"Capital humano"

O meu problema com a expressão "capital humano" (e, não, não tem nada a ver com escravatura).

Em defesa da "esquerda caviar"

Being a "champagne socialist" is the most morally worthy political position, as it means that you are willing to sacrifice your own narrow class interests to benefit people more disadvantaged than yourself. https://t.co/LwFd6mLm45

— John B (@johnb78) May 19, 2020

Michael Gove e a "radicalização"

De acordo com a estratégia anti-terrorista implementada, entre outros, pelo atual ministro das justiça britânico (penso que quando era ministro da educação), Michael Gove, alguém que compre ou vá ler à internet alguns livros que Gove tem na estante corre o risco de ficar sobre vigilância por suspeitas de "radicalização".

What's on Michael Gove's bookshelf? (And why it matters), no Libcom:

There is also a double-standard at play here. Gove, in line with his alarmist Islamophobic views, has been one of the most enthusiastic supporters of the Prevent strategy. Prevent is a counter-terrorism measure which has primary and secondary schools, colleges, and workplaces monitor their staff and students for signs of extremism, and report them to the authorities if they’re ‘at risk’ of being radicalised. You don’t have to be an ISIS-sympathiser to be referred to Prevent, you just have to look like one to an Islamophobic teacher. Prevent has increasingly targeted left wing and far-right activists in recent years too, although Muslims are still more likely to be referred than non-Muslims.

An anti-fascist researcher says: “Gove clearly thinks he should be exempt from the shitty draconian rules he’s helped concoct. I’m very aware that the work I do researching fascists could lead to police raids and court appearances because I have to read the kind of source material Gove is clearly happy to buy".

O Mediterrâneo, terra do trabalho por conta própria?

Nicholas Nassim Taleb:

Point is; if you're not Med, you'll never understand the Mediterranean. You can spend 31 y in Oxford reading "classics", all that sh*t, & still understand nothing about the Mediterranean.

Now, if you're not Med, the closest you'll ever get is via squid ink & Moustaki.

Salve.

— Nassim Nicholas Taleb (@nntaleb) June 8, 2018

5) Another reason there large entities don't work in the Med, causing a scale problem: you cannot be alpha if you are not free & self-employed (or the boss), an employee of Goldman Sachs is of a lower status than a local doctor.

— Nassim Nicholas Taleb (@nntaleb) June 9, 2018

Em parte a esse respeito (não sei se Portugal conta como Mediterrâneo), relembro o meu post Semiótica do Tacho:

acho bizarro esta conversa recorrente de "os portugueses só pensam - ou pensavam - em ser trabalhadores por conta de outrém, de preferência no Estado", quando Portugal é dos países do mundo desenvolvido com mais altas taxas de trabalho por conta própria.

"Apoio mútuo" e "caridade"

Comecei a ler este texto (What Mutual Aid Can Do During a Pandemic , por Jia Tolentino, na New Yorker), e uma coisa que me ocorreu (ainda antes de ter começado a ler o texto - só lendo o título) foi se "apoio mútuo" e "caridade" não são pouco mais que dois nomes para a mesma coisa - o primeiro com uma conotação positiva (do ponto de vista dos ativistas progressistas) e o segundo negativa.

Mas, lendo o texto, acaba por ser efetivamente abordado, já que apresentam o que poderá ser efetivamente uma diferença relevante:

"Charitable organizations are typically governed hierarchically, with decisions informed by donors and board members. Mutual-aid projects tend to be shaped by volunteers and the recipients of services."

[Mas não estou totalmente convencido - para começar a diferença entre "doadores" e "voluntários" parece-me muito fluida; afinal um "voluntário" é um "doador" de tempo/trabalho; já agora, a organização que em Portugal costuma ser apresentada negativamente por muito gente como o exemplo da "caridade" - o Banco Alimentar contra a Fome - é dirigida pelos voluntários, ou pelo menos por pessoas eleitas por eles]

Já agora, o que é feito de Exarchia?

O bairro anarquista de Atenas também está sobre ataque (mas, no fundo, ser atacado pelas autoridades não será o destino natural de um "bairro anarquista"?).

The Attack on Exarchia, an Anarchist Refuge in Athens, no New Yorker:

Throughout the winter, police repeatedly attacked Exarchia Square with tear gas and flash-bang grenades. Sometimes the pretext was a protest; other times, it was an attack by anarchists on the police. One night, police trapped residents inside a café for hours. On November 17th, after a march commemorating the 1973 uprising, social media lit up with photos of protesters left bloody by police violence. Three days later, the Ministry of Citizen Protection issued an ultimatum: squatters had fifteen days to evacuate every squat in Greece. By late December, only a handful of squats remained, the last survivors of a network that had once given thousands of refugees a home.

I thought of the words of an activist from Exarchia, when I asked him whether the government would succeed in fundamentally changing the neighborhood. “Exarchia is not just territory,” he answered. “Territory without people is nothing. I don’t care about losing Exarchia. I care about losing the people.”

O que é feito de Christiania?

O antigo bairro alternativo de Copenhaga, Dinamarca já não é o que era.

What happened to Christiania's dream of becoming Denmark's hippie paradise? (CNN)

Seen from a boat drifting along Copenhagen's wide canals, the neighborhood of Christiania is a verdant enclave tucked beneath a thick canopy of trees. Half a century after it was founded as a breakaway anarchist commune, it seems to have matured into a slice of paradise.

But all is not well in Christiania. While the hippie community still thrives today, it's beset by problems that threaten its identity and future -- an existential crisis variously blamed on intolerant local authorities, police, gentrification and, inevitably, tourists.

O covid-19 e o controlo operário

Covid-19 struggles and workers' control, publicado pelo AngryWorkersWorld no Libcom.org:

While many on the left waited around and asked the government to tell them what to do, many workers around the globe have taken limited, but real steps towards workers’ control. Spontaneous strikes have spread from car factories in Italy to Canada and the US; a series of call centre strikes erupted in Brazil; Amazon workers in Spain and France and New York walked out; public cleaners and mining workers are on strike in Peru; garment workers in Bangalore refuse to enter the factories without protective gear.

We can already see a politicisation within this short and global movement of the class.
The most immediate demands of workers on strike were to receive the right protection gear against Covid-19. But then many strikes went further than this, for example in the case of AvioAreo in Italy workers questioned whether their work – the production of aeroplane engines – is socially essential in these times. Workers at Ferrari did the same for obvious reasons.