Pamphlet Poem Pacifist Manifesto

Dame Barbara Hepworth Green Man 1972
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By FERNANDO RIOS & JOSÉ DE SOUSA MIGUEL LOPES

Pamphlet Poem Pacifist Manifesto.

“We have to remember that hate crimes are preceded by hate speech. […] Every genocide starts with hate speech. genocide is a process. the holocaust did not start with gas chambers. […] words kill as much as bullets. […] every effort must be made to invest in education and youth so that the next generation understands the importance of living together” (Adama Dieng).

“What place should technology be given in contemporary anthropopedagogy? as Heidegger points out, technique is not diabolical, it reveals, on the contrary, the world as production. Here is the key point: not technology itself, but man's relationship with technology. Today, an uncultured or magical relationship is frequent. We live in a technological human world, it is in this type of world that education invites young people to enter and it seems to me, therefore, important that they can understand the basic principles of the technological objects that they use on a daily basis: smartphone, computer, television, etc. not to add another chapter to banking education, nor to prepare for a post-human world, but to occupy a technological world with humanity. To occupy the world with humanity and to take care of it, with all the forms of solidarity that this term implies. This must be, in my opinion, the basic principle of a contemporary education. It is about education and education to the human. Learning is necessary, but not sufficient. One could have learned many things and fed the bonfires of the holy inquisition, manufactured the Hiroshima bomb, let immigrants drown in the Mediterranean Sea or adhered to those other forms of barbarism that post-humanism proposes to us. To educate is to educate the human. Barbarism, whatever its forms, including very modern ones, thinks outside the human. Education or barbarism, today it is necessary to choose” (Bernard Charlot, Education or barbarism? A choice for contemporary society, p. 304).

FERNANDO RIOS [FR]

Until now, only peace has been spoken, written and reflected on
it's time to build it
like a solid building
however, before it becomes everyone's task,
should be the task of every human being
peace needs to be learned, taught and cultivated daily.
Only education is strong and consistent for this
to make a revolution and keep it in hearts and minds
in bodies and souls
because peace needs to be in everything of each one of us.
Only education, but not just any education
can build and keep the peace
Nazis had schools
and they consider her good
what education are we talking about?

JOSÉ DE SOUSA MIGUEL LOPES [JSML]

An education “in” peace and “for” peace,
willing to denounce
to contest the risks
inherent in the continuing presence of war in the world,
aggravated by the perversity of their strategies
and the destructive intensity
that store the atomic, chemical, biological arsenals
available to many countries.
We have to shout no to war,
to all wars,
not in our name,
not with our silence
it is necessary to take a stand for peace
we cannot turn our backs on conflict
we must not ignore the reasons
that led to the destruction of so many innocent
what to do?
Debating the problems of peace among teachers
ethics “in” and “of” the teaching profession must take sides
discuss this issue in class,
invite students to express themselves,
organize informative actions,
publicly express our anti-war stance...
the educational institutions
they cannot remain on the sidelines of the world's suffering.

FR

At all times, we human beings
we war for space, power, food
Is war a human atavism?
with or without power, is the human being, at the same time
subservient, domineering, supportive?
master and slave?
como?
we teach and learn to make war
no schools, no disciplines, no books
and with so many schools
when will we learn
to teach, to cultivate, to live in peace?
but why the war?
why does it fascinate us?
but what is war?

JSML

War is the bloodiest act that can happen
for subordinating to terrorism those who have more strength
the innocent who go to the altar of sacrifice
human beings who do not possess other goods
beyond their own bodies
memory, ideals, family, principles and life goals.
Even if it's hard for us to accept it
we have evidence that through education
legitimized and exalted the advantages of war
emphasizing his contribution to the advancement of science
technology and, incredibly, even democracy
even so, in the name of education and from it
Many of the discourses that chose to “win” by resorting to force are justified.
rather than by "convincing"
making use of reason
remember, not without embarrassment
the belligerent eagerness that animated and animates
the pedagogical beliefs that support his speech
and what is even worse, their practices
through dogmatism, xenophobia, fundamentalism
of imperialism or radicalism
in any of its manifestations.

FR

who can say no to war?
the owners of war are silent
power holders remain silent
the owners of the killing machines are silent
and mass media
funded by warlords
by the power holders
by the owners of the killing machines
say what?
and will we hunger for peace have a voice to be heard?
by whom?
to whom to say no?
how to say no
who says no to war?
who hears that cry that comes from so many throats
and reaches no ear?
this "no" is a cry in vain
choked in the throat
like so many others?

JSML

the “no to war” – which all the peoples of the world shouted
expresses itself in individual and collective rebellion
that fights and condemns the lack of reason
of a destiny that leads to death, pain, suffering
ecological and human failure.
A “no to war” is an ethical “no”
and therefore pedagogical
a “no” that must be taught as a right and responsibility
like feeling and attitude
before what is always possible and desirable
hold in the minds of men
in government decisions.

FR

What do we know of peace?
Does anyone propagate peace?
someone says peace is joy?
what peace is happiness?
someone says we haven't found peace
emerging in the kitchen sink
nor in the margarine butter of the morning bread
nor any food to start the day
or satisfy hunger?
there is no peace in the financial market
much less
in the investment that gives money without creating work
but peace can be at breakfast,
at lunch, at dinner
when everyone has it
but where is the peace?
and why do we need to look so hard?
Is she so far away and so close that she cannot be seen?

JSML

Between peace and war there is an abyss
people know this from their own experience and that of others
by intuition
we all know that there are no reasons to deny it
including assuming
that virtually all human societies
transitioned easily from one to the other.
from peace to war and from this to that
sometimes it felt like “together” or in opposition
demanding or justifying struggle
as a precondition for the establishment of any truce
combat as a way to seek concord
the attack as a strategy that makes the defense good
the threat of war as a guarantee of lasting peace...
and undoubtedly the abyss exists
has always existed

FR

Since our inception we have been
devil men, vampire men, demon men
strange animals invested with humanity
and always embarrassing our kind
every animal is aggressive enough
and violent to survive
but only man human being
without your animality
in your ruthless way of being human
is aggressive, violent
and on the bad side of your humanity
adds the cruelty
he plans his suffering and carries it out
watching with pleasure the horror of pain and the fainting of the other
sharpen your nails to better tear each other's flesh
sharpens its teeth to tear apart the other's body
creates gun birds that fly over bodies and cities
and turn everything into rubble and pieces of human flesh
humanly
devil men, vampire men, demon men
gathered in cold aseptic environments
solemnly, sadly decorated
discuss what to do in the middle of war
without any real desire to stop it
humanly
devil men, vampire men, demon men
look at the new york stock exchange and smile
they look at the london stock exchange and smile
consult their bank accounts and smile
the owners of war smile
and sometimes they laugh
and humanly
call young idealists,
unwary pacifist lambs
recruit them and turn them into violent and aggressive gladiators
so that they do harm without looking at who
and are forced to defend their lives and face death
in the name of perfidious humanity
of devil men, vampire men, demon men
and the peaceful lambs
now violent gladiators in the arena of war
face each other
and they kill and they kill and they die and they die
instead of devil men, vampire men, demon men
that gather in refrigerated halls
and keep smiling and laughing
while listening to the prices of their companies scaffolds
explode on stock exchanges
and buy food and drink
to commemorate your slain lambs
by your deadly companies scaffolds
and its destructive bird weapons
how many deadly companies buried how many bodies?
how many deadly companies buried cities and bodies?
how much do deadly scaffold companies pay
to your devil men, vampire men, demon men?
how many they hail the new bloodied peace,
the unburied bodies,
the mutilated bodies
the crowded cemeteries,
the cities in rubble?
who won the war?
Wall Street, London, the stock exchanges
the companies deadly scaffolds
the owners of war? The power holders?
and what do we poor owners and shareholders of peace do
in which exchange do we deposit our values?
peace is not traded on stock exchanges
she is only in the happiness of humans
and happiness is not bought or sold
happiness is learned and can grow day by day
no one promotes peace
with the same strength that bets on consumerism
where are the peace advertising agencies?
peace and happiness do not fatten capital
controlled by devil men, vampire men, demon men
where are we, on what edge of abyss?
are we seeing the cliff?

JSML

Actually,
it is an abyss that adopts the shapes of a precipice
that places us before an ethical and moral void of no return
of which one is a part and to which one arrives by various paths
also through education
and, no doubt, also by the lack of good education
or the unequal opportunities it offers
who is on one side or the other of the borders:
in wealth or in poverty,
in the north or in the south
in freedom or in oppression,
inside or outside…
without good education,
the chasm between peace and war widens
revealing the enduring triumphs of barbarism
perpetuating the seduction of indolence and ignorance
with all your miseries
increasing injustice and exclusion
marginalizing men and women
in your right to build a future
that allows them to be better
denying coexistence
or limiting it
to extremes that lead to despair and humiliation
good education must be cultivated

FR

But does good education have a voice?
when good education speaks, who listens?
can good education answer?
who owns death?
who owns life?
who owns the war
where do death and life gravitate?
with a little luck the bullet hits the side
with a little luck the bullet doesn't turn into a moral wound
who pulls the trigger obeys what?
who fires the bazooka obeys whom?
and they kill and they die and they die and they kill
in the service of what?
Whose service?
choose a side and fall off the cliff
choose a side and dig your grave
no one has an obligation to serve death sentences
what obligation makes sense without saluting?
what science opens the abyss for us?
what science throws us over the precipice?
who helps us to find conscience?

JSML

It is a citizen obligation to take a stand,
and a requirement
for civil ethics to side with
not of those who claim to make history
but of those who suffer
for that, there is good education
an education that does not hide the conflict
nor the divisions that occur in modern societies
an education that does not cover up mistreatment
to children, women, blacks, old people
homosexuals, refugees, immigrants, etc. etc. etc.
that does not hide violence, aggression, imbalances,
the victims of each of the wars
already crashed and to crash...
in everyone's day to day
in everyone's world
an education “in” peace and “for” peace
willing to denounce to challenge
the risks inherent in the continued presence of war in the world
aggravated by the perversity of their strategies
and the destructive intensity
stored the atomic, chemical, biological arsenals...
that many countries have

FR

What is this story that repeats itself?
who is this villain who disguises himself as a hero
and who fulfills your wish
turning young infants
on bazooka targets
in cannon fodder
on targets of telescopic sights
with always the same excuse
“se vis pacem, para bellum”?
how much gun do you need
to avoid war?
but if the wild weapons are ready
what to do with them?

JSML

you have to understand and understand
that the concept of preventive war
it is a perversion of the law.
it is necessary to make it very clear
that any war not only converts into victims
those whom he kills, wounds or impoverishes
the aggressors are victims of war because they debase themselves
are filled with ignominy and brutality
and witnesses are also victims
who learn terror, violence and lies
wars are always declared by the powerful
and the weak suffer
if a country loses the war, the rich win
if a country wins the war, it loses its poor

FR

Who are the devil men, vampire men, demon men
that in their luxurious hells
have breakfast, lunch, dinner
and demonically meet their equals?
on the battlefields,
young lambs grapple
don't fight tooth and nail
like our ancestors
now carry weapons birds,
drive historic tanks
in prehistoric consciousness
ride untamed deadly bombers
and they kill and they die and they die and they kill
and devil men, vampire men, demon men
they don't even pick up the bodies
they prefer to serve the feast to the vultures...
What stocks are rising on the stock exchanges?
how much capital earned
and paid homage to the god of money?
god, god money?
no, demon,
money demon, money vampire, money devil!
brothers of pandemonium, father of the pandemic
together, capital, money demons, pandemic pandemonium
dance on their profits
and on the bodies of young gladiator lambs
cui bono, cui prodest, quid prodest
who cares?
what tandem?
until when?

JSML

Can't be ignored
that there are economic interests
(weapons sales, oil deals,
benefits arising from reconstruction…),
geostrategic interests
(domination of the region, imposition of power...),
eurization against the hegemony of the dollar…

FR

On this floor covered in blood
in these ground covered bodies
how many know the value of life
that ends in the blink of an eye
when the bullet leaves
when does the bomb explode?
When the bullet bird chooses a good nest/body
and they are so many birds/bullets and so many nests/bodies
and there are so many birds/bombs, and so many cities/nests
did humans lose their voices?
where are the words that pacify
beyond dictionaries?

JSML

diplomacy failed
because there was an interest in triggering an armed conflict
to clearly show the world who's in charge.

FR

Who orders and orders and puts the gun birds to sleep?
sleeping, the birds weapons are just threats
awake, there is no lullaby that makes them sleep
and they cry, scream, fly
and where they fall
they leave destruction, horrors, bodies under rubble,
debris over bodies
and the masters of war celebrate by opening champagne
filling their cups and getting drunk
and get vampirically drunk
wall street and london collect their monies
devil men, vampire men, demon men
sign papers, give orders, fraternize
get drunk on their profits
in your private hells
as lambs walk to the scaffold showdown
lambs turned into gladiators
they kill and they die and they die and they kill,
there is no better pasture for the gods of war
not even for the money demons
nor the pandemoniums of capital
and what do we do owners of power?
Who commands the power holders?

JSML

How is it possible that whoever governs
has led us to a war,
when millions of citizens
screamed thousands of times that they didn't want her?

FR

Who is right when, eye to eye, fires the trigger
who's right when, eye to eye
is it worth more the missile or rifle
that turns everything into a fossil?
who is right when, eye to eye, the word chokes
and fury, fear, ignorance detonate the fuse
and body and landscape merge without any respect?
and who taught that it should be so for young lambs?
the sad beginning of an end that doesn't count youth
nor lessons that speak of peace and love, of solidarity, friendship
now they are claws, nails and teeth ready for the tearing apart
Defend what, other than your own life?
the lives of devil men, vampire men, demon men?
the deadly arms industry?
the greedy capitalist pandemoniums?
kill or be killed, whatever
those who die no longer look back
not even forward
does not charge,
dead does not turn to seed
crashes to the ground even in fertile soil
a memory in a useless body
who will collect the rabid lambs gladiators
duly sacrificed
carefully taught
manipulating tanks, bazookas, rifles, bombers?
in what school will they teach the useless lesson of violence for the future?
where to show hellish strength
of devil men, vampire men, demon men
who boast peace and love
and put their hatred and their weapons in the hands of the lambs?
time is short for those who face weapons of war
time does not exist for those on the battlefront
there is no deviation between life and death, only those who are lucky
each body is a target, in each body a destiny begins and ends
this announced tragedy is a drama that could have been avoided
who rules humanity, who encourages such insanity?
who will teach you to live
is more important than the dead hero's glory
more important than the heroism that so pleases
to devil men, vampire men, demon men?
in their sunken bunkers
drinking serving toasting the unwary gladiators lambs?
the war is not over, but they are all dead
those who died and those who lived
in this lesson that no one learns
who will teach peace?
the owner of the war and its capitals?
the masters of war and their foremen?
who can interrupt this bad fate?

JSML

Against the murderous rage
we defend an education that claims peace.
just as we like
the efforts that encourage
the power of dialogue and negotiation,
the value of the ratio against the ratio of “value”.

FR

strong or weak
the lambs were duly immolated...
how many more will need to be sacrificed
so that a minimum of reason wins?
not the ratio of the strongest, or the weakest
the reason to expel
devil men, vampire men, demon men
of their purses and their valuables
and place them, not in front of a chessboard map
and put them on the battlefield
we know where the war begins and ends
but where does it begin, where is peace planted
where is it grown?
peace begins in a good school of life
in a good education, at home, on the street, at school
no guns, just talking to teachers
of parents, relatives, and their loved ones
who learned, learn and teach how to create rulers
who respect peaceful young lambs and their lives

JSML

The war,
Cooper-Prichard said at the end of the sixteenth century,
it is the “winter of civilization”.
today more than ever,
when uncertainties assail us,
we need the light of spring.

FR

We used to be bathed in some spring light
maybe that's why there is hope
there are the bird men who make music
and teach us to fly
the beaver men who build houses of beautiful dreams
and there we can live
the holy men who preach peace
how daring, he offered us his life ghandi
or the ghandi architects
or the rainbow men
those who paint
and those who paint
and live colorfully
and happily invite us to mingle
there are the termite men who sculpt
and sculpt us from knowledge
there are fish men who sail
and teach us to navigate inside and outside ourselves
and there is poetry, “the secret life of all the arts”
as plato teaches us
and it is in poetry that we place our hopes
it's about poetry that we need to do our wanderings
is in the teaching of poetry
that hearts overflow
not spilled blood
but to live moonlit, sunny
that makes the eyes look and feel Monet's flowers
or cry along with Van Gogh's desolate sunflowers
and causes the ears to cause the body to erupt
under chords of Bach, Brahms and Beethoven
and erect the sunken cathedrals of Debussy
or the monuments arranged by Mahler
or in the black resplendent philosophy of Achile Mbembe
or in the smile of Madiba Mandela
or the music of swazi/zulu
or in joy, in dancing, in the songs of the Masai
or on the drums of olodum
or on Japanese war drums
turned into drums of peace?
all this teaches peace
all this preaches peace
all this lives peace
and each of us
have a peace to teach
and when it happens in every person
away from devil men, vampire men, demon men
and their killing machines
away from the demonic capital
close to the sacred shared work
we can experience peace
it's hard, it's far
but we have on a daily basis
the immense will
to propose to the world
the manumission of war
the joy of peace.

*Fernando Rios is a journalist, poet and artist plastic.

*José de Sousa Miguel Lopes is a doctor in history and philosophy of education from PUC-SP, professor at the State University of Minas Gerais (UEMG).

 

 

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