European Winter

   There are places where threats from outside (real or imagined - or both) strengthen the consciousness of common values. In these days we Europeans may feel scolded for being self-convinced, wealthy, for taking many things for granted, for not being able to manage crises. Lack of historical memories? But you just have to meet older people who tell you about the times of the last wars. Even if we were not directly involved, we suffered from various material restrictions. The worst of them was censorship under the regime, that supported Franco's army during the Spanish Civil war and flirted with both sides during WW II. The documentary by João Canijo "Fantasia Lusitana" shows that flirt openly. The Lisbon harbour was busy around the clock, welcoming the vessels of the Allies but also of the German Fleet, shipping the refugees towards the American Eldorado. They all met in Lisbon at the early forties, but hardly came in touch. My city was a marked space and a waste land at the same time.
   We surely welcome the Arab spring, but what we badly need for the moment is a shade of light in the winter. This light comes from dialogue, from stretched hands, from living together as life students."Image-making as global policy is indeed something new in the huge arsenal of human follies recorded in history", wrote Hannah Arendt in the year of 1975, shortly before her death.
   But looking at the naked branches of a winter tree, we may begin imagining the small buds from the next spring. And enjoy the rumour of the sea waves.

TS