Turning points (Continuación)

“Heavy Rag” (2018) by Zoe Buckman, at Albertz Benda gallery in New York. Credit Courtesy of Zoe Buckman and Albertz Benda, New York, photo by Casey Kelbaug

ReflexionesPensamiento, Cultura y Ciencia
Zoe Buckman

“Heavy Rag” (2018)

2018: The year that the words “rape,” “assault” and “harass” became inescapable, appearing seemingly everywhere online and in news media across the United States. The year some heads rolled, and lives were ruined, and the year many tales were forgotten too quickly or discredited in too brutal a manor. The year of too much jumping on the bandwagon. The year of attempted payback, misguided payback and zero payback. The year of not enough follow-through and pitiful justice. The year women were taught that little has changed and they’re still not safe. The year the words “F.B.I.…  Seguir leyendo »

Idania del Río, the owner of the graphic design shop Clandestina, in Havana. Credit Yamil Lage/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

MundoAmérica  

Turning Point: Raúl Castro resigns as Cuba’s president.

“It was yours,” my mother announced. She held out a girl’s blue school uniform.

She’s 82 now and still surprises me with mementos she took from Cuba and has kept packed away since the ‘60s.

A star was sewn onto the front and it had a thick hem to be let out as I grew.

“Don’t you remember?”

I shook my head.

“You wore it when you were 4 years old. You went to the same Jewish day school in Havana that I went to. Classes were in Spanish and Yiddish. Wasn’t that amazing?…  Seguir leyendo »

A teenager working at a textile factory in the outskirts of Savar, Bangladesh. Credit Daniel Rodrigues for The New York Times

ReflexionesSocial, ,

Turning Point: Between 2000 and 2018 the number of African children enrolled in primary school more than doubled, rising from 60 million to 150 million.

In 1848, republican revolts against European monarchies ended in failure and repression. The year was said to be a turning point at which history failed to turn.

Almost certainly 2018 will mark a similar turning point. The year saw Donald Trump’s protectionism, Chinese expansionism, a reborn nationalism in India and Japan, Iranian empire-building, and Russian opportunism all combine to undermine the international cooperation that has sustained the 70-year-old postwar global order.

Among the casualties have been agreements on climate change, nuclear weapons and trade, as the world suddenly appears divided and leaderless.…  Seguir leyendo »

An ATM that is compatible with Bitcoin at a store in New York. Credit Danny Ghitis for The New York Times

InternacionalEconomía

Turning Point: Interest in blockchain technology surges as it spawns a highly volatile virtual currency market.

Blockchain is far more than just the technology underlying Bitcoin, the cryptocurrency. It is a tool that promises to decentralize the structures governing all economic transactions and, in the process, redefine our concept of trust.

This is the most revolutionary and innovative aspect of blockchain. But its promise could be undermined.

Trust — the basis of social and commercial interactions — has been guaranteed for centuries by institutionalized trust providers, such as hierarchically organized companies and other third-party authorities. These trust mechanisms have worked for offline business models, but they are becoming obsolete in our hyper-connected digital world.…  Seguir leyendo »

Una planta geotérmica en Chile Credit Meridith Kohut para The New York Times

ReflexionesNaturaleza,  

Turning Point: A landmark climate report from the United Nations described a world of worsening food shortages and wildfires, and a mass die-off of coral reefs as soon as 2040.

Por mucho tiempo se ha adoptado la actitud de que la naturaleza es un elemento estático al servicio de la humanidad. Sin embargo, aquellos más informados entre nosotros se han dado cuenta de que pensarlo así provocará nuestra ruina. El medioambiente no es una preocupación secundaria; de hecho, es el imperativo que debería dirigir todas nuestras decisiones futuras sobre el desarrollo a largo plazo.

A medida que las naciones industrializadas como Brasil y China siguen creciendo, con sus clases medias en expansión, y después del retiro de Estados Unidos del Acuerdo de París, es más importante que nunca que países pequeños como Chile —aquellos que usualmente padecen de manera más directa los daños costeros por el cambio climático— trabajen para preservar el medioambiente mientras buscan mantener un impulso económico.…  Seguir leyendo »

Visitors wearing traditional Korean “hanbok” dresses pose for photos at Gyeongbokgung Palace in Seoul, South Korea. Credit Ed Jones/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

MundoAsia,

Turning Point: North and South Korean athletes march under a unified flag at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

Growing up in North Korea in the 1980s, I was brainwashed into believing that South Koreans were suffering horribly under their government, but that with the unconditional support of the North Korean people, our “Dear Leader” Kim Il-sung would liberate our southern neighbors and reunify the Korean Peninsula. I eventually escaped my homeland as a teenager and learned the harsh truth, yet I still hold on to a sliver of hope that I will one day live in a united and free Korea.…  Seguir leyendo »

Russian servicemen march during the 2018 Victory Day parade, marking the anniversary of Nazi Germany’s defeat in World War II, in Moscow. Credit Pool photo by Maxim Shipenkov

Europa

Turning Point: In February 2018, the Polish government made implicating the nation in Nazi war crimes an offense punishable with jail time. The law was later softened after an international outcry.

My countrymen often say that Russia is a country with an unpredictable past. It’s true: Our history is often rewritten to match the political agenda and casual whims of those in power.

That mentality is especially evident during the annual celebrations honoring the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany in 1945, when a carnival-like hysteria takes over the country. There are military parades in the streets, commemorations, concerts. Kindergartners dress up in military uniforms.…  Seguir leyendo »

Workers install pipe insulation at a new geothermal energy plant in Chile. Credit Meridith Kohut for The New York Times

ReflexionesNaturaleza,  

Turning Point: A landmark climate report from the United Nations described a world of worsening food shortages and wildfires, and a mass die-off of coral reefs as soon as 2040.

The attitude that nature is a static element at the service of humanity has long prevailed. The more enlightened among us, however, have realized that this outlook will lead to our ruin. The environment is no longer a secondary concern; it is, in fact, nothing less than the imperative that should guide all future questions about long-term development.

As industrialized nations like Brazil and China continue to grow, and their middle classes continue to expand, and in the wake of the U.S.…  Seguir leyendo »

Minors wait in a processing room at a Tucson Customs and Border Protection facility during a visit by Melania Trump, the U.S. first lady, in June. Credit Doug Mills/The New York Times

MundoAmérica, ,  

Turning Point: The Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” policy on immigration, which requires that any person crossing the border illegally be prosecuted, results in the separation of thousands of children from their families.

The audio went live at 3:51 p.m. on June 18, 2018.

Obtained from a source who risked being fired for releasing it and published by ProPublica, the investigative journalism nonprofit, the recording captured 10 Central American children pleading with agents and consular workers at a United States Customs and Border Protection facility.

The children had been separated from their parents and families as part of the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” policy of prosecuting everyone apprehended crossing the United States-Mexico border illegally.…  Seguir leyendo »

U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing in 2017. Credit Doug Mills/The New York Times

Internacional

Through the mist of change precipitated by President Trump’s consuming narcissism, some new order is taking shape, but its form is as yet indiscernible. Sometimes a many-headed beast seems to loom, shrieking in discordant voices, promising strife. Still, perhaps that is to underestimate the promise of a hyperconnected 21st century.

After the bi-polar world and the unipolar world, this is an era without a name. The ideas that gave the United States purpose in the postwar decades, from the spread of liberty to a rules-based international order, have been abandoned. American enlightened self-interest, beneficial both to the United States and its allies, has been replaced by a crude America-first self.…  Seguir leyendo »

The Cowardly Face of Authoritarianism

ReflexionesDemocracia

Turning Point: China removes presidential term limits.

First we see the face. The face of America’s Donald Trump, or Hungary’s Viktor Orban, or Russia’s Vladimir Putin, or Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the face of men who wish to transform democracies into personality cults.

The face is the oldest mark of leadership, the mark that works for clan or tribe. If we see only the face, we are not thinking about policies or politics; instead, we are accepting the new regime and its rules. However, a democracy is about the people, not a single mythicized person.

People need truth, which a cult of personality destroys.…  Seguir leyendo »