IN EXILE

by Anton Chekhov

OLD SEMYON, nicknamed Canny, and a young Tatar, whom no one knew by name, were sitting on the river-bank by the camp-fire; the other three ferrymen were in the hut. Semyon, an old man of sixty, lean and toothless, but broad shouldered and still healthy-looking, was drunk; he would have gone in to sleep long before, but he had a bottle in his pocket and he was afraid that the fellows in the hut would ask him for vodka. The Tatar was ill and weary, and wrapping himself up in his rags was describing how nice it was in the Simbirsk province, and what a beautiful and clever wife he had left behind at home. He was not more than twenty five, and now by the light of the camp-fire, with his pale and sick, mournful face, he looked like a boy.
"To be sure, it is not paradise here," said Canny. "You can see for yourself, the water, the bare banks, clay, and nothing else. . . . Easter has long passed and yet there is ice on the river, and this morning there was snow. . ."
"It's bad! it's bad!" said the Tatar, and looked round him in terror.
The dark, cold river was flowing ten paces away; it grumbled, lapped against the hollow clay banks and raced on swiftly towards the far-away sea. Close to the bank there was the dark blur of a big barge, which the ferrymen called a "karbos." Far away on the further bank, lights, dying down and flickering up again, zigzagged like little snakes; they were burning last year's grass. And beyond the little snakes there was darkness again. There little icicles could be heard knocking against the barge It was damp and cold. . . .
The Tatar glanced at the sky. There were as many stars as at home, and the same blackness all round, but something was lacking. At home in the Simbirsk province the stars were quite different, and so was the sky.
"It's bad! it's bad!" he repeated.
"You will get used to it," said Semyon, and he laughed. "Now you are young and foolish, the milk is hardly dry on your lips, and it seems to you in your foolishness that you are more wretched than anyone; but the time will come when you will say to yourself: 'I wish no one a better life than mine.' You look at me. Within a week the floods will be over and we shall set up the ferry; you will all go wandering off about Siberia while I shall stay and shall begin going from bank to bank. I've been going like that for twenty-two years, day and night. The pike and the salmon are under the water while I am on the water. And thank God for it, I want nothing; God give everyone such a life."

full story here

Uprisings: From the Middle East to the Midwest

By Amy Goodman

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/uprisings_from_the_middle_east_to_the_midwest_20110222/

 

Tradução: Katarina Peixoto

http://www.cartamaior.com.br/templates/materiaMostrar.cfm?materia_id=17485

As many as 80,000 people marched to the Wisconsin state Capitol in Madison on Saturday as part of an ongoing protest against newly elected Republican Gov. Scott Walker’s attempt to not just badger the state’s public employee unions, but to break them. The Madison uprising follows on the heels of those in the Middle East. A sign held by one university student, an Iraq War vet, read, “I went to Iraq and came home to Egypt?” Another read, “Walker: Mubarak of the Midwest.” 

Cerca de 80 mil pessoas marcharam no sábado passado ao Capitólio do estado de Wisconsin, em Madison, como parte de uma crescente onda de protesto contra a tentativa do flamante governador republicano Scott Walker, não só de acossar os sindicatos dos servidores públicos, mas de desarticulá-los. O levante popular de Madison ocorre imediatamente em seguida aos que vêm ocorrendo no Oriente Médio. Um estudante universitário veterano da guerra do Iraque, levava um cartaz que dizia “Fui ao Iraque e voltei a minha casa no Egito?”. Outro dizia: “Walker, o Mubarak do Meio Oeste”.

Likewise, a photo has circulated in Madison of a young man at a rally in Cairo, with a sign reading, “Egypt supports Wisconsin workers: One world, one pain.” Meanwhile, Libyans continue to defy a violent government crackdown against masses seeking to oust longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi, and more than 10,000 marched Tuesday in Ohio to oppose Republican Gov. John Kasich’s attempted anti-union legislative putsch.

Do mesmo modo, em Madison, circulou uma foto de um jovem em uma manifestação no Cairo com um cartaz que dizia: “Egito apoia os trabalhadores de Wisconsin: o mesmo mundo, a mesma dor”. Enquanto isso, em uma tentativa de derrubar o eterno ditador Muammar Kadafi, os líbios seguem desafiando a violenta ofensiva do governo, ao mesmo tempo que mais de 10 mil pessoas marcharam terça-feira em Columbus, Ohio, para se opor à tentativa do governador republicano John Kasich de dar um golpe de estado legislativo contra os sindicatos.


Just a few weeks ago, solidarity between Egyptian youth and Wisconsin police officers, or between Libyan workers and Ohio public employees, might have elicited a raised eyebrow.

Há apenas algumas semanas, a solidariedade entre jovens egípcios e policiais do Wisconsin, ou entre trabalhadores líbios e funcionários públicos de Ohio, seria algo inacreditável.

The uprising in Tunisia was sparked by the suicide of a young man named Mohamed Bouazizi, a 26-year-old university graduate who could not find professional work. Selling fruits and vegetables in the market, he was repeatedly harassed by Tunisian authorities who eventually confiscated his scale. Unbearably frustrated, he set himself on fire, a spark that ignited the protests that became the wave of revolution in the Middle East and North Africa. For decades in the region, people have lived under dictatorships—many that receive U.S. military aid—suffering human-rights abuses along with low income, high unemployment and almost no freedom of speech. All this, while the elites amassed fortunes.

O levante popular na Tunísia foi provocado pelo suicídio de um jovem chamado Mohamed Bouazizi, universitário de 26 anos de idade, que não encontrava trabalho em sua profissão. Enquanto vendida frutas e verduras no mercado, em repetidas oportunidades foi vítima de maus tratos por parte das autoridades tunisianas que acabaram confiscando sua balança. Completamente frustrado, ele ateou-se fogo, o que acabou incendiando os protestos que se converteram em uma onda revolucionária no Oriente Médio e Norte da África. Durante décadas, o povo da região viveu sob ditaduras – muitas das quais recebem ajuda militar dos EUA -, sofreu violações dos direitos humanos, além de ter baixa renda, enfrentar altas taxas de desemprego e não ter praticamente nenhuma liberdade de expressão. Tudo isso enquanto as elites acumulavam fortunas.

Similar grievances underlie the conflicts in Wisconsin and Ohio. The “Great Recession” of 2008, according to economist Dean Baker, is now in its 37th month, with no sign of relenting. In a recent paper, Baker says that, due to the financial crisis, “many political figures have argued the need to drastically reduce the generosity of public sector pensions, and possibly to default on pension obligations already incurred. Most of the pension shortfall ... is attributable to the plunge in the stock market in the years 2007-2009.”

Nos conflitos que vemos hoje em Wisconsin e Ohio há um pano de fundo semelhante. A “Grande Recessão” de 2008, segundo o economista Dean Baker, ingressou em seu trigésimo mês sem sinais de melhora. Em um documento recente, Baker diz que devido à crise financeira “muitos políticos argumentam que é necessário reduzir de forma drástica as generosas aposentadorias do setor público e, se possível, não cumprir com as obrigações de pensões já assumidas. Grande parte do déficit no sistema de aposentadorias se deve à queda da bolsa de valores nos anos 2007-2009”.

In other words, Wall Street hucksters, selling the complex mortgage-backed securities that provoked the collapse, are the ones who caused any pension shortfall. Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist David Cay Johnston said recently: “The average Wisconsin state employee gets $24,500 a year. That’s not a very big pension ... 15 percent of the money going into it each year is being paid out to Wall Street to manage the money. That’s a really huge high percentage to pay out to Wall Street to manage the money.”

Em outras palavras, os mascates de Wall Street que vendiam as complexas ações respaldadas por hipotecas que provocaram o colapso financeiro foram os responsáveis pelo déficit nas pensões. O jornalista vencedor do prêmio Pulitzer, David Cay Johnston disse recentemente: “O funcionário público médio de Wisconsin ganha 24.500 dólares por ano. Não se trata de uma grande aposentadoria; 15% do dinheiro destinado a esta aposentadoria anualmente é o que se paga a Wall Street para administrá-lo. É realmente uma porcentagem muito alta para pagar Wall Street por administrar o dinheiro”.


So, while investment bankers skim a huge percentage off pension funds, it’s the workers who are being demonized and asked to make the sacrifices. Those who caused the problem, who then got lavish bailouts and now are treated to huge salaries and bonuses, are not being held accountable. Following the money, it turns out Walker’s campaign was funded by the notorious Koch brothers, major backers of the tea party organizations. They also gave $1 million to the Republican Governors Association, which gave substantial support to Walker’s campaign. Is it surprising that Walker supports corporations with tax breaks, and has launched a massive attack on unionized, public-sector employees?

Então, enquanto a banca financeira fica com uma enorme porcentagem dos fundos de aposentadoria, os trabalhadores são demonizadas e pede-se a eles que façam sacrifícios. Os que provocaram o problema, em troca, logo obtiveram resgates generosos, agora recebem altíssimos salários e bonificações e não estão sendo responsabilizados. Se rastreamos a origem do dinheiro, vemos que a campanha de Walker foi financiada pelos tristemente célebres irmãos Koch, grandes patrocinadores das organizações que formam o movimento conservador tea party. Além disso, doaram um milhão de dólares para a Associação de Governadores Republicanos, que concedeu um apoio significativo à campanha de Walker. Então, por acaso resulta surpreendente que Walker apoie às empresas ao outorgar-lhes isenções se impostos e que tenha lançado uma grande campanha contra os servidores do setor público sindicalizado?

One of the unions being targeted by Walker, and by Kasich in Ohio, is AFSCME, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. The union was founded in 1932, in the midst of the Great Depression, in Madison. Its 1.6 million members are nurses, corrections officers, child-care providers, EMTs and sanitation workers. It is instructive to remember, in this Black History Month, that it was the struggle of the sanitation workers of AFSCME local No. 1733 that brought Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to Memphis, Tenn., back in April 1968. As Jesse Jackson told me as he marched with students and their unionized teachers in Madison on Tuesday: “Dr. King’s last act on earth, marching in Memphis, Tenn., was about workers’ rights to collective bargaining and rights to dues checkoff. You cannot remove the roof for the wealthy and remove the floor for the poor.”

Um dos sindicatos que Walter e Kasich têm na mira, em Ohio, é a Federação Estadunidense de Empregados Estatais de Condados e Municípios (AFSCME, na sigla em inglês). O sindicato foi fundado em 1932, em meio à Grande Depressão, em Madison. Tem 1,6 milhões de filiados, entre os quais há enfermeiros, servidores penitenciários, seguranças, técnicos de emergências médicas e trabalhadores da saúde. Vale a pena lembrar, neste mês da História Negra, que a luta dos trabalhadores da saúde do prédio n° 1733 de AFSCME fez com que o Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Fosse a Memphis, Tennessee, em abril de 1968. Como me disse o reverendo Jesse Jackson quando marchava com os estudantes e seus professores sindicalizados, em Madison, na semana passada: “O último ato do Dr. King na terra, sua viagem a Memphis, Tennessee, foi pelo direito dos trabalhadores negociarem convênios coletivos de trabalho e o direito ao desconto da quota sindical de seu salário. Não é possível beneficiar os ricos enquanto se deixa os pobres sem nada”.

The workers of Egypt were instrumental in bringing down the regime there, in a remarkable coalition with Egypt’s youth. In the streets of Madison, under the Capitol dome, another demonstration of solidarity is taking place. Wisconsin’s workers have agreed to pay and pension concessions, but will not give up their right to collective bargaining. At this point, Walker would be wise to negotiate. It is not a good season to be a tyrant.


Os trabalhadores do Egito, formando uma coalizão extraordinária com os jovens, tiveram um papel decisivo na derrubada do regime deste país. Nas ruas de Madison, sob a cúpula do Capitólio, está se produzindo outra mostra de solidariedade. Os trabalhadores de Wisconsin fizeram concessões em seus salários e aposentadorias, mas não renunciaram ao direito a negociar convênios coletivos de trabalho. Neste momento seria inteligente que Walker negociasse. Não é uma boa época para os tiranos.

Amy Goodman is the host of “Democracy Now!,” a daily international TV/radio news hour airing on more than 900 stations in North America. She is the author of “Breaking the Sound Barrier,” recently released in paperback and now a New York Times best-seller.

© 2011 Amy Goodman

Distributed by King Features Syndicate

Get Bold, Barak

Get Bold, Barack
Ouse, Barack
By ROGER COHEN
texto traduzido: Viomundo

WASHINGTON — I was among the early and strong supporters of Barack Obama. America was stuck and it seemed to me he could take the country forward into the 21st century, which began so tragically in downtown New York and here in the nation’s capital. Like many, at midterm, I’m struggling with my disappointment.

Washington — Estive entre os primeiros e maiores apoiadores de Barack Obama. Os Estados Unidos estavam entrevados e me pareceu que ele poderia levar o país adiante no século 21, que começou tão tragicamente em Nova York e aqui na capital da Nação. Como muitos, na metade do mandato, estou enfrentando minha decepção

I’ve asked myself: Would Hillary Clinton, experienced and attuned to blue-collar America, have been stronger and more capable of lifting the national mood? I’ve thought to myself: Is it unfair to feel this disillusionment given the scale of Obama’s inherited problems? And I’ve wondered, given the visceral disrespect for the president from the Tea Party — a foul scorn full of innuendo that skirts the boundaries of racism — whether Obama could have done anything to reach across the aisle?

Já me perguntei: será que Hillary Clinton, experiente e ligada aos Estados Unidos blue-collar [nota do Viomundo: trabalhadores de colarinho azul, em geral de classe média baixa] teria sido mais forte e mais capaz de levantar o moral nacional? Já me perguntei: será injusto sentir desilusão com a escala dos problemas herdados pelo Obama? E me perguntei, dado o desrespeito visceral pelo presidente que vem do Tea Party — um desprezo mal cheiroso, cheio de sugestões que beiram o racismo — se Obama poderia ter feito qualquer coisa para se aproximar dos adversários?

To all these questions, at different times, I’ve had different answers. No, says one voice, get over it, he’s doing the best he could to lift America from the double whammy of war and economic meltdown. He’s smart and curious — and, anyway, just consider the mystical-nationalist-insular alternative.

Para todas estas perguntas, em momentos diferentes, tive diferentes respostas. Não, diz uma voz, esqueça, ele está fazendo o que pode para tirar os Estados Unidos de duas pancadas — da guerra e do derretimento econômico. Ele é inteligente e curioso — e, de qualquer forma, é preciso considerar a alternativa mística-insular-nacionalista.

Oh yeah, says another, he’s too cool a customer, a beguiling construct more than flesh and blood, an empty vessel for a misplaced idealism, a politician averse to pressing the flesh (and what else is politics?), a man who — not for nothing — tilts his chin upward when he speaks.

Ah, sim, diz outra resposta, ele é muito “cool”, uma construção mais do que uma pessoa de carne e osso, uma nave vazia para carregar idealismo, um político que não gosta de se relacionar com os eleitores (e o que mais é a política?), um homem que — não por nada — levanta o queixo quando fala.

Back and forth go the voices, but there’s no getting away from the disappointment. This president feels flat — and somehow not quite genuine. He should place above his bed the words of Jonathan Alter: “Logic can convince but only emotion can motivate.”

As vozes vão e vem, mas não tem como me afastar da desilusão. Este presidente parece vazio — e às vezes nem mesmo genuíno. Ele deveria colocar sobre a cama as palavras de Jonathan Alter: “A lógica pode convencer mas apenas a emoção pode motivar”.

On arriving in New York from London, I went to a party on the Upper East Side. It was a well-heeled crowd, almost all Obama supporters a couple of years back. “The guy’s a phony,” one guest said. “We need a Bloomberg, somebody who can manage,” said another, referring to the billionaire mayor of New York. “All this Clinton nostalgia, it’s because Obama is a loner, not interested in people,” said a third.

Ao chegar a Nova York vindo de Londres, fui a uma festa no Upper East Side [nota do Viomundo: reduto dos liberais de Nova York, onde morei na 83 com a Segunda, nos anos 80]. Era uma multidão de gente bem de vida, quase toda formada por apoiadores de Obama há alguns anos. “Ele é uma enganação”, um convidado disse. “Precisamos de um Bloomberg, alguém que saiba gerenciar”, disse outro, se referindo ao prefeito bilionário de Nova York. “Toda esta nostalgia em torno do Clinton é causada porque Obama é um solitário, não tem interesse nas pessoas”, disse um terceiro.

I was a struck by how people aren’t sure where Obama’s headed. There’s no narrative to the presidency. It was about believable change. Now the president seems less a passionate change agent than a careful calculator unsure of his core beliefs. In London, you know what Prime Minister David Cameron is about: rowing back the state and slashing the deficit. Agree or disagree, there’s a narrative. It helps.

Fiquei surpreso pela fato de que as pessoas não sabem qual é o caminho desejado por Obama. Não existe narrativa nesta presidência. Era sobre mudança em que se podia acreditar. Agora o presidente parece menos apaixonado pela ideia de ser um agente de mudança e mais um calculista incerto de suas crenças principais. Em Londres, sabemos o que o primeiro-ministro David Cameron quer: reduzir o estado e cortar o déficit. Concorde ou não, é a narrativa. Ajuda.

Another foreign leader came to mind, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil, now about to leave office after an extraordinary presidency. Here are two outsider politicians with lullaby-like names and the kinds of faces not previously seen on their nations’ banknotes, breaking molds of race or class. But there the resemblance ends.

Outro líder estrangeiro do qual me lembrei, o presidente Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva do Brasil, que agora está próximo de deixar o poder depois de uma presidência extraordinária. Aqui estão dois políticos de fora do círculo de poder, com nomes fáceis de pronunciar e com rostos diversos dos que apareciam nas notas do dinheiro de suas nações, quebrando modelos de raça ou classe. Mas a comparação termina aí.

Lula proved all of a piece — one of eight children from the impoverished far north of Brazil, a former steelworker who repaired social fracture in one of the world’s most unequal societies. Obama has so far failed that critical authenticity test.

Lula experimentou de tudo — um de oito filhos do norte empobrecido do Brasil, um ex-operário metalúrgico que reparou a fratura social de uma das sociedades mais desiguais do mundo. Obama até agora fracassou no teste crítico de autenticidade.

There was an anti-establishment frisson to Obama, the black man who battled to overcome prejudice and America’s “original sin” to win the nation’s highest office. Yet he has revealed himself as an elite product of America’s elite schools, a politician who built his image with great intelligence but shows little taste for the nitty-gritty. Bipartisanship, when it’s not just oratory, begins with small gestures.

Havia um frisson anti-establishment no Obama, o homem negro que batalhou para superar preconceito e o “pecado original” dos Estados Unidos para conquistar o cargo mais importante do país. Ainda assim ele se revelou um produto da elite e das escolas de elite dos Estados Unidos, um político que construiu sua imagem com grande inteligência mas mostra pouco apetite pelos detalhes. Bipartidarismo, quando não é apenas oratória, começa com pequenos gestos.

I was talking to a Democratic Party donor, a Kansas City businessman. He said he’s given over $30,000 to Obama — and not a word of thanks. He was irritated. Lots of people think this president is too smug to write thank-you notes or make quick courtesy calls.

Estive conversando com um pequeno doador do Partido Democrata, um empresário de Kansas City. Ele deu 30 mil dólares para Obama e não recebeu uma nota de agradecimento. Está irritado. Muita gente acha que o presidente é muito convencido para escrever notas de agradecimento ou fazer chamadas de cortesia.

After the inevitable midterm defeat, Obama needs to make some decisions. He’s stuck on the 20-yard line in domestic and foreign policy. The facile attacks on “fat-cat bankers” have to end. They don’t convince the left and they infuriate the right. Prosecute, by all means, but don’t rail. And remember that Americans get good housekeeping in the end. One $787 billion fiscal injection is enough.

Depois da derrota inevitável nas eleições do meio de mandato, Obama precisa tomar algumas decisões. Ele está preso na defesa nas questões domésticas e de política externa. Os ataques fáceis nos “banqueiros gordos” precisam acabar. Eles não convencem a esquerda e deixam a direita furiosa. Processe-os, por todos os meios, mas deixe de falar. E lembre que os americanos tiveram uma boa limpeza doméstica. Uma injeção fiscal de 787 bilhões de dólares é suficiente.

Americans are trying to de-leverage. They’ll follow a president who says extending tax cuts for the rich is madness. They might buy a consumption tax. But the president has to lead.

Os americanos estão tentando se livrar das dívidas. Eles seguirão um presidente que diz que estender os cortes de impostos para os ricos é loucura [nota do Viomundo: herança deixada por George W. Bush]. Os americanos podem até aceitar impostos sobre o consumo. Mas o presidente precisa liderar.

Obama is confronting an international conviction that he’s hesitant. The agonizing review that led to the Afghan surge left an impression of uncertainty. In the end we got what some have called the Groucho Marx Hello, I Must be Going! plan, a brief reinforcement to be reversed in time for the 2012 campaign. In the Middle East, too, domestic politics have trumped change, with resulting equivocation and familiar paralysis.

Obama está enfrentando uma convicção internacional de que é hesitante. A revisão da estratégia que levou ao aumento das tropas no Afeganistão deixou uma impressão de incerteza. No final recebemos o que alguns chamaram de plano do Groucho Marx — Alô, estou de saída — um reforço que será revertido a tempo da campanha de 2012. No Oriente Médio, também, a política doméstica evitou mudanças, resultando em erros e a familiar paralisia.

Boldness characterized Obama’s campaign; only that will get him re-elected in 2012. He needs to invigorate his team with doers rather than thinkers. He needs to become serious about balancing the budget. He needs a foreign policy that reflects a changed world not a churlish Congress.

A ousadia marcou a campanha de Obama; só ela poderá reelegê-lo em 2012. Ele precisa revigorar sua equipe com “fazedores” em vez de “pensadores”. Ele precisa encarar com seriedade o equilíbrio do orçamento. Ele precisa de uma política externa que reflita um mundo em mudança, não um Congresso dividido.

And he must admit to himself that perhaps the disappointed are not misguided but rational, even scientific — words he likes

E ele precisa admitir que talvez os decepcionados com ele não são mal aconselhados, mas racionais e até mesmo científicos — palavras das quais ele tanto gosta.

Food Inc. Part 1

The Take - Part 1

The former guerrilla set to be the world's most powerful woman

The world's most powerful woman will start coming into her own next weekend. Stocky and forceful at 63, this former leader of the resistance to a Western-backed military dictatorship (which tortured her) is preparing to take her place as President of Brazil.

A mulher mais poderosa do mundo começará a andar com as próprias pernas no próximo fim de semana. Forte e vigorosa aos 63 anos, essa ex-líder da resistência a uma ditadura militar (que a torturou) se prepara para conquistar o seu lugar como Presidente do Brasil.


As head of state, president Dilma Rousseff would outrank Angela Merkel, Germany's Chancellor, and Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State: her enormous country of 200 million people is revelling in its new oil wealth. Brazil's growth rate, rivalling China's, is one that Europe and Washington can only envy.

Como chefe de estado, a Presidente Dilma Rousseff irá se tornar mais poderosa que a Chanceler da Alemanha, Angela Merkel e que a Secretária de Estado dos EUA, Hillary Clinton: seu país enorme de 200 milhões de pessoas está comemorando seu novo tesouro petrolífero. A taxa de crescimento do Brasil, rivalizando com a China, é algo que a Europa e Washington podem apenas invejar.

Her widely predicted victory in next Sunday's presidential poll will be greeted with delight by millions. It marks the final demolition of the "national security state", an arrangement that conservative governments in the US and Europe once regarded as their best artifice for limiting democracy and reform. It maintained a rotten status quo that kept a vast majority in poverty in Latin America while favouring their rich friends.

Sua ampla vitória prevista para a próxima eleição presidencial será comemorada com encantamento por milhões. Marca a demolição final do “estado de segurança nacional”, um arranjo que os governos conservadores, nos EUA e na Europa uma vez tomaram como seu melhor artifício para limitar a democracia e a reforma. Ele sustenta um status quo corrompido que mantém a imensa maioria na pobreza na América Latina, enquanto favorece seus amigos ricos.


Ms Rousseff, the daughter of a Bulgarian immigrant to Brazil and his schoolteacher wife, has benefited from being, in effect, the prime minister of the immensely popular President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the former union leader. But, with a record of determination and success (which includes appearing to have conquered lymphatic cancer), this wife, mother and grandmother will be her own woman. The polls say she has built up an unassailable lead – of more than 50 per cent compared with less than 30 per cent – over her nearest rival, an uninspiring man of the centre called Jose Serra. Few doubt that she will be installed in the Alvorada presidential palace in Brasilia in January.

A senhora Rousseff, a filha de um imigrante búlgaro no Brasil e de sua esposa, professora primária, foi beneficiada por ser, de fato, a primeira ministra do imensamente popular Presidente Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, ex-líder sindical. Mas com uma história de determinação e sucesso (que inclui ter se curado de um câncer linfático), essa companheira, mãe e avó será mulher por si mesma. As pesquisas mostram que ela construiu uma posição inexpugnável – de mais de 50%, comparado com menos de 30% – sobre o seu rival mais próximo, homem enfadonho de centro, chamado José Serra. Há pouca dúvida de que ela estará instalada no Palácio Presidencial Alvorada de Brasília, em janeiro.

Like President Jose Mujica of Uruguay, Brazil's neighbour, Ms Rousseff is unashamed of a past as an urban guerrilla which included battling the generals and spending time in jail as a political prisoner. As a little girl growing up in the provincial city of Belo Horizonte, she says she dreamed successively of becoming a ballerina, a firefighter and a trapeze artist. The nuns at her school took her class to the city's poor area to show them the vast gaps between the middle-class minority and the vast majority of the poor. She remembers that when a young beggar with sad eyes came to her family's door she tore a currency note in half to share with him, not knowing that half a banknote had no value.

Assim como o Presidente Jose Mujica do Uruguai, vizinho do Brasil, a senhora Rousseff não se constrange com um passado numa guerrilha urbana, que incluiu o combate a generais e um tempo na cadeia como prisioneira política. Quando menina, na provinciana cidade de Belo Horizonte, ela diz que sonhava respectivamente em se tornar bailarina, bombeira e uma artista de trapézio. As freiras de sua escola levavam suas turmas para as áreas pobres para mostrá-las a grande desigualdade entre a minoria de classe média e a vasta maioria de pobres. Ela lembra que quando um menino pobre de olhos tristes chegou à porta da casa de sua família ela rasgou uma nota de dinheiro pela metade e dividiu com ele, sem saber que metade de uma nota não tinha valor.

Her father, Pedro, died when she was 14, but by then he had introduced her to the novels of Zola and Dostoevski. After that, she and her siblings had to work hard with their mother to make ends meet. By 16 she was in POLOP (Workers' Politics), a group outside the traditional Brazilian Communist Party that sought to bring socialism to those who knew little about it.

Seu pai, Pedro, morreu quando ela tinha 14 anos, mas a essas alturas ele já tinha apresentado a Dilma os romances de Zola e Dostoiévski. Depois disso, ela e seus irmãos tiveram de batalhar duro com sua mãe para alcançar seus objetivos. Aos 16 anos ela estava na POLOP (Política Operária), um grupo organizado por fora do tradicional Partido Comunista Brasileiro que buscava trazer o socialismo para quem pouco sabia a seu respeito.

The generals seized power in 1964 and decreed a reign of terror to defend what they called "national security". She joined secretive radical groups that saw nothing wrong with taking up arms against an illegitimate military regime. Besides cosseting the rich and crushing trade unions and the underclass, the generals censored the press, forbidding editors from leaving gaps in newspapers to show where news had been suppressed.

Os generais tomaram o poder em 1964 e instauraram um reino de terror para defender o que chamaram “segurança nacional”. Ela se juntou aos grupos radicais secretos que não viam nada de errado em pegar em armas para combater um regime militar ilegítimo. Além de agradarem aos ricos e esmagar sindicatos e classes baixas, os generais censuraram a imprensa, proibindo editores de deixarem espaços vazios nos jornais para mostrar onde as notícias tinham sido suprimidas.

Ms Rousseff ended up in the clandestine VAR-Palmares (Palmares Armed Revolutionary Vanguard). In the 1960s and 1970s, members of such organisations seized foreign diplomats for ransom: a US ambassador was swapped for a dozen political prisoners; a German ambassador was exchanged for 40 militants; a Swiss envoy swapped for 70. They also shot foreign torture experts sent to train the generals' death squads. Though she says she never used weapons, she was eventually rounded up and tortured by the secret police in Brazil's equivalent to Abu Ghraib, the Tiradentes prison in Sao Paulo. She was given a 25-month sentence for "subversion" and freed after three years. Today she openly confesses to having "wanted to change the world".

A senhora Rousseff terminou na clandestina VAR-Palmares (Vanguarda Armada Revolucionária Palmares). Nos anos 60 e 70, os membros dessas organizações sequestravam diplomatas estrangeiros para resgatar prisioneiros: um embaixador dos EUA foi trocado por uma dúzia de prisioneiros políticos; um embaixador alemão foi trocado por 40 militantes; um representante suíço, trocado por 70. Eles também balearam torturadores especialistas estrangeiros enviados para treinar os esquadrões da morte dos generais. Embora diga que nunca usou armas, ela chegou a ser capturada e torturada pela polícia secreta na equivalente brasileira de Abu Ghraib, o presídio Tiradentes, em São Paulo. Ela recebeu uma sentença de 25 meses por “subversão” e foi libertada depois de três anos. Hoje ela confessa abertamente ter “querido mudar o mundo”.

In 1973 she moved to the prosperous southern state of Rio Grande do Sul, where her second husband, Carlos Araujo, a lawyer, was finishing a four-year term as a political prisoner (her first marriage with a young left-winger, Claudio Galeno, had not survived the strains of two people being on the run in different cities). She went back to university, started working for the state government in 1975, and had a daughter, Paula.

Em 1973 ela se mudou para o próspero estado do sul, o Rio Grande do Sul, onde seu segundo marido, um advogado, estava terminando de cumprir sua pena como prisioneiro político (seu primeiro casamento com um jovem militante de esquerda, Claudio Galeno, não sobreviveu às tensões de duas pessoas na correria, em cidades diferentes). Ela voltou à universidade, começou a trabalhar para o governo do estado em 1975, e teve uma filha, Paula.

In 1986, she was named finance chief of Porto Alegre, the state capital, where her political talents began to blossom. Yet the 1990s were bitter-sweet years for her. In 1993 she was named secretary of energy for the state, and pulled off the coup of vastly increasing power production, ensuring the state was spared the power cuts that plagued the rest of the country.

Em 1986 ela foi nomeada secretária de finanças da cidade de Porto Alegre, a capital do estado, onde seus talentos políticos começaram a florescer. Os anos 1990 foram anos de bons ventos para ela. Em 1993 ela foi nomeada secretária de minas e energia do estado, e impulsionou amplamente o aumento da produção de energia, assegurando que o estado enfrentasse o racionamento de energia de que o resto do país padeceu.

She had 1,000km of new electric power lines, new dams and thermal power stations built while persuading citizens to switch off the lights whenever they could. Her political star started shining brightly. But in 1994, after 24 years together, she separated from Mr Araujo, though apparently on good terms. At the same time she was torn between academic life and politics, but her attempt to gain a doctorate in social sciences failed in 1998.

Ela tinha mil quilômetros de novas linhas de energia elétrica, novas barragens e estações de energia térmica construídas, enquanto persuadia os cidadãos a desligarem as luzes sempre que pudessem. Sua estrela política começou a brilhar muito. Mas em 1994, depois de 24 anos juntos, ela se separou do Senhor Araújo, aparentemente de maneira amigável. Ao mesmo tempo ela se voltou à vida acadêmica e política, mas sua tentativa de concluir o doutorado em ciências sociais fracassou em 1998.

In 2000 she threw her lot in with Lula and his Partido dos Trabalhadores, or Workers' Party which set its sights successfully on combining economic growth with an attack on poverty. The two immediately hit it off and she became his first energy minister in 2003. Two years later he made her his chief of staff and has since backed her as his successor. She has been by his side as Brazil has found vast new offshore oil deposits, aiding a leader whom many in the European and US media were denouncing a decade ago as a extreme left-wing wrecker to pull 24 million Brazilians out of poverty. Lula stood by her in April last year as she was diagnosed with lymphatic cancer, a condition that was declared under control a year ago. Recent reports of financial irregularities among her staff do not seem to have damaged her popularity.

Em 2000 ela adquiriu seu espaço com Lula e seu Partido dos Trabalhadores, que se volta sucessivamente para a combinação de crescimento econômico com o ataque à pobreza. Os dois se deram bem imediatamente e ela se tornou sua primeira ministra de energia em 2003. Dois anos depois ele a tornou chefe da casa civil e desde então passou a apostar nela para a sua sucessão. Ela estava ao lado de Lula quando o Brasil encontrou uma vasta camada de petróleo, ajudando o líder que muitos da mídia européia e estadunidense denunciaram uma década atrás como um militante da extrema esquerda a retirar 24 milhões de brasileiros da pobreza. Lula estava com ela em abril do ano passado quando foi diagnosticada com um câncer linfático, uma condição declarada sob controle há um ano. Denúncias recentes de irregularidades financeiras entre membros de sua equipe quando estava no governo não parecem ter abalado a popularidade da candidata.

Ms Rousseff is likely to invite President Mujica of Uruguay to her inauguration in the New Year. President Evo Morales of Bolivia, President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and President Fernando Lugo of Paraguay – other successful South American leaders who have, like her, weathered merciless campaigns of denigration in the Western media – are also sure to be there. It will be a celebration of political decency – and feminism.

A Senhora Rousseff provavelmente convidará o Presidente Mujica do Uruguai para sua posse no Ano Novo. O Presidente Evo Morales, da Bolívia, o Presidente Hugo Chávez, da Venezuela e o Presidente Lugo, do Paraguai – outros líderes bem sucedidos da América do Sul que, como ela, têm sofrido ataques de campanhas impiedosas de degradação na mídia ocidental – certamente também estarão lá. Será uma celebração da decência política – e do feminismo.

Tradução: Katarina Peixoto

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/the-former-guerrilla-set-to-be-the-worlds-most-powerful-woman-2089916.html

Shooting an Elephant  

George Orwell

In Moulmein, in Lower Burma, I was hated by large numbers of people — the only time in my life that I have been important enough for this to happen to me. I was sub-divisional police officer of the town, and in an aimless, petty kind of way anti-European feeling was very bitter. No one had the guts to raise a riot, but if a European woman went through the bazaars alone somebody would probably spit betel juice over her dress. As a police officer I was an obvious target and was baited whenever it seemed safe to do so. When a nimble Burman tripped me up on the football field and the referee (another Burman) looked the other way, the crowd yelled with hideous laughter. This happened more than once. In the end the sneering yellow faces of young men that met me everywhere, the insults hooted after me when I was at a safe distance, got badly on my nerves. The young Buddhist priests were the worst of all. There were several thousands of them in the town and none of them seemed to have anything to do except stand on street corners and jeer at Europeans.

full short story here

EUA somem na escuridão - America goes dark

America goes dark

EUA somem na escuridão

Por Paul Krugman

8 de agosto de 2010

The lights are going out all over America — literally. Colorado Springs has made headlines with its desperate attempt to save money by turning off a third of its streetlights, but similar things are either happening or being contemplated across the nation, from Philadelphia to Fresno.

As luzes se apagam em todo Estados Unidos. A cidade de Colorado Springs estampou nas manchetes dos jornais locais sua intenção desesperada de economizar dinheiro apagando um terço de seus semáforos, mas estão acontecendo coisas parecidas em todo o país, desde a Filadélfia até Fresno.

Meanwhile, a country that once amazed the world with its visionary investments in transportation, from the Erie Canal to the Interstate Highway System, is now in the process of unpaving itself: in a number of states, local governments are breaking up roads they can no longer afford to maintain, and returning them to gravel.

Contudo, um país que assombrou o mundo com seus visionários investimentos nos transportes, desde o canal de Erie até o sistema de autopistas interestatais, agora se encontra em um processo de despavimentação: em vários estados, os governos locais estão destruindo estradas que não já não podem mais manter e reduzindo-as a cascalho.

And a nation that once prized education — that was among the first to provide basic schooling to all its children — is now cutting back. Teachers are being laid off; programs are being canceled; in Hawaii, the school year itself is being drastically shortened. And all signs point to even more cuts ahead.

E uma nação que outrora valorizava a educação, que foi uma das primeiras a oferecer escolarização básica a todas as suas crianças, agora está fazendo cortes. Os professores estão sendo despedidos e os programas cancelados. No Havaí, até o curso escolar está acabando de maneira drástica. E tudo indica que no futuro mais ajustes serão feitos.

We’re told that we have no choice, that basic government functions — essential services that have been provided for generations — are no longer affordable. And it’s true that state and local governments, hit hard by the recession, are cash-strapped. But they wouldn’t be quite as cash-strapped if their politicians were willing to consider at least some tax increases.

Dizem-nos que não temos eleição, que as funções governamentais básicas – serviços essenciais proporcionados durante gerações – já não são viáveis. E é certo que os governos estaduais e locais, duramente açoitados pela recessão, estão sem recursos. Mas não estariam assim se seus políticos estivessem dispostos a considerar ao menos alguns aumentos de impostos.

And the federal government, which can sell inflation-protected long-term bonds at an interest rate of only 1.04 percent, isn’t cash-strapped at all. It could and should be offering aid to local governments, to protect the future of our infrastructure and our children.

E no governo federal, que pode vender bônus a longo prazo protegidos contra a inflação, com uma taxa de juros básica de 1,04%, não gasta o dinheiro. Poderia e deveria oferecer ajuda aos governos locais e proteger o futuro de nossas infraestruturas e de nossos filhos.

But Washington is providing only a trickle of help, and even that grudgingly. We must place priority on reducing the deficit, say Republicans and “centrist” Democrats. And then, virtually in the next breath, they declare that we must preserve tax cuts for the very affluent, at a budget cost of $700 billion over the next decade.

Mas Washington está prestando ajuda aos poucos, e até isso o faz a contragosto. Devemos dar prioridade à redução do déficit, dizem os republicanos e os democratas centristas. E logo, quase em seguida, afirmam que devemos manter as subvenções fiscais para os ricos, o que terá um custo previsto de 7 bilhões de dólares durante a próxima década.

In effect, a large part of our political class is showing its priorities: given the choice between asking the richest 2 percent or so of Americans to go back to paying the tax rates they paid during the Clinton-era boom, or allowing the nation’s foundations to crumble — literally in the case of roads, figuratively in the case of education — they’re choosing the latter.

Na prática, boa parte de nossa classe política está demonstrando quais são suas prioridades: quando podem escolher entre pedir que 2% dos estadounidenses mais abastados voltem a pagar os mesmos impostos que durante a expansão da Era Clinton ou permitir que derrubem a estrutura da nação – de maneira literal no caso das estradas e figurada no caso da educação -, preferem este último.

It’s a disastrous choice in both the short run and the long run. In the short run, those state and local cutbacks are a major drag on the economy, perpetuating devastatingly high unemployment.

É uma decisão desastrosa tanto a curto como a longo prazo. A curto prazo, esses cortes estatais e locais implicam um pesado empecilho para a economia e perpetuam o desemprego, que é devastadoramente elevado.

It’s crucial to keep state and local government in mind when you hear people ranting about runaway government spending under President Obama. Yes, the federal government is spending more, although not as much as you might think. But state and local governments are cutting back. And if you add them together, it turns out that the only big spending increases have been in safety-net programs like unemployment insurance, which have soared in cost thanks to the severity of the slump.

É crucial que os governos estaduais e locais tenham em mente as duras críticas da população a respeito do elevado o gasto público durante o governo Obama. Sim, o governo federal estadounidense gasta, ainda que não tanto como pensam. Mas os governos estatais e locais estão fazendo cortes. E, se somamos, o resultado é que os únicos incrementos relevantes no gasto público foram com programas de proteção social, como o seguro-desemprego, cujos custos dispararam por culpa da gravidade da crise econômica.

That is, for all the talk of a failed stimulus, if you look at government spending as a whole you see hardly any stimulus at all. And with federal spending now trailing off, while big state and local cutbacks continue, we’re going into reverse.

Isso quer dizer que, apesar do que dizem sobre o fracasso do estímulo, se observamos o gasto governamental em seu conjunto, não vemos estímulo algum. E agora que o gasto federal está reduzido, ao passo que os grandes recortes de gastos estatais e locais continuam, vamos para trás.

But isn’t keeping taxes for the affluent low also a form of stimulus? Not so you’d notice. When we save a schoolteacher’s job, that unambiguously aids employment; when we give millionaires more money instead, there’s a good chance that most of that money will just sit idle.

Mas não é também uma forma de estímulo manter os impostos baixos para os ricos? Não se percebe isso. Quando salvamos o posto de trabalho de um professor, isso ajuda o nível de emprego sem dúvida; quando, ao contrário, damos mais dinheiro aos multimilionários, é muito possível que a maior parte desse dinheiro fique imobilizada.

And what about the economy’s future? Everything we know about economic growth says that a well-educated population and high-quality infrastructure are crucial. Emerging nations are making huge efforts to upgrade their roads, their ports and their schools. Yet in America we’re going backward.

E sobre o futuro da economia? Tudo o que sabemos sobre o crescimento econômico diz que uma população culta e uma infraestrutura de alta qualidade são cruciais para o crescimento. As nações emergentes estão realizando enormes esforços para melhorar suas estradas, portos e colégios. Contudo, nos EUA estamos recuando.

How did we get to this point? It’s the logical consequence of three decades of antigovernment rhetoric, rhetoric that has convinced many voters that a dollar collected in taxes is always a dollar wasted, that the public sector can’t do anything right.

Como chegamos a esse ponto? É a consequência lógica de três décadas de retórica antigovernamental, uma retórica que convenceu numerosos eleitores de que um dólar arrecadado por impostos é sempre um dólar mal gasto, que o setor público é incapaz de fazer algo bem feito.

The antigovernment campaign has always been phrased in terms of opposition to waste and fraud — to checks sent to welfare queens driving Cadillacs, to vast armies of bureaucrats uselessly pushing paper around. But those were myths, of course; there was never remotely as much waste and fraud as the right claimed. And now that the campaign has reached fruition, we’re seeing what was actually in the firing line: services that everyone except the very rich need, services that government must provide or nobody will, like lighted streets, drivable roads and decent schooling for the public as a whole.

A campanha contra o governo sempre planteou como uma oposição à fraude, aos cheques enviados a rainhas da segurança social que conduzem luxuosos cadillacs e a grandes exércitos de burocratas que, de um lado a outro, movem documentos inutilmente. Mas isso são mitos; nunca houve tanta fraude como assegurava a direita. E agora que a campanha começa a dar frutos, vemos o que realmente havia na linha do fogo: serviços que todos, exceto os muito ricos, necessitam, serviços que devem ser proporcionados pelo governo, como reformas nas ruas, estradas transitáveis e escolarização decente para todos os cidadãos.

So the end result of the long campaign against government is that we’ve taken a disastrously wrong turn. America is now on the unlit, unpaved road to nowhere.

Portanto, o resultado final da prolongada campanha contra o governo é que demos um passo desastrosamente equivocado. Agora, os EUA transitam por uma estrada escura, sem luz, e sem asfalto, que não leva a lugar nenhum.

Tradução: André Rossi. Artigo traduzido de http://www.rebelion.org/noticia.php?id=111874. Fonte : http://www.attac.es/ee-uu-se-sume-en-la-oscuridad/.

Brazil’s election: all over bar the voting?

Leia sobre o texto em Português

Link original

August 24, 2010 8:35pmby Jonathan Wheatley

There are 40 days to go until Brazil’s general elections on October 3 and as everybody knows, that is a very long time in politics. But at present it is hard to imagine any other outcome than a resounding victory in the presidential race for Dilma Rousseff, chosen successor to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of the left-wing PT, in power for the last eight years as the most popular president in Brazilian history.

An opinion poll published today gives Dilma an 18 point lead over her nearest rival, José Serra of the centrist opposition PSDB. Serra led most opinion polls until last month, largely, it now seems, because he was simply better known. His hope was to maintain enough momentum to force Dilma into a two-way run-off on October 31. But the latest polls give Dilma more votes than all other candidates combined – enough to secure outright victory in the first round.

Dilma’s campaign has been quick to exploit her commanding lead.

Serra’s campaign is in disarray. He seems to be running on a single issue: his achievements as health minister a decade ago and his investments in health services as mayor of São Paulo city and governor of São Paulo state. He has taken up valuable column inches accusing Evo Morales of Bolivia of running cocaine into Brazil, accusing the PT of links to the FARC in Colombia and accusing the government of censoring Brazil’s press – surely one of the most uncensored in the world.

None of this has anything to do with his programme for government. Indeed, it is hard to see what his programme is. It should be to continue the overhaul of the Brazilian state begun in the 1990s by his party colleague Fernando Henrique Cardoso. Instead, Serra has allowed Dilma to position herself as the champion of orthodoxy and fiscal responsibility, floating the possibility of a “positive shock” like that delivered by Lula in 2003, his first year in office.

Then, Lula enacted a partial reform of the public pensions system and cut public spending, before allowing it to expand thereafter. Dilma’s aides are promising to lower the government’s inflation target and increase its primary budget surplus (before debt payments – including those, the government is running a deficit). Whether this will be a short-term bid to win over investors or the beginnings of root and branch reform, Brazilians look very likely to find out soon.

Stephen Krashen - Comprehensible Input

Estudo formal X Assimilação

LANGUAGE LEARNING (ESTUDO FORMAL)


O conceito de language learning está ligado à abordagem tradicional ao ensino de línguas, assim como é ainda hoje geralmente praticada nas escolas de ensino médio. A atenção volta-se à língua na sua forma escrita e o objetivo é o entendimento pelo aluno da estrutura e das regras do idioma através de esforço intelectual e de sua capacidade dedutivo-lógica. A forma tem importância igual ou maior do que a comunicação. Ensino e aprendizado são vistos como atividades num plano técnico-didático delimitado por conteúdo. Ensina-se a teoria na ausência da prática. Valoriza-se o correto e reprime-se o incorreto. Há pouco lugar para espontaneidade. O professor assume o papel de autoridade no assunto e a participação do aluno é predominantemente passiva. No caso do inglês ensina-se por exemplo o funcionamento dos modos interrogativo e negativo, verbos irregulares, modais, etc. O aluno aprende a construir frases no perfect tense, mas dificilmente saberá quando usá-lo.
É um processo progressivo e cumulativo, normalmente atrelado a um plano didático predeterminado, que inclui memorização de vocabulário e tem por objetivo proporcionar conhecimento metalinguístico. Ou seja, transmite ao aluno conhecimento a respeito da língua estrangeira, de seu funcionamento e de sua estrutura gramatical com suas irregularidades, de seus contrastes em relação à língua materna, conhecimento este que espera-se venha a se transformar na habilidade prática de entender e falar essa língua. Este esforço de acumular conhecimento torna-se frustrante na razão direta da falta de familiaridade com a língua.
Exemplo clássico de language learning são os inúmeros graduados em letras, já habilitados porém ainda com extrema dificuldade em se comunicarem na língua que teoricamente poderiam ensinar.


LANGUAGE ACQUISITION (ASSIMILAÇÃO)


Language acquisition refere-se ao processo de assimilação natural, intuitivo, subconsciente, fruto de interação em situações reais de convívio humano, em que o aprendiz participa como sujeito ativo. É semelhante ao processo de assimilação da língua materna pelas crianças; processo este que produz habilidade prático-funcional sobre a língua falada e não conhecimento teórico; desenvolve familiaridade com a característica fonética da língua, sua estruturação e seu vocabulário; é responsável pelo entendimento oral, pela capacidade de comunicação criativa, e pela identificação de valores culturais. Ensino e aprendizado são vistos como atividades que ocorrem num plano pessoal-psicológico. Uma abordagem inspirada em acquisition valoriza o ato comunicativo e desenvolve a autoconfiança do aprendiz.
Exemplo clássico de language acquisition são os adolescentes e jovens adultos que residem no exterior durante um ano através de programas de intercâmbio cultural, atingindo um grau de fluência na língua estrangeira próximo ao da língua materna, porém, na maioria dos casos, sem nenhum conhecimento a respeito do idioma. Não têm sequer noções de fonologia, nem sabem o que é perfect tense, verbos modais, ou phrasal verbs embora saibam usá-los intuitivamente.

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The Old Man At The Bridge

by Ernest Hemingway


An old man with steel rimmed spectacles and very dusty clothes sat by the side of the road. There was a pontoon bridge across the river and carts, trucks, and men, women and children were crossing it. The mule-drawn carts staggered up the steep bank from the bridge with soldiers helping push against the spokes of the wheels. The trucks ground up and away heading out of it all and the peasants plodded along in the ankle deep dust. But the old man sat there without moving. He was too tired to go any farther.
It was my business to cross the bridge, explore the bridgehead beyond and find out to what point the enemy had advanced. I did this and returned over the bridge. There were not so many carts now and very few people on foot, but the old man was still there.
"Where do you come from?" I asked him.
"From San Carlos," he said, and smiled.
That was his native town and so it gave him pleasure to mention it and he smiled.
"I was taking care of animals," he explained. "Oh," I said, not quite understanding.
"Yes," he said, "I stayed, you see, taking care of animals. I was the last one to leave the town of San Carlos."
He did not look like a shepherd nor a herdsman and I looked at his black dusty clothes and his gray dusty face and his steel rimmed spectacles and said, "What animals were they?"
"Various animals," he said, and shook his head. "I had to leave them."
I was watching the bridge and the African looking country of the Ebro Delta and wondering how long now it would be before we would see the enemy, and listening all the while for the first noises that would signal that ever mysterious event called contact, and the old man still sat there.
"What animals were they?" I asked.
"There were three animals altogether," he explained. "There were two goats and a cat and then there were four pairs of pigeons."
"And you had to leave them?" I asked.
"Yes. Because of the artillery. The captain told me to go because of the artillery."
"And you have no family?" I asked, watching the far end of the bridge where a few last carts were hurrying down the slope of the bank.
"No," he said, "only the animals I stated. The cat, of course, will be all right. A cat can look out for itself, but I cannot think what will become of the others."
"What politics have you?" I asked.
"I am without politics," he said. "I am seventy-six years old. I have come twelve kilometers now and I think now I can go no further." "This is not a good place to stop," I said. "If you can make it, there are trucks up the road where it forks for Tortosa."
"I will wait a while," he said, "and then I will go. Where do the trucks go?"
"Towards Barcelona," I told him.
"I know no one in that direction," he said, "but thank you very much. Thank you again very much."
He looked at me very blankly and tiredly, then said, having to share his worry with some one, "The cat will be all right, I am sure. There is no need to be unquiet about the cat. But the others. Now what do you think about the others?"
"Why they'll probably come through it all right." "You think so?"
"Why not," I said, watching the far bank where now there were no carts.
"But what will they do under the artillery when I was told to leave because of the artillery?"
"Did you leave the dove cage unlocked?" I asked. "Yes."
"Then they'll fly."
"Yes, certainly they'll fly. But the others. It's better not to think about the others," he said.
"If you are rested I would go," I urged. "Get up and try to walk now."
"Thank you," he said and got to his feet, swayed from side to side and then sat down backwards in the dust.
"I was taking care of animals," he said dully, but no longer to me. "I was only taking care of animals."
There was nothing to do about him. It was Easter Sunday and the Fascists were advancing toward the Ebro. It was a gray overcast day with a low ceiling so their planes were not up. That and the fact that cats know how to look after themselves was all the good luck that old man would ever have.

First as tragedy, then as farce

Lee Evans Interview - BBC

The Farmer and the Money-lender - An Indian Fairy Tale

There was once a farmer who suffered much at the hands of a money-lender. Good harvests, or bad, the farmer was always poor, the money-lender rich. At the last, when he hadn't a farthing left, the farmer went to the money-lender's house, and said, "You can't squeeze water from a stone, and as you have nothing to get by me now, you might tell me the secret of becoming rich."My friend," returned the money-lender, piously, "riches come from Ram--ask him."

"Thank you, I will!" replied the simple farmer; so he prepared three girdle-cakes to last him on the journey, and set out to find Ram.

First he met a Brahman, and to him he gave a cake, asking him to point out the road to Ram; but the Brahman only took the cake and went on his way without a word. Next the fanner met a Jogi or devotee, and to him he gave a cake, without receiving any help in return. 

At last, he came upon a poor man sitting under a tree, and finding out he was hungry, the kindly farmer gave him the last cake, and sitting down to rest beside him, entered into conversation.

"And where are you going?" asked the poor man, at length.

"Oh I have a long journey before me, for I am going to find Ram!" replied the farmer. "I don't suppose you could tell me which way to go?"

"Perhaps I can," said the poor man, smiling, "for I am Ram! What do you want of me?"

Then the farmer told the whole story, and Ram, taking pity on him, gave him a conch shell, and showed him how to to blow it in a particular way, saying,
"Remember! whatever you wish for, you have only to blow the conch that way, and your wish will be fulfilled. Only have a care of that money-lender, for even magic is not proof against their wiles!"

The farmer went back to his village rejoicing. In fact the money-lender noticed his high spirits at once, and said to himself, "Some good fortune must have befallen the stupid fellow, to make him hold his head so jauntily." Therefore he went over to the simple farmer's house, and congratulated him on his good fortune, in such cunning words, pretending to have heard all about it, that before long the farmer found himself telling the whole story--all except the secret of blowing the conch, for, with all his simplicity, the farmer was not quite such a fool as to tell that.

Nevertheless the money-lender determined to have the conch by hook or by crook, and as he was villain enough not to stick at trifles, he waited for a favourable opportunity and stole the conch.

But, after nearly bursting himself with blowing the conch in every conceivable way, he was obliged to give up the secret as a bad job. However, being determined to succeed he went back to the farmer, and said, coolly, "Look here; I've got your conch, but I can't use it; you haven't got it, so it's dear you can't use it either. Business is at a standstill unless we make a bargain. Now, I promise to give you back your conch, and never to interfere with your using it, on one condition, which is this,--whatever you get from it, I am to get double."

"Never!" cried the farmer; "that would be the old business all over again!"

"Not at all!" replied the wily money-lender; "you will have your share! Now, don't he a dog in the manger, for if you get all you want, what can it matter to you if I am rich or poor?"

At last, though it went sorely against the grain to be of any benefit to a money-lender, the farmer was forced to yield, and from that time, no matter what he gained by the power of the conch, the money-lender gained double. And the knowledge that this was so preyed upon the farmer's mind day and night, so that he had no satisfaction out of anything.

At last, there came a very dry season,--so dry that the farmer's crops withered for want of rain. Then he blew his conch, and wished for a well to water them, and lo! there was the well, but the money-lender had two!--two beautiful new wells! This was too much for any farmer to stand; and our friend brooded over it, and brooded over it, till at last a bright idea came into his head. He seized the conch, blew it loudly, and cried out,

"Oh, Ram! I wish to be blind of one eye!" And so he was, in a twinkling, but the moneylender of course was blind of both, and in trying to steer his way between the two new wells, he fell into one, and was drowned.

Now this true story shows that a farmer once got the better of a money-lender--but only by losing one of his eyes.

BP coffee spill

"A Nincompoop" by Anton Chekhov

by Anton Chekhov

A few days ago I asked my children's governess, Julia Vassilyevna, to come into my study.

"Sit down, Julia Vassilyevna," I said. "Let's settle our accounts. Although you most likely need some money, you stand on ceremony and won't ask for it yourself. Now then, we agreed on thirty rubles a month..."

"Forty."

"No, thirty. I made a note of it. I always pay the governess thirty. Now then, you have been here two months, so ...."

"Two months and five days."

"Exactly two months. I made a specific note of it. That means you have sixty rubles coming to you. Subtract nine Sundays... you know you did not work with Kolya on Sundays, you only took walks. And three holidays..."

Julia Vassilyevna flushed a deep red and picked at the flounce of her dress, but - not a word.

"Three holidays, therefore take off twelve rubles. Four day Kolya was sick and there were no lesson, as you were occupied with Vanya. Three days you had a toothache and my wife gave you permission not to work after lunch. Twelve and seven - nineteen. Subtract... that leaves... hmm... forty-one rubles. Correct?"

Julia Vassilyevna's left eye reddened and filled with moisture. Her chin trembled; she coughed nervously and blew her nose, but - not a word.

"Around New Year's you broke a teacup and saucer: take off two rubles. The cup cost more, it was an heirloom, but - let it go. When did not I take a loss! Then, due to your neglect, Kolya climbed a tree and tore his jacket: take away ten. Also due to your heedlessness the maid stole Vanya's shoes. You ought to watch everything! You get paid for it. So, that means five more rubles off. The tenth of January I gave you ten rubles..."

"You did not", whispered Julia Vassilyevna.

"But I made a note of it."

"Well... all right."

"Take twenty-seven from forty-one - that leaves fourteen."

Both eyes willed with tears. Perspiration appeared on the thin, pretty little nose. Poor girl!

"Only once was I given any money," she said in a trembling voice, "and that was by your wife. Three rubles, nothing more."

"Really? You see now, and I did not make a note of it! Take three from fourteen... leaves eleven. Here is your money, my dear. Three, three, three, one and one. Her it is!

I handed her eleven rubles. She took them and with trembling fingers stuffed them into her pocket.

"Merci," she whispered.

I jumped up and started pacing the room. I was overcome with anger.

"For what, this - 'merci'?" I asked.

"For the money."

"But you know I have cheated you, for God's sake - robbed you! I have actually stolen from you! Why this 'merci'?"

"In my other places, they did not give me anything at all."

"They did not give you anything? No wonder! I played a little joke on you, a cruel lesson, just to teach you... I am going to give you the entire eighty rubles! Here they are in an envelope all ready for you... Is it really possible to be so spineless? Why don't you protest? Why be silent? Is it possible in this world to be without teeth and claws - to be such a nincompoop?"

She smiled crookedly and I read in her expression: "It is possible."

I asked her pardon for the cruel lesson and, to her great surprise, gave her eighty rubles. She murmured her little "merci" several times and went out. I looked after her and thought: "How easy it is to crush the weak in this world!"

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