Camille Claudel - 08/12/1864

Si on se souvient de la tumultueuse sculptrice Camille Claudel (1864-1943), c’est pour sa relation passionnelle avec Auguste Rodin, pour son frère — le poète Paul Claudel, pour les conditions désastreuses de son internement psychiatrique, mais surtout pour son œuvre d’une grande puissance expressive. Dans cette lettre adressée à son amie Florence Jeans, la jeune femme alors âgée de 23 ans répond au fameux questionnaire qui deviendra celui dit « de Proust », distillant des réponses grinçantes et affirmées qui dénotent de ce caractère bien trempé qu’on lui a toujours prêté.

Ma vertu préférée.
Je n’en ai pas : elles sont toutes ennuyeuses.

La qualité que je préfère chez un homme.
D’obéir à sa femme.

La qualité que je préfère chez une femme.
De bien faire enrager son mari.

Mon occupation préférée.
De ne rien faire.

Mes principales caractéristiques.
Le caprice et l’inconstance.

Mon rêve de bonheur.
D’épouser le général Boulanger.

Quel serait mon plus grand malheur ?
D’être mère de nombreux enfants.

La couleur et la fleur que je préfère.
La couleur qui change le plus et la fleur qui ne change pas.

Ce que je voudrais être.
Un cheval de fiacre à Paris.

Le pays où je désirerais vivre.
Dans le coeur de monsieur Wilson.

Mon auteur favori en prose.
Monsieur Pellerin auteur des célèbres images.

Mon poète préféré.
Celui qui ne fait pas de vers.

Mon peintre et compositeur préféré.
Moi-Même.

Mes héros dans la vie réelle.
Pranzini ou Tropmann (au choix).

Mes héroïnes dans la vie réelle.
Louise Michel.

Mes héros dans la fiction.
Richard III.

Mes héroïnes dans la fiction.
Lady Macbeth.

Mes plat et boisson préférés.
De la cuisine de Merlatti (l’amour et l’eau fraîche).

Mes noms favoris.
Abdonide, Joséphyr, Alphée, Boulang.

Les animaux de compagnie que je déteste.
Les bonnes, les cochers et les modèles.

Les personnages historiques que j’aime le moins.
Ils sont tous désagréables.

État d’esprit actuel.
Il est trop difficile de le dire.

Fautes qui m’inspirent le plus d’indulgence.
Je tolère tous mes défauts mais pas du tout ceux des autres.

Ma devise.
Un « tiens » vaut mieux que deux « tu l’auras »

Cam. Claudel

16 Mai 1888

Daqui

Portugal na imprensa estrangeira - "Tuk-Tuks, Three-Wheeled Outsiders, Make Themselves at Home in Lisbon"

Residents of this port city of faded beauty and ornately tiled facades have welcomed a surge of tourists in recent years who have helped turn around its economic slide.

But the foreign visitors, they will tell you, have also come with their share of trade-offs. Rapid redevelopment, spurred by tax breaks granted to foreign property buyers, has driven up rents and widened disparities. Streets are more crowded, the traffic worse.

O Estado da Loucura - "The Isis papers: a masterplan for consolidating power"

O The Guardian traduziu um documento de 24 páginas que representa as principais ideias de governo e a estratégia para a viabilização de um estado islâmico. Assustador é o que se pode dizer.

Assim vai a Europa! - França: vitória da extrema direita nas eleições regionais

• Compliqué, au lendemain du premier tour d’une élection régionale, de faire des cartes. Montrer le parti en tête dans une région ne permet pas de présager du second tour qui s’annonce. Faire des symboles cabalistiques pour figurer les triangulaires n’est pas non plus très clair.

• Frente Nacional ficou à frente em seis das 13 regiões e foi o partido mais votado. Sarkozy rejeita acordo ou retirada de listas para travar formação de Le Pen na segunda volta.

Nada que não se esperasse, infelizmente.

"The Chennai Warning" - Shashi Thardoor

Even as world leaders were meeting in Paris to address climate change, the city of Chennai (formerly Madras), the capital of the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, reeled under the onslaught of the heaviest rainfall in 104 years. The city, home to five million people, has virtually shut down, with roads flooded and nearly 5,000 homes under water. More than 450 people have died. Air and rail services have been suspended, power and phone lines have been disrupted, and hospital patients are succumbing as life-support equipment fails. Victims had to be rescued in boats by India’s army and air force.

Revista "Crítica Económica e Social" nº4

Este número da revista Crítica Económica e Social, procurando antecipar problemas e soluções num novo ciclo governativo de políticas que se inicia, aborda constrangimentos internacionais, políticos e mediáticos à governação (João Ramos de Almeida, João Rodrigues, Jorge Bateira, Ricardo Paes Mamede, Sandra Monteiro), preocupações com a política de rendimentos (Alexandre Abreu, Eugénio Rosa, João Ramos de Almeida, Vítor Junqueira) e questões relacionadas com reformas na Segurança Social (Eduarda Ribeiro com Isabel Roque de Oliveira e Margarida Chagas Lopes, José Luís Albuquerque, Maria do Carmo Tavares), para além de outros aspectos como o que falta detalhar em termos de investimento e reestruturação da dívida (Francisco Louçã), de protecção do ambiente (João Camargo) e de inversão do declínio populacional (Nuno Serra).

São ainda apresentados textos que questionam a economia como ciência (Fernando Belo) e o impacto que a computorização, as qualificações e a austeridade têm no agravar da crise de emprego (Francisco Louçã) e sobre processos no seio das Nações Unidas e em Portugal sobre reestruturação/renegociação de dívida pública.

A revista inclui ainda análises sobre o salário mínimo nacional e a abrangência em termos de trabalhadores, massa salarial, preponderância sectorial e por dimensão de empresa, entre outros (João Ramos de Almeida, Observatório sobre Crises e Alternativas).

Ana Costa
Francisco Louçã
José Luís Albuquerque

Aqui

Cortázar no Cinema - "Blow Up"

Realização de Michelangelo Antonioni

"Europe’s Barbarians Inside the Gate" - Nouriel Roubini

I am on a two-week European tour at a time that could make one either very pessimistic or constructively optimistic about Europe’s prospects.

COP 21 - "World’s richest 10% produce half of carbon emissions while poorest 3.5 billion account for just a tenth"

The poorest half of the world’s population - 3.5 billion people - is responsible for just 10 percent of carbon emissions, despite being the most threatened by the catastrophic storms, droughts, and other severe weather shocks linked to climate change. These are the findings of a new Oxfam report, released during the ongoing climate talks in Paris, which also shows the world’s richest 10 percent produce around half of all emissions.

Extreme Carbon Inequality - report

"Interview: Torture and the CIA"

It is now widely acknowledged that after the 9/11 attacks in the US, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) began a global detention and interrogation program through which it tortured and abused prisoners. Yet the US government has failed to hold accountable both those who designed and authorized the program and the agents who directly carried out the abuses. Laura Pitter, senior US national security counsel at Human Rights Watch, interviewed many former detainees who were tortured by the CIA. She talks to Stephanie Hancock about what they went through and why it’simportant they get justice.
No More Excuses - A Roadmap to Justice for CIA Torture - full report

António Variações - 3/12/1944

António Variações

3 de dezembro - Dia Internacional da pessoa com deficiência

Theme for 2015: Inclusion matters: access and empowerment for people of all abilities

"For Jewish groups, Syrian refugees are a reminder — not a threat"

American Jewish organizations don’t see the Syrian refugees as a threat; they see them as a reminder.With rare unanimity on an issue that has stirred partisan passion, a cross-section of the community has defended the Obama administration’s refugee policy in terms recalling the plight of Jews fleeing Nazi Europe who were refused entry into the United States.

"The Great Divide – Joseph Stiglitz on inequality"

COP 21 - Largo Chade

"Quarante ans de conflit au Sahara occidental" - "Engagement de la France sur le Sahara"

Après quatre décennies de guerre et de crise au Sahara occidental, ce conflit international est devenu mineur pour la France. Mais il se déroule aux portes de l’Union européenne et implique directement Paris en tant qu’acteur historique, militaire et diplomatique. Il met aux prises ses principaux partenaires africains et monopolise l’activité diplomatique de son « plus proche » partenaire politique arabe et africain, le royaume du Maroc. Il fracture enfin ses alliances internationales, y compris contre le terrorisme.

Assim vai a Europa! - "UE ameaça Grécia com suspensão do espaço Schengen"

The EU is warning Greece it faces suspension from the Schengen passport-free travel zone unless it overhauls its response to the migration crisis by mid-December, as frustration mounts over Athens’ reluctance to accept outside support.

COP 21

COP 21

1 de dezembro - Dia mundial da luta contra a Sida

Mensagem do Secretário Geral da ONU

"O chocalho já é património cultural imaterial da UNESCO"

A Unesco (Organização das Nações Unidas para a Educação, Ciência e Cultura) aprovou esta terça-feira a classificação da arte chocalheira portuguesa a Património Cultural Imaterial com Necessidade de Salvaguarda Urgente.