Thursday, November 20, 2008

Coronel Amaral Freitas e as casas dos sargentos


Os terrenos das Forças de Segurança de Macau são invioláveis. Serão? Acho que não por que ontem deitaram abaixo em Mong Ha as casas dos sargentos.

Poderiam fazer delas um museu, ou uma galeria de arte, ou qualquer outra coisa ligada à cultura. Mas não! Foi simplesmente abaixo.

Dizem que no sítio vai nascer habitação social em 75 dias . Estou para vêr?

Afinal o aluquete das FSM não será hoje tão inviolável como a caricatura do coronel Amaral Freitas de J. Guedes publicada nos anos 80 do século XX deixaria entender que poderia ser.

Mudam-se os tempos e mudam-se as vontades. Mas princialmente acho que tudo isto tem a vêr com a falta de memória.

É pena!...

Vêr o camartelo do progresso destruir Macau umas vezes por excesso de zelo e de consulta, outras por omissão de auscultação da opinião pública.

PS. Para quem não se lembre: O coronel, Amaral Freitas, foi comandante das Forças de Segurança de Macau, durante a primeira metade dos anos 80 do século passado

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Paisaigens agredidas nas memórias do Douro


Dramas esquecidos nas memórias do Douro

Tenho no Douro a impressão de estar vazio.
Persistente esta sensação aguada
Liquida, alcandorada
Em mim
Lá no fundo, bem no fundo da ravina
Deve ser frio
No Inverno
Mas hoje que calor!... Água é coisa que não há
Não se vê uma fonte. Que inferno!....
Esta terra é escura de cor indefinida
É tudo denso aqui, é tudo exagerado
A morte o trabalho, o clima, a vida
Naquela curva do rio
Morreu o Barão de Forrester
Numa batalha na ponte de um navio contra o inimigo nas ondas do alto mar?
Não!
Ali não era a Mancha, nem havia espaço entre alcantis para Trafalgar.
Foi num barco rabelo no caminho de regresso vindo de passear
O barão afogou-se na água em terras de vinho
Para salvar a namorada que descuidada caiu da amurada
Pelos baixos do Pocinho.
Nessa mesma altura atavam o escrivão Guedes
À cauda de um cavalo e arrastavam-no pela vila de S. João da Pesqueira
Morreu ignobilmente
Dessa maneira
Injustiçado e ingente
Na guerra civil em crucial ponto
Mas o que aconteceu ao escrivão
Não merece menção, nem influiu no curso da Nação
Morreu e pronto!...
São pequenas tragédias da história
O escrivão Guedes morreu em contraponto
E a memória conserva apenas a do barão.
Forrester morreu a salvar a sua dama
Depois de um pic-nic
No meio do rio entre falésias a pique.
A sua espada permanece encravada entre duas rochas de granito
A comemorar o feito
Hoje resta um ferro enferrujado
Submerso nas águas de uma barragem que rememora o drama.
Mas neste leito do Cachão da Valeira há um infinito.
Há um infinito lamento
Um drama mais ingentes, um dilema mais profundo
Que fica entre o que é e o que não é lembrado
Nas tragédias do Mundo

Zeca Afonso da Real República dos Incas. Incas, Incas, Incas, são! Aguenta o gado!...


Senhor arcanjo Vamos jantar Caem os anjos Num alguidar Hibernam tíbias Suspiram rãs Comem orquídeas Nas barbacãs Entra na porta Menina-faia Prova uma torta Desta papaia Palita os dentes Põe-te a cavar Dormem videntes No Ultramar Que bela fita Que bem não está A prima Bia De tafetá

E vai o lente Come um repolho Parte-se um pente Fura-se um olho A pacotilha Tem mais amor À gargantilha Do regedor Põe a gravata Menino bem Que essa cantata Não soa bem Senhor arcanjo Vamos jantar Caem os anjos Num alguidar E as quatro filhas Do marajá Vão de patilhas Beber o chá

Outro poema e poeta de que gosto e que passou por Macau


Bocage

SONETO DITADO NA AGONIA


Já Bocage não sou!... À cova escura Meu estro vai parar desfeito em vento...Eu aos Céus ultrajei! O meu tormento Leve me torne sempre a terra dura; Conheço agora já quão vã figura,Em prosa e verso fez meu louco intento:Musa!... Tivera algum merecimento Se um raio da razão seguisse pura. Eu me arrependo; a língua quase fria Brade em alto pregão à mocidade, Que atrás do som fantástico corria: Outro Aretino fui... a santidadeManchei!... Oh! Se me creste, gente ímpia, Rasga meus versos, crê na eternidade!

Sem velas nem balaústres, mas perto da ponte o barco...


Camilo Pessanha

VIOLONCELO
Chorai arcadas Do violoncelo! Convulsionadas, Pontes aladas De pesadelo...De que esvoaçam, Brancos, os arcos... Por baixo passam, Se despedaçam, No rio, os barcos.Fundas, soluçam Caudais de choro... Que ruínas (ouçam)! Se se debruçam, Que sorvedouro!...Trémulos astros... Solidões lacustres... – Lemos e mastros... E os alabastros Dos balaústres!Urnas quebradas! Blocos de gelo... – Chorai arcadas, Despedaçadas, Do violoncelo.

O homem que entendia o Mundo, o Universo e as coisas simples


O SENTIMENTO DE UM OCIDENTAL

Cesário Verde

AVE-MARIAS


Nas nossas ruas, ao anoitecer, Há tal soturnidade, há tal melancolia, Que as sombras, o bulício, o Tejo, a maresia Despertam-me um desejo absurdo de sofrer.O céu parece baixo e de neblina, O gás extravasado enjoa-me, perturba-me; E os edifícios, com as chaminés, e a turba Toldam-se duma cor monótona e londrina.Batem os carros de aluguer, ao fundo, Levando à via-férrea os que se vão. Felizes!Ocorrem-me em revista, exposições, países:Madrid, Paris, Berlim, Sampetersburgo, o mundo!Semelham-se a gaiolas, com viveiros, As edificações somente emadeiradas: Como morcegos, ao cair das badaladas, Saltam de viga em viga, os mestres carpinteiros.Voltam os calafates, aos magotes, De jaquetão ao ombro, enfarruscados, secos, Embrenho-me a cismar, por boqueirões, por becos, Ou erro pelos cais a que se atracam botes.E evoco, então, as crónicas navais: Mouros, baixéis, heróis, tudo ressuscitado Luta Camões no Sul, salvando um livro a nado! Singram soberbas naus que eu não verei jamais!E o fim da tarde inspira-me; e incomoda! De um couraçado inglês vogam os escaleres; E em terra num tinido de louças e talheres Flamejam, ao jantar, alguns hotéis da moda.Num trem de praça arengam dois dentistas; Um trôpego arlequim braceja numas andas; Os querubins do lar flutuam nas varandas; Às portas, em cabelo, enfadam-se os lojistas!Vazam-se os arsenais e as oficinas; Reluz, viscoso, o rio, apressam-se as obreiras; E num cardume negro, hercúleas, galhofeiras, Correndo com firmeza, assomam as varinas.Vêm sacudindo as ancas opulentas! Seus troncos varonis recordam-me pilastras; E algumas, à cabeça, embalam nas canastras Os filhos que depois naufragam nas tormentas.Descalças! Nas descargas de carvão, Desde manhã à noite, a bordo das fragatas; E apinham-se num bairro aonde miam gatas, E o peixe podre gera os focos de infecção!

Pessoa:- Dois poemas, uma foto e uma montagem a propósito




Fernando Pessoa

O poeta é um fingidor.
Finge tão completamente
Que chega a fingir que é dor
A dor que deveras sente.
E os que lêem o que escreve,
Na dor lida sentem bem,
Não as duas que ele teve,
Mas só a que eles não têm.
E assim nas calhas de roda
Gira a entreter a razão,
Esse comboio de corda
Que se chama coração.

2


Quando vier a Primavera,
Se eu já estiver morto,
As flores florirão da mesma maneira
E as árvores não serão menos verdes que na Primavera passada.
A realidade não precisa de mim.
Sinto uma alegria enorme
Ao pensar que a minha morte não tem importância nenhuma
Se eu soubesse que amanhã morria
E a Primavera era depois de amanhã,
Morreria contente, porque ela era depois de amanhã.
Se esse é o seu tempo, quando havia ela de vir senão no seu tempo?
Gosto que tudo seja real e que tudo esteja certo;
E gosto porque assim seria, mesmo se eu não gostasse.
Por isso, se morrer agora, morro contente,
Porque tudo é real e tudo está certo.
Podem rezar latim sobre o meu caixão, se quiserem.
Se quiserem, podem dançar e cantar à roda dele.
Não tenho preferências para quando já não puder ter preferências.
O que fôr, quando fôr, é que será o que é.

Minha Mãe gostava deste poeta e também de Gonçalves Crespo. Eu também


Soares de Passos

O NOIVADO DO SEPULCRO
BALADA
Vai alta a lua! na mansão da morte Já meia-noite com vagar soou; Que paz tranquila; dos vaivéns da sorte Só tem descanso quem ali baixou.Que paz tranquila!... mas eis longe, ao longe Funérea campa com fragor rangeu; Branco fantasma semelhante a um monge, D'entre os sepulcros a cabeça ergueu.
Ergueu-se, ergueu-se!... na amplidão celeste Campeia a lua com sinistra luz; O vento geme no feral cipreste, O mocho pia na marmórea cruz.Ergueu-se, ergueu-se!... com sombrio espanto Olhou em roda... não achou ninguém... Por entre as campas, arrastando o manto, Com lentos passos caminhou além.Chegando perto duma cruz alçada, Que entre ciprestes alvejava ao fim, Parou, sentou-se e com a voz magoada Os ecos tristes acordou assim:"Mulher formosa, que adorei na vida, "E que na tumba não cessei d'amar, "Por que atraiçoas, desleal, mentida, "O amor eterno que te ouvi jurar?"Amor! engano que na campa finda, "Que a morte despe da ilusão falaz: "Quem d'entre os vivos se lembrara ainda "Do pobre morto que na terra jaz?"Abandonado neste chão repousa "Há já três dias, e não vens aqui... "Ai, quão pesada me tem sido a lousa "Sobre este peito que bateu por ti!"Ai, quão pesada me tem sido!" e em meio, A fronte exausta lhe pendeu na mão, E entre soluços arrancou do seio Fundo suspiro de cruel paixão."Talvez que rindo dos protestos nossos, "Gozes com outro d'infernal prazer; "E o olvido cobrirá meus ossos "Na fria terra sem vingança ter!– "Oh nunca, nunca!" de saudade infinda Responde um eco suspirando além... – "Oh nunca, nunca!" repetiu ainda Formosa virgem que em seus braços tem.Cobrem-lhe as formas divinas, airosas, Longas roupagens de nevada cor; Singela c'roa de virgínias rosas Lhe cerca a fronte dum mortal palor."Não, não perdeste meu amor jurado: "Vês este peito? reina a morte aqui... "É já sem forças, ai de mim, gelado, "Mas inda pulsa com amor por ti."Feliz que pude acompanhar-te ao fundo "Da sepultura, sucumbindo à dor: "Deixei a vida... que importava o mundo, "O mundo em trevas sem a luz do amor?"Saudosa ao longe vês no céu a lua? – "Oh vejo sim... recordação fatal! – "Foi à luz dela que jurei ser tua "Durante a vida, e na mansão final."Oh vem! se nunca te cingi ao peito, "Hoje o sepulcro nos reúne enfim... "Quero o repouso de teu frio leito, "Quero-te unido para sempre a mim!"E ao som dos pios do cantor funéreo, E à luz da lua de sinistro alvor, Junto ao cruzeiro, sepulcral mistério Foi celebrada, d'infeliz amor.Quando risonho despontava o dia, Já desse drama nada havia então, Mais que uma tumba funeral vazia, Quebrada a lousa por ignota mão.Porém mais tarde, quando foi volvido Das sepulturas o gelado pó, Dois esqueletos, um ao outro unido, Foram achados num sepulcro só.

Um dos meus poetas preferidos


Mário de Sá Carneiro

CARANGUEJOLA
Ah, que me metam entre cobertores,E não me façam mais nada!...Que a porta do meu quarto fique para sempre fechada,Que não se abra mesmo para ti se tu lá fores!Lã vermelha, leito fofo. Tudo bem calafetado...Nenhum livro, nenhum livro à cabeceira...Façam apenas com que eu tenha sempre a meu lado Bolos de ovos e uma garrafa de Madeira. Não, não estou para mais; não quero mesmo brinquedos. Pra quê? Até se mos dessem não saberia brincar...Que querem fazer de mim com estes enleios e medos? Não fui feito pra festas. Larguem-me! Deixem-me sossegar!...Noite sempre plo meu quarto. As cortinas corridas, E eu aninhado a dormir, bem quentinho– que amor!...Sim: ficar sempre na cama, nunca mexer, criar bolor –Plo menos era o sossego completo... História! Era a melhor das vidas...Se me doem os pés e não sei andar direito, Pra que hei-de teimar em ir para as salas, de Lord? Vamos, que a minha vida por uma vez se acorde Com o meu corpo, e se resigne a não ter jeito...De que me vale sair, se me constipo logo? E quem posso eu esperar, com a minha delicadeza?...Deixa-te de ilusões, Mário! Bom édredon, bom fogo –E não penses no resto. É já bastante, com franqueza...Desistamos. A nenhuma parte a minha ânsia me levará. Pra que hei-de então andar aos tombos, numa inútil correria? Tenham dó de mim. Co'a breca! levem-me prá enfermaria! –Isto é, pra um quarto particular que o meu Pai pagará... Justo. Um quarto de hospital, higiénico, todo branco, moderno e tranquilo; Em Paris, é preferível, por causa da legenda...De aqui a vinte anos a minha literatura talvez se entenda; E depois estar maluquinho em Paris fica bem, tem certo estilo...Quanto a ti, meu amor, podes vir às quintas-feiras,Se quiseres ser gentil, perguntar como eu estou. Agora no meu quarto é que tu não entras, mesmo com as melhores maneiras...Nada a fazer, minha rica. O menino dorme. Tudo o mais acabou.
Últimos Poemas, Paris, Novembro 1915

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Moedas e crise financeira. Isto não é um poema mas um drama que está para vir.


O termo crise financeira é aplicado a uma variedade de situações nas quais instituições ou ativos financeiros se desvalorizam repentinamente.
No século XIX e no início do século XX, muitas crises financeiras estiveram associadas a corridas aos bancos, durante períodos de recessão. Outras se caracterizaram pelo estouro de uma bolha financeira e pela quebra do mercado de ações ou por ataques especulativos à moeda de um país ou quando um país suspende o pagamento de sua dívida. .[1] [2]
Há várias teorias acerca do desenvolvimento das crises financeiras e como evitá-las. Entretanto, não há consenso entre os economistas. As crises continuam a ocorrer por todo o mundo e parecem se produzir com certa regularidade, podendo ser inerentes ao funcionamento da economia capitalista.
Nos dias atuais, a crise financeira, que atingiu a economia norte-americana, consumiu um trilhão de dólares em apenas uma semana, sendo que, o PIB anual desta economia é um valor entre dez a quinze trilhões
O que ficou dito é da Wikipedia. O desenho é meu.

A casa do Padre e um portão antigo



A Casa do padre e um portão antigo
Tenho tudo isso na memória comigo
De tudo me lembro agora
Mas noves fora
Do que lembro de outrora
Entre o sonho e a madrugada
É de noves fora nada

Era uma casa assombrada?
Não era.
Não era nada
A não ser a hera
Que crescia pelo muro
De granito puro e duro
Noutro tempo e noutra era

Era um bocado de aldeia
Sítio da Casa do Povo

Minha aldeia
Minha casa
Mundo que se extravasa
Numa ideia

De novo

Desenho inocente
Que não fiz quando era adolescente
Esta era a casa do padre e ao fudo um portão antigo.
Tenho isso na memória no coração e num desenho comigo.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

O coreto do Jardim da Estrela e o meu cão


No Jardim da Estrela. Ocasião!
Coreto
Fita antiga a branco e preto

Aqui nunca esteve o meu cão.

Mas como gostaria de o fotografar
A cirandar-se
E a coçar-se
Neste branco e preto
Nesta fotografia em redor do coreto.
Os dois a passear.

Mas este coreto de Outono
É tarde e sono
De céu anil vizinho
Por onde caminho sozinho

Sozinho? Não!
No outro lado de mim existe um outro continente
Onde o meu cão
Está sempre presente.

Eu e o meu cão
Cirandamos
Passeamos
Nos confins da China
Muito longe da Estrela e do Jardim
(ele sabe que sim)
Eu não sei nada
Nesta passeata de madrugada.
Ele fareja
Uma pequena mina
Afinal um buraco de estrada
Uma coisa pequenina.

Fareja, fareja e de repente
Sente
Que é preciso urinar
Neste pequeníssimo lugar
Para ocupar
Território, uma parcela
Que coisa interessante seria
Que o meu cão
Num instante finório
Fize-se cocó no Jardim da Estrela?

Teríamos enfim
Para ele e para mim
Um botânico jardim
A ser fertilizado
Por adubos naturais
O que é que os ecologistas quereriam mais?

É do que se fala agora na televisão e nos artigos de jornais.
Mas dizem que a polícia não aceita e multa
A gente descuidada e estulta
Que deixa os animais
Soltos pelos jardins sem coleira.
Na China é de outra maneira


Que coisa metafísica e fina
É observar
O meu cão
A passear
Na China

Mas quanto gostaria
Nesta antinomia
De fotografar
O meu cão
A farejar
E de repente parar
A perna alçar
E urinar
Numa urzela
Plantada no Jardim da Estrela

Sunday, November 9, 2008

A Declaração Conjunta de Hong Kong

Mais uma caricatura de J. Guedes

Lydia Selina Dunn, Baroness Dunn, DBE (Traditional Chinese: 鄧蓮如; Simplified Chinese: 邓莲如; Hanyu pinyin: Dèng Liánrú; Jyutping: dang6 lin4 jyu4) (born 29 February 1940) was the Senior Unofficial Member of the Legislative Council and Executive Council in Hong Kong in 1985-1988 and 1988-1995, after Rogerio Hyndman Lobo and Chung Sze Yuen respectively. She has been deputy chairman of banking giant HSBC in 1992-2008.
As one of the most senior politicians in Hong Kong, Dunn had considerable influence in the Government of Hong Kong before her retirement in 1992, after Chris Patten was made Governor.
Biography
Daughter of late Yen Chuen Yih Dunn and Bessie Dunn, Dunn was born on February 29, 1940. She is married to Michael David Thomas (唐明治), CMG, QC, Attorney General of Hong Kong from 1983 to 1988.
Educated at St. Paul's Convent School in Hong Kong, and at the College of the Holy Names in California, as well as at the University of California, Berkeley, she joined the Swire Group in 1964 and now she is an Executive Director of John Swire & Sons Limited and a Director of Swire Pacific Limited. She was appointed to a seat on the Legislative Council in 1976.
Being a non-executive director since 1990 and a non-executive Deputy Chairman in 1992-2008 of the HSBC Group, she also served as a non-executive director of The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited from 1981 to 1996.She was created a DBE in 1989, and in 1990 made a life peer as Baroness Dunn, of Hong Kong Island in Hong Kong and of Knightsbridge in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. She is also the first Chinese female to be made a Dame.

Richard Edward Geoffrey Howe, Baron Howe of Aberavon, CH, PC, QC (born 20 December 1926), known until 1992 as Sir Geoffrey Howe, is a British Conservative politician. He was Margaret Thatcher's longest-serving Cabinet minister, successively holding the posts of Chancellor of the Exchequer, Foreign Secretary, and finally Leader of the House of Commons and Deputy Prime Minister.
His resignation on 1 November 1990 is widely considered to have hastened Thatcher's own downfall three weeks later, in perhaps the most dramatic period of British Conservative politics in recent times.

Early life
Geoffrey Howe was born in 1926 at Port Talbot in Wales. A pupil of the Bridgend Preparatory School, Bryntirion, he then attended Abberley Hall School, Worcestershire and Winchester College. He then did National Service as a Lieutenant with the Royal Corps of Signals in East Africa, by his own account giving political lectures in Swahili about how Africans should avoid communism and remain loyal to "Bwana Kingy George". Having declined an offer to remain in the army as a captain, he went up to Trinity Hall, Cambridge, where he read Law and was chairman of the Cambridge University Conservative Association, and on the committee of the Cambridge Union Society. He was called to the Bar in 1952 and was made a QC in 1965. He became chairman of the Bow Group, an internal Tory think tank of 'young modernisers' in the 1960s, and edited its magazine Crossbow.
Member of Parliament
Howe represented Bebington in the House of Commons from 1964 to 1966, Reigate from 1970 to 1974, and East Surrey from 1974 to 1992. In 1970 he was knighted and appointed Solicitor General in Edward Heath's government, and in 1972 became Minister of State at the Department of Trade and Industry, with a seat in the Cabinet, a post he held until Labour took power in March 1974.
hadow Cabinet
In Opposition between 1974 and 1979, Howe contested the second ballot of the 1975 Conservative leadership election, in which Margaret Thatcher was elected, and then was appointed by Thatcher as Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer. He masterminded the development of new economic policies embodied in an Opposition mini-manifesto The Right Approach to the Economy. Labour Chancellor Denis Healey described being attacked by Howe (at the time the Conservative shadow Chancellor) as "like being savaged by a dead sheep".
In government
With Conservative victory in the 1979 general election, Howe became Chancellor of the Exchequer himself. His tenure was characterised by radical policies to correct the public finances, reduce inflation and liberalise the economy. The shift from direct to indirect taxation, the development of a Medium-Term Financial Strategy, the abolition of exchange controls and the creation of tax-free enterprise zones were among important decisions of his Chancellorship. Howe's famous 1981 Budget defied conventional economic wisdom at the time by deflating the economy at a time of recession. His macro-economic policy emphasised the need to narrow the budget deficit rather than engage in unilateral tax cuts of the kind subsequently pioneered in 'Reaganomics'. His micro-economic policy was designed to liberalise the economy and promote supply-side reform. This combination of policies became one of the defining features of Thatcherism in power. Some commentators regard Howe as the most successful Chancellor of his era.
Foreign Secretary
After the 1983 general election Thatcher appointed Howe Foreign Secretary, a post he held for six years. He became in effect the ambassador for a Britain whose international stature had been revived by the growing success of the 'Thatcher revolution'. He played an important part in reasserting the role of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, and developed a strong working relationship with US Secretary of State George Schultz, paralleling the bond of Reagan and Thatcher. His tenure was made difficult, however, by growing behind-the-scenes tensions with the Prime Minister on a number of issues, first on South Africa and then on Britain's relations with the European Community. In June 1989, Howe, and his successor as Chancellor, Nigel Lawson, secretly threatened to both resign over Thatcher's opposition to British membership in the exchange rate mechanism of the European Monetary System.
Deputy Prime Minister
In the following month of July 1989, the little-known John Major was unexpectedly appointed to replace Howe as Foreign Secretary, and the latter became Leader of the House of Commons, Lord President of the Council and Deputy Prime Minister. In the reshuffle, Howe was also offered, but turned down, the post of Home Secretary. Although attempts were made to present it positively, Howe's move back to domestic politics was generally seen as a demotion, especially after Thatcher's press secretary Bernard Ingham belittled the significance of the Deputy Prime Minister appointment at his morning lobby briefing the following day. The personal insult to Howe was compounded by having to give up the Foreign Secretary's country residence Chevening. The sceptical attitude towards Howe in Number 10 weakened him politically — even if it may have been driven to some degree by fear of him as a possible successor — a problem compounded by the resignation from the Treasury of his principal ally Nigel Lawson later in the same year. During his time as Deputy Prime Minister, Howe made a series of coded calls on Thatcher to re-position her administration, which was suffering rising unpopularity because of opposition to the Poll Tax, as a 'listening government'.
Resignation
With pressures mounting on Thatcher, Howe resigned from the Cabinet on 1 November 1990 — in the aftermath of the Prime Minister's position at the Rome European Council meeting the previous weekend, at which she had declared for the first time that Britain would never enter a single currency — writing a cautiously-worded letter of resignation in which he criticised Thatcher's overall handling of UK relations with the European Union. After largely successful attempts by Number 10 to claim that there were differences only of style, rather than substance, in Howe's disagreement with the Thatcher on Europe, Howe chose to send a powerful message of dissent. In the famous resignation speech in the Commons on 13 November, he attacked Thatcher for running increasingly serious risks for the future of the country and chastised her for undermining the policies on EMU proposed by her own Chancellor and Governor of the Bank of England. He offered a striking cricket metaphor for British negotiations on EMU in Europe: "It is rather like sending your opening batsmen to the crease, only for them to find, as the first balls are being bowled, that their bats have been broken before the game by the team captain". He called on others to "consider their own response to the tragic conflict of loyalties with which I have myself wrestled for perhaps too long". Although Howe said subsequently that his intention was only to constrain any shift in European policy by the Cabinet under the existing Prime Minister, his dramatic speech is widely seen as the key catalyst for the leadership challenge of Michael Heseltine a few days later, as well as Thatcher's subsequent resignation as Prime Minister and party leader on 22 November 1990, after failing to win an outright vote on the first ballot.
Retirement
Howe retired from the House of Commons in 1992 and was made a life peer as Baron Howe of Aberavon of Tandridge in the County of Surrey. He published his memoirs "Conflict of Loyalty" (Macmillan, 1994) soon after. In the Lords, Howe has continued to speak on a wide range of foreign-policy and European issues, and more recently led opposition to the Labour government's plan to convert the second chamber into a largely elected body.
In his early retirement, Howe took on a number of non-executive directorships in business and advisory posts in law and academia, including as international political adviser to the US law firm Jones Day, a director of Glaxo and J P Morgan, and visitor at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. His wife Elspeth Howe, a former Chairman of the Broadcasting Standards Commission, was made a life peer in 2001, as Baroness Howe of Idlicote. Lord Howe is a patron of the UK Metric Association.
Howe was a close personal friend of Ian Gow, the former MP, parliamentary private secretary, and personal confidant of Margaret Thatcher. He delivered the principal appreciation of Gow at the latter's memorial service after Gow was assassinated by the IRA.

Rogerio Hyndman Lobo

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Sir Rogerio Hyndman Lobo, CBE JP (Chinese: 羅保, also known as Rogerio Lobo and Roger Lobo, is a businessman of Portuguese and Scottish descent and has been an active philanthropist and politician in Hong Kong.
Born 15 September 1923, he has been a member of the Urban Council, Executive Council and Legislative Council. He is famous for his Lobo Motion in Legislative Council of Hong Kong during the negotiation of the future of Hong Kong between United Kingdom and PRC in early 1980s.Contents
Family
Rogerio Lobo's father moved from Portuguese Timor to Macau between late 19th century and early 20th century. He settled in Macau and married Branca Hyndman, the great granddaughter of Scottish sea captain Henry Hyndman, served in the British East India Company at Singapore and settled in Macau at the beginning of the 19th century.
He married Margaret Mary Choa; they have five sons and five daughters.
arly life
He studied in the Lyceum in Macau and La Salle College in Hong Kong. After his study, Rogerio Lobo joined his father's business in 1945.
Political life
Lobo was appointed as a member of Urban Council on 1 April 1965. He has been a member of Executive Council between 1967 and 1985, Legislative Council between 1972 and 1985 (the Senior Unofficial Member between 1980 to 1985) and Urban Council between 1965 and 1978.
On 14 March 1984, in his famous Lobo Motion,
This Council deems it essential that any proposals for the future of Hong Kong should be debated in this Council before any final agreement is reached.
Other public services
Lobo has participated in many public services in Hong Kong. He has been long participating in Civil Aid Service and became her commissioner in 1977. He was appointed as the head of Hong Kong Broadcasting Authority from 1989 to 1997.

Zhao Ziyang (simplified Chinese: 赵紫阳; traditional Chinese: 趙紫陽; pinyin: Zhào Zǐyáng; Wade-Giles: Chao Tzu-yang) (17 October 1919–17 January 2005) was a politician in the People's Republic of China. He was Premier of the People's Republic of China from 1980 to 1987, and General Secretary of the Communist Party of China from 1987 to 1989. As a high-ranking government official, he was a leading reformer who implemented market reforms that greatly increased production and sought measures to streamline the bloated bureaucracy and fight corruption. Once slated as Deng Xiaoping's successor, Zhao Ziyang was purged for his sympathetic stance toward the student demonstrators in the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 and spent the last fifteen years of his life under house arrest.

Rise to power

Zhao was born Zhao Xiuye (赵修业), but changed his given name to Ziyang while attending middle school. The son of a wealthy landlord in Hua County (Chinese simplified: 滑县[1]), Henan province, he joined the Communist Youth League in 1932 and worked underground as a Communist Party official during the Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) and subsequent Chinese Civil War. His father was killed by party officials in the late 1940s. He rose to prominence in the party in Guangdong from 1951 and introduced numerous successful agricultural reforms. In 1962, Zhao began to disband the commune system in order to return private land to peasants while assigning production contracts to individual households. He also directed a harsh purge of cadres accused of corruption or having ties to the Kuomintang. By 1965 Zhao was the Party secretary of Guangdong province, despite not being a member of the Communist Party Central Committee.
As a supporter of the reforms of Liu Shaoqi, he was dismissed as Guangdong party leader in 1967 during the Cultural Revolution, paraded through Guangzhou in a dunce cap and denounced as "a stinking remnant of the landlord class". He spent four years in forced labor at a factory. In 1971 he was assigned to work as an official in Inner Mongolia and then returned to Guangdong in 1972.
Zhao was rehabilitated by Zhou Enlai in 1973, appointed to the Central Committee, and sent to China's largest province (not including autonomous regions such as Tibet, etc), Sichuan, as first party secretary in 1975. Sichuan had been economically devastated by the Great Leap Forward, and the consequent Cultural Revolution. Zhao turned the province around by introducing radical and successful Market-oriented rural reforms, which led to an increase in industrial production by 81% and agricultural output by 25% within three years. Deng Xiaoping saw the "Sichuan Experience" as the model for Chinese economic reform and had Zhao inducted into the Politburo as an alternate member in 1977 and as a full member in 1979. He joined the Politburo Standing Committee in 1982.

Survived Assassination Attempts

Since Sichuan province was a strong base of Radicalism during the Cultural Revolution, the ardent followers of the Gang of Four vehemently opposed Zhao's reforms. However, Zhao's policy had huge popular support and the supporters of the Gang of Four turned to assassination after all other supposedly legal means failed. Over the years in Sichuan during the Cultural Revolution, there were no fewer than half a dozen attempts on Zhao's life, and the most serious one happened when Zhao's jeep was ambushed in a valley during one of his trips, where he narrowly escaped death, but in an attempt to save Zhao's life, his driver/secretary was crushed and buried by an artificially induced landslide. Although attempts on Zhao's only resulted in this single loss of life, the last culprits were not caught until 1983, well after the end of the Cultural Revolution.

Rehabilitation

Zhao was rehabilitated in 1971 and appointed Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Revolutionary Committee secretary and Vice Chairman in March 1972. He was elevated to the 10th Central Committee in August 1973 and returned to Guangdong as 1st CCP Secretary and Revolutionary Committee Chair in April 1974. He added Guangdong Military District Political Commissar to his titles in September 1975. Zhao was transferred to Sichuan, and in addition to his party titles, became Political Commissar of the Chengdu Military Region in December 1975.

Reformist leader

After six months as vice-premier, Zhao was appointed premier in 1980 to replace Hua Guofeng, Mao's designated successor, who was being pushed out of power by Deng Xiaoping. He developed "preliminary stage theory," a course for transforming the socialist system that set the stage for much of the later Chinese economic reform. As premier, he implemented many of the policies that were successful in Sichuan, including giving limited self-management to industrial enterprises and increased control over production to peasants. Zhao sought to develop coastal provinces with special economic zones that could lure foreign investment and create export hubs. This led to rapid increases in both agricultural and light-industrial production throughout the 1980s, but his economic reforms were criticized for causing inflation. Zhao also persisted in advocating an open foreign policy, fostering good relations with western nations that could aid China's economic development.
Zhao was a solid believer in the party, but he defined socialism much differently than party conservatives. Zhao called political reform "the biggest test facing socialism." He believed economic progress was inextricably linked to democratization. As early as 1986, Zhao became the first high-ranking Chinese leader to call for change, by offering a choice of election candidates from the village level all the way up to membership in the Central Committee.
In the 1980s, Zhao was branded by many as a revisionist of Marxism. He advocated government transparency and a national dialogue that included ordinary citizens in the policymaking process, which made him popular with the masses. In Sichuan, where Zhao implemented economic restructuring in the 1970s, there was a saying: "要吃粮,找紫阳 (yao chi liang, zhao Ziyang)." The wordplay on his name, loosely translated, means "if you want to feed yourself, follow Ziyang."
In January 1987, Deng forced reformist leader Hu Yaobang to resign for being too lenient to student protestors; Zhao replaced him as CPC General Secretary, whose vacated premiership was in turn filled by Li Peng. This put Zhao in the position to succeed Deng as paramount leader. While General Secretary Zhao favored loosening government controls over industry and creating free-enterprise zones in the coastal regions, Premier Li favored a cautious approach that relied more on central planning and guidance.
In the 1987 Communist Party Congress Zhao declared that China was in "a primary stage of socialism" that could last 100 years. Under this premise, China needed to experiment with a variety of economic systems to stimulate production. Zhao proposed to separate the roles of the party and state, a proposal that has since become taboo. According to western observers, the two years Zhao served as General Secretary were the most open in modern Chinese history—many limitations on freedom of speech and freedom of press were relaxed, allowing intellectuals to freely propose improvements for the country.
Equally important, in the economic arena, Zhao was one of the first leaders to advocate the reduction of state control in enterprises by increasing private ownership via stock. Although the idea also became taboo during Zhao's era, it did begin to become a reality since 1990s.
Zhao's proposal in May 1988 to accelerate price reform led to widespread popular complaints about rampant inflation and gave opponents of rapid reform the opening to call for greater centralization of economic controls and stricter prohibitions against Western influence. This precipitated a political debate, which grew more heated through the winter of 1988 to 1989.
The second half of 1988 saw the increasing deterioration of Zhao's political environment. In fact, Zhao found himself in multi-front turf battles with the party elders, who grew increasingly dissatisfied with Zhao's hands-off approach to ideological matters, as well as the conservative faction in the politburo led by Li Peng and Yao Yilin, who were constantly at odds with him in economic and fiscal policy making. In the mean time, Zhao was under growing pressure to combat the runaway corruption by the rank-and-file officials and their family members. As the year of 1989 kicked off, it was evident that Zhao was faced with an increasingly difficult uphill battle, to some extent he was fighting for his own political survival. If he was unable to turn things around rapidly, a showdown with the party conservatives would be all but inevitable. As it happened, the student protests triggered by the sudden death of former CCP General Secretary Hu Yaobang, widely seen as a reform-minded leader, provided Zhao with a golden opportunity to regain political upperhand and to advance his reform agenda.

Purged after Tiananmen Square Protests

Zhao Ziyang (accompanied by then-Chief of Staff Wen Jiabao) addressed the student protestors at Tiananmen on 19 May 1989. He apologized to the students, saying "Students, we came too late. We are sorry."
The death of Hu Yaobang on 15 April 1989, coupled with growing economic hardship caused by high inflation, provided the backdrop for the large-scale protest of 1989 by students, intellectuals, and other parts of a disaffected urban population. Student demonstrators, taking advantage of the loosening political atmosphere, reacted to a variety of causes of discontent, which they attributed to the slow pace of reform. Ironically, some of the original invective was also directed against Zhao. The party hardliners increasingly came to the opposite conclusion, regretting an excessively rapid pace of change for causing the mood of confusion and frustration rife among college students. The protesters called for an end to official corruption and for defense of freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution of the People's Republic of China. Protests also spread through many other cities, including Shanghai and Guangzhou.
The tragic events of the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 sealed Zhao's fate and rendered impossible any further democratic movement. While he was paying an official visit to Pyongyang, the party hard-liners exploited the opportunity to declare the ongoing protests "counter-revolutionary." Upon returning from Pyongyang, Zhao made several attempts to steer the course toward what he called "a track based upon democracy and the rule of law". He opened up channels for direct dialogues between students and the government at multiple levels. He also ordered the news media to cover the student demonstrations with unprecedented openness. A number of legislative initiatives aimed at the reform of press, news media and education were also under way. However, Zhao's initiatives, along with his conciliatory attitude toward the students, were seen by the elders and other party hard-liners as hastened steps toward breaking free the party control, therefore a recipe for ultimate disaster. The evening of 16 May marked the point of no return of Zhao's political career. At the onset of his meeting with the visiting Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, Zhao made a stunning announcement declaring that Deng Xiaoping, though officially no longer a member of the party central committee, was still having final say in major decision-making. Zhao's move was viewed as an unmistakable sign of departing company with the party leadership, especially the aging paramount leader. It was at this point that Zhao completely lost the trust of Deng Xiaoping, his long-time political patron and mentor. On the night of 18 May, Zhao was summoned to Deng's residence and a hastily called Politburo Standing Committee was called to endorse martial law with Zhao casting the lone dissenting vote.
Shortly before 5 A.M. on the morning of 19 May, Zhao appeared in Tiananmen Square and wandered among the crowd of protesters. Using a bullhorn, he had the following famous speech with the students at the square. It was first broadcast through China Central Television nationwide.

Students, we came too late. We are sorry. You talk about us, criticize us, it is all necessary. The reason that I came here is not to ask you to forgive us. All I want to say is that students are getting very weak, it is the 7th day since you went on hunger strike, you can't continue like this. As the time goes on, it will damage your body in an unrepairable way, it could be very dangerous to your life. Now the most important thing is to end this strike. I know, your hunger strike is to hope that the Party and the government will give you a satisfying answer. I feel that our communication is open. Some of the problem can only be solved by certain procedures. For example, you have mentioned about the nature of the incident, the question of responsibility, I feel that those problems can be resolved eventually, we can reach a mutual agreement in the end. However, you should also know that the situation is very complicated, it is going to be a long process. You can't continue the hunger strike for the 7th day, and still insist for a satisfying answer before ending the hunger strike.
You are still young, there are still many days yet to come, you must live healthy, and see the day when China accomplishes the four modernizations. You are not like us, we are already old, it doesn't matter to us any more. It is not easy that this nation and your parents support you to study in colleges. Now you are all about early 20's, and want to sacrifice lives so easily, students, can't you think logically? Now the situation is very serious, you all know, the Party and the nation is very antsy, the whole society is very worried. Besides, Beijing is the capital, the situation is getting worse and worse from everywhere, this can not be continued. Students all have good will, and are for the good of our nation, but if this situation continues, loses control, it will cause serious consequences at many places.
In conclusion, I have only one wish. If you stop hunger strike, the government won't close the door for dialogue, never! The questions that you have raised, we can continue to discuss. Although it is a little slow, but we are reaching some agreement on some problems. Today I just want to see the students, and express our feelings. Hopefully students will think about this question calmly. This thing can not be sorted out clearly under illogical situations. You all have that strength, you are young after all. We were also young before, we protested, lied our bodies on the rail tracks, we never thought about what will happen in the future at that time. Finally, I beg the students once again, think about the future calmly. There are many things that can be solved. I hope that you will all end the hunger strike soon, thank you.[3]

" 我們已經老了,無所謂了。" - "We are already old, it doesn't matter to us any more." became a famous quote after that. That was his last public appearance.

House arrest until death

The protesters did not disperse. A day after Zhao's 19 May visit to Tiananmen Square, Premier Li Peng publicly declared martial law. In the power struggle that ensued, Zhao was stripped of all his positions. What motivated Zhao remains, even today, a topic of debate by many. Some say he went into the square hoping a conciliatory gesture would gain him leverage against hard-liners like Premier Li Peng. Others believe he supported the protesters and did not want to see them hurt when the military was called in. After the incident, Zhao was placed under house arrest and replaced as General Secretary by Jiang Zemin, who had suppressed similar protests in Shanghai without much bloodshed.
Zhao remained under tight supervision and was allowed to leave his courtyard compound or receive visitors only with permission from the highest echelons of the party. There were occasional reports of him attending the funeral of a dead comrade, visiting other parts of China or playing golf at Beijing courses, but the government rather successfully kept him hidden from news reports and history books. Over that period, only a few snapshots of a gray-haired Zhao leaked out to the media. On at least two occasions Zhao wrote letters, addressed to the Chinese government, in which he put forward the case for a reassessment of the Tiananmen Massacre. One of those letters appeared on the eve of the Communist Party's 15th National Congress. The other came during a 1998 visit to China by U.S. President Bill Clinton. Neither was ever published in mainland China.

Death and muted response
In February 2004, Zhao had a pneumonia attack that led to a lung malfunctioning and was hospitalized for three weeks. Zhao was hospitalized again with pneumonia on 5 December 2004. Reports of his death were officially denied in early January 2005. Later, on 15 January, he was reported to be in a coma after multiple strokes. According to activist Frank Lu, Vice President Zeng Qinghong visited Zhao in the hospital. Zhao died on 17 January in a Beijing hospital at 07:01 at the age of 85. He is survived by his second wife, Liang Boqi, and five children (a daughter and four sons).
The government's response to Zhao's death was notably muted, probably out of fear that mass mourning would spark national protests as had occurred after the deaths of Zhou Enlai and Hu Yaobang. The official government Xinhua News Agency reported as "Zhao Ziyang died at 85" in the English version,[4] while the Chinese title was "Comrade Zhao Ziyang died." It did not make any note of his official titles or legacy as a leader. This is considered unusual, because people who have lower ranks than he did would usually get numerous titles, such as the great revolutionist, loved by the people, etc.[citation needed] Zhao's death was not mentioned on state-run television and radio programs. All Chinese newspapers carried the exact same 59-word obituary on the day following his death, leaving the main means of mass dissemination through the Internet. [2] Internet forums, such as the Strong Nation Forum and the SINA.com Forum were flooded with messages expressing condolences for Zhao, but these messages were promptly deleted by moderators, leading to more postings attacking the moderators for deleting the postings.
In Hong Kong, 10,000–15,000 people attended the candlelight vigil in remembrance of Zhao. Mainlanders such as Chen Juoyi said that it was illegal for Hong Kong legislators to join any farewell ceremony, stating "...under the 'one country, two systems' a Hong Kong legislator cannot care anything about mainland China." The statement caused a political storm in Hong Kong that continued for three days after his speech. Szeto Wah, the chairman of The Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China, said that it was not right for the Communists to suppress the memorial ceremony. The twenty-four pan-democrat legislators went against the chairperson of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong, insisting that security be tightened at Tiananmen Square and at Zhao's house, and that the authorities try to prevent any public displays of grief.
Similar memorials were held around the world, notably in New York City and Washington, DC where American government officials and exiled political dissidents attended.
Zhao's positions would have normally entitled him to a state funeral, but the PRC government stated that the funerary arrangements for past leaders had been streamlined and state funerals were no longer held. Skeptics have questioned whether future funerals of Chinese ex-leaders will be as muted as Zhao's.
On 29 January 2005 the government held a funeral ceremony for him at the Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery, a place reserved for revolutionary heroes and high government officials, that was attended by some 2,000 mourners that had been pre-approved to attend. Several dissidents, including Zhao's secretary Bao Tong and Tiananmen Mothers leader Ding Zilin, were kept under house arrest to prevent them from attending. The most senior official to attend the funeral was Jia Qinglin, fourth in the party hierarchy. Mourners were allowed five at a time to view Zhao's flag-covered body and to pay respect to his family. They were forbidden to bring flowers or to inscribe their own messages on the government-issued flowers. There was no eulogy at the ceremony because the government and Zhao's family could not agree on its content: while the government wanted to say he made mistakes, his family refused to accept he did anything wrong. On the day of his funeral, state television mentioned Zhao's death for the first time and issued a short obituary acknowledging his contribution to economic reforms, but saying he made "serious mistakes" during the 1989 protests. After the ceremony, Zhao was cremated. His ashes were taken to his Beijing home as the government denied him a place at Babaoshan.] Push for rehabilitation
In 2005, former NPC Chairman Wan Li joined more than 20 retired Politburo members, including Tian Jiyun, former Vice Premier, in asking the Central Government to rehabilitate Zhao’s name and hold memorial services for him for his many important contributions to China. The Chinese government agreed to hold a ceremony to honor the late Communist Party chief Zhao Ziyang, but the response fell far short of satisfying the requests from both inside and outside the CPC.
Lobo was appointed OBE in 1972 , the CBE in 1978, and knighted in 1984. He was awarded the degree of Doctor of Laws, honoris causa from the University of Hong Kong in 1982.

Friday, November 7, 2008

Monsenhor Manuel Teixeira. Caricatura de J.Guedes

" Citação da Wikipédia"
Monsenhor Manuel Teixeira (1912-2003) foi um famoso historiador português de Macau e um sacerdote católico. Viveu grande parte da sua vida em Macau e contribuiu bastante nas áreas de missionação, de educação e do estudo da história. Deixou uma grande quantidade de informação valiosa sobre a História daquela terra e sobre a História da Diocese de Macau. O seu trabalho e empenho foram reconhecidos pelas sociedades de Portugal e de Macau.

Vida

Nasceu no dia 15 de Abril de 1912, no Freixo de Espada à Cinta, em Trás-os-Montes, Portugal. Em 1924, após a conclusão da instrução primária na sua terra natal, partiu para Macau, onde ingressou no Seminário de S. José. Foi na Igreja do Seminário de S. José que ele recebeu a Ordem sacerdotal no dia 29 de Outubro de 1934. Nesse mesmo ano, tornou-se pároco de S. Lourenço, cargo que desempenhou até 1946.
Aos 22 anos, começou a dirigir o “Boletim Eclesiástico da Diocese de Macau” e, sob a sua direcção, que durou 13 anos, o Boletim tornou-se numa publicação internacionalmente conhecida, graças também ao importante contributo de outras pessoas prestigiosas como José M. Braga e Charles Ralph Boxer.
Em 1942, fundou a revista mensal “O Clarim” e foi tamém co-fundador do semanário “União”. Nas décadas de 70 e 80, foi director dos “Arquivos de Macau” e do “Boletim do Instituto Luís de Camões”.
Entre 1932 e 1970, ele foi também professor no Seminário de São José, no Colégio de São José, na Escola Comercial Pedro Nolasco e no Liceu Nacional Infante D. Henrique.
Em 1948, parte para Singapura como missionário e Vigário Geral das Missões Portuguesas de Singapura e Malaca. Lá, organizou várias instituições religiosas e fundou a revista de língua inglesa “Rally”.
O Padre Manuel Teixeira foi um importante e reconhecido historiador de Macau e empenhou-se tanto que publicou 123 livros de investigação histórica. Foi também um importante investigador da presença portuguesa no Oriente. Recebeu em 1981 e 1983, respectivamente, o prémio de História da Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian pelas suas obras “Os Militares em Macau” e “Toponímia de Macau”.
Em 1982, devido à sua popularidade, foi proclamado Figura do Ano em Macau. Em 1984, instituiu a "Fundação Padre Teixeira", um fundo de apoio aos estudantes pobres de Macau e cujo capital excede já o montante de 600 mil dólares de Hong-Kong.
Regressou a Portugal a 16 de Maio de 2001, onde veio a falecer no dia 15 de Setembro de 2003, aos 91 anos, em Chaves.


O já idoso monsenhor Manuel Teixeira (na esquerda da foto) recebendo das mãos de Jorge Sampaio (na direita da foto) a insígnia de Grã-Cruz da Ordem Militar de Santiago da Espada, no dia 18 de Dezembro de 1999.
Monsenhor Manuel Teixeira foi membro da Associação Internacional de Historiadores da Ásia, da Academia Portuguesa de História e da Academia Portuguesa de Marinha, sócio-correspondente da Sociedade de Geografia de Lisboa, sócio da Sociedade Científica Católica Portuguesa, vogal do Centro de Estudos Históricos Ultramarinos, vogal do Conselho da Universidade da Ásia Oriental.
Honras e Condecorações
Em 1952, o Governo Português agraciou-o com o grau de Oficial da Ordem do Império Colonial.
Em 1974, foi condecorado com o grau de Comendador da Ordem do Infante D. Henrique e, em 1985, com a Medalha de Valor. A 10 de Junho de 1989 foi condecorado, pelo então Presidente da República Portuguesa, Dr. Mário Soares, com a Comenda da Ordem Militar de Santiago da Espada. Em 1996, foi condecorado com o grau de Grande-Oficial da Ordem do Infante D. Henrique. No dia 18 de Dezembro de 1999, dois dias antes da transferência de soberania de Macau para a República Popular da China, ele, comovido, recebeu das mãos do então Presidente da República Portuguesa, Jorge Sampaio, a insígnia da Grã-Cruz da Ordem Militar de Santiago da Espada.
Monsenhor Manuel Teixeira era também Doutor Honoris Causa em Letras da Universidade da Ásia Oriental.

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Silva Mendes


Manuel da Silva Mendes foi um dos intelectuais mais representativos da história de Macau, no primeiro quartel do século XX.
Espírito polifacetado, Professor e Reitor do Liceu, Advogado, Juiz, Presidente do Leal Senado, teve ainda tempo para se dedicar ao estudo da filosofia taoista e para se embrenhar nos exigentes meandros da arte chinesa, como erudito e coleccionador. Alias, a sua valiosíssima colecção particular constituio o espólio mais significativo do desaparecido Museu Luís de Camões.
Professor atento aos problemas da instrução publica de Macau, surpreendendo-nos, ainda hoje, por algumas teorizações cheias de bom senso e de lucidez.