António Vieira da Cruz

“Afghan Girl” (1984), de Steve McCurry      Foi a capa da National Geographic em Junho de 1985. Mostra Sharbat Gula, uma rapariga pashtun então com 12 anos, que vivia no campo de Nasir Bagh (Peshawar, Paquistão) entre cerca de 100 mil refugiados afegãos. Com a intervenção da NATO no Afeganistão e afastamento dos Taliban, Sharbat Gula e outros refugiados voltaram ao seu país e o campo onde viviam fechou em 2002. Em 2021 a NATO retirou as forças militares do Afeganistão e os Taliban retomaram o poder. Com o regresso dos Taliban, a vida de Sharbat Gula foi ameaçada e ela teve novamente de sair do país. Vive em Itália desde então, outra vez como refugiada. Passados quarenta anos desta fotografia, as raparigas e mulheres afegãs ainda vivem hoje com graves limitações no acesso à educação, ao mercado de trabalho, e à liberdade de uma vida digna.

 (publicado originalmente no Observador ) Os nomes das guerras costumam remeter para o sítio onde se combate, e aqueles que participam na guerra costumavam ser aqueles que estão no terreno e lutam nos campos de batalha. No entanto, tem havido guerras com outros tipos de nomes. Em 1945 George Orwell cunhou o nome “guerra fria” para descrever o tipo de relação que os EUA teriam com os países vizinhos por serem o único país com a bomba atómica. Como sabemos, a URSS e outros Estados rapidamente ganharam a sua capacidade nuclear e o mundo evoluiu para uma situação de tensão entre dois blocos concorrentes que recebeu precisamente esse nome – Guerra Fria – até à queda do Muro de Berlim e consequente esboroar do bloco soviético. Também o Presidente Lyndon Johnson chamou em 1964 às suas políticas públicas de “Guerra contra a Pobreza” ( War on Poverty ), George W. Bush declarou a “Guerra contra o Terrorismo” ( Global War on Terrorism ) em 2001 e, mais recentemente, temos ouvido vários lídere...

(publicado originalmente na revista Think South Asia em 2012 e depois no Jacaré em 2018) Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović saúda Luka Modrić, E. Macron aplaude Dois dos temas mais quentes desta semana foram a efusividade e boa figura da Presidente da Croácia a apoiar a selecção finalista do Campeonato Mundial de Futebol na Rússia e a cimeira da NATO em Bruxelas. À primeira vista os assuntos nada têm que ver, mas para mim sim. Em 2012/13 eu editava uma revista de relações internacionais que fundei, a  Think South Asia magazine , que saía em versão digital e também circulava em formato impresso nos meandros políticos e diplomáticos de Bruxelas. Nesses anos, em visitas que fiz à NATO, tive o privilégio de conhecer e entrevistar a senhora embaixadora Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović que na altura era a “NATO Assistant Secretary General for Public Diplomacy” até se tornar a Presidente da Croácia em 2015, função que brilhantemente tem desempenhado até hoje. Antes disso já tinha sido Embaixadora da ...

Deixo aqui o último editorial que escrevi na revista Think South Asia enquanto Editor. As próximas edições da revista ficam muito bem entregues ao alemão Djan Sauerborn, da Universidade de Heidelberg: --- Think South Asia #09 As this is a summer special edition of Think South Asia, we suggest a travel by some of the South Asian countries, as the Maldives, India, Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Nepal. As I am moving to new projects, this is also my last edition as editor but, before I get there, let me call your attention for the contents you can find in the next pages: an article about the rising religious extremism in the Maldives by the future editor of Think South Asia, Mr Djan Sauerborn; a very good business profile of the Indian building market, by the civil engineer Mr Pedro Baptista Pinto; and an informative update of the situation in Nepal, by Mr Narayan Guimire. Then, we have an outstanding article about the 1971 genocide in Bangladesh “Our conscience in an Iron Ca...

Editorial que escrevi no oitavo número da revista Think South Asia : --- The King of Bhutan - Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck It is now time for us to look at Bhutan. Bhutan is a mountainous country comparable to the size of Switzerland, but with around 730 thousand inhabitants and landlocked between India and Tibet, which as we know is ruled by the Chinese. On the date of this edition we are between 2 rounds of parliamentary elections in Bhutan, being a special moment to analyse this fascinating country. Also another issue for which Bhutan is well known is the Gross National Happiness index (GNH), and we are thinking about it as well. In this issue of Think South Asia magazine we have very prestigious contributions indeed. First of all, a detailed country profile of Bhutan done by the South Asia Democratic Forum fellow Mr Marian Gallenkamp, who is a knowledgeable expert on this country. Dr Siegfried O. Wolf from the University of Heidelberg dedicates his usual...

Editorial que escrevi no sétimo número da revista Think South Asia: --- In this edition we will put the focus on Pakistan , a country with more than 180 million people, being the 6 th most populous country in the world. We could roughly say that the story of Pakistan was marked by two partitions: the partition of India in 1947 and its own partition in 1971. But as History is more complex than that, we are dedicating this edition of Think South Asia magazine to Pakistan . In the case of this country, etymology says a lot of its early history. The word “ Pakistan ” did not exist before 1933, when it was coined by the Muslim nationalist Mr Choudhry Rahmat Ali who, with other intellectuals, wanted to create a separate Muslim homeland in South Asia . According to scholars, the name has its origins in the acronym PAKSTAN, which results from P unjab + A fghani territories + K ashmir + S indh + Baluchi stan . An “i” was introduced amidst for reasons of pronunciation an...

Editorial que escrevi no quinto número da revista Think South Asia, que edito com o apoio do South Asia Democratic Forum, apresentando a Índia como um país de oportunidades e futuro: ---   Imagine the overall population of Europe and the Americas, all put together. Have you imagined that already? Well believe it or not South Asia, as a region, has even more people than that, which is reason enough to pay attention to its development and potentials. The western countries seem to be obsessed with the financial and economic crisis, but on the other side of the world there is a new land of opportunities asking for support and economic cooperation. Five hundred years after Vasco da Gama and seven hundred years after Marco Polo, we must peacefully rediscover the Indian Ocean and the trade opportunities within the SAARC countries that could help us in leaving the crisis behind. This time, the focus of Think South Asia is on India. It seems paradoxical to put the focus on s...

Em baixo publico o artigo que escrevi no terceiro número da revista Think South Asia (9 de Outubro), que edito com o apoio do South Asia Democratic Forum. Principais países em destaque: Maldivas, Bangladesh e Sri Lanka. Mas também há notícias do resto da Ásia do Sul: Índia, Paquistão, Nepal, Butão e Afeganistão. E, ainda, a China e o Myanmar, a antiga Birmânia. ---   In this edition of Think South Asia you will find plenty of details on what we are proud to present as the biggest and most important conference ever held on the topic of South Asia in Brussels, under the title, “The Merits of Regional Cooperation: The Case of South Asia” (part II). This important event will take place next 11th of October in the Hotel Sofitel Brussels at Place Jourdan, marking the legislative year of the European Institutions. This will present an amazing opportunity to discuss - with worldwide academic and political experts - and understand some of the most important issues in South Asi...

Editorial que escrevi no segundo número da revista Think South Asia, que edito com o apoio do South Asia Democratic Forum, assinalando os 11 anos do 11 de Setembro: ---   Most people remember exactly where they were when two planes crashed against the Twin Towers of the World Trade Centre (WTC) in New York City, USA. I personally was on vacation and after I had heard a plane had crashed into the WTC, I saw live on television the second plane hitting the WTC, the third one hitting the Pentagon and of course news of the fourth plane crashing into the Pennsylvania countryside. I saw humanity falling down driven by greed, hate and extreme fanaticism. Today we pin the date 9/11, eleven years after the tragedy. Back in 2001, training camps of Al-Qaeda were mainly in Afghanistan and the Taliban regime harboured these terrorists and all their facilities, while they ruled the Afghani people (and women in an oppressive special way) with tyranny. Western societies felt no opt...