (Newspaper La Repubblica, interview), however, beyond the polycrisis there are signs of hope.
While the Resistance of the Spirit invokes an understanding of the gravity and issues surrounding the current crisis, Hope (capitalized here) means this Spirit put into action and thus the achievement of a countercurrent spirituality that invokes values of change.
Those who immerse themselves in this Hope in different ways, are always willing to embrace the problems that everyone runs away from, to embrace the fragments of a polarized world, and to remember what unites as opposed to what disunites and polarizes, fortunately there are these spirits and I would call them Spirits of Resistance through Hope.
Go to the World and Bring the Good News, it cannot just be a biblical key, it is Living Hope.
Pre-war and hope for peace
01
Apr
Russia declared a state of war with Ukraine,
what changes are the methods and an increase in the limits of violence, the tactic is to bomb the entire country and especially the installations that supply energy, of course except the Atomic Power Plants, but it is not free from an “accident” that would be a severe blow across Europe.
Ukraine in response has made incursions into Russia mainly to target oil plants and deposits, which is why the attack on Crimea has been strategic, and also why Russia has warned that it will not attack NATO forces, except F-fighters. 16.
In addition to Macron, who declared that he does not rule out, if necessary, sending troops to Ukraine, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk also warned that Europe is in a “pre-war” although he added that there is a “long way to go before facing the “threat” posed by Russia.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk warned that Europe is in a “pre-war era” but still has a “long way to go” before it is ready to face the threat posed by Russia.
The recognition by most European governments that a war with Russia would not be simple is a brake on warmongering threats and opens a path to peace. There are already barely visible articulations in the mainstream press of attempts at agreements, which are seen as “secret ”, but it is not the truth, political and economic interests also act in this area.
The situation of humanitarian calamity and war remains between Israel and neighboring anti-Semitic forces, there is a danger that this feeling will become normalized where only the Palestinian side is emphasized, of course the people are never to blame for the war of the powerful, the Russian and Ukrainian people are also victims , but extreme warlike actions must be charged and punished.
The resistance of the spirit, a word coined by Edgar Morin, must be present in our minds and attitudes, ideological and cultural polarization throughout the world (the terrorist act in Russia has cultural connotations, it seems), must not feed our spirit.
We always hope for serenity, the recognition that everyone loses in a war, especially the innocent and civilians, but it feeds a powerful war industry that serves a perverse economy and hardens spirits.
For Christians, Easter is the victory over death, over hatred, it is a victory of peace.
Silence and the resistance of the spirit
26
Mar
War is noisy not only in weapons and
bombs, but mainly in the chatter it generates in which it is impossible to have serenity, think and dialogue; the noisy aspect is a fundamental part of the insanity it represents.
The resistance of the spirit, we are following Edgar Morin’s line, is the possible “weapon” at this moment and perhaps in even worse futures, it means, in many moments, remaining silent, making a silence so profound that it questions the Other who does not give up on argue your reasons for war.
In the Plotinus philosophy, which deeply influenced Saint Augustine, although they are different thinkers, one Christian and the other just Stoic, silence is a stage of deep knowledge of reality, of the one, unity that encompasses everything without leaving itself.
For him when an aspirant to truth (which is truth in fact, not rational logic), he has to have the experience of unity, this experience is total and silent.
The Brazilian philosopher Giacóia Junior seeks in Espinoza’s quote to reflect on this perspective of the relationship between noise and silence when he states that “certainly the fate of humanity would be happier if it were equally within man’s power to both speak and remain silent. But experience teaches sufficiently and superabundantly that nothing is less in the power of men than their language (…) (cf. GIACOIA JUNIOR, 2014, P. 79).
To be faced with silence is to be faced with truth, and if language is the home of being, it is worth remembering that the Word became flesh (John 1:1) if it is not accepted in the biblical sense, it can be thought of as an ontogenic or Phylogenic, as Barthes states in his book The Rumor of Language, states that: “it is language that teaches the definition of man” and that it cannot be considered “a simple instrument, utilitarian or decorative, of thought. Man does not pre-exist language, neither phylogenetically nor ontogenetically” (BARTHES, 1988, p.185).
Thus truth is a Being, language is the dwelling of Being and silence is its apex.
BARTHES, R. 1998. O Rumor da língua (The Rumor of Language). Brazil, São Paulo: Brasiliense.
GIACOIA JUNIOR, O. (2014) Por mais horas silenciosas (For quieter hours”)in: NOVAES, Mutações. Brazil, São Paulo: Ed. SESC SP.
Declared war and dangers
25
Mar
After Russia openly declared that it is at war with
Ukraine in a week of heavy missile attacks on Kiev, including using Polish airspace, which generated tension, Ukraine responded with another major attack on Crimea and oil refineries.
The West was on alert because the price of oil is expected to rise, and tension with NATO and Europe is already at high levels, statements by Putin and Macron with provocations from both sides, the placement of Russian troops on the Finnish border, and an Islamic State attack on a concert hall in Moscow.
From the beginning, the climate of tension has been at its highest this week of Holy Week, there will be no shortage of false prophets and hate mongers to make the situation worse, as Eduardo Galeano said about war, what the hatred of war did not do to the complete media, There have always been cold analysts who think of war as politics since Sun Tzu on the art of war, until Carl von Clausewitz was resurrected to justify the unjustifiable “art” of War.
The small autonomous territory of Transnistria (image) was shaken by the downing of a military helicopter, is within Moldova and governed by pro-Russian forces and is a cause of fear for Moldova, which is a member of NATO.
On the other dangerous front, among the many wars across the planet is the crisis in Palestine, it is another war of strong polarization, where the solution to the crisis seems distant, with increasing hatred from both sides and which could spread throughout the Middle East. .
In addition to the oil problem, the dangerous increase in maritime circulation of grains and industrialized products could generate a supply crisis and affect the problem of hunger, which is already common in many areas of the planet.
This is not an apocalyptic or prophetic vision, if it exists it is for a few and the majority are charlatans and speculators, but the civilizational crisis already has a very visible horizon.
Edgar Morin and other calm and common-sense analysts call for “resistance of the spirit”, not allowing oneself to be contaminated by this climate of hatred, violence and terror that plagues almost all four corners of the planet.
Keep your soul and heart pure and a strong spirit that faces the storms.
Total war threats
18
Mar
Macron and Putin’s statements scare Europe,
although neutrality is not the exact term for involvement due to NATO’s presence in several countries, now Sweden and Finland, bordering Russia.
In an interview with the newspaper Le Parisien, published last Saturday (16/03), Macron declared: “Prepare for all possible scenarios” and added “perhaps at some point this will have to be done”, and “everyone will assume their responsibilities “, provoking reactions of different types, some against and others in favor.
In response, Putin said that if any Western country sends troops to Ukraine, a war between Russia and NATO would be inevitable, and threatened to use nuclear weapons “capable of destroying civilization”.
Putin has a highly secret electronic command and control briefcase called “Kazbek”, it is believed that Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and the Russian Chief of Staff Valery Gerasimov also have these briefcases, they would control more than 4300 nuclear warheads.
Also NATO plans to implement a rotational air defense model in Lithuania are taking shape, according to Lithuanian Defense Minister Arvydas Anušauskas.
Russia’s election with 87% of votes for Putin was criticized in the West, Germany called it “pseudo-elections”, the French newspapers “simulacrum”, finally opponents arrested or killed and a lot of repression against the opposition.
Putin stated that Russia would consider testing a nuclear weapon if the United States did so, in 2023 the Russian president withdrew Russia from the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), although it is reported that Russia did not carry out any tests , recently tested the Bulava missile (SS-NX-30 in NATO classification) can be equipped with ten nuclear warheads.
The tone has risen, but also the resistance of spirit and hope has not diminished, peace is possible.
Lonely Voices for Peace
06
Mar
The Uruguayan writer Eduardo Galeano took
a stand against the war, famous for having written “The Open Veins of Latin America”, who was the author of more than 40 books, including The Book of Hugs, which has a recording that was once again published in the youtube for the impact it has.
He begins his speech by saying: “No war has the honesty to confess: I kill to steal” and then goes on to unmask the various false reasons why they try to justify their attitudes, “wars always invoke noble motives, they kill in the name of Peace, in the name of God, in the name of progress” and others, but if they can’t, the media can help, and it’s not just the new media, he said in his time about the mainstream press.
The toxic culture that someone has the solution to the world’s biggest problems, that there is some “enlightened” group, prevents openness to dialogue and finding paths to peace.
The ancient models proposed: the Pax Romana that subjects the people, the eternal peace that is the idealistic model, the peace that solves the problems of social justice, all of them invoke war in the last instance.
There was a time when it was possible for people to take to the streets and demand peace, and call out the authorities for the insanity of their provocative and war-inducing positions, even if disguised in promises of peace as Galeano said, and all of them hide theft, the greed for wealth and the mockery of the people and the poor.
Also of little value are the “elevated” spirits who make beautiful romantic and ideal phrases, which have nothing of reality or serenity, they are just conscious or unconscious alienation, they are voices that flee from the real problems that humanity faces: a civilizational crisis.
The Pope is one of these voices, there are also lone voices in the UN, small countries that despite being in spheres of influence, have the wisdom and discernment that will also suffer if the war prospers.
Eduardo Galeano draws attention in his video that the countries that make up the UN Security Council are precisely those that have the most weapons, and the arms industry is also an economic source for those who own it, but it generates wealth for isolated groups.
There is a lack of unequivocal voices for peace, voices that do not ignore the situation and real positions.
Serenity and peace
05
Mar
Heidegger’s book “Serenity” divides contemporary
thought between what calculates and what meditates, about what calculates he states:
“The thought that calculates (das rechnende Denken) makes calculations. It makes calculations with continually new possibilities, always with greater perspectives and simultaneously more economical. The thought that calculates goes from opportunity to opportunity. Thought that calculates never stops, never comes to meditate.” (p. 13).
The text reflects that there is no “elevated” meditation, every man thinks and thought can lead to meditation, but calculation does not threaten this innermost being:
Heidegger reminds us that to truly think we must all think about our roots, in a more contemporary way, not to deny our origins and their influence on our worldview, even if limited, he states: “the rootedness (die Bodentändigkeit) of modern Man is threatened in its most intimate essence. Furthermore: the loss of rooting is not caused only by external circumstances and fatalities of destiny, nor is it the effect of negligence and the superficial way of Men. The loss of rootedness comes from the spirit of the times into which we were all born” (p. 17).
The most surprising thing about this text, which is from 1995, is that the “most tormenting characteristic is the atomic bomb”, we cannot forget that we have 440 atomic plants plus 23 under construction (in the photo the Fukushima accident), he realizes that the thought that he calculates only sees the industrial possibilities and the need for the energies of nature, but he meditates on what this domain of nature actually means.
“The power hidden in contemporary technology determines Man’s relationship with that which exists. It dominates the entire Earth. Man is already beginning to leave Earth towards cosmic space…” (p. 19), which in addition to being incredibly current also had a foreboding about the future.
But he did not fail to see the danger of these “great atomic energies”, and thus: “he assures humanity that such colossal energies, suddenly, anywhere – even without warlike actions – do not escape our control, and “take the brakes on teeth” and annihilate everything?” (p.20).
In addition to Fukushima, there is the fateful Chernobyl accident, precisely in Ukraine and carried out with Russian collaboration, and the current war there are battles very close to the largest atomic plant in Zaporizhzhia, built between 1984 and 1995, it is the largest nuclear plant in Europe and the ninth largest in the world.
Russia’s threats must be taken seriously, a nuclear war puts the entire civilization process and perhaps humanity itself at risk, serenity and peace are needed.
Western thought has submitted to the cold and calculating mathematical and physical thought, which even it is in check.
Heidegger, M. (no date) Serenidade (Serenity). Transl. de Maria Madalena Andrade e Olga Santos. Lisboa: Instituto Piaget, s/d. (portuguese)
