Hay un interesantísimo artículo en The New York Review of Books
Volume 55, Number 19 · December 4, 2008
Link: http://www.nybooks.com/articles/22113
By George Soros
"The salient feature of the current financial crisis is that it was not caused by some external shock like OPEC raising the price of oil or a particular country or financial institution defaulting. The crisis was generated by the financial system itself. This fact—that the defect was inherent in the system —contradicts the prevailing theory, which holds that financial markets tend toward equilibrium and that deviations from the equilibrium either occur in a random manner or are caused by some sudden external event to which markets have difficulty adjusting. The severity and amplitude of the crisis provides convincing evidence that there is something fundamentally wrong with this prevailing theory and with the approach to market regulation that has gone with it. To understand what has happened, and what should be done to avoid such a catastrophic crisis in the future, will require a new way of thinking about how markets work."
Foto: Tunez ©M.B. de A.
Author: Arturo Pérez Reverte
"Usted no lo sabe, pero depende de ellos. Usted no los conoce ni se los cruzará en su vida, pero esos hijos de la gran puta tienen en las manos, en la agenda electrónica, en la tecla intro del computador, su futuro y el de sus hijos. Usted no sabe qué cara tienen, pero son ellos quienes lo van a mandar al paro en nombre de un tres punto siete, o de un índice de probabilidad del cero coma cero cuatro.
Usted no tiene nada que ver con esos fulanos porque es empleado de una ferretería o cajera de Pryca, y ellos estudiaron en Harvard e hicieron un máster en Tokio -o al revés-, van por las mañanas a la Bolsa de Madrid o a la de Wall Street, y dicen en inglés cosas como long-term capital management, y hablan de fondos de alto riesgo, de acuerdos multilaterales de inversión y de neoliberalismo económico salvaje, como quien comenta el partido del domingo.
Usted no los conoce ni en pintura, pero esos conductores suicidas que circulan a doscientos por hora en un furgón cargado de dinero van a atropellarlo el día menos pensado, y ni siquiera le quedará a usted el consuelo de ir en la silla de ruedas con una recortada a volarles los huevos, porque no tienen rostro público, pese a ser reputados analistas, tiburones de las finanzas, prestigiosos expertos en el dinero de otros. Tan expertos que siempre terminan por hacerlo suyo; porque siempre ganan ellos, cuando ganan, y nunca pierden ellos, cuando pierden.
No crean riqueza, sino que especulan. Lanzan al mundo combinaciones fastuosas de economía financiera que nada tiene que ver con la economía productiva. Alzan castillos de naipes y los garantizan con espejismos y con humo, y los poderosos de la tierra pierden el culo por darles coba y subirse al carro.
Esto no puede fallar, dicen. Aquí nadie va a perder; el riesgo es mínimo. Los avalan premios Nóbel de Economía, periodistas financieros de prestigio, grupos internacionales con siglas de reconocida solvencia. Y entonces el presidente del banco transeuropeo tal, y el presidente de la unión de bancos helvéticos, y el capitoste del banco latinoamericano, y el consorcio euroasiático y la madre que los parió a todos, se embarcan con alegría en la aventura, meten viruta por un tubo, y luego se sientan a esperar ese pelotazo que los va a forrar aún más a todos ellos y a sus representados.
Y en cuanto sale bien la primera operación ya están arriesgando más en la segunda, que el chollo es el chollo, e intereses de un tropecientos por ciento no se encuentran todos los días.
Y aunque ese espejismo especulador nada tiene que ver con la economía real, con la vida de cada día de la gente en la calle, todo es euforia, y palmaditas en la espalda, y hasta entidades bancarias oficiales comprometen sus reservas de divisas. Y esto, señores, es Jauja.
Y de pronto resulta que no. De pronto resulta que el invento tenía sus fallos, y que lo de alto riesgo no era una frase sino exactamente eso: alto riesgo de verdad. Y entonces todo el tinglado se va a tomar por el saco. Y esos fondos especiales, peligrosos, que cada vez tienen más peso en la economía mundial, muestran su lado negro. Y entonces -¡oh, prodigio!- mientras que los beneficios eran para los tiburones que controlaban el cotarro y para los que especulaban con dinero de otros, resulta que las pérdidas, no.
Las pérdidas, el mordisco financiero, el pago de los errores de esos pijolandios que juegan con la economía internacional como si jugaran al Monopoly, recaen directamente sobre las espaldas de todos nosotros. Entonces resulta que mientras el beneficio era privado, los errores son colectivos y las pérdidas hay que socializarlas, acudiendo con medidas de emergencia y con fondos de salvación para evitar efectos dominó y chichis de la Bernarda.
Y esa solidaridad, imprescindible para salvar la estabilidad mundial, la pagan con su pellejo, con sus ahorros, y a veces con sus puestos de trabajo, Mariano Pérez Sánchez, de profesión empleado de comercio, y los millones de infelices Marianos que a lo largo y ancho del mundo se levantan cada día a las seis de la mañana para ganarse la vida.
Eso es lo que viene, me temo. Nadie perdonará un duro de la deuda externa de países pobres, pero nunca faltarán fondos para tapar agujeros de especuladores y canallas que juegan a la ruleta rusa en cabeza ajena.
Así que podemos ir amarrándonos los machos. Ése es el panorama que los amos de la economía mundial nos deparan, con el cuento de tanto neoliberalismo económico y tanta mierda, de tanta especulación y de tanta poca vergüenza."
Artículo de Pérez Reverte publicado el 15 de noviembre de 1998 y encontrado en el blog:
http://padronel.net/2008/10/20/se-los-amos-del-mundo-arturo-perez-reverte/
FRENCH NOVELIST WINS NOBEL LITERATURE PRICE
The novelist Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio was yesterday awarded the Nobel Prize for literature. He is the first French writer to win the title since Claude Simon in 1985.
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| Photo: © Aurélie Raynal |
JMG Le Clézio, as he is more commonly known, was born in Nice in 1940, and hails from a Breton family which emigrated to Mauritius in the 18th century. A peripatetic childhood took him from Nice to Nigeria and back again to his birthplace, where he finished his studies having begun an English literature degree at Bristol university in the late 1950s.
His first novel, Le Procès-Verbal (The Deposition), published in 1963, brought him immediate recognition, winning the Prix Renaudot. It is a nightmarish, experimental vision of insanity, as experienced by Adam Pollo, a student who loses his memory and subsequently his mind.
The Nobel laureate has since written more than 30 works of fiction, non-fiction and essays, including the novel Désert in 1980, which won the Grand Prix Paul-Morand, awarded by the Académie française.
Le Clézio, who has been writing since boyhood, was first seen as a literary wildcard, though his later work has been characterised by a softer approach to content and form. His latest novel, Ritournelle de la Faim (Gallimard), was published last week and is written in memory of his mother.
Le Clézio had been tipped to win the prize but was not the favourite. The more favourable odds had been given to the Italian writer Claudio Magris and the Syrian poet Adonis.
Perennial candidates from the US, including Philip Roth and Don DeLillo, had been all but discounted from the frontrunners, after the permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy, Horace Engdahl, last week told the Associated Press that ’’Europe is still the centre of the literary world’’.
The US, he said, is “too isolated, too insular. They don’t translate enough and don’t really participate in the big dialogue of literature. That ignorance is restraining.’’
Awarding the prize, the Academy praised Le Clézio as an “author of new departures, poetic adventure and sensual ecstasy, explorer of a humanity beyond and below the reigning civilization”.
At a speech Le Clézio gave in April in Seoul at the International Publishers Congress, he championed literature’s power to cross borders and enhance cultural understanding.
To prove this point, he imagined a world in which Gutenberg had not invented the printing press. The result, he said, would be “un monde fermé”, catastrophically unjust and unbalanced.
He also speculated that if the internet had existed in the Third Reich, Hitler might have been an easy target for ridicule, and so might not have come to power.
By Natalie Whittle
Published: October 9 2008 12:16 | Last updated: October 9 2008 14:14
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008
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Der schwedischen Akademie nach sei er:
„dem Verfasser des Aufbruchs, des poetischen Abenteuers und der sinnlichen Ekstase, dem Erforscher einer Menschlichkeit außerhalb und unterhalb der herrschenden Zivilisation“.
BIOGRAPHIE
Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio wurde am 13. April 1940 in Nizza geboren, aber seine beiden Eltern hatten starke familiäre Bande mit der einst französischen Kolonie Mauritius, 1810 von den Briten erobert. Im Alter von acht Jahren zog Le Clézio zusammen mit der übrigen Familie nach Nigeria, wo der Vater während des Zweiten Weltkriegs als Arzt zurückgeblieben war. Auf der monatelangen Schiffsreise nach Nigeria begann er seine Karriere als Schriftsteller mit zwei kleinen Büchern, Un long voyage und Oradi noir, das sogar eine Liste über ”kommende Bücher” enthielt. Er wuchs mit zwei Sprachen, englisch und französisch auf. 1950 kehrte die Familie nach Nizza zurück. Nach dem Abitur 1957 studierte er 1958-1959 beziehungsweise 1960- 1961 English an den Universitäten Bristol und London. 1963 legte er ein erstes Examen an der Universität Nizza, damals Institut d’Études Littéraires, ab. 1964 folgte ein höheres Examen an der Universität Aix-en Provence, und er doktorierte 1983 an der Universität Perpignan mit einer Arbeit zur Frühgeschichte Mexikos.
Er hat unter anderem an den Universitäten Bangkok, Mexiko City, Boston, Austin und Albuquerque gelehrt.
Quelle:
Pressemitteilung der Svenska Akademien am 09.10.2008
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NOBELPREIS FÜR LITERATUR GEHT AN Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio
Stockholm (dpa) - Der diesjährige Nobelpreis für Literatur geht an den französischen Schriftsteller Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio. Das teilte die Schwedische Akademie in Stockholm mit. Der Preis wurde dem 68 Jahre alten Autor zuerkannt. Die Jury beschrieb ihn als «den Verfasser des Aufbruchs, des poetischen Abenteuers und der sinnlichen Ekstase, den Erforscher einer Menschlichkeit außerhalb und unterhalb der herrschenden Zivilsation». Le Clézio gehörte in diesem Jahr zu dem erweiterten Favoritenkreis.
© sueddeutsche.de - erschienen am 09.10.2008 um 13:13 Uhr
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Jean Marie Gustave Le Clezio wurde 1940 in Nizza als Sohn eines Briten und einer Französin geboren. Seine Mutter stammt aus einer bretonischen Familie, die im 18. Jahrhundert nach Sankt Mauritius ausgewandert war. Viele seiner Bücher setzen sich mit dieser Insel und der Rolle seiner Familie auseinander. Er studierte Literaturwissenschaft und war nach dem Studium als Lektor in Bristol, London und Aix-en-Provence tätig. Er hat in Nigeria, Thailand, Mexiko und Panama gelebt, wo er sich mit der Indio-Kultur beschäftigt hat. Le Clezios Bücher spiegeln diese Weltläufigkeit wider. Le Clezio hat im Alter von 7 Jahren angefangen zu schreiben. Seit seinem Erstling "Le proces verbal" hat er über dreißig Bücher veröffentlicht - zumeist Romane. Erzählungen , Essaybände und Nacherzählungen indianischer Sagen ergänzen sein Oeuvre. Im Oktober 2008 wurde ihm der Nobelpreis für Literatur zugesprochen. In der Begründung heißt es, dass Le Clezio ein Autor "neuer Aufbrüche, poetischer Abenteuer und sinnlicher Ekstase und ein Erforscher der Menschlichkeit jenseits und diesseits der herrschenden Zivilisation" sei.
vom
http://www.perlentaucher.de/autoren/2078.html
Photo source // Bildquelle:
© Aurélie Raynal, Toulouse, mai 2005
By Clive Cookson
Two Americans and a Japanese have won the Nobel chemistry prize for discovering the glowing proteins that have become an essential tool in biomedical research.
Osamu Shimomura, a Japanese citizen who has worked in the US for almost 50 years, originally extracted “green fluorescent protein” or GFP from bioluminescent jellyfish at Princeton University in the early 1960s.
Martin Chalfie of Columbia University, New York, showed how to use GFP as a luminous genetic tag for various biological phenomena. In one of his first experiments, he made individual cells in the roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans glow with the aid of GFP.
Roger Tsien of the University of California, San Diego, contributed to the scientific understanding of how GFP fluoresces and extended the colour palette beyond green. This enables researchers to paint various molecules and living cells different colours, so they can follow several biological processes at the same time.
The three scientists receive equal shares of the SKr10m ($1.4m) prize.
Today whole animals can be made to glow. Consumers in Asia and north American can buy genetically modified GloFish in “Starfire Red, Electric Green and Sunburst Orange” for their aquarium.
More serious scientific applications involve watching processes that were previously invisible, such as nerve cells developing in the brain or cancer cells spreading.
Tens of thousands of different proteins control the biochemical processes in a living organism. If this protein machinery malfunctions, disease may follow. So scientists need tags such as GFP to map the role of different proteins in the body.
By using gene-splicing technology, researchers can connect GFP to other proteins. This fluorescent marker allows them to watch the movements, positions and interactions of the tagged proteins.
Researchers can follow the fate of various cells with the help of GFP - for example nerve cell damage during Alzheimer’s disease or how insulin-producing cells are created in the pancreas of a growing embryo.
“In one spectacular experiment, researchers succeeded in tagging different nerve cells in the brain of a mouse with a kaleidoscope of colours,” the Nobel citation said.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008
Published: October 8 2008 11:03 | Last updated: October 8 2008 11:37
NACH JAHRELANGER FLUCHT KRIEGSVERBRECHER KARADZIC GEFASST
Der international seit Jahren als Kriegsverbrecher gesuchte frühere Führer der bosnischen Serben, Radovan Karadzic, ist gefasst: "Karadzic ist gefunden worden und in Haft", teilte der serbische Präsident Boris Tadic am späten Abend mit.
Der 63-Jährige wurde dem Haftrichter vorgeführt und befindet sich jetzt in einem Gerichtsgebäude in Belgrad. Er soll noch in der Nacht vernommen werden. Vor dem Gebäude versammelten sich bereits wenige Stunden nach Bekanntgabe der Nachricht Anhänger Karadzics. Die Behörden ließen schwerbewaffnete Polizisten aufmarschieren. Bosnische Muslime dagegen feierten in den Straßen Sarajewos die Nachricht.
Fast 13 Jahre auf der Flucht
Karadzic war gemeinsam mit dem früheren Militärchef Ratko Mladic der meistgesuchte Kriegsverbrecher des Balkankonflikts. Er wurde seit Ende des Bosnien-Kriegs vom Internationalen Kriegsverbrechertribunal in Den Haag wegen Völkermords gesucht. Karadzic konnte den Fahndern in der Vergangenheit immer wieder entkommen, vermutlich wurde er dabei von einem ganzen Netzwerk von Helfern unterstützt.
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KARADZIC HA SIDO CAPTURADO TRAS AÑOS DE HUIDA
A final de la tarde de hoy el presidente serbio Boris Tadic ha declarado que el antiguo dirigente serbio Radovan Karadzic ha sido capturado: " Karadzic ha sido encontrado e introducido en prision ".
Ya ha sido llevado ante el juez y se encuentra en un edificio de la Justicia en Belgrado. Va a ser interrogado esta misma noche. Ante el edificio se congregaron partidarios de Kardzic pocas horas después de ser dada a conocer la noticia, ante lo cual las autoridades apostaron policia fuertemente armada. Los musulmanes bosnios por el contrario celebraron la noticia en las calles de Sarajevo.
CASI 13 AÑOS ESCONDIDO
Karadzic era junto con el anterior jefe militar Ratko Mladic el criminal de guerra más buscado del conflicto balcànico. Estaba siendo buscado por el Tribunal de Criminales de Guerra de La Haya desde el final del conflicto por Crímen contra la Humanidad. Karadzic pudo escapar siempre hasta ahora y se sospecha que pudo haber sido ayudado por una red completa de ayudantes.
Denmark: they are not sharks but a kind of delphins ( Grindwale in German, Calderón in Spanish,Pilot wahles) Traditionally they were hunted for food... and to proove the young men as they became adults too.
"Whale drives only take place when a school of pilot whales is sighted close to land, which is most often from a local fishing boat or ferry, and when sea and weather conditions make it possible. This can take place at any time of the year, but catches are most common in July and August when the days are long and the weather is more stable. Notice of the school is sent to the elected whaling officials and to the district sheriff, and is spread as widely and quickly as possible in the local community so that enough men and boats can join in the drive. Employers usually make allowances for members of their staff to take time off during drives. The boats gather in a wide semicircle behind the whales and slowly and quietly begin to drive them towards the chosen authorised bay. On the whaling foreman’s signal, stones attached to lines are thrown into the water behind the whales, driving them towards the beach where they become stranded. According to the regulations, any group of whales which cannot be beached in this manner must be driven out to sea again.
Men gather on the shore to kill the beached whales. Ideally, most of the whales will strand far enough up on shore that it is unnecessary to secure them. However, those remaining in the shallows must be secured and hauled closer. Traditionally, this is done by driving a steel hook, or gaff, with a rope attached to it into the back of the whale. A new blunt hook inserted into an airsac in the whale’s blowhole has now been widely tested in practice and it is hoped that this new equipment may eventually replace the traditional gaff as the standard method for securing whales. The whale is killed using a sharp knife to cut down to sever the spinal cord, which also severs the major blood supply to the brain, ensuring both the loss of consciousness and death within seconds."
From: http://www.whaling.fo/thepilot.htm
In the pics it seems to be quite different.... not seconds at all. They have not a chance to survive this.
http://arrebol.multiply.com/photos/album/545
China: the second one is a video I recived 3 or 4 days ago. It was taken to make it public all over the world.
There should be a way to stop this, don't you think so?
If you agree, please spread it out across your contacts, friends, and so on.
http://ladybegonia.multiply.com/video/item/112/Animal_Torture.
The photo I load here was found in Internet one year ago. I am against bullfights too. It does not matter where they are taking place: Spain, France, Mexico... In my opinion it is the same and it has a name: torture.
Economical or "cultural" reasons are not valid arguments to keep on practice this kind of barbarism.
On May 20, Iceland announced that it would allow 40 minke whales to be killed over the next six months. This is in open defiance of the commercial whaling ban that the International Whaling Commission implemented in 1986.
TAKE ACTION
The killing has already begun, with at least one minke confirmed dead in the first week. Please write to Iceland’s fisheries minister, Einar Kristinn Guðfinnsson, and tell him to end Iceland's whale hunt once and for all.
Consequences of Iceland's Whaling
Iceland's return to commercial whaling in May 2008 presents an imminent threat to minke whales and with them, entire marine ecosystems. The ocean floor is a nutritional desert. Many animal species rely on whale carcasses to feed. Research by Craig Smith, a marine biologist at the University of Hawaii, has shown that deep-sea extinctions may have already occurred in the North Atlantic where populations of 13 species of whales were greatly diminished by commercial whaling in the 1800s. Whaling continued into the 1970s in the Southern Ocean, and extinctions there may still be occurring.
http://www.hsus.org/marine_mammals/save_whales_not_whaling/take_action/
http://www.hsus.org/marine_mammals/save_whales_not_whaling/iceland_whaling/iceland_and_whaling.html
Group Seeks to Mobilize Global Political Action Through Internet
By Nathan King Washington 28 April 2008
The Internet has transformed virtually everything from shopping to social networking and now global politics. Three of the world's most successful mobilizers of e-protest -- Moveon.org and Res Publica in the United States -- and GetUp.org.au in Australia -- pooled their resources last year to create an organization whose name means "voice" in Hindi, Urdu and Turkish. Avaaz.org is a global campaigning organization that says it acts as the voice for its members. Nathan King reports from New York
Pro-Tibet demonstrators in front of China's embassy in Washington, DC, 16 Mar 2008
Hundreds of people protested outside the White House in Washington after the recent crackdown in Tibet. The protest was part of an international day of action, and from this small New York office on the same day, Avaaz.org delivered a petition of 1.4 million signatures to Chinese Embassies and consulates around the world without taking to the streets. It called on China to open meaningful talks with the Dalai Lama.
Avaaz is harnessing the power of the Internet for global campaigns that it says most people everywhere want -- a world with stronger protections for the environment, greater respect for human rights and concerted efforts to end poverty, corruption and war.
Founder Ricken Patel says the idea is to bring together millions of people who care about global issues.
"It was an idea that there is this global community and that people everywhere feel this sense of being human being first and citizens of their country second and caring about people and that human life is precious, no matter what passport you carry," he said.
Like a social networking site, people sign up, they get e-mail alerts for campaigns and most importantly for Avaaz, it is the membership that essentially decides what issues to tackle.
As with a political campaign, members are polled over and over again. Using the language of the Internet, 10,000 members are blasted [contacted] each week, asking them what issues to address and what action to take. Action can be as simple as a global petition -- delivered to global leaders -- a call for mass demonstrations or a call for a fundraising benefit to help -- like the current drive to help human rights groups based in Tibet.
When issues really take off, Avaaz calls it "going viral."
Global advocacy on the Internet
"On Tibet, in three weeks our members told 12 million people about the campaign and that is just astonishing. It is a very exciting time when you really do feel like the world is coming together," Patel said.
Critics say given Avaaz.org's wide membership it can only address global issues in the broadest of terms and that Avaaz.org is empowering the already empowered -- those who have a computer, Internet access and are educated on global issues.
Avaaz says it has members in every country in the world and its e-mail list operates in 13 languages. As technology spreads to the developing world, Avaaz says, so will its membership there.
Patel says, "We still have a massive democratic deficit in the world today and the technology revolution that has been sweeping the globe has allowed people to connect across borders like never before and that is what we are doing. We are trying to connect up this huge global community to be able to take action rapidly and effectively when moments of opportunity on these issues present themselves."
Avaaz is also claiming successes. According to media in Tokyo, Avaaz's climate change campaign helped changed the Japanese governments stance at the Climate conference in Bali.
So far Avaaz has held back from asking its members for money, but it aims to be entirely member funded in the future and donate to causes the membership wants to back.
http://www.avaaz.org/en/about.php
http://www.avaaz.org/en/report_back_1/
CONVENTION OF THOSE WOUNDED IN LOVE
General provisions:
A – Whereas the saying “all is fair in love and war” is absolutely correct;
B – Whereas for war we have the Geneva Convention, approved on 22 August 1864, which provides for those wounded in the battle field, but until now no convention has been signed concerning those wounded in love, who are far greater in number;
It is hereby decreed that:
Article 1 – All lovers, of any sex, are alerted that love, besides being a blessing, is also something extremely dangerous, unpredictable and capable of causing serious damage. Consequently, anyone planning to love should be aware that they are exposing their body and soul to various types of wounds, and that they shall not be able to blame their partner at any moment, since the risk is the same for both.
Article 2 – Once struck by a stray arrow fired from Cupid’s bow, they should immediately ask the archer to shoot the same arrow in the opposite direction, so as not to be afflicted by the wound known as “unrequited love”. Should Cupid refuse to perform such a gesture, the Convention now being promulgated demands that the wounded partner remove the arrow from his/her heart and throw it in the garbage. In order to guarantee this, those concerned should avoid telephone calls, messages over the Internet, sending flowers that are always returned, or each and every means of seduction, since these may yield results in the short run but always end up wrong after a while. The Convention decrees that the wounded person should immediately seek the company of other people and try to control the obsessive thought: “this person is worth fighting for”.
Article 3 – If the wound is caused by third parties, in other words if the loved one has become interested in someone not in the script previously drafted, vengeance is expressly forbidden. In this case, it is allowed to use tears until the eyes dry up, to punch walls or pillows, to insult the ex-partner in conversations with friends, to allege his/her complete lack of taste, but without offending their honor. The Convention determines that the rule contained in Article 2 be applied: seek the company of other persons, preferably in places different from those frequented by the other party.
Article 4 – In the case of light wounds, herein classified as small treacheries, fulminating passions that are short-lived, passing sexual disinterest, the medicine called Pardon should be applied generously and quickly. Once this medicine has been applied, one should never reconsider one's decision, not even once, and the theme must be completely forgotten and never used as an argument in a fight or in a moment of hatred.
Article 5 – In all definitive wounds, also known as “breaking up”, the only medicine capable of having an effect is called Time. It is no use seeking consolation from fortune-tellers (who always say that the lost lover will return), romantic books (which always have a happy ending), soap-operas on the television or other such things. One should suffer intensely, completely avoiding drugs, tranquilizers and praying to saints. Alcohol is only tolerated if kept to a maximum of two glasses of wine a day.
Final determination:
Those wounded in love, unlike those wounded in armed conflict, are neither victims nor torturers. They chose something that is part of life, and so they have to accept both the agony and the ecstasy of their choice.
And those who have never been wounded in love will never be able to say: “I have lived”. Because they haven’t.
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Copyright © 2007 by Paulo Coelho – Warrior of Light Online comes out twice a month, and may be distributed for free on the Internet and placed in pages whose content is free, as long as the source “Warrior of Light Online, published by HYPERLINK "http://www.paulocoelho.com.br/" \n _blankwww.paulocoelho.com.br” is quoted.
Translated from the Portuguese by James Mulholland.
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Spanish Version
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CONVENCION DE LOS HERIDOS DE AMOR
Disposiciones generales:
A – Considerando que el dicho de que “en el amor y en la guerra todo vale” es completamente verdadero;
B – Considerando que en lo relativo a la guerra contamos con la Convención de Ginebra, adoptada el 22 de agosto de 1864, que determina cómo debe tratarse a los heridos en el campo de batalla, mientras que hasta hoy no se ha promulgado ningún documento que regule la situación de los heridos de amor, muy superiores en número;
Se decreta que:
Art. 1 – todos los amantes, independientemente de cuál sea su sexo, quedan advertidos de que el amor, además de ser una bendición, también es algo extremadamente peligroso, imprevisible, que puede acarrear serios daños. Por lo tanto, quien tenga la intención de amar, debe ser consciente de que está exponiendo su cuerpo y su alma a heridas de muy diferentes tipos, sin poder culpar por ello a su pareja en ningún momento, puesto que ambos corren el mismo riesgo.
Art. 2 – Una vez alcanzado por una flecha del arco ciego de Cupido, debe solicitarse inmediatamente al arquero que dispare la misma flecha en la dirección opuesta, con el objeto de no sufrir la herida conocida como “amor no correspondido”. En el caso de que Cupido se niegue a hacerlo, la Convención que en estos momentos se promulga exige del herido que de manera inmediata se arranque la flecha del corazón y la tire a la basura. Para llevar esto a buen puerto, debe evitar llamadas telefónicas, mensajes de correo electrónico, envíos de flores (siempre rechazadas), o cualquier otra forma de seducción, pues semejantes medios, si bien pueden dar algún resultado positivo a corto plazo, no resisten el paso del tiempo. La Convención decreta asimismo que el herido debe buscar sin falta la compañía de otras personas, así como debe imponerse al pensamiento obsesivo que le dice “vale la pena luchar por esta persona”.
Art. 3 – En el caso de que la herida provenga de un tercero, es decir, que el ser amado se sienta atraído por alguien que no estaba a priori en el guión, queda expresamente prohibida la venganza. En este caso, se permite el uso de lágrimas hasta que los ojos se sequen, así como algunos puñetazos en la pared o en la almohada, o reuniones con amigos donde poder insultar a gusto al antiguo(a) compañero(a), incidiendo en su perfecta falta de gusto, pero sin llegar a difamar su honra. La Convención determina que también se aplique en este caso la regla del Art. 2 que mueve a buscar la compañía de otras amistades, sólo que evitando en la medida de lo posible los lugares que la otra persona frecuenta.
Art. 4 – En lesiones leves, clasificadas aquí como pequeñas traiciones, pasiones fulminantes que no duran mucho, o desinterés sexual pasajero, debe aplicarse con generosidad y rapidez el medicamento llamado Perdón. Una vez aplicada tal medicina, no se debe volver atrás bajo ninguna circunstancia, y el asunto debe ser definitivamente olvidado, no utilizándolo jamás como argumento en una discusión o en momento de odio.
Art. 5 – En todas las heridas definitivas, también conocidas como “rupturas”, el único medicamento que tiene algún efecto se llama Tiempo. De nada sirve buscar consuelo en cartomantes (que siempre prometen el regreso del amor perdido), leer libros románticos (que siempre acaban bien), engancharse a una telenovela o cosas por el estilo. Se debe sufrir con intensidad, evitando radicalmente las drogas, los calmantes o las oraciones a los santos. En cuanto al alcohol, sólo serán permitidos dos vasos de vino diarios.
Consideraciones finales:
Los heridos por el amor, al contrario de los heridos en conflictos armados, no son víctimas ni verdugos. Optaron por algo que forma parte de la vida, y deben asumir, por consiguiente, la agonía y el éxtasis de su elección.
Y los que jamás fueron heridos por el amor, nunca podrán decir: “he vivido”. Porque no vivieron.
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Traducido del portugués por Diego Chozas Ruiz Belloso.
