La Gira

I can’t go back to yesterday because I was a different person then

da Peter Herrmann's Blog, posted in contemporary socio-economic situation, social quality, works, projects, publications

I can’t go back to yesterday because I was a different person then.

And knowing that they come from the beautiful book ‘Alice in Wonderland’ we may feel tempted to recommend Lewis Carroll’s book as reading for Joseph Stiglitz.

Sure, there is always some temptation to go to events like the one today at LUISS Università Guido Carli, listening to Joseph Stiglitz looking at the question

Can the Euro Be Saved? An Analysis of the Future of the Currency Union.

Part of the temptation may actually sometimes be simply seeing economics another time as questionable subject and as such not so much an academic discipline (sure, fouling the own nest – but there had been more outstanding economists that did so, thus I am only doing the usual thing: standing on the shoulders of giants, though I am not sure how much further I can see).

Be it as it is, my first irritation came right at the beginning of Joseph’s presentation, hearing about recession and subsequently recovery. The terms had been used in connection with the locating European economies in respect of their development.

It is an often-discussed point and an extremely tricky question – recession and depression had been mentioned in the presentation. And indeed it is somewhat funny then to hear that during the time Joseph Stiglitz worked for the World Bank the term depression had been admonished – it would sound so negative, and have such bad effects especially at times where people are already depressed. Still, the question remains if talking about a recession is not as misleading as the reference to depression. Isn’t it much more precise and honest to say what all this is about:

A crisis – and indeed a structural crisis.

And it is not a structural crisis just of the Euro. In fact we are confronted with a crisis of the fundamentals of the capitalist economy. Actually I talked with Marco today in the morning exactly about this question – and we should accept that it is a question and any claim to give an unequivocal answer is pretentious. Before shortly looking at this, there is at least the following that Joseph valuably emphasised: austerity policy is causing huge problems for a majority of the people, not contributing to solve economic problems but evoking a major social downgrading for many.

There are at least the following perspectives waiting for some thorough reflection. One can be seen as capitalism returning to its pure form. There is surely some truth saying that in one way or another, capitalism as it emerged and became known as Manchester Capitalism had been tamed: social and welfare state being one aspect, general working conditions and some forms of respect of workers (also political) rights have to be mentioned. So one way of looking at the current crisis and the harsh ‘restructuration’ may be interpreted in this way: we are returning to pure capitalism.

Another perspective, however, is to see the structural change in connection with some fundamental shifts caused by the development of the means of production. We may then suggest that we are witnessing the emergence of a new mode of production – it is not (necessarily) about capitalism or not-capitalism. It is just about recognising a more fundamental shift that is not directed towards establishing a status-quo-ante. Instead, it is about the emergence of a new system that goes ‘beyond’ the current system.

The social consequences then – not least visible in the development of precarity – would then be somewhat comparable with the development that went hand in hand with the emergence of capitalism. The machinery – i.e. progress – showed devastating consequences for example for the weavers who lost their work. At the same time, the new inventions allowed also progress by way of developing new ways of work and working conditions – objectively surely progressive at the time.

Coming back to the presentation then, there had been two striking points:

* Stiglitz did not engage in any of those questions that had been raised in the 2009-report ‘The Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress’ (see my own comments specifically on this report from a Social Quality Perspective in the article Economic Performance, Social Progress and Social Quality [International Journal of Social Quality 2(1), Summer 2012: 43–57 © Zhejiang University, European Foundation on Social Quality and Berghahn Journals 2012 doi:10.3167/IJSQ.2011.010204]).

* This means at the same time that he oriented very much on a traditional perspective: economic recovery, seen as matter of industrial policy.

Actually I would agree with the need of recovery, but only under strict observation of the following qualification:

  • It has to be a matter of ‘covery’, meaning a policy that is fundamentally oriented on covering the entirety of economic and social challenges in an integrated way and also covering on a global level the entirety of the population – surely something on which we can easily find agreement. – Actually one of Joseph’s remark pointed into this direction, saying that there cannot be a surplus in all countries – yes, and indeed something also Germany has to accept.
  • Talking about recovery means that we have to find an integrated approach in terms of bringing the issue of soci(et)al sustainability thoroughly on the agenda. This is not just about ‘balancing different policy areas’ as it had been issued in the Economic Performance and Social Progress-report. A much more fundamental consideration is required.
  • This means not least to revisit the hugely valuable work issued by Karl Polanyi in his opus magnum on ‘The Great Transformation’, talking about the political and economic origins of our time (if I am not mistaken there is a more or less new edition of the book available – with a foreword/introduction by Stiglitz). Polanyi looked extensively at processes of dis- embedding, i.e. the separation of ‘the economy’ from the soci(et)al context. If we talk about the lost connection between finance and real economy, we surely have to look at the underlying loss of the connection between ‘society’ and ‘economy’.
  • This brings me to the last qualification when looking at the need for recovery. In a contribution I wrote together with Marica Frangarkis, we spoke about The need for a radical ‘growth policy’ agenda for Europe at a time of crisis (in: Dymarski, Wlodzimierz/Marica Frangakis/Leaman, Jeremy, 2104: The Deepening Crisis of the European Union: The Case for Radical Change; Poznań: Poznań University of Economics Press, 2014). And the kind of recovery, and even the way of thinking of recovery has to start at this point: the quid pro quo. It can only make sense if we start by overcoming the dichotomisation between economic and social thinking, demanding for both a sustainable orientation.

Indeed, the cart in front of the horse is always in danger to be pulled back – and at least this is something where I would strongly agree with Stiglitz: Austerity policies never did any good. But for the rest, we should remind ourselves of the little discussion between Alice and the cat.

“Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?”

“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to.”

“I don’t much care where –”

“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go.”

(from Alice in Wonderland)

Time – On Whose Side?

da Peter Herrmann's Blog, posted in contemporary socio-economic situation, general, thoughts on life and its philosophy, works, projects, publications

The problem surely is one of change, and thus of time – and this, metaphorically, may be seen in the change of art. There is the famous failure of Leonardo: the fresco, applying a wrong formula. The problem with the technique is that one is not allowed to make any mistake: the paint goes immediately into the ground and nothing can be changed. Leonardo (as far as I remember for reasons of time pressure), wanted to take a short-cut to a majestic goal – and a short time after he finished his most beautiful painting it “collapsed”. Compare Zivny with this: there is now majestic goal – a modest one of creating, or even only shaping ephemeral beauty:

“Sand is one of the few materials I work with, and I like that it is ephemeral and the sand sculpture disappears.”

The tension, it only comes right now to my mind, is one of fascinating depth: it is the tension between living for the majestic goal of humankind and the ephemeral vision of individuals.

Sure, both have their value, and beauty …. – or at least truth.

But the challenge an question is: (How) Can we bring this together? – The other day I read in an article by John L. Allen Jr.

Americans await things to happen immediately, and generally interpret delay in terms of denial, incompetence, of cover-up. Rome[1], to put the point charitably, is a culture that puts a high premium on patience, and often interprets ‘rapid response’ as immaturity, superficiality, or going off half-cocked.[2]

And just having read

Skidelski/Skidelski

on

How much is Enough? Money and the Good Life

recently, I am wondering if there is really not more to say than directing moral appeals? After economics – as matter of science and politics – obviously failed, the only way out seems to be in some kind of prayers and quest for morality?

The reality came (another time) to my mind when I went for my earlyish round – the 1st of May 2014, about sixish passing Termini, the central train station:

All fine, but … – Italy, the country of kisses and light heartedness – but at that time in the morning at the said place: facing the homeless; if one leaves the shops at day time – the shops for ordinary people or those where people buy who do not know what to do with the money – it means too often looking into the faces of beggars; if one then is getting aware of the country’s lack of a revolution, the nobility still having the remote places for their festive gatherings (which in fact are part of daily life), …

Well, May-Day then: a huge people’s gathering, in the park. At least something: free sunshine for all.

No, I do not blame anybody: at least not those who enjoy as long as they can enjoy.

And though I am seemingly talking about Italy and Rome, I actually do not really talk about this place. What makes it – perhaps – special is a higher degree of visibility of certain problems …, problems that are also visible in other places, “wiped away” by some kind of “silent militarism”: the war that is at the external borders arguing with noisy sabre-rattling, has many disciplinary forms when directed internally. Later this year I will address this during a conference against militarism. My part will be looking at

The inner mobilisation of Europe – youth unemployment, racism and modernised forced labour.

Enough is enough – indeed it is not such a difficult-to-answer question: enough of violent policies, of policies that are utilising human beings as a kind canon fodder for profit-first-economies.

A reminder, a famous passage in a footnote in Chapter 31 of the first volume of Capital

―Capital is said by a Quarterly Reviewer to fly turbulence and strife, and to be timid, which is very true; but this is very incompletely stating the question. Capital eschews no profit, or very small profit, just as Nature was formerly said to abhor a vacuum. With adequate profit, capital is very bold. A certain 10 per cent. will ensure its employment anywhere; 20 per cent. certain will produce eagerness; 50 per cent., positive audacity; 100 per cent. will make it ready to trample on all human laws; 300 per cent., and there is not a crime at which it will scruple, nor a risk it will not run, even to the chance of its owner being hanged. If turbulence and strife will bring a profit, it will freely encourage both. Smuggling and the slave-trade have amply proved all that is here stated.‖ (T. J. Dunning, l. c., pp. 35, 36.)

 

[1]            meant to be the catholic church

[2]            John L. Allen Jr., 2013: The Church’s Message and The financial World: Lost in Translation; in: Institutions, Society and Markets: Towards a New International Balance?; A Cura di Alberto Quadrio Curzio/Giovanni Marseguerra; Vatican City: Libreria Editirice Vaticana: 141-155; here: 141 f.

Asia Global – A New Project

da Peter Herrmann's Blog, posted in works, projects, publications

Being part of the Rozenberg Quarterly Advisory Board and, with Hong Fan and Daniele Massaccesi, the Asia Global Team, I guess that it is appropriate to announce this new section by reproducing here the “what it is about”.

This section is the result of a cooperation between the Confucius Institute at the University of Western Australia, Claremont; EHV Academicpress, Bremen, Germany, publisher of the Asia Studies – Within and Without series; and Rozenberg Quarterly.
The articles in this section aim to promote the knowledge gathered in Asia Studies, as well as the relations between Asia and other regions of the world, and give impulses in order to advance research in this field. This also means pushing boundaries forward and push them beyond the often prejudiced views from within and without.

moving – settling – borders

da Peter Herrmann's Blog, posted in general, thoughts on life and its philosophy

Moving, settling, exploring spaces … such ways of overcoming borders and habits are, possibly paradoxically, all about drawing borders. Questions of individual responsibility by some, issues of management and coordination, intercultural mis-understandings …, and in addition other things play a role and all are coming together. And of course, in some way the most important things are at the end “positions and titles” as means of distinction, possibly of increasing meaning in a world where the material means of distinction re apparently fading away: income being increasingly precarious for an increasing number of people, thus inept to serve as distinguishing factor; employment is for a growing number of people and for long times of life a matter of projects and grants, and subsidies and temporary incomes … – a rather bleak future if we think about the social welfare systems still being bound to nationality and industry patterns of employment. Surely, at least for many somewhat exciting times: living in different cultures, exploring different work and also lea sure time activities – I mean settling and exploring, surely different from living for some time in another place. Worlds that had been previously hidden, simply exotic being now part of the hoc and nunc. Part of the one and global capitalism? Or part of the one and global silent move against it? Latin-America – a spring of hope? Really becoming the new, or even the new-new world?
Leaving personal contacts and experiences aside – or limiting them on exploring Rome, this new-new world is something that is actually also relevant, present … … – well, it is surly a new challenge to learn now about the reality of a world that is so full of contradictions and anachronisms that goes far beyond my pervious experience. I am not sure yet …- Rome, the Vatican, their interwoveness ….?
It would be too much even for a long letter: a state (Italy) that didn’t have a revolution – and in consequence a city where even today members of the “nobility” have their special places and palaces where they are having their “clandestine dinners”; vestiges of a fascist system that had been so completely different from the German, though being part of the society that is characterised by an unworldly political ruling class that seems to be more “theatralic” than anything else (the more or less recent experience with the comedian as successful candidate being the tip of that iceberg) – and on the other hand devastating poverty, a bureaucracy that is so stark that is paralyses everything – paradoxically in this  way undermining itself, so that there seems to be no rule at all; an economy with some positive performances in some pockets, but as national economy simply being a disaster.
The need for a new, a moral economy? In a smart society or as condition for a smart society?

***

Moving to another topic then:
Two days ago I retuned from a short trip: Euromemorandum – “alternative economists”. I returned late, arriving about midnight from the airport at the train-station. I sent a message to a friend:
“City well looked after, security increased – so ready for my short stay … the mind is now set for being surrounded by spirituality, though perception of reality cries more for mercy for the poor, less celebration of the holy …” – obvious alluding to the canonisation that took place yesterday.
Having written before “the reality of a world that is so full of contradictions and anachronisms that it is going far beyond my pervious experiences” is also a matter of the presence of the church. Leaving aside that

there are two churches at each junction – one to speak a prayer before crossing the street, allowing to to ask for mercy; one to thank god for having survived

(merci Jaqueline; guess this is the French way of characterising Italian enlightenment), I am now directly involved in some discussions about and also with the Vatican – surely for me as atheist remarkable: not just a new world, with at times (admittedly unexpectedly) open spaces for debate, and with major substantial questions that employed me already for a longish time, but are for different reasons now more pronounced. The one reason is the physical nearness, namely the direct contact to one of the Vatican universities; the other reason the current pope with statements “condemning amoral capitalism”, but also some real measures, for instance concerned with the Vatican bank. So, all this is about the somewhat new DIRECT confrontation with the old question: morality and economics. Aristotle, Smith, Mills, Keynes …. – just a few. And of course with all this the issues of social policy. No, I’m not getting religious with all this, I appreciate some thorough discussions and not least I face the challenge to “defend my position”, actual strengthen it in some respect and being challenged to extend arguments by looking for instance at Aquinas. So much I did not know – no surprise there; but also so many illusions even I have had about the church which is at least for me some surprise; and surely many insights that I should have had before editing the book on social policy and religion.

But honestly, it is not about a ‘hostile defense’ but a move further – may be it is part of the dialectical movment that we needed the failed enligthenment first to reach a new level of renaissance – I leave it open what it exactly it may mean, and some answers my be found in the book I am just preparing, the working title being

Opening Views against a Closing World View.

And with all this it is not just settling in the new world here – but it is the confrontation with the new global patterns.
As I wrote some time ago – after I visited Cuba – in a mail:

I get increasingly the impression that we have to think much further when analysing the economic challenges ahead: Indeed, as much as the organic combination of capital changes, we may also see the organic combination of means of consumption changing in the same direction: its shrinking. More means needed to achieve the same effect. Sure, there is not much new about this: theory of marginality, Pareto optimum etc. all worked on this. Though what may still be new is the following: this way we can econometrically calculate a kind of “double-helix” that reflects the two dimensions of the accumulation regime, i.e.
“[a] system of accumulation describes the stabilization over a long period of the allocation of the net product between consumption and accumulation; it implies some correspondence between the transformation of both the conditions of production and the conditions of the reproduction of the wage earners. It also implies some forms of linkage between capitalism and other modes of production. [. . .] A system of accumulation exists because its schema of reproduction is coherent . . .” (Lipietz, 1986, p. 19)

***

It may be an oversimplified – but I thought about it the other day in Berlin, when I passed a shop in the middle of a densely populated housing estate.
The one poster in the shop announced the opening hours:

Monday from 7:00 until Saturday 23:00 24 h open

(yes, by the way: the new German word for offen is open)
The other poster ( I translate):

For reasons of noise control we kindly ask to use the trolleys only within the shop and the parking area.

Yes, indeed, the local residents have a right to be protected – and the question may be asked if the church does enough by keeping the Sundays for the prayers; while leaving the streets during the weekdays to the preachers of money …
… and leaving now even death openly to commerce. At least this is what some shop windows of funeral homes suggested:
Presented is a world that nearly invites to passing over to the world of …. – yes, actually it is not so expensive making yourself reappearing as diamond with certificate of authenticity …

Small Wonders ?!

da Peter Herrmann's Blog, posted in contemporary socio-economic situation, Peter's Log, thoughts on life and its philosophy, Uncategorized

Il pullulare di lotte e di violenze aveva spinto la popolazione ad espedienti caratteristici: ciascuna famiglia cercò di proteggersi con lo stringersi alla propria consorteria, e ciascuna consorteria so alleò ad altre in società. I più ricchi rafforzarono le mura dei loro palazzi ed eressero torri; torri eressero a comune difesa anche minori famiglie, piccole fortezze intorno a cui si combatterono furiose lotte intestine; e, mentre tutti i nobili si collegavano in alleanza tra loro (Società dei militi), tra la borghesia so formavano associazioni di mestiere che andavano crescendo di numero e di potenzia.[1]

Certo no, Cara, there is always more to be said and done – even if it is only to say and to experience of what had been said and done …

Actually with every additional step I make in my “religious studies” I am wondering if we sometimes shouldn’t simply accept that at least many things had been said and done: There are some of these church intellectuals simply not in a position to accept crusades having been and being undertaken in their name and …. – and are we all so limited in tolerating that we failed. In this respect Francis is surely a good example, admitting that he had failed ….

… but then he waits for people praying for him.

I am not sure about all this – and one of the problems is that it is so difficult to get sufficient information for something that one can justifiably suggest to be a “complete picture”.

The pope driving in a Panda … – isn’t that also a wonder? or is it a wonder that we (or some of us) think it is a wonder. I heard the other day about people who went to Argentina – some time ago – and asked to see the cardinal – apparently it had been granted, with something like: yes, just go there, at the side of the church…that door … – and they stepped in, seeing the cardinal preparing his meal: two (scrambled?) eggs.

And I also heard about today’s procedures of the inquisition. And I read the many articles about the Changes of the Istituto per le Opere di Religione, the changes of the Vatican policies …, and the fear that nothing happens, and the knowledge that in some what nothing can change as long as certain foundations are not touched – but that will then still to be elaborated for the little essay to come on the Vatican Spring, [2]and the presentation I will have to give in two weeks.

For me it is always somewhat a wonder how people are, how they are seen and how they are made seen, i.e. are presented: kind of “made of and built on sand”, formed by people, but also the kind of sand from which they are made and bey the wind and …, and the image we make of them – and so we read at CCC2427:

Il lavoro provieni immediatamente da persone create a immagine di Dio …

Leaving aside that this image making is according to other sources a sin …. – well, it is “work”, the way in which we all create …. prejudices.

There is a not so funny story. 10 people, one has to look at a painting, tell somebody else what s/he saw, who tells somebody else what s/he saw … – At the end a gentle man with black skin, saving a woman who is attacked and would have been raped by a furious man with white skin turns out to be a f… nigger who rapes a woman while having a knife between his teeth … – the reality “re-written” by the racist real society, the rally racist society, the societal racist reality … – and thus making reality as you many well know from the Song From The Capeman.

In this way, I am living personally in a somewhat interesting (as I did most of my life), living (another time) between worlds …, and though I think these rolling heads (well, in actually fact I think they just fell into the bucket) are not so nice, I think there head been some good reason for it; and apparently a missed opportunity here in Italy. – I told you about the student who is now here fro placement – she arrived during the week with her sister – just a couple of days for accommodation before work starts. I went fro dinner with them – and then the next evening we went again The local hero who wanted to join us on the first occasion missed it – and so … – … we ended up strolling a bit through town before sitting down in a nice restaurant: two somewhat old men, and two definitely young women. We passed the palace of the Borghese – sure, if you have a villa you have to have a palace. I knew the place but I did to know: “It is private. They are still living there.” …. Well, yes, there had not been a “real” revolution here. We walked further … turned left, into the entrance – few words by Marco and that gate opened intron of us: “but only to … “ we had been told where to stop. While some other people walked further, turned left, opened another door and we learned: There is a special room. the nobles can go there for having a meal. Still served in the “appropriate style”: servants in their uniform …

I could go on …

… and I could go on, add about this feeling yesterday when I went to the “village”, i.e. via Alexandria: “my village”, quartier …, : I passed a bar, a person standing in front …: Buona Pasqua – asking for money; I left the post office, next to the bar, turned right, seeing a woman sitting a few meter ahead on the ground, begging; I didn’t walk so far but had to cross the street, managing the way throughout he parking cars, directly confronted with a woman sitting on the ground, begging …. – I went into a small shop: cheap stuff for little money” – Pound shop they had been called in the country where I lived for a while … A young Chinese man, being there from earlyish in the morning until latish in the evening – I go frequently there: for some strange reason I am attracted by this kind of shop. When I went there the first time, I paid in the ordinary way, just handing the bank not over the counter. He took it carefully and respectfully with both hands, making a little bow …. – I am Chinese enough, i.e. lived long enough in the Chinese culture to know how to behave the next time … – and this day, after having nearly left the tiny premise I turned back:

E Buona Pasqua. –

– Buona Pasqua a lei!

He waved and made a bow, and he waved and made a bow, and left a me a bit disturbed … – yes, traditions can be kept and still a surely meaningless tradition of others: Easter which for him most likely does not have the meaning it has for the Westerner, gains an entirely new meaning, gains importance the importance of being accepted …

… Later I went to Trastevere …, sitting there, with the computer, making a lengthy Skype call with a Russian colleague, being occasionally approached by some people – morendo di fame …, something that happened also when I walked back to the scooter: the contrasts, walking pass the Vatican palace, adduct to Santa Maria in Trastevere, housing Caritas Internationalis, looking at Santa Maria, the building of the church, its beautiful top of the front (though a meagre shadow of its inside) – Buona Pasqua – morendo di fame. And finally I vespaed home, passing the front of the central train station: Termini. Termination in the front, on the little traffic island – perhaps you saw the two old women – I thought everybody would know them, would know there story – but nobody of those whom I asked, does … termination of a life, like being crucified … – I felt that day more appalled than other days. This society …, celebration of Easter may be by and large for the heads that had not been chopped off, and for the many others who should have been and should be more radical in their moves just a crusade in a different habit, crusades in general being a habit … – HE suffered for us? If so, he surely did it not for us but for one percent of humankind only.

… Still, I wish you a very happy Easter – Buona Pasqua, independent of your beliefs …

bisou

 

 

[1]            Foligno, Cesare, [without date; 1921]: Dante. Con 186 illustrazioni e 3 tavole; Bergamo: Istituto Italiano d’Arti Grafiche: 3

[2]            to be published in Tausch et altera: “El Papa – ¿Cuántas divisiones tine?”

The Day After

da Peter Herrmann's Blog, posted in contemporary socio-economic situation, general, thoughts on life and its philosophy

It is spring, indeed, and some see it as Vatican Spring, others highlight that the flue, a typical ill-health of this time of the year, is increasingly fatal in Greece,

La Grèce présente le taux de mortalité lié à la grippe le plus élevé des pays européens. Les politiques d’austérité drastiques dans le domaine de la santé publique semblent responsables.

Well actually I had been asked to write about the Vatican spring – and I accepted. The Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii gaudium is undoubtedly an interesting document – or at least a remarkable one. The one reason is what looks like a radical rebuke of the dominant system. The other is perhaps not least important: the strive of circles within the Catholic fortress to move back behind Vatican II.

Even as non-believer I believe that the this Exhortation is a document of honesty, and also a document of hope.

But there we arrive already at the very end, shortly after starting off.

Sure, it is difficult to oppose upfront a statement as the following, taken from para 57:

Ethics – a non-ideologi- cal ethics – would make it possible to bring about balance and a more humane social order. With this in mind, I encourage financial experts and political leaders to ponder the words of one of the sages of antiquity: “Not to share one’s wealth with the poor is to steal from them and to take away their livelihood. It is not our own goods which we hold, but theirs”.[1]

And we all can agree when it is said that

[m]oney must serve rule

as stated in para 58, backing Francis defense of the poor, outlined in para 59[2]

But until exclusion and inequality in society and between peoples are reversed, it will be impossible to eliminate violence. The poor and the poorer peoples are accused of violence, yet without equal opportunities the different forms of aggression and conflict will find a fertile terrain for growth and eventually explode. When a society – whether local, national or glob- al – is willing to leave a part of itself on the fringes, no political programmes or resources spent on law enforcement or surveillance systems can indefinitely guarantee tranquility. This is not the case simply because inequality provokes a violent reaction from those excluded from the system, but because the socioeconomic system is unjust at its root.

Today here is not the point to investigate this. But at least it is a place where it may well be worthwhile to shake off this bad feeling of a hangover one feels the day after – and there no pill can be offered as cure.

The day after?

Well, yesterday, March the 27th Obama paid a visit to the Roman people (well, the Roman paid quite a lot to host him – but may be as symbol of fraternisation with the Muslim brothers it is justified). And leaving the meeting in the Quirinale aside (of course a kind of ‘standard’ part of such visits: il presidente), there had been two less common moments of Obama’s visit: the one to papa Francesco; the other to the Colosseo.

Both OK if I my say so – well, who I am – but referring to Francis I may claim such right to comment as he quotes the Fifth General Conference of The Latin American And Caribbean Bishops, Aparecida Document, 29 June 2007, 360:

Life grows by being given away, and it weakens in isolation and comfort. Indeed, those who enjoy life most are those who leave security on the shore and become excited by the mission of communicating life to others

But there is also something that causes this hangover, and this is caused by looking at the wider context. Let us briefly turn to John Maynard Keynes, who comes at the very end of his ‘General Theory’ to the conclusion

that the vested interests is vastly exaggerated compared with the gradual encroachment of ideas … …, soon or late, it is ideas, not bested interests, which are dangerous for good or evil.[3]

There is some doubt though that ideas will bring the life of those back who died in Greece as consequence of a policy that imposed austerity measures in the interest of personal enrichment but even more so in the interest of a system that is kept running by money – be it gold or black. The Ukraine may be taken as Colosseo on the global scale; and the visit of Mr. O here in Rome may be metaphorically taken as validity of the old principle: panem et circenses are strictly in the way of an evangelii gaudium.

Bloch’s presentation of ‘possibility’, allowing us with this an informed approach to understanding them in their objectivity. He points on (i) the formally possible – what is possible according to its logical structure; (ii) the objectively possible – possible being based on assumptions on the ground of epistemologically based knowledge; (iii) the objectively possible – possible as it follows from the options inherently given by the object; (iv) and the objectively real possible – possible by following the latency and tendency which is inherent in its elementary form.[4]

 

[1]      55 f. of the printed edition of the Città del Vaticano: Libreria Editrice Vaticana; with reference to Saint John Chrysostom, De Lazaro Concio, II, 6: PG 48, 992D.

[2]      page 56 f. of the printed version

[3]      Keynes, John Maynard: the General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money; BN publishing,2008: 239

[4]      see Bloch, Ernst, 1959: Prinzip Hoffnung; Frankfurt/M: Suhrkamp [written in 1938-1947; reviewed 1953 and 1959]: 258-288; see also Herrmann: Social Policy – Production rather than Distrbution; in print

Kafka – or: The most reasonable person in town …

da Peter Herrmann's Blog, posted in general, Peter's Log

Well, one of the most reasonable I met occasionally in Rome – I mentioned this guy yesterday in a mail to a friend. Here the little story:

Had been to the post office today – guess there I meet (or just see) one of the most reasonable people …, every time I am going early to that place I see him – so I assume it is a “daily event”: He enters, bids good morning to everybody – mutters something that nobody understands – and after having reached the one end, he leaves again – same muttering, same smile on everybody’s face. And probably what he mutters and nobody understands is more meaningful than all this nonsense official stuff that is exchanged when it comes to transferring money, buying a stamp etc. (the good news: for buying a stamp you still do not need your fiscal code …)

What I did not mention …, well, the real post office experience:

Queuing at the post office: number A4.
It is showing up on the display: counter 5. You start going there, but some customer is still standing there.
You wait, near to counter 5, holding number A4 between your fingers.
The customer is still there.
The display changes: A5.
While the customer moves away, you approach the counter, but another person too, holding A5 in her hands.
“Sorry, it is A5, you see ….” – comment by the clerk

So you feel like a drowned rat – which is in German a “begossener Pudel” and as such you put the tail between the legs and say to yourself:

Yes, I came, I saw … and I lost.

(But in all fairness in the Italian system A5 is followed by A 4 …)

It is easy to forget – as before going to the post office, actually the day before, I received a mail: Please, contact customer service, the booking of your flight could not be completed. So I contacted customer service of the dot.com business immediately … – dot.coms are global and do not any time: open 24 hours. Well, I waited for a reply. As I din’t get any reply, and also as I understood immediately as being valid on both sides, I sent 16 hours or so later another mail …., and finally thought 24 hours after the first mail (the one I received) check the website and you will find at some stage a premium phone number (as I booked premium service … Actually the premium number on the booking form had been an alien one: Mars, Neptun or UK, some strange place that cannot be reached from Italy. Finally I found another phone number (probably on Jupiter – but it worked). “Yes, how can I help you.” – a friendly voice. I provided the booking number, she found my name in the computer – (I could have told her; actually I did tell her after she sled “How can I help you?” And she found the information: “Everything is fine, the booking is confirmed, There had been a technical problem on our side.” “So everything is OK then?” “Yes, you don’t have to worry. … Thank you and have a nice day.” Gosh, all this is so mind-boggling: a friendly word at the end – I had been near to tears, wanted to hug her …, but tuuut, tuuut, she had been off, probably to next customer, booking number [Ticket#2014030218470056]  8K6zKJ.
Why did I check yesterday evening the Internet for something nice – pure incidence? And why did I end up on the website of the AUDITORIUM CONCILLIAZIONE ……did google know already what happened during the day, now offering with the magic calculation. Perhaps they have an conciliation algorithm?
Probably not:

“No tickets available”….

Even algorithms fail … – or should it be: algorithms fail?

What today then,
yours Kafka the Second (I know, many can claim this)

per una società più sostenibile

da Peter Herrmann's Blog, posted in contemporary socio-economic situation, social quality, works, projects, publications

That sustainability is not a question of concerns about the environment is shown in some brief reflections that had been made in preparation of the EXPO 2015, in Milano. the presentation highlights that we are talking about societal sustainability. And as such it is concerned with relations – relations of people that are characterising their productive and reproductive activities in every day’s life. Thinking along this line has to take account of the fact that the environment – “natural” and “man-made” – is not external but an entity of which human beings and their praxis are essential part. Re-emphasising praxis is essential as in this way we can go beyond isolated activities – as important as measures to protect nature, traffic control, calls for responsible consumption and the like are, they are conceptually not anything more than a drop in the bucket. Thanks go to the Department of Political and Social Sciences – University of Pavia. Human Development, Capability and Poverty International Research Centre, IUSS Pavia and the Fondazione Giangiacomo Feltrinelli