é pouco ?

.
SP, 05 de outubro 2005

Na segunda feira assisto o Roda Viva, atingindo a incrivel marca de quase mil programas, (de onde tiraram tanta gente pra entrevistar ??) com o presidente da Republica Bolivariana da Venzuela, nosso velho conhecido Hugo Chavez.

Deixei rolar por curiosidade, esperando um desfile do que minha mente Pignatariana logo apelidou de Chaves e seus Chavões.

È claro que não faltaram perolas Allende/Castro/Guevaristas, mas o que vi foi um sujeito muito mais articulado e inteligente do que esperava. Sabemos que o que mais incomoda nos cliches é que eles quase sempre estão certos, e ele tem certa razão quando diz que para o mundo rico ainda somos produtores de monoculturas, só mudaram as bananas.

Simpatico sem ser bajulador com os entrevistadores que não perdem uma chance de provoca-lo, tem uma habilidade incrivel de lidar com a imprensa, forjada provavelmente em 7 anos de brigas com os Marinho da Venezuela, a familia Cisneros. Disse ter se dado bem com o patriarca nos primeiros meses de governo, até este pedir-lhe pra nomear o Ministro da Comunicação e ter levado, como dizia um outro caudilho as vezes inteligente, um não rotundo.

È claro que um Sargentão tipo HC não é de modo algum modelo a ser seguido por aqui, mas um militar, disciplinado e cartesiano por formação, quando é inteligente dá , em sua expressão maior, em Napoleão, e pode trazer alguns avanços.

E como disse meu arqui-amigo Ricardo Correia, com aquela elite de la, o que v. queria ??

A Venezula é , sabemos, uma Veneza flutuando em 330 bilhões de Barris de petroleo (a 60 dollares, faça a conta) contra 20 e poucos de reserva dos EUA - fora o gás - e explora essa riqueza desde 1905. Cem anos depois continua tão pobre quanto alguns de seu vizinhos muito menos favorecidos em sopa de dinossauro. Até os arabes fizeram melhor.

Meu Chavez favorito continua sendo o namorado da Chiquita, mas acho agora que não se deve demonizar o sujeito, o que seria tão estupido quanto santifica-lo . Ele é no momento o maior expressão de um pensamento nem tão novo assim na America Latina, mas que tem alguma razão historica de ser. Não se deve cometer o erro inverso quando louvamos dez anos atras o Raul Salinas, que parecia ser o surfista prateado de um Galactus chamado mercado e que iria abrir uma distancia intrasponivel entre o México e o resto da AL. Acabou desviando do seu rico povo algo como 5,2 bilhões de dollares.

Mas mesmo os mega corruptos latinos mais recentes como esse moço ai, Menem e Collor deixaram algum legado positivo. No caso do Collor quem mais daria a prensa necessaria no mimado capital nacional ??

O prorio Fujimori acabou com uma guerrilha de dementes e é possivel que o HC deixe tambem algo de bom . Ou, como dira Therciano Velloso, não.


O mundo de hoje impos a esquerda um limite natural de radicalização. Experiencias estanques como o comunismo europeu , separado por um muro de lugares mais prósperos e livres, não teriam sobrevivdo de qualquer forma ao celular e a internet.

Meu medo aqui na AL é o crescimento dos partidos ligados as Igrejas Me$$ianicas, mas isso é outra historia.

Perguntado sobre Cuba , ele saiu com essa:

- La , nos furacões, que alias são os mesmos que atingem a Florida e New Orleans, até as galinhas são retiradas.

A proposito de New Orleans achei e transcrevo ao fina um artigo do Ray Davies dos Kinks, que Paula e eu tivemos a graça de ver dias atras no Alber Hall, tratando da materia.

+++++

Desgaste do poder, decadencia etc. é tão antigo quanto o proprio poder ( e tanto quanto essa afirmação, suponho) e a competencia de um partido ou individuo esta em atrasar ao maximo esse processo. Significa dizer que o PT é mais que tudo, incompetente (dessa vez não vou ceder a influencia concretista que me arranha o cerebro).

Passaram por esse processo o partido Socialista que consolidou a Espanha rica e esta passando agora o Neo Trabalhismo do Blair, só que nos dois casos, depois de varios anos no poder.

Quando estava la agora, acontecia uma convenção do Labour Party no balneario de Brighton, que os tabloides acusavam de estar sendo animada por drogas, prostitutas e outros mimos - fringe benefits, my dear. La pelo menos os tabloides não se imaginam imprensa seria e nunca mentem totalmente.

Mas o que pegou mesmo mal para um povo que prefere ser bombardeado a ser invadido ou ter seus direitos basicos negados, foi um velhinho, trabalhista desde antes de Blair e os outros lideres aprenderem a cantar Deus Salve a Rainha, fugitivo da Alemanha Nazista (imagine o caldo) ter sido retirado a força do salão de convenções ao vaiar o discurso de algum labour-figurão que elogiava a posição da Gran Bretanha vis Iraque.

De qualquer forma os Tories não tem ninguem no momento e o Blair so perde prum outro trabalhista, assim como a Tatcher caiu para o Major, não sem antes chutar as bundas dos facinoras argentinos, do corrupto sindicato dos mineiros britanicos e junto com o cawboy Ronnie e o o Papa Polaco mandar USSR de volta para o inferno.

È pouco ???



New Orleans - the ideal place to get shotRay Davies Away from the partying it was obvious to a dedicated follower of the city that disaster was around the corner
I SPENT the early part of last year in New Orleans recovering from gunshot wounds received as I was being robbed. It happened in the early evening as I walked down a quiet street with my girlfriend. There was a football game in town and the streets near the French Quarter were empty. The police presence was elsewhere. The incident itself was over in a flash but it plays over and over in my head and perhaps one day it will make sense to me.
I found out later that there were fewer than 2,000 police in New Orleans at that time and it reached such a point that there was talk of the city was importing officers from Cleveland. Anyway, thanks to someone’s mobile phone, the police eventually got to the scene. Later, as I was carried into the emergency room at Charity hospital, a doctor reassured me that “New Orleans really is the best place to get shot”. They had, he explained, had plenty of practice.
The same week I was shot, I read that three other tourists were killed near to where I was attacked. Tourists were urged not to fight back after being mugged (I was continually reminded of this by the district attorney’s officials, who were critical of the way I chased the man who robbed my girlfriend).
There were additional complications to my injuries and my gunshot wounds were not as clean as first thought. Before I was taken in for my first operation, a priest came and gave me a little spiritual assistance. Later I was even serenaded by a nurse who whispered slow, mournful gospel songs in the style of Mahalia Jackson.
During my initial week-long stay in hospital and lengthy recuperation, I observed first-hand the bankruptcy of the New Orleans health system. Several doctors who treated me actually apologised for the low standard of healthcare in Louisiana. Even so, they gave me the best of what they did have, for which I am grateful.
I have just looked through some notes in the diary I made after I was operated on and one seems chillingly relevant. “How can the USA be expected to look after the whole world when it cannot even look after its own?” So it doesn’t surprise me to see the world reacting with shock to the “Third World” conditions in New Orleans “in this, the richest and most powerful country in the world”. I could have told them that.
But I have been astonished by the reactions and apparent shame of some of the US television reporters who seemed overwhelmed to discover that there actually is poverty in America. They made me want to grab my television and shout “Hello, dear reporter, yes, America actually does have poor and underprivileged people as well. Hello, yes, the President might well be slow to react but at times like this, that’s all that an over-burdened, out-of-touch president can be.”
After watching the scenes on television in the past few days, it occurred to me that if any place in the world could survive this catastrophe, it would be New Orleans. Significantly, in the most deprived parts of the city, there are churches and Gospel halls. Faith has to be strong because often it is all most of the people have.
When I was last in New Orleans, I was driven around the city by a friend who pointed out the pump houses that seemed antiquated to me even then. The levees seemed insufficient for the amount of water surrounding the city. The roads were uneven and the tap water pressure in most houses was weak. The whole system appeared improvised, but according to my friend it all “seemed to have worked well enough so far given that there is not enough funding to improve it ”. Locals would joke: “Yep, it is like the Third World but, hey, this is N’Awlins. Nothin’s perfect. That’s what’s so great about it.”
I agreed but deep down I felt the whole infrastructure was very fragile. New Orleans is a party town, after all, and when tourists walk down Bourbon Street drinking frozen Daiquiri during Jazz Fest, crime, unemployment and environmental issues are far from their minds.
It was clear to me, however, that away from all the festivities something disastrous was on the cards. Too many things pointed in that direction. Why didn’t the people who are supposed to be experts on this stuff react sooner? The problem we all know by now is money. Budgets. America’s preoccupation with wars overseas. Nobody cares about the poor. Etc, etc.
At the time of my shooting I was trying to develop a musical event for a local school in New Orleans to raise funds for instruments and new uniforms for them to wear at Mardi Gras. Music, particularly in the school marching bands, gives many of the kids down there an opportunity to participate in the local community. This in turn raises their expectations and it is to be hoped, stops them descending into the local drug and gang culture waiting around the corner. I was due back later in the year to put on a show for Thanksgiving to raise a few extra bucks for the community. This all seems so trivial now.
But the reality is that without its music New Orleans would have been a forgotten city long ago. The music of the American South inspired me and helped to shape me as a musician. They say that jazz started on Perdido Street in New Orleans and even Louis Armstrong honed his trade in the honky-tonks on Bourbon Street.
I owe as much to music of the Southern states as I do to the British music that inspired me. If New Orleans is allowed to die, a crucial part of the world’s musical heritage will disappear.

now, the flooded streets of New Orleans might seem just an American responsibility but sometimes even the most powerful people need help. Whatever we think of George W. Bush we cannot take it out on the poor and needy in Louisiana and Mississippi. (He won’t be there in four years — they will.) Numerous people befriended me while I was there. Gradually, word is getting back to me that they are safe. One friend made it to Dallas with her family. Others are now scattered across the South: Jackson, Mississippi, Memphis. One musician friend is still missing.
I think about what has happened to some of the faceless, scary “neighbours” who kept me awake at night while they partied and chanted songs on the corner of St Claude and Governor Nichols when I last stayed there. I hope they made it.
nd lastly, I think about the bicycle I left behind. New Orleans is almost entirely flat — as the world knows all too well now — and I found that a bike ride was a great way to get around while strengthening my injured leg.
When I left last year I forgot to put the padlock on my bike. Whoever took it, I pray that they get to ride it around the French Quarter again soon.
Ray Davies was lead singer of the Kinks. http://www.raydavies.info/