In, against, beyond corona : what does living through the corona crisis in South Africa reveal to us?

Part of what is revealed is what is wrong and toxic - in ourselves, in our relations with others, and in our relation with the rest of non-human nature. But it's also terribly important to listen for and to seek out what is revealed that is good and life-affirming. Both are vital. Our current situation is deeply structured by capitalism and as such has made all of our lives, livelihoods, relations and goods tied up with, and dependent on, reproducing that system. It is clear that the real catastrophe is the inevitable and accelerating spiral of death that flows from that logic of capital and of money. But new (and old too) forms of experimenting in radically different ways of doing/being/relating that flow from it are also revealed - the ways of thinking and doing that reject the logic of power-over, of competition or profit, of exploitation and humiliation. Can these be sustained beyond the immediate corona crisis?; shouldn't we be encouraging people to identify these areas and think/act them as a present future, planning and imagining how to extend them forward in time?; and expanding them to growing spheres of life? At the level of values and principles, we do wonder whether kindness, social solidarity, and an appropriate scale of time, aren't perhaps the most important of these? We are much more likely to actually change the world when we listen and tap into all the many ways in which people's own questions and thinking, their ways of relating and acting, refuse the logic of toxic power and monetised exchange for profit. Here, we will discover already-existing breaks and practices that, instead, embody and embrace the values and principles for a better way of reproducing life. "This short pamphlet provides reflections on the challenges of the cononavirus / COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa. Part of what is revealed is what is wrong and toxic--in ourselves, in our relations with others, and in our relation with the rest of non-human nature. But it’s also terribly important to listen for and to seek out what is revealed that is good and life-affirming. Both are vital. Our current situation is deeply structured by capitalism and as such has made all of our lives, livelihoods, relations and goods tied up with, and dependent on, reproducing that system. It is clear that the real catastrophe is the inevitable and accelerating spiral of death that flows from that logic of capital and of money. But new (and old too) forms of experimenting in radically different ways of doing/being/relating that flow from it are also revealed--the ways of thinking and doing that reject the logic of power-over, of competition or profit, of exploitation and humiliation. Can these be sustained beyond the immediate corona crisis?; shouldn’t we be encouraging people to identify these areas and think/act them as a present future, planning and imagining how to extend them forward in time?; and expanding them to growing spheres of life? At the level of values and principles, we do wonder whether kindness, social solidarity, and an appropriate scale of time, aren’t perhaps the most important of these? We are much more likely to actually change the world when we listen and tap into all the many ways in which people’s own questions and thinking, their ways of relating and acting, refuse the logic of toxic power and monetised exchange for profit. Here, we will discover already-existing breaks and practices that, instead, embody and embrace the values and principles for a better way of reproducing life."-- Provided by publisher

A História do Português desde o Big Bang visita a mais remota história da língua, muito antes do latim: mostra a origem das línguas da Europa, como se desenvolveu o português na Península, quem deu nome à língua, o que aconteceu no Brasil e como o português se transformou noutras línguas, os crioulos, que revelam muito mais sobre a humanidade do que pensamos. No final, o livro também imagina como será a língua daqui a 500 anos, quando Os Lusíadas fizerem mil anos. Que língua se falará então?Este livro baseia-se em ciências como a física e a biologia para contar a história da nossa língua. Só compreenderemos a origem do português se compreendermos a origem da humanidade e só compreenderemos o funcionamento da língua se compreendermos o cérebro humano e o Universo em que se insere. A História do Português desde o Big Bang tem uma visão original da humanidade, plasmada numa ideia, a do círculo da traduzibilidade. O filho de qualquer ser humano pode aprender qualquer língua humana — e não aprende nenhuma linguagem animal, por mais que tente. Tudo o que um ser humano diz ou escreve pode ser traduzido para todas as línguas da humanidade, por qualquer pessoa, independentemente da raça ou do sexo. No entanto, a humanidade nunca poderia falar uma só língua. Estamos condenados a traduzir. Também por isso, a ideia da intraduzibilidade é profundamente contrária à ideia de humanidade.