In early 2011, when Europe was already very into it's crisis with no view of a miraculous exit, a German newspaper columnist wrote how unlikely it would be for countries to - once again - siege a war against one another and explained this by two reasons. Firstly, the simple lack of financing and secondly the lack of sufficient men (and women) willing to militarily equip themselves to attack their neighboring counterparts.
At the time that sounded like a harsh but very meaningful statement, as politicians and populations were - once again - commencing to severely blame and intimidate each other across borders for the wrongdoings impacting the lives they had hoped have had such a different course not so long ago.
I suppose from a relatively western point of view, the notion of war would deem any form of organized combat to be only hypothetically possible between people from different countries wherein perhaps the only modern variable would be the absence of geographical disputes.
Now the "west" expresses it is shocked by the deaths of people on Kiev's Maidan square. I am afraid I cannot share the surprise and wonder if the many heroic combatants in Ukraine do.
I have been extremely impressed with the organization, the discipline, the creativity even, whereby hundreds and then thousands of people equipped and trained themselves, volunteering into some sort of hierarchy pursuing very strategic thoughts on a day-by-day basis. People could have indulged in guerilla type demonstrative actions, but chose to establish and expose themselves in a non aggressive manner to a threat which could have been substantially more mortal. Their Cossack forefathers will have been proud.
What is Ukraine today is as responsible for what has become Europe as it is for Russia and here too I sense that "western" or EU views hinting that what is a stake is an EU / Russian divide is somewhat poor assessment of what a brave and educated population is in pursuit of.
Politicians should be wary against an informed population which is disciplined and persistent enough to siege against politics or the lack and abuse thereof.
2014-02-26
2014-02-10
Museu Nacional da Arte de Negociação / National Museum of (the art of) Dealmaking
So we all find consent in that what is popularly referred to as Chinese shops is not culture. We are less certain whether football or soccer and the many ways in which it is practiced, viewed or just commented, can be regarded as culture. Fortunately, no one raises doubts on the indeed cultural value of a collection of 85 works of Joan Miró.
Christie's in London appropriately opted to cancel the auction of those works, albeit less than 3 hours from its commencement, as it would be unable to guarantee an undisputed passage of title to successful bidders from the vendor, in this case a Portuguese government agency which took ownership of the collection through the nationalization of the BPN bank.
Nearly simultaneously, back in Portugal, an opening hammer does sound to announce the start of another bidding run amongst politicians wherein all the nearly childish confrontation between dreams and reality could have possibly inspired Joan Miró for another unique piece of surrealism, leaving the general public to make its own interpretation of the real meaning of it all.
BPN was nationalised by the Portuguese Government in the then still awake of a world wide financial crises and whereas banks were facing collapse in many countries, BPN's exposure was not vested in imprudent derivatives investment decisions, but simply in a systematic carrying on of fraudulent and criminal practices to finance the free-flowing of its adminstation. Whereas in Portugal it has not been too uncommon that legal entities were formed with a Board of Adminstrators including several former members of government along with all the legally required estatutes and licenses, the rather big difference for this BPN is the size of a still estimated suffocating gap of nearly € 5 billion, its rushed nationalisation has left the Portuguese audience to gaze at.
So while that art collection was kept in storage, large parts of the Portuguese population gradually came to be confronted with having to dispose of their public and private material and immaterial treasures in order to substantiate the imposed austerity measures to - inter alia - pay for the BPN gap.
I can understand that genuine art lovers, and especially those without money, feel devastated with the thought of an impressive collection dissappearing beyond territorial horizons forever. I am less impressed with the surrealism of in particular opposition members of parliament suddenly climbing on their pedestal to cry out disgrace for the cold financial view the government shows towards culture, in view of the potential Miró's work would have for foreign visitors, somehow excluding the Portuguese population themselves from the outset. It is a poor and shameful Pontius Pilatus like attempt for those who did not manage to embed a nation's rich and so undervalued culture amongst the nation itself and the role it once had worldwide.
Yes, an investment of money, time, prospect, vision in what nearly any country would primarily vest within a government's budget and political initiative to promote "culture", tends to quickly fall on a priority ladder in times of austerity. The same happens at any person's home. Art-and-nearly-everything-else-critic Miguel Sousa Tavares made a valid point in reminding people of the enormous amount of public and private time and money which was spent surrounding the pre-historic art sites in Portugal's Côa Valley. And that art is immovable.
I would take one step further, in that any museum which would come to hold onto the Miró collection in Portugal would seriously risk becoming a permanent place of exhibiting the very symbols of entangling private and public mismanagement of the early 21st century and that is not something anyone is waiting for at this point.
With that being said, I see an opportunity for a modern forward looking government in search of sketching a vision, to attribute the proceeds of the auction now scheduled in June, to some fiscal incentive - however symbolic - in order for any Portuguese to spend some time and/or money to create or buy into forms of Portuguese originated art, whether it is a young artist's painting or some educational roadshow or project for children. Then we really are cultivating.
Christie's in London appropriately opted to cancel the auction of those works, albeit less than 3 hours from its commencement, as it would be unable to guarantee an undisputed passage of title to successful bidders from the vendor, in this case a Portuguese government agency which took ownership of the collection through the nationalization of the BPN bank.
Nearly simultaneously, back in Portugal, an opening hammer does sound to announce the start of another bidding run amongst politicians wherein all the nearly childish confrontation between dreams and reality could have possibly inspired Joan Miró for another unique piece of surrealism, leaving the general public to make its own interpretation of the real meaning of it all.
BPN was nationalised by the Portuguese Government in the then still awake of a world wide financial crises and whereas banks were facing collapse in many countries, BPN's exposure was not vested in imprudent derivatives investment decisions, but simply in a systematic carrying on of fraudulent and criminal practices to finance the free-flowing of its adminstation. Whereas in Portugal it has not been too uncommon that legal entities were formed with a Board of Adminstrators including several former members of government along with all the legally required estatutes and licenses, the rather big difference for this BPN is the size of a still estimated suffocating gap of nearly € 5 billion, its rushed nationalisation has left the Portuguese audience to gaze at.
So while that art collection was kept in storage, large parts of the Portuguese population gradually came to be confronted with having to dispose of their public and private material and immaterial treasures in order to substantiate the imposed austerity measures to - inter alia - pay for the BPN gap.
I can understand that genuine art lovers, and especially those without money, feel devastated with the thought of an impressive collection dissappearing beyond territorial horizons forever. I am less impressed with the surrealism of in particular opposition members of parliament suddenly climbing on their pedestal to cry out disgrace for the cold financial view the government shows towards culture, in view of the potential Miró's work would have for foreign visitors, somehow excluding the Portuguese population themselves from the outset. It is a poor and shameful Pontius Pilatus like attempt for those who did not manage to embed a nation's rich and so undervalued culture amongst the nation itself and the role it once had worldwide.
Yes, an investment of money, time, prospect, vision in what nearly any country would primarily vest within a government's budget and political initiative to promote "culture", tends to quickly fall on a priority ladder in times of austerity. The same happens at any person's home. Art-and-nearly-everything-else-critic Miguel Sousa Tavares made a valid point in reminding people of the enormous amount of public and private time and money which was spent surrounding the pre-historic art sites in Portugal's Côa Valley. And that art is immovable.
I would take one step further, in that any museum which would come to hold onto the Miró collection in Portugal would seriously risk becoming a permanent place of exhibiting the very symbols of entangling private and public mismanagement of the early 21st century and that is not something anyone is waiting for at this point.
With that being said, I see an opportunity for a modern forward looking government in search of sketching a vision, to attribute the proceeds of the auction now scheduled in June, to some fiscal incentive - however symbolic - in order for any Portuguese to spend some time and/or money to create or buy into forms of Portuguese originated art, whether it is a young artist's painting or some educational roadshow or project for children. Then we really are cultivating.
2014-02-04
Happy new (sales) year
Next to the office building I work in what's classified as one of Lisbon's central business districts, there is a store called "Only you". It's a clothes store, very much prêt-a-porter, or perhaps "all-you-can-carry" would better describe the retail outlet of about 1500 square metres.
Once a week a couple of professional (Portuguese) window dressers re-do the mannequins with what looks fairly fashionable and decorate the various front windows with the same kind of imitation old fashioned looking suitcases one would find in quite a few more traditional retail chains throughout the city operated by Spanish, Portuguese or English brands.
In popular terms the place is referred to as a Chinese store and indeed the man behind the cash register and the video surveillance system resemble what one can encounter in the streets of Shanghai or Kowloon. The only communication tool missing would be the walkie-talkies used there to communicate the arrival of counter-fit investigation teams, but no need for those here.
This store re-opened past summer after about a month long of plastering and refurbishing activity, mostly carried out by Chinese nationals.
I remember when a couple of years ago a type of low priced interior home chain store closed down there and only about a week later several trucks were unloading what seems to be the entire range of items any person would need for personal, family, home and automobile care and play. Not a single colleague in my office did not recognise the type of shop as the kind to what they will have seen near to where they live.
There is not a neighbourhood or small town across Portugal without the tomato coloured paper lanterns, often in front of what once was a traditional family owned specialist store which just did not make enough money anymore or could not find an interested inheritee. I suspect many chain outlets, addicted to the many mega shopping centres on city's outskirts will be jealous of the apparent very fine tuned geographical spread of these Chinese stores.
Gradually the number of people that admit have made a rational purchase inside such a store, is also growing. Again, I would guess many central purchasing and marketing divisions of branded chain outlets would envy the surprising swift capacity to adjust to customer behavior.
The city of Lisbon debated but eventually opted to avoid creating some sort of Chinatown somewhere, presumably in an attempt to avoid too much of the same.
Now the discussion is heating up again, just downstairs from where I live. What for decades was a hotspot cinema was forced to close down and in a matter of months, the famous comfortable seats and the entire kitchen equipment of the adjacent lounge like restaurant have been removed to make way for an even larger store a young Chinese family operates just around the corner.
The shop owners association in my neighbourhood, has now appealed to the city council that the former cinema space should remain a place of cult for the general community instead. Although no one has come up with a designated project, the destruction/construction work has now stopped and a street shows another symbol of indecision. In the meantime, a young family, far away from its home country is seeing its dreams and hopes for growth evaporate.
I just do not get it, why any community, municipality or an entire country - and especially one where small enterprise is indeed an economy's engine - would want to deliberatley resist at this point in time against any form of legitimate enterprise.
Under the circumstances, for starters, I would be inclined to suggest that any Chinese shopkeeper is invited or even obliged to become a member of the shop owner association and work with everyone to increment the overall quality of a neigbourhood. Strength, cooperative, generous, idealistic .... the qualities of any horse.
Once a week a couple of professional (Portuguese) window dressers re-do the mannequins with what looks fairly fashionable and decorate the various front windows with the same kind of imitation old fashioned looking suitcases one would find in quite a few more traditional retail chains throughout the city operated by Spanish, Portuguese or English brands.
In popular terms the place is referred to as a Chinese store and indeed the man behind the cash register and the video surveillance system resemble what one can encounter in the streets of Shanghai or Kowloon. The only communication tool missing would be the walkie-talkies used there to communicate the arrival of counter-fit investigation teams, but no need for those here.
This store re-opened past summer after about a month long of plastering and refurbishing activity, mostly carried out by Chinese nationals.
I remember when a couple of years ago a type of low priced interior home chain store closed down there and only about a week later several trucks were unloading what seems to be the entire range of items any person would need for personal, family, home and automobile care and play. Not a single colleague in my office did not recognise the type of shop as the kind to what they will have seen near to where they live.
There is not a neighbourhood or small town across Portugal without the tomato coloured paper lanterns, often in front of what once was a traditional family owned specialist store which just did not make enough money anymore or could not find an interested inheritee. I suspect many chain outlets, addicted to the many mega shopping centres on city's outskirts will be jealous of the apparent very fine tuned geographical spread of these Chinese stores.
Gradually the number of people that admit have made a rational purchase inside such a store, is also growing. Again, I would guess many central purchasing and marketing divisions of branded chain outlets would envy the surprising swift capacity to adjust to customer behavior.
The city of Lisbon debated but eventually opted to avoid creating some sort of Chinatown somewhere, presumably in an attempt to avoid too much of the same.
Now the discussion is heating up again, just downstairs from where I live. What for decades was a hotspot cinema was forced to close down and in a matter of months, the famous comfortable seats and the entire kitchen equipment of the adjacent lounge like restaurant have been removed to make way for an even larger store a young Chinese family operates just around the corner.
The shop owners association in my neighbourhood, has now appealed to the city council that the former cinema space should remain a place of cult for the general community instead. Although no one has come up with a designated project, the destruction/construction work has now stopped and a street shows another symbol of indecision. In the meantime, a young family, far away from its home country is seeing its dreams and hopes for growth evaporate.
I just do not get it, why any community, municipality or an entire country - and especially one where small enterprise is indeed an economy's engine - would want to deliberatley resist at this point in time against any form of legitimate enterprise.
Under the circumstances, for starters, I would be inclined to suggest that any Chinese shopkeeper is invited or even obliged to become a member of the shop owner association and work with everyone to increment the overall quality of a neigbourhood. Strength, cooperative, generous, idealistic .... the qualities of any horse.
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