170th Birthday of Robert Stevenson

              A little more than one week ago, precisely on 13th November, the Scottish writer Robert Louis Stevenson would complete 170 years-old, so this post is a tribute to him. He was an humanist. His writings makes us think about  hypocrisy, truth, guilt, responsibility. And like others great writers show us moral, social and psychological issues. This post is a summary of four articles. The first was published at   https://www.biography.com/writer/robert-louis-stevenson.  The second was published at   http://www.rlstevenson-europe.org/en/r-l-stevenson/. The third was published at   https://www.businessdestinations.com/bd-portrait/robert-louis-stevenson-the-father-of-modern-travel-writing/. The fourth was published at   file:///C:/Users/User/Downloads/BPTX_2008_2_11210_ASZK00306_132513_0_74386.pdf

                    Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson was born in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1850 to Thomas and Margaret Stevenson. At the age 17, he enrolled at Edinburgh University to study engineering. But this did not appealed to him, and he began studying law. He emerged from law school in 1875, but did not practice, as, by this point, he felt that his calling was to be writer. Stevenson's first book of short fiction, New Arabian Nights, marked the U.K. emergence into the realm of the short story, which would come to be his calling card. A turning point in Stevenson's personal life came during this period, when he met the woman who would become his wive, Fanny Osbourne, in 1876. She was a married American woman with two children. In 1878, she divorced and Stevenson set out to meet her in California. They remained together until Stevenson death in 1894. The 1880s were notable for both Stevenson's declining health and his prodigious literary output. He suffered from hemorrhaging lungs (likely caused by undiagnosed tuberculosis), and writing was one of the few activities he could do while confined to bed. The idea for Treasure Island was ignited by a map that Stevenson had drawn for his 12 year-old stepson; Stevenson had conjured a pirate adventure story to accompany the drawing. Treasure island was published in 1883, and by the end of the 1880s, it was one of the most popular and widely read books. The year 1886 saw the publication of what would be another enduring work, Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. which was an immediate success. The book went on to international acclaim, inspiring countless stage productions and more than 100 motion pictures. In June 1888, Stevenson and his family set sail from San Francisco, California, to travel the islands of the Pacific Ocean. In 1889, they arrived in the Samoan islands, where they decided to build a house and settle.                                                                                                          Treasure Island and The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde are world-wise best sellers, frequently republished and translated, adapted as films and graphic novels. The writer's works go beyond these books. The Master of Ballantrae, Kidnapped and The Black Arrow are also widely read, as are all his novels, poetry and tales of the south seas. The writer left Scotland, where he was born, in search of a climate which would soothe his respiratory illness. He ended his days at the age of 44 amongst the inhabitants of Samoa in Oceania. For Stevenson travel was not a pretex or an escape, but an opportunity for encounters. The accounts of his travels in Europe are regarded as genuine ethnographic descriptions of peoples and lands. Robert Stevenson is at the heart of humanistic values, based on openness to others and tolerance of differences. Writer, traveller, adventurer, idealist, Stevenson left his mark on the places he visited through his literary work and his profound compassion for humanity.                                                                                                                                             When asked of the impact Robert Stevenson had on the literary world, many would point ti his widely renowned works of fiction: Treasure Island and The Strange case of Dr jekill and Mr Hyde. However, fiction was not the source of his initial success. Stevenson's early travel writing was a driving force for his literary career and has continued to influence the way people write about travel even today. It was during his summer vacations that Stevenson found his niche in travel writing, with his earliest published works recounting his travels in France. His first volume, An Inland Voyage, was published in 1878, and recalled a canoe trip he made through Belgium and France with a friend. He was very focused on human individuality, as opposed to a lot of Victorian writers, who would tend to sort of homogenise groups, or nationalities or "types" of people.                                                          The works of Robert Stevenson are deeply immersed in social, psychological and moral issues peculiar not only to the Victorian age but also relevant to our time. In his prose he explores the character of human mind with its deformities as well as its virtues, for to be true to life is, in Stevenson's own words, much more estimable than to idealize it. An honest critique of social illnesses is worth a great deal than mere show of ggodness and morality often required by the publishers and expected by the reading public. The Strange Case of Dr Jekill and Mr Hyde primarily deals with something else than the struggle between the good and evil in oneself. More than anything else this book is a critique of the XIX century middle classes and the moral standards which conditioned the appearance of the discourses of criminality, degeneration and atavism as traits inherent to the lower classes. The very argument upon the novel is based is that man's character is not uniform, or made of one whole, but dualistic, containing the good and evil parts, is suggestive of Jekill's continued attempts at finding an excuse for his behavior, as well as blaming it on someone else, in his case, his other "evil" self, Hyde. Like all addicts, Jekill supposes himself unaffected by exercising the Hyde part of his character. He misinterprets Hyde as an evil clearly separated from his own good self. And as he perpetuates this self-delusion. he assures that he can be rid of Hyde any moment. Such proclamation of freedom from a drug are well known to anyone who has ever dealt with an addicted person. Jekill's addiction reaches its high point and the final stage of the cycle of addiction - despair, isolation and the realization of a certain degree of the truth. However, even until his last moments, Jekill refuses to acknowledge the full extent of his guilt and remains obstinately fond of his alter ego. The book rather than make us simply sympathetic with Jekill's burden, calls our attention to the more complex problems of responsibility and honesty, especially about one's attitude to, and the role in, society.

International Day of Democracy - 2020

                  Two months ago, precisely on 15th of September, all over the world was celebrated the democracy.  This post is a summary of two articles. The first was published at  https://www.un.org/en/observances/democracy-day. The second was published at     https://www.twinkl.com.br/event/international-day-of-democracy-2020                           

               The unprecedented COVID-19 crisis has resulted in social, political and legal challenges globally. As states around the world adopt emergency measures to address the crisis, it is critical that they continue to uphold the rule of law, protect and respect basic principles of legality, and the right to access justice, remedies and due process. U.N. has urged governments to be transparent, responsive and accountable in their covid-19 response and ensure that any emergency measures are legal, necessary and non-discriminatory. U.N. says states must respect and protect, among other rights, freedom of expression and of the press, freedom of information, freedom of association and of assembly. Concerns in many countries in the context of COVID-19 include: 1) Measures to control the flow of information and crackdown on freedom of expression and press freedom against an existing background of shrinking civic space.  2) Arrest, detention, prosecution or persecution of political opponents, journalists, doctors and healthcare workers, activists for allegedly spreading "fake news".  3) Agressive cyber-policing and increased online surveillance.   The crisis raises the question how best to counter harmful speech while protecting freedom of expression. Efforts to eliminate misinformation can result in purposeful or unintentional censorship. The most effective response is accurate, clear and evidence-based information from sources people trust. Around the world civil society have answered the U.N. call to action to address the wide range of ways the COVID-19 crisis may impar democracy, by: 1) Developing media literacy, more critical than ever as activism is forced online, so as to address the risk of suppression, interference and closing of civic space. 2) Fighting misinformation and hate speech  3) Empowering women against gender-based violence, which has surged amid Covid-19 quarantines.  4) Helping to highlight the challenges of inequality and weak service delivery made worse by the crisis, with specific focus on the needs and rights of women, minorities and other marginalized populations, so as to help hold governments to account. The International Day of Democracy provides an opportunity to review the state of democracy in the world. Democracy is as much a process as a goal, and only with the full participation of and support by the international community, national governing bodies and individuals, can the ideal of democracy be made into a reality to be enjoyed by everyone, everywhere. The values of freedom, respect for human rights and the principle of holding periodic and genuine elections are essential elements of democracy.                                                                                                               International Day of Democracy is celebrated annually on 15th September. It is a chance to review the state of democracy around the world, encourage democratic movements and promote freedom, peace and human rights. It began in 2007 and each year the event centres around different themes. In 2019, the theme was participation, and the event gave rise to an app to help citizens get involved with politics. In true democracies, citizens can take an active role in their governments and hold politicians to account by voting them out. Democracy is linked to human rights and aims to ensure that everyone in a society is represented. Democracy should ensure that governments protect their people. International Day of Democracy is an opportunity to assess issues like human rights, equality and conflict resolution throughout the world. It is a chance to reflect on our own freedoms. It encourages action and motivates people to work collectively for a fairer and more representative government.

10th Anniversary of this Blog - Part III

          In the previous posts I wrote about two very important issues that are very related to each other, education and development. This time I'll write about another very important issue that I have been writing a lot in this decade doing this blog and deserve the concern of everybody. The defense of  human rights. Actually I have been a strong, steady, and resolute activist for human rights. I think that the defense of human rights should have much more activists than there are nowadays.  Everything that we take for granted in a democracy depend on human rights: your freedom to speak what you want to speak, your freedom to choose any candidate you want to vote, your freedom to have the most basic things in your life such as: your own life and your privacy, your freedom to access justice and official organisms and have your complaints take seriously. And your right to have some reparation, compensation when your right have not been respect and this damage severely your life. A life without those basic human rights is so unbearable that is even difficult for us to imagine our lives without them. If you want to imagine how would be to live without those basic rights, you can watch some movies to help you to imagine how unbearable it would be. Movies such as: 1984, The Killings Fields, Hunger Games, V for Vendetta and many other fictional and non-fictional movies telling us how abuse of power can increase to the point to interfere in our daily and intimate lives doing us to think how precious are those basic rights. It's important to know how a dystopia would be in order to avoid any precedent event or situation that can lead us to this nightmare, to this hell for the majority of the population. Besides movies, the literature can also give a clear idea how a dystopia would look like. If you want to know about the importance of dystopian literature, you can read this post      http://thepeopleteacher.blogspot.com/2016/09/the-importance-of-dystopian-literature.html or this  http://thepeopleteacher.blogspot.com/2016/01/orwells-world.html. Nowadays eventually we still can listen some disinformed people say nonsense about human rights, for exemplo that human rights defend bandits or it's against punishment. I have been writing a lot about the importance of human rights, but if you especifically want to read something about punishment and human rights click here  http://thepeopleteacher.blogspot.com/2018/03/the-human-rights-agenda-and-struggle.html or here   http://thepeopleteacher.blogspot.com/2018/12/handbook-on-justice-for-victims.html. If you are a reader of this blog, after the readings of these posts and realizing all that have been happenning in the world in the last two decades, I hope you have a better understanding about human rights and become a human rights defender too. And for those that already are human rights defenders like the NGOs I hope you can realize that more can be done. 

10th Anniversary of this Blog - Part II

          Last weekend I wrote about why I began this blog and why I became an activist for better education. I hope at this moment in history everybody has realized how important education is to personal growth and a country development. In this second part of the celebration for the tenth year of this blog I'll write about another important issue I have been writing. As many of you know I studied Economics during two years in the UFJF during my early twenties, altough I didn't graduate because I worked too much, generally during the 1990s I worked six AM to eleven PM, seven days a week. I learned a lot. And then I felt that was important to explain some economical issues to the people. For example, when compare GDP growth among countries, you need to look among countries with the same stage of development. For example, for a developed country to grow 4% in a year, it is a big thing, but this rate of growth is not big thing for a developing country, and much less for a underdeveloped country. It is happens because of the saturation point in every market in the developed country. For example, in the developed countries there is not much to do in the infrastructure market. Speaking of GDP growth, since the first year I have been publishing the GDP growth of Brazil and many other countries. And what can we realize from this? Comparing the Latin America countries, since 2011. You can see the GDP growth of 2011 here http://thepeopleteacher.blogspot.com/2012/05/vol-teac-xxi-real-gdp-growth-in-2011.html you will realize that unfortunately Brazil remains among the countries with the smallest GDP growth in Latin America. The huge potential of Brazil to become a prosperous country is being lost, that why the economists are saying that this decade 2011-2020 is a lost decade. This will be the second lost decade in my life, the first was the 1980s. Why is Brazil failing to us Brazilians economically? Why can Brazil not reach its potential? In this election, ask the candidates what they are doing for better education and to bring development to our cities. So besides being an activist for better education I have been an activist for development and development is reached through GDP growth. In the beginning of this decade, the GDP growth in Latin America was already a concern of many economists, as you can read in this link http://thepeopleteacher.blogspot.com/2013/10/lx-after-golden-decade-can-latin.html but even in the previous decade, 2001 - 2010 called by many economists as Golden Decade, Brazil had on average a GDP growth a little more than of the GDP growth of the world.

10th Anniversary of this Blog

                   Last 9th of September, this blog completed 10 years. When I began this blog in 2010, I didn't know how long it would  take. Now I feel that maybe I should keep this blog forever. If you want to know why I began this blog, you can read the first post of all in this link. where I explain why I felt the need to write  http://thepeopleteacher.blogspot.com/2010/09/volunteer-teacher.html, following this first blog where I explained why I began this blog I put some articles previously summarized in my email. In my former email, which I don't have anymore I started doing summaries of articles and reports. It is very interesting how some of those articles became so known. But if you are thinking that I started this blog to become famous, you are mistaken. I became famous in Brazil for another reason. I can say it because in 2004 I traveled by motorcycle to São Paulo city and I felt that everywhere I went people knew who I am. So after almost two decades later this fame becomes a worldwide fame. And like many things in life, this fame have positive aspects and negative aspects. Although there is not a counter in this blog, and people in Brazil never give their feedback on my blog. I know that there are millions of readers, because as many things in my life people do not say to me directly, so I have to realize  and figure out if the posts are being read. As you can see, many posts in this blog are about the importance of education, including many of the first year. This is because if a country wants to do like Japan, England, France, Germany did in the XIX century and U.S., South Korea, Ireland, Sweden, etc did in XX century, quality education for all is the only way. The history show us it. China is showing now what education can do for a country and population. If Brazil had done high investments in education 50 years ago, we would be another country today. This decade doing this blog I have been an activist for better education,  and the awareness that all are important in this process: students, parents, teachers, politicians, etc. In 1941, the Austrian writer Stefan Zweig wrote a book called "Brazil, country of the future" if you want to read more about it, here is the link  to read   about a book that gave a country a nickname http://thepeopleteacher.blogspot.com/2012/08/voltxxvi-brazil-country-of-future.html. In this book he wrote about the huge potential for brazil to become a prosperous country. The law of the new high school approved in 2017 is the better way to improve the education in Brazil in the short and medium-term, so I hope that next year this new high school can be effectively implemented all over Brazil. I have been writing here about the benefits of this change in the high school. The first summary I did about it was in November 2017, you can read here http://thepeopleteacher.blogspot.com/2017/11/flexibility-gives-students-better.html 

The Future of Society: Dystopian and Utopian Aspects in H.G. Wells - Part II

                   H.G.Wells was a great writer and an activist for better education. In his famous book, "A Short History of the World, which I read in 2009 and made a summary of the chapter LVII, if you want to read here is the link, http://thepeopleteacher.blogspot.com/2010/10/short-history-of-world.html , he did a strong defense of education as a tool of progress, social harmony and solution for every problem the humankind was facing in his time. Like me, he believed that real democracy with widespread popular participation, quality education for all and human rights effectively respected was and is the only way for humankind. This post is the second part of the same text from last weekend, the essay published at https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/51a5/4461ffb9d527b7f8c65f3e521d76a1957148.pdf

                   H.G.Wells states what he believes to be the fundamental flaw in any government system; the lack of a good quality education for all. Education and its goal of forming a better future seem to be Wells' obsession. Wells' early work had negative overtones that pointed fingers towards those who did not embrace the future. In The Time Machine the human race had deteriorated and gone backwards instead of forwards. The utopia in Wells' novel is not something that was created by a supernatural being or by stroke of luck. The real utopia is based on the people in that world, just as the title suggests, these people are the masters of their own fate and control all aspects of their world. Wells describes how the utopians, after many catastrophes and wars, lifted themselves to new heights of human development. Wells after World War I moved away from writing Scientific novels to focus on a political idea that is depicted in the novel Men Like Gods. The idea is built upon the believe that governing, leadership, should be given to those who have the best education and skill at their given task. The political agenda also calls for the creation of a world state that will control most aspects of human life within the boundaries for democratic freedom. Wells' goal is to create a better world through a peaceful revolution, using education as a tool that slowly creates change. However, many of Wells' contemporaries did not share his views and believed that the creation of a world state would in any way create a better life for the people of England or anywhere. Wells was a highly prolific writer, both in non-fiction and fiction. He dared to speak his mind and give opinion on subjects others were hesitant about and gave his audience aclear indication about what to expect in the future. Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, published in 1932, is a dystopian novel based on Wells' ideas of a world state. In the novel, Huxley creates a world state were humans are controlled by technology. Huxley warns against the so-called "progress" trough the means of science, and he wanted to express caution against unrestricted technological progess, since its goal would only be to further enhance the technology itself. In the novel humans are conditioned with constant platitudes that remind them of their role and the perfect system that supposedly surrounds them. Huxley delves deeper into Wells' novel Men Like Gods and sees the dangers of mixing technology and unchecked power. Even though Wells' political views were controversial, and in some cases radical, it does not mean that his predictions were incorrect. Today, man has become more skilful at using technology to create better conditions for ourselves, and social reform has occurred thanks to unifying organizations with common goals, such as the U.N. or the E.U. Wells was trying throughout the 20's and 1930's to describe a new solution by taking the best of democratic values and mix them with progressive ideas that represented a change from the burdened and often undisclosed way of making politics in his day.

The Future of Society: Dystopian and Utopian Aspects in H.G. Wells

              This post is a summary of the essay with the title above published at   https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/51a5/4461ffb9d527b7f8c65f3e521d76a1957148.pdf

               The year is 1895; H.G.Wells is a 29 year-old author who has just published his first novel The Time Machine. It depict a man of the new century, a man of science and rationality, as he travels through time and discovers the future. The novel explores the futuristic ideas of a man raised in a society that is subject to great social change. H.G.Wells was at this time a biologist, a firm believer in Darwinian Theory. Throughout his career he would describe himself as a "journalist" portraying the world around him. He is today a giant of literature, the father of science fiction. This essay explores the dystopian and utopian writings of H.G.Wells, focusing on The Time Machine (1895) and Men Like Gods (1923). Both novels reflects the social discourse of the time in which the author wrote them. Further, I will argue that there is a change in the mindset of the author from the pre-war novel of 1895 to the novel written after the great war. Both novels contain dystopian and utopian elements, but that in the pre-war novel Wells does not provide a solution to the problem described. That changes in Men like Gods when Wells describes a society and culture that he wants the world to strive for, a system that would cause mankind ro evolve into a single unified society devoid of class, injustice, disease and wars through technological and educational progress. The Time Machine follows an enlightened man as he travels through time. The novel is a combined adventure-story and critique of society, a way for Wells to comment on the problems he sees in Victorian England and a call for those around him to accept a new future based on practically, pragmatism and scientific truth instead of the medieval dogmas and norms. In Men Like Gods Wells attempts to offer the solution to the problems he has experienced during his lifetime, a reporter is transported to a future where there is no centralized government, where education and demoratic freedoms form the ideal society called utopia. The purpose of this essay is that you as a reader will receive a greater understanding of the beginnings of our modern world by exploring the life-changing events and the discourse of that time through the writings of a very prolific writer. I have chosen to perceive these changes through the literature of a man who was very ahead of his time, a man who expresses a critical view on social injustice, war and class. These are also the views who believed that a total new system was needed for mankind to take the next step in our common evolution. Dystopian literature paints a bleak picture of a contemporary or future society; it describes a situation where the majority suffer greatly and a few have all essential control. Dystopian novels are concerned with the flaws of human society and how our division within leads to injustice and as unfair treatment towards those who can not defend or protect themselves. The Time Machine focuses on injustice and the ongoing fight between science and religion, to understand his writing one must look at the world that Wells lived in, and also understand the issues during the late 19th century and the years before World War I. Victorian England is described as a starting point of Western society. however, it was a turbulent time with conservative elements trying to hold back the progress that took place in every aspect of people's lives and affected everyone's reality. Religion is only one part o The Time Machine a much heavier emphasis is placed on social inequality, which Wells proclaims will lead to an escalating division between rich and poor. In The Time Machine Wells display a place that on the surface is beautiful but contains deep scars of history. The protagonist theorises that the reason for the lack of intelligence in the Eloi is because of their static lifestyle and total inability to remain curious for a longer period of time. The dystopian elements can easily be found throughout the novel. H.G.Wells wanted in The Time Machine to give the reader an insight into the problems of Victorian England. He highlight the dangers that society would encounter if it continues to hold onto the past and not accept change is inevitable, In 1917 he traveled to Italy and the front, and in both places he saw the true reality of war. After these experiences he no longer focuses on the scientific novels, his greatest success as a writer. Instead, political commitment takes the front seat. It is during this time that Wells conceptualizes a world that does not contain the waste, fruitlessness and horror he encountered during the years of war. He envisions a system based on universal ideas and the core of this new society would be the education of all people to avoid the mistakes made by previous generations. Wells is very critical to the way hereditary and privileged positions gave some people an advantage over others. This is a theme that would be the focus of his 1924 novel Men Like Gods. It spawned a massive amount of discussion during his lifetime, even to such a degree that the world-view depicted in the novel would be forever labelled as "Wellsian-Utopia." This novel follows the protagonist Mr Barnstaple to a parallel universe called Utopia. The similarities with The Time Machine are quite obvious. Mr Barnstaple is disappointed with the narrow minded people in his own time and searches for an ideal to follow. Throughout the novel Mr Barnstaple becomes educsated in the way of live of Utopia, he learns that Utopia is a democracy with no government, religion or monetary system and is based on the five principles of liberty: privacy, free movement, unlimited knowledge, truthfulness and free speech and criticism.