Monday, March 1, 2010

walls

na semana passada a escola de direito aqui do Texas promoveu um seminário interessantíssimo sobre “walls”. Vale perceber que em inglês o termo serve para parede, muro, cerca, além de ser usado metaforicamente para significar tudo que nos divide e separa.


pois entre tantas apresentações fascinantes que discutiam desde as favelas até a política de imigração da união européia, passando claro pelas fronteiras EUA-México e Israel-Palestina, uma pergunta maior se desenhou:


parece que concordamos que as paredes em torno de uma família são extremamente necessárias, mas que qualquer parede em torno de um grupo maior é problemática. Em algum ponto na modernidade entendemos que a célula familiar tem direito absoluto a privacidade mas qualquer outra associação não. Se assim for, como lidar com grupos em que a noção de família implica um grupo maior que pais e filhos, ou com associações que se vêem como famílias estendidas.


em resumo, como saber quando as paredes estão protegendo ou quando estão excluindo?



last week the Law School here in Texas promoted a very interesting seminar on “walls”, meaning everything that divides us. Among many fascinating presentations that run from the favelas to the EU immigration policy, from US-Mexico to Israel-Palestine, one major question emerged:


we tend to agree that walls around a family are needed but any wall around a larger group is problematic. Somewhere on modernity’s course we understood that a family cell has absolute rights to privacy but other associations do not. If that’s the case, how should we deal with groups in which the idea of family goes beyond parents and children, or associations that see themselves as a extended family?


in summary, how can we know when a wall is protecting and when it is excluding?

11 comments:

Craig said...

Wall are made to protect man, no to divide. We control the wall through a simple device called door. Families need protection. Cities have a long story of "walls" that saved them more than any army. And countries, this one in particular, needs protection.

What doesn't mean that we can't open doors to those who doesn't want to harm us or our values, what seems to be your case, for example.

To protect IS to exclude. Evil, in any case.

Marcelo Palhares Santiago said...

Sometimes, they serve to protect, sometimes they serve to expand territory.

Fernando L Lara said...

interesting Craig..... the US gets in deep trouble in the middle-east and builds a wall on the Mexican border. What exactly that has to do with protection?

gabriel said...

craig, how can you recognize the good ones, the bad ones and the ugly ones?

what do you think about nafta?

Craig said...

Everything.

In a perfect world, we wouldn't have trouble with international drugs traffic (wich is the real reason for the mexican border wall); all recent governments struggled with the matter and failed. Is a wall a solution? Libs just don't get that there ain't no solution, there are strategies to fight battles.

And there's NO CIVILIZATION REMAINING on earth that didn't make use of fortified cities to evolve, something you as a architecture teacher (right?) might know.

I don´t get what the war has to do with it, but there are two things to be said about it.

one: if there's a trouble, it's not american only. it's a trouble for those who don't think terror is a form of political act.
And two: while we don't have anything like 9-11 again, this war is won.

Everybody can recognize good walls. They just have to admit it.

Fernando L Lara said...

Craig,

Walls are needed because many people are making money with the status-quo. Have you ever thought of working on reducing drug usage or diminishing oil-dependency? What's wrong on working towards a perfect world?

And for the record, the US have sponsored terrorism in many varieties. Is there something like good terrorism versus bad terrorism?

We (the educated elite of the world) should lead by example, not by force. That's why I think most walls are really bad solutions for complex problems.

Keep building walls and they will fall as soon as your so-called enemy gets stronger. Build doors and bridges and you might not have enemies after some time.

Craig said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Fernando L Lara said...

again, personal offenses will not be allowed in this blog. People who cannot discuss ideas without offending others are not worth my attention.

Craig said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Juliana Chammas said...

Os muros que cada vez mais (e inocentemente) construímos para nos proteger contra a violência, para viver entre iguais e para nos "distinguir" dentre os demais, são os mesmos muros que tiram o "olhos da rua" e as deixam menos seguras, que inibem a coexistência das classes sociais no espaço comum e que nos fazem "estranhar" e temer o outro.
Incrível como investimos e apostamos em uma solução que ao invés de nos conduzir ao bem-estar, nos leva a precisar e buscar outros recursos de proteção.

Fernando L Lara said...

disse tudo Ju,
F.