ERASMUS+ KA2 PROJECT
SCHOOL EDUCATION No. 2018-1-PT01-KA229-047365
Sustainability for Democracy,
Democracy for Sustainability
ESJS-Mafra
students interact with journalist Soraia Ramos’s life experiences
Reporter for 14 years, was invited to
talk with students from Escola Secundária José Saramago - Mafra (ESJS - Mafra), on November 12th, about Human Rights violation events she witnessed,
along with other experiences in several countries.
This lecture, which is related to the
Erasmus+ Partnership Project with European Schools - “Sustainability for Democracy, Democracy
for Sustainability”, ended up turning into a conversation, in which everyone “travelled” around the world, through the description of the
reporter’s experiences. It was very interesting and enriching, since Soraia herself gave contemporary examples
of non-compliance with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, even 69 years after its agreement
(10/12/1948).
Jorge Rocha, current Philosophy teacher
at ESJS-Mafra and Soraia Ramos’s friend, contributed to the presentation, mentioning the journalist’s work in Bangladesh. Soraia
photographed a group of displaced people, without any proper life conditions, surrounding a muddy water
pond - an indecent violation of various articles from the UDHR. With this example, we may conclude
that goods considered essential in the Western World, such as personal hygiene items, are seen as
almost superfluous in unstable populations.
Soraia Ramos also lived within war
scenarios on Eastern Ukraine, Europe. She was surrounded not only by fully armed men, but also by lost people involved in the war that were
there to help her in spite of all the dangers they had to face. She claimed it was the most shocking work
trip she performed. According to Figure 1, this case made Soraia the first female reporter and Portuguese reporter, as well, to execute war coverage.
Next, Soraia Ramos “took” the students
with her to Syria. She narrated the civic obligation of wearing a burka, of which she had to comply as a woman. The same happened in Morocco, where she always carried a scarf to prevent any prosecution. Soraia added that, while being in another country, regardless of the time they’re spending there, everyone should act respectfully towards its laws and civic duties and responsibilities, if we don’t want to take risks. In Syria, no one has the permission to talk directly with women and they are forbidden to express themselves in public: an affront to Article 19 of the UDHR.
By suggestion of a Venezuelan student, the journalist “transported” the
audience to her experiencein the Caracas airport. The security
guards distrusted Soraia Ramos, only for the fact that she carried a single medium-sized backpack with everything she would need along a
transatlantic journey.
PowerPoint slide illustrating Soraia Ramos’ mission in the Eastern Ukraine War.
Thereafter, she was forced to give her backpack to a
full inspection. In addition to this impasse, the journalist also remembers seeing many people running to the supermarkets, early in the morning,
in order to be the first to buy as many goods as they could, to sell them at a higher price. In
Venezuela it’s already considered a job (being a bachaquero), since
that’s the only revenue those people have. Venezuela was experiencing a serious humanitarian crisis, and the Portuguese community there was
significant.
Within Latin America, we followed with Paraguay. The reporter landed at the
airport, with all the official documents needed to identify a European and Portuguese citizen, but
the security guards didn’t trust her identity. This is because, in Paraguay, there is a well-known
business of falsifying documents, as stated by the journalist.
Finally, Brazil, which is an example of the greatest asymmetries and social
inequalities, as well as disrespect for Human Rights - which may be aggravated with the victory of Jair
Bolsonaro for president.
In conclusion, the students and teachers who attended this lecture retained
great benefits from this initiative and are genuinely grateful to the journalist Soraia Ramos for
her great availability.
Marta
Mendes Afonso
Student nr. 18 of class 11SE3, ESJS-Mafra
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On December 5th, 2018 a speech on the
role of the military institutions was given by Colonel Nuno Lemos Pires in the auditorium of Escola Secundária José Saramago, in
Mafra.
I will write a critical analysis on this
speech, but before I would like to make a brief summary of some of the aspects covered.
The institutions mentioned in this speech
were the military institutions, which in democratic countries have the role of assuring not only the respect of every individual’s
rights, but also of guaranteeing inclusion and administering violence. However, in unstructured
countries they sometimes wind up being the cause of oppression and may lead to armed
conflicts. War might be considered a permanent situation, which has been a fact throughout History.
There have always been wars, for various reasons, except during a short period of time.
When wars first appeared, they strove for the acquisition of profit. However, across History
they have suffered a huge evolution, more pronounced during the Roman Empire and Napoleonic Wars,
having acquired new purposes and pretexts. One of these pretexts dwells on the
misinterpretation (due to the lack of contextualization of a particular passage) of Scriptures,
such as the Bible, the Torah and the Koran, leading to the so called “just wars”.
Following the exposition of the facts
mentioned above, war was broken down to three factors: natural phenomenon (biological aggressiveness/instincts of violence), social
phenomenon (due to flawed systems) and rational actions (based on different ideologies).
Therefore, as war is a permanent situation, which is deeply ingrained in us as living beings, how can
it be halted? This question was enlightened by the Colonel. War, along with other similar
conflicts, is countered by the respect of the universal values stated in the Universal Declaration of
the Human Rights, by the acceptance of imperfection and the use of reason.
At last, a summary was made on the
current situation and the future trends. In today’s society, a new type of conflict emerges, the “new wars”, which are fights of ideals, won
by fear and of illegal financing. In the future there tends to be an increase in population, a
decrease of resources, climate changes, decay of power and development of new technologies.Over the course of this speech, Colonel
Nuno Lemos Pires exhibited the fundamental characteristics of a powerful speaker, since he was able to project his voice,
in order to reach the whole auditorium, without resorting to the use of a microphone, grasping
the attention of the audience and keeping it until the very last minute. I find that the
information explained was of extreme relevance, and, due to the content and the shocking images,
which portray not only our present but also our future, it was possible for each of the
attendants to capture the message transmitted.Finally, I believe that the message
spread should be shared with as many people as possible, because it is mandatory to raise awareness to the consequences that some
current situations will have in a near future.
Margarida Santos, student nr. 18 of class
11CT6
Marta Cabeça, student nr. 19 of class 11LH5
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