What Makes a Good Politician? Part III

              Next Sunday the people of Brazil will be voting. It is very important that you think well about who deserve your vote. Remember who defend more transparency for governments, who defend more education for all, more sustainable development, respect to human rights, including political and social rights. Remember who has almost twenty years of activism online. The two parts with the same title were published in September 2016, now is the third part. This post is a summary of three article. The first with the title above was published in 2021 at   https://rightforeducation.org/2021/01/26/what-makes-a-good-politician/. The second was published in 2020 at    https://corg.iu.edu/programs/hamiltonviews/commentscongress/What%20Makes%20a%20Successful%20Politician.html. The third was published at https://bpac.in/what-defines-good-politicalleadership/

             A politician is a person who is professionally involved in politics. Either holding or seeking an office in government. When in office, they help to produce the policies which govern a country. Otherwise, they may engage in party politics. Also, campaign for particular issues and debate with fellow politicians. Why do politicians matter? Politicians matter for the same reasons that politics matters. We care about how we are governed and how power is shared in society. We should also care about who govern us and who wields the power. If we want to protect democracy, for example, we must ensure that politicians introduce laws. Laws according to the will of the citizens and remain accountable to the people. It is important to know what makes a good politician. So that we can evaluate our own leaders as well as being in the best position to enter the world of politics ourselves. Politicians need to be able to effectively represent the people. They should be able to listen to voters and determine what they want. Politicians should also be honest and follow through with their promises. They should be willing to compromise in a system where there are a variety of views to reach consensus. Politicians should be compassionate, confident and able to lead. These characteristics will help politicians work out the most beneficial course of action and secure high public approval.                                                                                                               A lifetime in politics has given me a sense of what makes a good politician. One of the ironies of our system is that the skills and attributes that put someone in office are usually not the skills needed for success once they are there. Yet as a nation we depend on politicians' abilities in office to move us forward. For starters, I think the most successful politicians have integrity. When you are interacting with many others to deal with complex and difficult public policy issues, it is hugely important that you can trust someone's word. For the same reason, they tend to be skillful at working with all sorts of people. Sizing others up accurately, not just whether they are trustworthy, but the skills and strengths they might bring to a given policy or organizing effort is vital. So is not rushing to amke quick judments, but instead letting others show through their actions what they can accomplish. I've been impressed over the years by the energy and drive to get things done that good politicians bring to their work. Serving in office all-consuming, especially if you are a politician who wants to accomplish change. At the same time, accomplished politicians know how to rein in their enthusiasm and zeal. They practice patience and perseverance and prepare for the haul, because they understand that controversial things don't get easily done in our system. They believe that facts matter, because they are the starting point for any productive negotiation. And they are very good at managing their time efficiently. Good politicians are able to put aside partisan differences when necessary and work for the common good. They do not see someone they disagree with as the enemy.                                                                                                                  Political leaders are vital, they determine the allocation of power and money through governmental policies, establish partnerships with other stakeholders, and make decisions that can have a major effect on a nation's well-being and its citizen. Political leadership requires a leader to focus on a country's long-term betterment, above and beyond any short-term personal gains. Strong political leadership requires a mixture of charm and honesty, and the capacity to evaluate a circumstance and make a judgment based on what will be better for the majority. Above all, leadership needs statesmanship, as compared to just becoming a 'politician', which implies possessing the honesty and ability to stand up for what is fair, even though it means resigning a government. Let's look at some of the skills required to be successful in political leadership.  1) Good Communicator - If you can't effectively communicate your message, you can never be a good leader. Words can get people motivated.  2) Honesty and Integrity - Are two main elements that make for a strong leader. How do you demand integrity from your supporters if you neglect such qualities? Leaders excel because they hold to their basic principles, and that won't be possible without ethics.  3) Decision Maker - A leader should be capable of making the right decision at the right time.  4) Must Be Able to Inspire Other - Perhaps the toughest thing a leader to do is convince people to follow them. This will only be done by providing a clear example and encouraging your followers.  5) Must Delegate Tasks Effectively - Different duties should be delegate and see how they perform. Provide them with all the tools and help they need to attain the target and allow them to bear responsibilities.  6) Man With a Vision and Purpose - Influential leaders have intent and vision. Not only can they imagine the future, but they also express their dreams with their supporters. A political leader should have a global perspective.

International Day of Democracy - 2022

                   Last Thursday, 15th of September all over the world was celebrated the importance of democracy to the people. Democracy isn't only the right to vote, it is the right to be a candidate in a fair (without fraud) election. It is the right to freedom of expression, it is the right to justice, it is the right to live without persecution. Since the start of my online activism in 2006 I have been writing about the importance of democracy for the people. Including there is now a world movement for human rights, justice and democracy happening. A movement so intense and strong that nobody can ignore, nobody can stay indifferent to this movement. This post is a summary of four articles. The first was published https://www.un.org/en/observances/democracyday#:~:text=2022%20Event&text=The%20conversation%20will%20showcase%20why,component%20of%20a%20healthy%20democracy.. The second was published at https://cor.europa.eu/lv/events/Pages/International-Democracy-Day.aspx. The third was published at https://currentaffairs.adda247.com/international-day-of-democracy-2022-observed-on-15-september/. The fourth was published at  https://www.thequint.com/news/world/international-day-of-democracy-2022-on-15-september-history-significance-interesting-facts

                    While the COVID-19 crisis has resulted in major challenges globally, a new upheaval in Europe is reminding the world that our democratic principles are constantly under threat. In fact, now more than ever democracy is backsliding, civic space is shrinking, distrust and misinformation are growing while threats to the freedom of journalists and media workers are expanding by the day. This year, Democracy Day will focus on the importance of media freedom to democracy, peace, and delivering on the Sustainable Development Goals. Free, independent and pluralistic media, able to keep the public informed on matters of public interest, is a key ingredient to democracy. It enables the public to make informed decisions and hold governments to account. When media freedoms are under threat, the flow of information can be stifled, skewed or cut off entirely. Increasingly, journalists around the world face limits to their ability to operate freely, with a grave impact on human rights, democracy and development. Media globally are increasingly facing attacks, online and offline, the use of defamation laws or hate speech laws to curb online expression and surveillance technologies; to target them and hamper their work. Civil society is essential in ensuring a free, independent and pluralistic media. Civil society organizations have been drafting legal frameworks for access to information; combating hate speech, supporting local citizen journalism fighting misinformation and supporting media rights. U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres has urged governments, media organizations and tech companies everywhere to support the work of the media in speaking truth to power, exposing lies, and building strong, resilient institutions and societies.                                                                                                                            In December 2021, one hundred countries joined President Biden's Summit for Democracy to affirm global commitments to democracy, with the White House announcing 2022 as a 'year of action' to support and promote democracy worldwide. Russia's attack against Ukraine has escalated this shift in the geopolitical landscape. A watershed moment for the future of democracy, this war further advances anti-democratic trends worldwide. Yet at this same time, the last few months have seen the international community, including E.U. member states, come together in an unprecedented show of solidarity to protectr and support democracy. During this year's Democracy Day discussions, a wide range of high-level speakers, international democracy advocates and activists from both sides of the Atlantic and the global south will address the challenges of this new world order for democracy. They will discuss the mechanisms to protect and support democracy, such as Team Europe, and greater North-South collaboration.                                                               The International Day of Democracy is celebrated annually around the world to strengthen democracies and highlight its values and principles. This year, the day will focus on the importance of media freedom to democracy, peace, and delivering on the Sustainable Development Goals. The day serves as an opportunity to assess the state of democracies in the world. It also gives a chance to highlight the crucial role of parliaments and their capability to deliver justice, development, human rights and peace.                                                                                                                                                                                                   The day is observed globally to mark the importance of democracy and create awareness among people about democratic rights. The ideal of democracy can only be realised as a reality to be enjoyed by everyone, everywhere with full participation, cooperation, and support of the international community, civil society, national governing bodies, and individuals. The right to freedom of expression is a fundamental human right. However, there are governments and highly influential people all around the world who are always on the lookout for ways to hinder it. The Day of Democracy has been established to create awareness among people so that they understand the importance of protection and effective realization of human rights.

200th Anniversary of Brazil's Independence

                         Last Wednesday, precisely on 7th September, Brazil celebrated its 200 years of independence from Portugal. So this post is a tribute to this huge country that has everything to be a good country to its entire population but it is not. But we can not give up to do this country be good to all. There is not much to celebrate in the 200th anniversary of Brazil's independence: high unemployment, inflation, lowest share of the industry in the GDP, a high share of population distrusting the voting machines, what is terrible for the electoral system. In 2016 when I was candidate to city councilor I had only 10 votes, what was a surprise, because everybody said that I would be the most voted candidate of all. Because the people here where I was born and live know me since I was fourteen years old, they know I have always been a hard-working, ethical and sympathetic person. Let's see what will happen in the election of this year. This post is a summary of three articles, the first was published at  https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/07/world/americas/bolsonaro-brazil-bicentennial.html. The second was publishe https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/internacional/en/business/2022/04/independent-brazil-shrinks-in-200-years.shtml. The third was published https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/09/08/brazil-bolsonaro-election-lula-independence-day/

                         For months, the bicentennial had been billed as a test of Brazil's democracy. The left in Brazil feared that Mr. Bolsonaro would use the moment to declare war on Brazil's democratic institutions and preview an attempt to hold onto power if he loses the presidential election next month. In the end, the atmosphere was more of a party than an uprising. And Mr. Bolsonaro, who for months has made worrisome comments about the security of the elections and his willingness to accept the results. Perhaps his most forceful comments were calling his political rivals "evil" and warning that they would try to break the laws in the constitution. There have been recent signs of a truce between elections officials and Brazil's armed forces, which have backed Mr. Bolsonaro's claims that Brazil's elections systems are vulnerable. The morning before the bicentennial celebrations, he was casting doubt on Brazil's voting machines in an interview with a right-wing news network. Mr. Bolsonaro has made attacks on Brazil's Supreme Court and its elections systems for years. He has argued that Brazil's eletronic voting machines are vulnerable to fraud. Despite Mr. Bolsonaro's toned-down rhetoric, his supporters still wanted to focus on the supreme court and the voting machines.                                                                              The bicentennial takes place in a context of stagnation and the relative shrinkage of the country in the global economy. There is no long-term project, and the demographic conditions that drove much of the 20th century's advances are virtually exhausted. In retrospect, it is possible to consider that the Brazilian population growth and the transition from the coutryside to the cities in the last century were the protagonists in the growth of GDP, not the economic dynamism and productivity gains that leveraged other economies, especially the North American and more recently, Asian. The point is that nations poorer than Brazil a few decades ago, such as China, have progressed rapidly. The problem is that with the rapid aging of the population, Brazil will have great difficulty in making a new leap, as did in the past. The forecast is that, in a period of 50 years, Brazil will make the transition from 7% to 28% of the elderly population (65 years and older). From a historical perspective, Brazil's post-independence economic trajectory can be divided into three major periods.                                                                                                                                                                             Tens of thousands of Brazilians rallied to support President Jair Bolsonaro during Brazil's bicentennial celebrations on Wednesday, as the country's presidential race heats up. Experts say Bolsonaro blurred the lines between national celebrations and his campaign events, taking advantage of the day to rally his devoted base and push his far-right nationalist platform. "He reinforced his narratives that the polls are fake and the voting machines can't be trusted, and therefore, his base needs to stay mobilized," said Catherine Osborn, a Brazil-based journalist. She added, "Bolsonaro is lagging behind Lula because voters dislike him more than they dislike Lula. It is actually going to be an election between who has more rejection instead of who has more positive opinions of them." For many Brazilians, Lula represent a period of well-being. "The time when Lula was in power between 2003 and 2010 were years of prosperity. The economy was booming. As Bolsonaro falls behind in the polls, he has made unfounded claims that Brazil's voting systems are vulnerable to fraud, in what experts fear is an effort to contest election results and even attempt to launch a coup. These efforts as well as his threatening rhetoric and misinformation will likely profoundly shape Brazilian society. "Even if there is not a coup in the strict sense of the word, Bolsonaro is sowing the ingredients of a risky, explosive political situation among the civilians for a long time, that does not go away very easily," said Osborn. 

Day of Fighting Injustice 2022 - Part II

                      This week carry on the importance of fighting injustice. The victims of injustice often suffer from high stress, depression, anxiety, insomnia, and the consequencies these mental disosder. And the most important for them , what can cure them is to have their rights respected, justice they are long waiting for. For example, How can a world famous person like me, to have only 7 visualizations on Youtube when put some video, and 7 subscribers, this is very hard to believe. The same has been happening with this blog counter since I made it in 2010, simply don't show us the real number. I really don't know why I have been harmed for so long time and in many ways. Another injustice have been my political rights violated for no reason, what I hope this year they are respected. Including this text below is about the importance of political rights for all. Once more I'd like to thank all demonstration of solidarity and support for my  political rights felt for us here in Brazil. We should strongly reinforce our human rights and justice, because sometimes rumors try to put the blame of violations on the victims in a total inversion of values, we can't accept it, nothing justify the systemic injustice. We can't accept these many injustice and evils used to put fear in people. This post is a summary of one article published at   https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/fighting-injustice-within-without-andreas-phelps-ph-d-?trk=pulse-article_more-articles_related-content-card. And the summary of the chapter twelve of the book with the title of, "Fighting poverty, inequality and injustice: A manifest inspired by Peter Townsend." https://books.google.com.br/booksid=LAFpDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA243&lpg=PA243&dq=fighting+injustice+nowadays&source=bl&ots=hMnrbDad0d&sig=ACfU3U0GgT6bHXs2vQxI3QT2gqQXNaJETA&hl=ptBR&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiwpLCBg_v5AhWgs5UCHZQnDj4

                   I was re-reading MLK's letter from Birmingham jail, which is a powerful call to defend justice in the world. His famous quote from that letter is: "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." However, I also found compelling his discussion of justice itself and our inherent responsibility as citizens to determine whether the "man-made code squares with the moral law." This is the discernment we each must use every day to evaluate whether our actions are in service of our highest purpose in this life. In his appeal to his fellow clergymen, MLK defines "just laws" as those that uplift human personality and make equality legal, whereas unjust laws degrade human personality and make difference legal. Since laws are simply a code of behavior, this distinction should apply to all our actions. The basic question is whether we are choosing to see the "other" as a human with all the complexities that make up the human predicament or whether we choose to reduce them to a flat static object (less than ourselves) and use them to justify or defend some flawed and limiting personal belief. Racism, sexism, nationalism, or any other system of beliefs which seeks to label and treat other as less human are gross example of this. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn wrote that "the line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either, but right through every human heart." For many of us, the opportunity to stand up to injustice in a bold and public way may be a rare occurrence. However, instead of degrading the other, sometimes, for our own defense, there are many moments where we can choose justice, choose to see the other as fully human, choose to call out injustice but in such a way that keeps our hearts at peace. I know so many people, included myself, that feel helpless in the face of the many injustices plaguing the world. We wish we could do more.                                                                                                                                                               In this chapter I want  to explore a position that Peter unequivocally adopted, but I acknowledge immediately both that it is a hard one to maintain and also that few non-lawyers (much less lawyers) have argued for it: can we be strongly in favour of human rights but at the same time be against the lawyers' exclusive appropriation of the term? It is a difficult stance because the idea of human rights has been so indelibly associated with the legal profession from the moment of its re-emergence in 1948 (with the UDHR) and particularly since 1989, when the collapse of the Berlin Wall brought down  Soviet communism forever. The core of human rights was for Peter to be found not in the courtroom but on the streets, in the souls of the activists and campaigners who were seeking by their human rights inspired actions to change society for the better. In the spirit of Peter Townsend, and following in his footsteps, I will argue three propositions. The first assertion is that the idea of human rights in general (and social and political rights in particular) is valuable, that such entitlements deserve not just our protection but also to be respected and promoted. My second point is that the value of this notion of social rights lies principally in the political arena, this being the world in which the good that these words do can be best concretised or most fruitfully deployed. The primary way of embedding human rights properly (and social rights particularly) in any culture, of making this commitment check work, should be via the political process. The experience of Oxfam is that the realisation of economic, social rights can most effectively be achieved with the active participation of those affected. The range of civil society groups that reach for human rights to articulate this need for action and to express the solidarity that flows collective engagement in tackling poverty is impressive and truly international in its reach. Good examples can be pointed to in Wales, in Brazil and in the U.S. There are many others, what unites them is not the language of international human rights law but rather their use of human rights as an idea, a way of asserting dignity, respect for themselves and an insistence that they too (despite their disadvantage and often their misfortune) deserve to be treated properly. This is exactly how Peter used the term, and how best it can be deployed to achieve socially valuable outcomes. A common commitment to human rights can enable the building of alliances that would be difficult without the sharing of a common vision that this term makes possible. Human rights are authentic when they reflect the values and principles that are rooted in the instinct to help, the perceived obligation to care for the stranger that has been part of our species behaviour since the dawn of human time. The term is an open-textured one, its content changes over time as new ways of expressing basic values come to the fore, assuming a human rights shape in order both to capture the essence of what the right is about and at the same time to push for its further realisation in the culture in which the argument for it is being made. All of this is particularly true of social rights because it is the social rights that is now at the frontier of rights talk. The rights can also be added to as new challenges get successfully framed in the language of rights, on disability for example, or the rights of indigenous people. Viewed in this way, the framing, detailing, and embedding of social rights are quintessential political activities.