Mittwoch, 16. Januar 2019

Wars that have proven to be useless

By Cunha e Silva Filho (Brazil)

             The American  presence in Iraq, even  with the withdrawal of the majority  of military  force still  deployed in the country,  has not  prevented  the  continuous  intolerance  among  rival factions, i.e., among  Xiitas and Sunitas.
             The extremists   go on with  their attacks, without truce, with neither side  wishing a dialog, word which, as it seems,  is not to be found in the dictionary  of civil war tragedies   that leave behind  more  dead bodies, car-bombs,  bloodshed and losses  of lives and destruction in  cities and  towns. It all   points at a lack of control on the part of  country living  in fratricidal  conflicts, whether in Egypt, in Syria,  in  Iraq or other regions. It even looks as if  we do not  possess any more  international  peace organisms that would   have the  main  purpose  to  reduce  conflicts among nations  which destroy  one  another  in order to take power  by means  of  bloody  religiosity  and  by other unknown   arguments. I wonder if we have come to a degree in which  struggling nations are doomed to  destruction  without having  anyone  to  help them  concretely solve their problems and lead them  towards  achieving  peace.
               Governments have been   ravaged,   their leaders dead.  New  leaders  have  been  taken over by elections or by coups who, in turn,  have not got to maintain   the  integrity  of their  people or their unity  as a nation.  This is  a stage  of Mankind History which is not at all  the best  one  to please  nations  and  peoples. Far otherwise.

             At this gloomy moment for the human being universally  taken,  it would be  necessary to  draw water out of stone, never say die, never fall into   lassitude and call together all good hearted-men of the Planet so that they may have their voices  heard and taken into account by those who  are daily killing one another led by  extremisms,  partisanship, intolerance, fanaticism -- these great evil human  creature is sometimes  unfortunately  endowed with.
         The History of the peoples do not have so far been serviceable   as a lesson to all nations in   conflict,   inasmuch   as the atrocities of civil wars go on among several  peoples. How can one  build a city, a state, a country in a solid ground and with  lasting  peace if  guerillas, wars, battles, terrorism – this  last one the most  inhuman  tool of cowardice  that  in our days   human kind  has ever give as an   example!
        To be quite frank,   international security organisms, like UN, NATO and others,   little success   have actually  obtained in the dialogs and negotiations  made with   countries’ delegations in  warfare. I can only see a way signaling some hope: a spiritual dimension without fanaticism: a balance with  transcendental force that may turn fanaticism, intolerance and terrorism into attitudes taken by man   which, without forgetting the logical limits of human condition, manage to  lead peoples towards  a frank dialog, open-minded  to mutual  concessions, by recognizing differences  and  diversified world views. I understand that, by  compromising  a part of  their opposing views, there shall be a way which may be opened to a universal understanding. If man, for example,  is able to learn a foreign  language,   like English,  Spanish or other widely  spoken language, and get his meaning across other  peoples,  why couldn’t he do so as far as peace  goals are concerned among nations and children of the  same country?
               There exists a kind of Babel Tower that is still very active in our contemporary time: the diversity  of voices and political, ideological and religious views. However, this confusion of  languages, here metaphorically  considered,   that troubles the coming of peace  could well be a sort of solution, the  decisive tool of  a  universal human language, i.e., the use of  a dialog, as I suggested some lines  behind, but an unbiased use of communication, without subterfuges, without an attempt to  hide  unwanted  intentions, a dialog in which would be no  room for  one  of the biggest evils of life: hypocrisy.  Indeed, this dialog would be a way out  towards sharing understanding others without hegemonic connotations of whatever nature,  without submissions and  opportunism. That would not  be a Utopian ideal  of a young man, because this columnist is no longer a youngtster, but  just someone whose greatest aspiration is to see the world, the nations, the Planet in a time ruled by lasting  peace.


Francisco da Cunha e Silva Filho (pen-name: Cunha e Silva Filho) was  born in Amarante,  state of Piauí, December 7,  1945. Brazilian writer, literay critic,  essayst,  translator,  former Professor  of  English and  Brazilian Literature (Universidade Castelo Branco, Rio de Janeiro  RJ.  Brazil; Retired Full  English  Teacher  from  Colégio Militar do Rio de Janeiro (CMRJ) Post-Doctor in Comparative Literature(Federal University fo Rio de Janeiro,UFRJ); Doctor in Brazilian Literature(Federal University of Rio de Janeiro; Master in Brazilian  Literature(Federal University of Rio de Janeiro); Graduate teacher in  Portuguese and English  (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro,  UFRJ);  Contributor  of a lot of newspapers, d journalsl  and academic  journals from  the state of Piauí and other Brazilian states. Among other books, he wrote Da Costa e Silva : uma leitura da saudade (Teresina, PI: Editorada UFPI/Academia Piauiense de Letras;  1996); “Da Costa e Silva: do cânone ao Modernismo”. In: SANTOS. Geografias - literárias.  Francisco Venceslau dos.; Confronto : o local e o  nacional. Rio de Janeiro:  Editora Caetés,  2003; p. 113-124; Breve introdução ao curso de Letras: um orientação. Rio de Janeiro: Editora Quártica, 20009; As ideias no tempo. Teresina. PI: APL/Senado Federal, 2010. Apenas memórias. Rio de Janeiro: Editora Quártica, 2016; Com tos selecionados de José Ribamar Garcia (Org.) Rio de Janeiro: Editora Litteris Editora, 2017; Paisagem, vida e linguagem em Enéas Athanázio: uma leitura de O campo no coração.” Balneário Camboriú – Santa Catarina, Brasil: Editora Minarete, 2018. Effective Member  of  Brazilian Academy of Philology(ABRAFIL). Member of Brazilian Union  of Writers (UBE, Section  Piauí) Currently, Cunha e Silva Filho  has been writing for  his Blog  “As ideias no tempo”  since 1983. He belongs to the Editing Staff Council of the Site Entretextos of which he is a literary  and cultural columnist (“Letra Viva.”) Quite a good number  of his major  publications are to be found in the site www. Academia.adu. – Francisco da Cunha  e Silva Filho.At present,   he is been writing for the Romanian  Journal  Orizon Literar Contemporan.




This article was published first on July 30, 2013 in the Blog: "As ideas no tempo".


Things did not change, did not improve since then!  (Raymond Walden)



Keine Kommentare: