O ETERNO SÉCULO DE HOBSBAWN

==> Sugiro a leitura acompanhada da trilha sonora do filme "Nós que aqui estamos, por vós esperamos", de Marcelo Masagão. Inclusive, acho que este filme, como um todo, é uma das expressões artísticas mais representativas da rebeldia moderna de Hobsbawm.

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lwl_CdjW3sw&feature=BFa&list=PL53DFB8F2EEA7BBC5>

O ETERNO SÉCULO DE HOBSBAWM

Morreu a primeira página de meu livro de história

velinha, já estragada,

mal se lia nela o passado...

entre seus traços esquecidos

brotavam

sozinhos,

qual ervas daninhas a consumirem o lar dos Buendia

sonhos de um velho

socialista

que agora lá está e,

por nós,

espera.

Um homem de seu tempo e

além dele,

um socialista

e além dele

um sonhador

e além dele

um realista

e além dele

nós.

de sonhos grandes

e sonhadores miudos

dos temas eternos

e dos maestros fugazes

das canções que confortam eras

e mudam mundos

e entoam lamentos

goela abaixo

dos poderosos

e dos violentos

e dos brutos

e dos homens

       -  dos vencedores

       -  dos senhores

Por ti os sinos dobram,

hoje e amanhã

e para sempre

sob o badalo dos que tem frio

e fome

e sede

de justiça

e um dia viraram as páginas da história

pelas Eras de Hobsbawm

e além

Choram por ti

as Pessoas Extraordinárias

num jazz silencioso

numa Marselhesa de Sans Cullotes

e sem direitos

e sem saida

e sem amores

e sem medalhas

e sem história

…

agora herdeiros de uma rebeldia,

que lá está e por nós

espera...

Estranho sentir-me assim tão afetado, pela perda de alguém que nunca conheci.

Pela perda de um mestre, do qual hoje discordo tanto: Razão pessimista, trajédia europeia, o absurdo do homem branco...

são críticas

severas

que hoje posso entoar

contra ele inclusive

porquê nas páginas doces daquele Breve Século XX

me perdi

pra nunca mais

me encontrar.

BECAUSE I'M INNOCENT, I SCREAM!!!

BECAUSE I'M INNOCENT, I SCREAM!!!

Its still time to stop the bloodbath. If USA was concerned about Jews they wouldn't deny their identity as they do while forcing Jews into Zionism. Why campaigning to overshadow Judaism through Zionism? If the USA was concerned about Jews would they bomb Iran, the biggest Jew population in a Muslim country? Would they bomb the the biggest Jew population of the Crescent Fertile after Israel? Would they bomb those Jews that choose to be living in Iran despite the tempting money offered for them to migrate to Israel?

If the USA was worried about Jews, would they foster a political identity wherein the leadership is played by the Queen of England, Catholic elites of France or Christian sects of the USA - as is the case with Zionism? Let Jews be ahead of their identity! Let Jews be Jews, instead of Zionists!

Zionism is just another pretext for the Imperialist powers to carry on with their global looting!

Many Iranians want and deserve more than what their current leaders and political systems can offer; just like most people from the USA also deserve a better democracy than their two-party system of marked cards and lobbyist mafias; and most British people also deserve escaping Feudalism and Hereditary Autocracy.

But I would risk saying: hardly if any Iranian still believe its through the criminal hands of Imperialist forces that the democracy they deserve shall come. Maybe they are skeptic because they have a good memory, and they remember before 1979 there was 1953, and they remember Rumsfeld and Saddan shook hands, and they remember Iran Contra, and they remember the weapons of mass destruction provided to Iraq by Bush Dad were just not there for the Bush Kid because they had been fully spent against Iranian soldiers.

Besides, the present also doesn't inspire much optimist that the USA and their Gang could possibly do any good for Iranian democracy. We have seen Western Empires blowing the moment of transformation all over the third world, smuggling their dirty interests on the critical agendas and turning transition movements into paths for the Dictators of tomorrow. That's how it killed the Arab Spring and that's how it is trying to kill a political society which struggles to take Iran out of the Autocratic hole it was forced by USA and England in 1953.

An innocent shall pledge full support to the Iranian democracy, and therefore shall stand unbreakable against any project of democracy export/ imposition! An innocent says NO to the Zionist force pushing the USA to bomb Iranians! An innocent screams NO to the Imperial Power's support to Israeli unilateral attack over Iran! An innocent seek all the possible means to stop Iranian skies from get red with peoples blood! AN INNOCENT REVEALS THE GUILT OF THOSE WHO REMAIN IN SILENCE!

ABSTRACT ON ARAB NATIONALISM

ARAB NATIONALISM

• Started against the Otoman Empire in the aerly XX Century, with some 'help' of the British, but they soon had their autonomy jeopardized as the British fostered their isolation through supporting zionism.
• The Pan-Arabist, Al-Fatat ("the Young Arab Society") was created in 1911 and launched the Arab Congress of 1913, originally for autonomy within the Otoman empire but due to persecutions it sharpened into independence.
  • In 1919 the young cadres of Al-Fatat launched the Al-Istiqlal (Arab Independence Party) with a somehow more nationalistic than pan-Arabistic claim for independence of other Arab countries
    • Created a subtle tension between nationalists and pan-Arabists
    • Undeclared sponsoring from Ibn al-Hussain of Iraq.
• Under the command of the Sharif of Meca, supported by the British, the Otoman power was overthrown during the 1st world war, but the British fostered fragmentation as they dettached Iraq under the rule of one of his son's Faysal Ibn al-Hussain, and east Palestine (Transjordania or contemporary Jordan) under the rule of his other son, Abdulah I of Jordania.
• The relative independence of Egypt (1921*), Iraq (1920*), Saudi Arabia (1920*) and North Yemen (1918*) encouraged Arab nationalists to put forward programs of action against colonial powers in the region, what was sharpened in the 1930's due to the threat of Zionism.
• It's peak was after the World War II, under the leadership of Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser
  • Opposed to the British control of the Suez Canal Zone and concerned at Egypt becoming a Cold War battleground Nasser pushed for a collective Arab security pact within the framework of the Arab League. A key aspect of this was the need for economic aid that was not dependent on peace with Israel and the establishment of U.S. or British military bases within Arab countries. Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal and directly challenged the dominance of the Western powers in the region.
  • The humiliating defeat in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War strengthened the Arabs' resolve to unite in favor of a pan-Arab nationalist ideal.[7]
  • With the advent of Palestinian nationalism, a debate circled between those who believed that pan-Arab unity would bring about destruction of Israel (the view advocated by the Arab Nationalist Movement) or whether the destruction of Israel would bring about pan-Arab unity (the view advocated by Fatah)
• Decline of Pan-Arabism after the 1967 war
  • The Arab Nationalist Movement shifted from Pan-Arabism to Marxist-Leninism
  • the elimination of many of the irritants that stoked nationalist passion as imperialism and pro-Westernism waned in the Arab world during the 1950s and early 1960s;
    • The British presence in Egypt and Iraq had been eliminated; the Baghdad Pact had been defeated; Jordan's British chief of staff, Sir John Bagot Glubb, had been dismissed; Lebanon's pro-Western president, Camille Chamoun, had been replaced by the independent Fu'ad Shihab; and the Algerians, sacrificing a million dead in a heroic struggle, had triumphed over French colonial power.[45]

• regional attachments such as Iraqi president Abd al-Karim Qasim's "Iraq first" policy;

• attachments to tribes and "deeply-ingrained tribal values";

• suspicion of Arab unity by minority groups such as Kurds in Iraq who were non-Arab, or Shia Muslims in Iraq who feared Arab nationalism was actually "a Sunni project" to establish "Sunni hegemony";

• the Islamic revival, which grew Arab nationalism declined, and whose adherents were very hostile towards nationalism in general, believing it had no place in Islam;

• lack of interest by the movement in pluralism, separation of powers, freedom of political expression and other democratic concepts which might have "resuscitated" the ideology in its moment of weakness

• Attempts of unity were made by Nasser until 1971, and since them from Gadaffi, but none of them succeeded.

PROFILE OF THE WEST ASIAN COUNTRIES AND SUB-REGIONS

Egypt – 1919, first revolt. 1922, independence under British security forces. 1936, anti-zionist protests lead to the restoration of its constitution. From 1958 to 1961 Egypt merged with Syria and attempted to join Iraq and North Yemen into United Arab Republic (the name would be kept for Egypt untill Nasser's death in 1971). In 1963 Ba'at party won in Iraq and Syria, and they signed to merge with Egypt, but riots and disagreements lead to the withdrawn of the agreement before it could be impemented. In 1972 Lybian president Muammar Gadaffi attempted to join with Egypt and Syria to form the Federation of Arab Republics, but it crashed in 1977. In 1974 Gadaffi attempted to unite with Algeria in a Federation of Arab Republics, but it also didn't work as Argelia joined the Arab Maghreb Union.

CRESCENT FERTILE

Lebanon – 1920 to 1946 under French Mandate.

Iraq – 1920 to 1932 under British Mandate (King Faisal, son of Sherif Hussein). In 1941, however, the supporter of Pan-Arabism, King Ghazi, died in a 'car accident', and his non Pan-Arabist successor was soon overthrown by Pan-Arabists, what lead the UK to invade Iraq again as the German support expected by Iraqis never came. In 1945 the British forces left Iraq and the share fo Iran they occupied, whereas the Russians remained in Iran. Iraq however was immediately tied up by the US's Cold War CENTO.

Syria – 1920 to 1946 under French Mandate, with first great revolt in 1925. In 1936 the anti-zionist protests lead to deeper ngotiations of independence with France.

Palestine – Splat into a western part under direct British administration – which is pretty much nowadays Palestine; and an eastern Kingdom (Abdulla, son of Sherif Hussein) – Transjordania - responding to the British, untill the propose for creation of Israel in 1947

Jordania – the Kingdom of Abdulla – Transjordania - was completely splat from palestine and got independence in 1946, being renamed Jordania in 1951 only.

Saudi Arabia – was conceded to Ibn Saud (a British allie) in 1920 and become an independent Kingdom in 1932

ANATOLIA

Turkey – Carried the Political authority of previous Otoman empire, was it's inheritor in 1923 Lausane Agreement.

SOUTH CAUCASUS OR TRANSCAUCASUS: Was created in 1918 as a plit from Otoman Empire, but at the same year it was splat again between Azerbajan, Armeny and Georgia – all those further attached by the Sovietic Republic and independent again in the late 1980's and early 1990's.

Azerbajan – 1918

Armeny – 1918

Georgia – 1918

MEDITERRANEAN SEA

Cyprus – Was lended to the British at the last years of the Otoman empire and remained British protectorade untill 1960, when it got independence

PERSIAN GULF (ARAB PENINSULA + IRANIAN PLATEAU)

IRANIAN PLATEAU

Iran – 1905 – 1921 Iranian Constitutional Revolution which settled a Parliamentary Monarchy which was overthrown by the UK/US in 1953 as the Prime MinisterMossadegh nationalized the Iranian oil contesting the British colonial monopoly. As a result Sha Reza Parlevi established an autocratic government with the support of the USA which just fall in 1979 with the Iranian Revolution.

ARAB PERNINSULA

Kwait – Under British proctetorate until 1961

Oman – Under British direct colonization until 1971

Yemen – North Yemen is independent from the tomans since 1918, but only in 1967 that South Yemen was attached and become independent from the British. The island of Socotorá in the strategical entrance of the Gulf of Aden was just incorporated in 1967

United Arab Emirates – Since 1953 it was under a Trucial Sheikhdom client to the British, and full independence just come in 1971 (when the agreement expired)

Bahrein – Independent of the Persian Empire since 1783, but turned into a British client in the XIX century and just leaving the condition of proctetorate in 1971, after the agreement expired in 1970.

Qatar – Having been dominated by Persians, Otomans and under British protectorate untill 1970, it just become independent in 1971, after its client agreement expired.

ABSTRACT ON WESTERN COLONIALISM

• Portugal – Sultanate of Mallaca 1511
• Dutch (East India Company) took over Malacca from the Portuguese in 1641 and set enclave in Jacarta, while Spain began to colonize the Philippines (named after Philip II of Spain) from 1560s.
• British (East India Company) just come in the XIX Century, settling bases in Penang (Malasya) and Singapore as they advanced over Dutch areas during the Napoleonic wars.
• Since 1850 the UK and Holland signed a colonial agremment which settled 'peace' to geared development
• By 1913, the British occupied Burma, Malaya and the Borneo territories
  • Burma secured their independence from Britain in 1948
  • After suppressing the communist insurrection during the Malayan Emergency from 1948 to 1960, Britain granted independence to Malaya and later, Singapore, Sabah and Sarawak in 1957 and 1963 respectively within the framework of the Federation of Malaysia
  • Britain ended its protectorate of the Sultanate of Brunei in 1984
• the French controlled Indochina
  • the French were driven from Indochina in 1954 after a bitterly fought war (the Indochina War) against the Vietnamese nationalists
  • The United States intervention against communist forces in Indochina during a conflict commonly referred to in the United States as the Vietnam War meant that Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia had to go through a prolonged and protracted war in their route to independence.
    • By the war's end in 1975, all these countries were controlled by communist parties. After the communist victory, two wars between communist states — the Cambodian-Vietnamese War of 1975-1989 and the Sino-Vietnamese War of 1979 — were fought in the region.
• the Dutch ruled the Netherlands East Indies (Indonesia)
  • Indonesia declared independence in 17 August 1945 and subsequently fought a bitter war against the returning Dutch until Sukharno took power (backed by the USA) and proceeded the genocide of 500.000 communists in the country
• Portugal managed to hold on to Portuguese Timor
  • In 1975, Portuguese rule ended in East Timor. However, independence was short-lived as Indonesia annexed the territory soon after, just regaining independence in 2002

Filipino revolutionaries declared independence from Spain in 1898 but was handed over to the United States despite protests as a result of the Spanish-American War

ABSTRACT ON VIETNAM

• Became independent from Imperial China in 938 AD, following the Battle of Bạch Đằng River.
• Successive Vietnamese royal dynasties flourished as the nation expanded geographically and politically into Southeast Asia, until the Indochina Peninsula was colonized by the French in the mid-19th century.
  • The French maintained control of their colonies until World War II, when the war in the Pacific led to the Japanese invasion of French Indochina in 1941 – which was a base for military interventions on British territories.
  • In 1941, Viet Minh – with leader Ho Chi Minh, started guerrilla, which succeed after Japanese defeat in 1945
  • 1946, French vessels bombarded the port city of Hai Phong, and the Viet Minh's guerrilla campaign against French forces began soon after. The resulting First Indochina War lasted until 20 July 1954.
• The First Indochina War eventually led to the expulsion of the French in 1954, leaving Vietnam divided politically into two countries. Fighting between the two sides continued, with heavy foreign intervention, during the Vietnam War, which ended with a North Vietnamese victory in 1975.
  • The 1954 agreement pointed to a provisory division of the country into two, the south under the pro-French forces, and the north under Viet Minh forces, but the south pushed elections and the north started guerrilla against the pro-colonial south to unify
  • The Vietcongs gained ground as the government of the south got very instable having coup after coup
  • In 1965 US forces engaged in ground combat against the north
  • 1968 tet offensive against key spots on the south, shoking the US
  • Vietcongs got supply through the Ho Chi Minh trail across Lao and Camboja, and the US bombed those countries without even consulting the US Congress
  • US starts getting its forces out in 1973, Saigon is captured in 1975 and the unification is formalized in 1976
  • In 1978, the Vietnamese military invaded Cambodia
    • This action worsened relations with the Chinese, who launched a brief incursion into northern Vietnam in 1979.
      • This conflict caused Vietnam to rely even more heavily on Soviet economic and military aid
• In the aftermath of the war, the unified Communist nation was politically isolated and economically backward. In 1986, the government initiated market-based economic and political reforms which began a path towards integration into the world economy – “doi moi”.
• By 2000, it had established diplomatic relations with most nations, including the US and WTO in 2007.

ABSTRACT ON MIANMAR

• Pagan Empire in the 1050s – Burmese language, , Theravada Buddhism
• The Pagan Empire fell due to the Mongol invasions (1277–1301), and several warring states emerged
• In the second half of the 16th century, the country was reunified by the Taungoo Dynasty which for a brief period was the largest empire in the history of Southeast Asia.
• The early 19th century Konbaung Dynasty ruled over an area that included modern Burma as well as Manipur and Assam.
• The country was colonized by Britain following three Anglo-Burmese Wars (1824–1885).
  • Burma lost Arakan, Manipur, Assam and Tenasserim to the British in the First Anglo-Burmese War (1824–1826).
  • In 1852, the British easily seized Lower Burma in the Second Anglo-Burmese War.
  • King Mindon tried to modernize the kingdom, and in 1875 narrowly avoided annexation by ceding the Karenni States. The British, alarmed by the consolidation of French Indo-China, annexed the remainder of the country in the Third Anglo-Burmese War in 1885

• Throughout the colonial era, many Indians arrived as soldiers, civil servants, construction workers and traders and, along with the Anglo-Burmese community, dominated commercial and civil life in Burma. Rangoon became the capital of British Burma and an important port between Calcutta and Singapore.
  • Burmese resentment was strong and was vented in violent riots that paralysed Yangon on occasion all the way until the 1930s.
• On 1 April 1937, Burma became a separately administered colony of Great Britain, with nationalist pro self-rule Ba Maw as prime minister (was soon arrested)
• In 1940, before Japan formally entered the Second World War, Aung San formed the Burma Independence Army in Japan.
  • During the war Japan invaded Myamar for a while and set Ba Maw in rule
    • Minorities and opposition ehtnic groups set alliances with the US side. Eg: The Burma Independence Army and the Arakan National Army fought with the Japanese from 1942 to 1944, but switched allegiance to the Allied side in 1945
• Following the World War II, Aung San negotiated the Panglong Agreement with ethnic leaders that guaranteed the independence of Burma as a unified state. In 1947, Aung San became Deputy Chairman of the Executive Council of Burma, a transitional government. But in July 1947, political rivals[36] assassinated Aung San and several cabinet members
  • The geographical area Burma encompasses today can be traced to the Panglong Agreement, which combined Burma Proper, which consisted of Lower Burma and Upper Burma, and the Frontier Areas, which had been administered separately by the British
• Becme an Independent republic in 1948, it did not become a member of the Commonwealth. A bicameral parliament was formed, consisting of a Chamber of Deputies and a Chamber of Nationalities,[38] and multi-party elections were held in 1951–1952, 1956 and 1960.

• Since independence in 1948, the country has been in one of the longest running civil wars among the country's myriad ethnic groups
  • From 1962 to 2011, the country was under military rule. The military junta was dissolved in 2011 following a general election in 2010 and a civilian government installed.
  • In 1989 the junta changed the name from Burma to Myanmar, but US doesn't recognizes, however the UN and others do

• On 2 March 1962, the military led by General Ne Win took control of Burma through a coup d'état and the government has been under direct or indirect control by the military since then.
• Between 1962 and 1974, Burma was ruled by a revolutionary council headed by the general, and almost all aspects of society
• From 1974 to 1988 it was a one-party system, and become one of the most empoverished countries in the world
• In 1988, unrest over economic mismanagement and political oppression by the government led to widespread pro-democracy demonstrations throughout the country known as the 8888 Uprising. Security forces killed thousands of demonstrators, and General Saw Maung staged a coup d'état and formed the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC)
• Elections were established in 1989, but as opposition forces won for 80% the general kept the SLORC untill 1997, changing it to State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) until its dissolution in March 2011
  • 2007 Saffron revolution; 2—8 cyclone;
  • Constitutional change from Union of Myamar to Republic of the Union of Myamar, and set ellections to 2010, which were fraudulently won by the militars (80%)
    • Surprisingly, the militaries made some democratic flexibilizations
    • Hilary Clinton visited the country in 2011
    • 2012 elections were followed by international observance, being tolerable, and electing 43 ou of 45 seats to the pro-democracy party.
• Get's accepted in ASEAN in 1997.