Falling on the trap [again and again]

What´s the TRUTH behind the 9/11? What´s the real purpose of this “war against terrorism”? And how am I supposed to react when mr. Bush says he is in the White House “because God wanted” or even worse, when after a 5 year war that he started with a fake purpose (weapons of mass destruction…«Why did God put our oil in the middle east?» asks John Stewart, the comedian on the Daily Show) he comes out saying he would do it again? Knowing all the lives that were lost and all the money the US spent, the bad image “the west” now has in the world and worse, after spreading instability in a delicate part of the globe, he not only says he doesn’t regret the war he started but also that he would do it again. What excuse now “enlighted” Mr. President?

And what to say of the “suggestive” (picturesque!) expressions “New World Order”, “Axis of Evil”, “Crusade against terrorism" (just picking some)? Are we being manipulated to believe that the Muslims are responsible for the supposed, “marketed” idea that the world is an “unsafe place” and that the US is the only country capable of defending us? Why must Islam play the “Evil”? What makes west think he is the “Good”? Is Islam really a threat and if yes, what’s the real scale of the threat? What if the main source of the problem is the excess of attention we’ve been “forced”, naively induced, to give to the isolated attacks perpetrated by a small group of fanatics? How fair, how clear, how impartial is our judgement? Should we judge at all? How realistic is our Fear? And who should we fear, East or West?

“The West?!” you may ask me. Assuming the 911 was indeed perpetrated by Islamic fundamentalists, west found appropriate to start a “war on terrorism”. The solution seems to me, though, paradoxical: a complete contradiction in terms. The way to end violence is to use even more violence?! Basic 1^st grade physics explains: if you feed the fire he won’t stop. Some Muslims are ignorant. Fanatics are a specific kind of ignorant: they are dangerous ignorant. But this inferior human condition is not restricted to Muslims; it’s a “democratic” illness that can be found all over the world even in the so-called “developed” and “civilized” western countries. Many westerns are ignorant and fanatic too, but not because they are illiterate (like most fanatic Muslims) but because of 2 reasons:

1. They are unable or unwilling to think by themselves (despite having all the information available!!) and mostly
2. Are morally corrupted.

Ignorant are everywhere. But now, should we kill the ignorant? Or harm them, make them suffer? Does a war seem a reasonable approach to the problem? Should we slaughter them, bomb them in an attempt to “clean” the world and to fully eradicate this poisonous seeds once and for all? Is this the “final solution”? (Sounds familiar?)

“What if they harm us, how should we react?” you may ask again.

Go back some 2000 years in History and you’ll find a very reasonable and wise answer to this question. With this I’m not saying you should be Christian: Jesus was just a common human being like each one of us, the thing is that he distinguished clearly right from wrong (in his words, because his Father guided his actions, telling him what to do); having God whispering on his hear or not the fact is Jesus was an inspirational human being who conquered a bright place in world History. What made Jesus so different, so “avant-garde”, so inspirational, so revealing and seductive, so influent, so special was His huge spiritual development, His morally strong behaviour, His believe that man can be genuinely good, he can overcome his bestiality through the elevation of the spirit. There is no miracle on this; no supra-natural powers are needed yet seems so hard (almost impossible) to achieve among us! Our “crusade” (this word is hateful, I shouldn’t even use it!) should be one of self-development, should be about spreading love and understanding and compassion. We should have learned already how to deal with hate; we had examples, living examples, great spiritual leaders, philosophers, writers, and artists from the most diverse areas and from the most diverse places on earth who taught us how to heal the wounds of Man. To fight Ignorance don’t will to teach or to impose your point of view by all means but instead be receptive to listen and to learn, to understand and to forgive! How many examples more does Mankind need? Will Mankind with its never ending grotesque bestiality end up destroying itself? We created technological highly sophisticated weaponry, the most effective killing machines ever seen but we completely forgot what being Human means.

We have come to a level of complexity such we must be very careful with the “leaders” we put on the command of our lives.

"Die Luftbrücke – Nur der Himmel war frei"

"Ponte Aérea: só o céu era livre" é o nome de uma série (2 episódios de 90´) que felizmente e por mero acaso tive oportunidade de ver na 2 durante as férias da Páscoa. Uma produção alemã (quanto a mim, as melhores da europa!) do realizador Dror Zahavi e com as participações dos actores Heino Ferch, Bettina Zimmermann e Ulrich Tukur que, citando a sinopse que se encontra ainda na 2, retrata "a poderosa história de amor passada no cenário dramático que foi a ponte aérea de Berlim: um acontecimento quase esquecido do século passado, que mudou o curso da Guerra Fria e a própria história mundial, até aos nossos dias. Pilotos americanos que três anos antes haviam bombardeado Berlim, agora mobilizavam-se arriscando a vida para salvar os seus habitantes." Pelo meio uma linda e "humaníssima" história de amor. Vale pelas magnificas interpretações, pelos cenários, pela história/argumento e pela História/conhecimento! Encontrei um vídeo apenas com cenas do filme; apesar de não ter legendas deixo-o aqui para mostrar "o género" e ver se vos alicio a procurarem-no. Eu voltarei a vê-lo, sem dúvida! ;)

Ignorância «à Lord»

Um novo mapa para o "Allgarve" (neste momento um sublinhado vermelho avisa-me inocentemente que a palavra está mal escrita! pufff...) publicado no Financial Times de 13 de Outubro de 2007.

Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe. (Albert Eisntein)

Preocupante!!

Citando o autor (?) do vídeo "As paredes de betão entre Lisboa e o rio multiplicam-se de forma preocupante e ao que parece, de forma definitiva. A cidade de Lisboa deixou de ter direito ao Tejo, o rio que lhe deu alma ao longo de toda a sua história. Hoje o contacto de Lisboa com o seu rio é marcado por zonas abandonadas, esquecidas e inúmeras com obras."

Quanto às obras, melhores dias virão (esperemos!); em relação às zonas abandonadas é necessário não serem esquecidas sendo sempre importante apelar à consciência cívica e acção interventiva dos portugueses porque esta não é uma questão apenas dos Lisboetas mas de todos nós. Será necessário lembrar o prédio Coutinho em Viana do Castelo ou as Torres de Ofir? É necessário estar atento às intervenções feitas nas zonas ribeirinhas (e noutros espaços naturais!) para evitar que sejam desfiguradas e impactadas com construções (muitas vezes com as tais "volumetrias" exageradas!) que nos impeçam de usufruir plenamente desses espaços públicos naturais que são de todos por direito!

Falava eu [ironicamente] numa "Apologia do Individualismo"....

...quando dei de caras com um artigo muito interessante no "The Brussels Journal" (on Fri, 2008-02-29):

citando: "It is not surprising that between 1991 and 2001 deaths exceeded births by more than 40,000 [o artigo fala da Grécia mas bem podia falar de Portugal...]. The rearing of a family involves an unconditional commitment to another person, an undertaking whose emotional and financial costs are obvious and direct while many of the benefits are spread out in society and over time. A family man would say that nothing could compensate for the joys of family, but in a society where the individual perceives himself as the centre of the universe committed to the proposition that all joys and pleasures are equal, the family becomes just another choice among others. When duty and virtue have become antiquated terms that one only finds in books no one reads, we have a declining society entangled in the most petty and ephemeral affairs. Unburdened by the past, unimpeded from posterity, there stands the modern Greek [repito: podia ser Português!!]: a person free of any civic and moral duties.

The coming of the welfare state brought the monetarization of civic responsibilities and gradually degraded them to special interest sloganeering." fim de citação

É esta a sociedade que temos. O primeiro passo para a mudança é a tomada de consciencia da necessidade de mudar.

Um romântico chamado Sarkozy

Não, não é por andar todo enamorada da Bruni, nada disso, ou por andar sempre aos abracinhos à chanceler alemã e até a um tal de Sócrates...não, não é por causa disto que lhe chamo romântico. Veja-se entes o que monsieur Sarkozy disse aquando da discussão do Tratado de Lisboa:

"C’est ce que j’ai fait en proposant l’Union de la Méditerranée parce que je suis convaincu qu’en tournant le dos au Sud l’Europe ne tournerait pas le dos à son passé mais à son avenir. Parce que je suis convaincu qu’il faut unir les pays de la Méditerranée entre eux, non seulement parce qu’une part du destin de l’Europe et de la paix du monde se jouent là, mais aussi pour qu’un jour le grand rêve de l’Eurafrique puisse devenir une réalité."

Há uma missão superior para os preguiçosos do Sul da Europa: conseguirem a paz no Mundo.
Aceitamos a missão "quase impossível" ,com bastante agrado, desde que possamos começar só amanhã ou depois de amanhã, ok?
Só mais uma coisinha: acho que o Sarkozy andou a ler Pde António Vieira ou Pessoa...pelo menos faz-me lembrar, de repente, alguma coisa...um tal império cultural e de amor, de fraternidade, de conversão espiritual, e neste caso, não só restrito a uma "pequena" nação mas extenso a todos os povos do mediterrâneo. Interessante. É UM ROMÂNTICO!!