Brexit

El mundo entero está pagando el precio de la creciente desigualdad  económica de los últimos treinta años. Hay candidatos y gobiernos populistas que aumentan en popularidad, porque sus vanas ofertas para aliviar la pobreza encubren sus verdaderas estafas.  Se trata de líderes carismáticas que proponen soluciones simplistas, divisorias y anti-elitistas, expresadas en palabras baladíes y emocionales.

Aparen dirigentes como Pablo Iglesias, Hugo Chávez, Donald Trump, Boris Johnson y otros -de la derecha y de la izquierda- cuyas agendas se basan en su afán de poder, aunque su vocabulario se llene de palabras como “igualdad”, “dignidad” y “libertad”.

Ahora Gran Bretaña sale de la Unión Europeo. En noviembre tal vez Trump sea presidente de los Estados Unidos. Posiblemente Venezuela se divida entre las fuerzas del hampa y las de los políticos que luchan para dominarse entre sí.

Hubiéramos frenado aquella desigualdad; hubiéramos educado a los niños; hubiéramos promocionado la salud para todos.

Tal vez me siento pesimista esta noche; tal vez sea tarde para el mundo. 

That green and pleasant land

British historian, Simon Michael Schama, said tonight (paraphrased), those whom the gods wish to destroy, they first make willfully ignorant. He was talking about the first results in the British decision about whether to leave or remain in the European Union. Those who want to leave are largely influenced by their xenophobic fear of immigration. The first voting indicators tonight are for leaving, although the Scots are voting to stay.

The English pound has been falling in the last few hours in its relation to the dollar. All this means that maybe the Scots will ask for another referendum about whether to stay in Great Briton. If they leave, England goes back to being a rather pretty, but isolated and impoverished island. What a pity.

Whatever self destructive impulses motivated Venezuela to follow Chávez, and have created a following for Donald Trump in the United States, now are at work in that “green and pleasant land.”

Shakespear put into the mouth of John of Gaunt in his play “Richard II”:

“…This land of such dear souls, this dear, dear land,
Dear for her reputation through the world,
Is now leased out – I die pronouncing it –
Like to a tenement or a pelting farm.
England,... 
is now bound in with shame,
With inky blots and rotten parchment bonds.
That England that was wont to conquer others
Hath made a shameful conquest of itself.”

Ganancias y Armamento / Guns and profits

Español: En tiempos de emergencia, soldados y policías ofrecen su vidas en la defensa de los intereses de sus respectivos países. Es un sacrificio hecho por los guardianes de tribus, castillos, ciudades- estados y países desde los albores de la historia. Para ello necesitan industrias que fabrican armamento de todo tipo. Propongo que estas industrias lo hagan sin ánimo de lucro, que sus actividades sean incluidas entre los sacrificios necesarios para proteger el territorio nacional.

English: In times of emergency, soldiers and police offer their lives in the defense of their countries’ national interests. It is a sacrifice that has been made by the guardians of tribes, castles, city-states and countries since the dawn of history. To do this they need industries that manufacture armament of all kinds. I propose that these industries should make no profit, that their activities should be included in the sacrifices that are necessary to protect the homeland.