JORGE RODRIGUES SIMÃO

Health

The right to health does not mean that we have the right to be healthy. The right to health is defined by UN expert Paul Hunt as: a right to an effective and integrated health system, encompassing health care and the underlying determinants of health, which is responsive to national and local priorities, and accessible to all. He uses the accessibility prism to point out that the right to health means that health care: must be accessible to all, not just the wealthy, but also those living in poverty; not just majority ethnic groups, but minorities and indigenous peoples, too; not just those living in urban areas, but also remote villagers; not just men, but also women.

PERSPECTIVAS-O populismo étnico em marcha - HojeMacau - 19.04.2017

“Populist leaders like Donald Trump, Marine Le Pen, Norbert Hoffer, Nigel Farage, and Geert Wilders are prominent today in many countries, altering established patterns of party competition in contemporary Western societies. Cas Mudde argues that the impact of populist parties has been exaggerated. But these parties have gained votes and seats in many countries, and entered government coalitions in eleven Western democracies, including in Austria, Italy and Switzerland. Across Europe, their average share of the vote in national and European parliamentary elections has more than doubled since the 1960s, from around 5.1% to 13.2%, at the expense of center parties. During the same era, their share of seats has tripled, from 3.8% to 12.8%. Even in countries without many elected populist representatives, these parties can still exert tremendous ‘blackmail’ pressure on mainstream parties, public discourse, and the policy agenda, as is illustrated by the UKIP’s role in catalyzing the British exit from the European Union, with massive consequences.”

Trump, Brexit, and the Rise of Populism: Economic Have-Nots and Cultural Backlash

Harvard Kennedy School

Ronald F. Inglehart and Pippa Norris

O voto britânico para abandonar a União Europeia (UE) e a eleição do presidente Donald Trump nos Estados Unidos deixou muitos surpreendidos no passado ano. O economista e comentarista irlandês, David McWilliams, denominou 2016, como “o ano do outsider". As previsões apontam que 2017 não será diferente, com eleições importantes que irão ocorrer por toda a Europa e muitos viram as eleições holandesas de 15 de Março de 2017, como "o primeiro grande teste" do que está por vir.

Why do we need political philosophy?

It is usually called the Allegory of Good and Bad Government, and what Lorenzetti’s frescos do is first of all to depict the nature of good and bad government respectively by means of figures who represent the qualities that rulers ought and ought not to have, and then to show the effects of the two kinds of government on the lives of ordinary people. So in the case of good government, we see the dignified ruler dressed in rich robes and sitting on his throne, surrounded by figures representing the virtues of Courage, Justice, Magnanimity, Peace, Prudence, and Temperance. Beneath him stand a line of citizens encircled by a long rope the ends of which are tied to the ruler’s wrist, symbolising the harmonious binding together of ruler and people. As we turn to the right we see Lorenzetti’s portrayal of the effects of good government first in the city and then in the countryside. The city is ordered and wealthy: we see artisans plying their trades, merchants buying and selling goods, nobles riding gaily decorated horses; in one place a group of dancers join hands in a circle. Beyond the city gate a well-dressed lady rides out to hunt, passing on the way a plump saddleback pig being driven into market; in the countryside itself peasants till the earth and gather in the harvest. In case any careless viewer should fail to grasp the fresco’s message, it is spelt out in a banner held aloft by a winged figure representing Security: Without fear, every man may travel freely and each may till and sow, so long as this commune still maintains this lady sovereign, for she has stripped the wicked of all power.

Perspectivas - A poluição atmosférica como agente mortal - HojeMacau - 11.04.2017

“The economy is a wholly owned subsidiary of the environment. All economic activity is dependent upon that environment with its underlying resource base.”

US Senator Gaylord Nelson on first Earth Day, 1970

A poluição do ar, de acordo com a Organização Mundial de Saúde, é actualmente a principal causa de morte, mas trata-se de uma mensagem que ainda não foi captada, conscientemente, pelas mentes dos decisores políticos em todo o mundo. O movimento de poluentes não respeita fronteiras políticas, e mata inocentes. O mais doloroso é as alterações climáticas que estão a colocar um enorme desafio para prever o movimento de poluentes. As decisões tomadas com base em estudos de modelos e legislações não estão a produzir o resultado desejado, pois existe sempre uma lacuna entre teoria e a prática.