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Flags
Dear Professor Mohamed Habib:
Reading the latest edition of Jornal da Unicamp, I was extremely disappointed and outraged by the content of the material supported by you and this educational entity.
Disappointed because I was his student and I know his principles as a man who preaches peace, understanding between peoples, justice and well-being. And, honestly, this material released by the December 2001 newspaper does the opposite job. It stigmatizes the Israelis, the Israeli army, the conflict and, in addition to not clarifying, it raises radical flags that bring the conflict from the Middle East here, where Muslim, Zionist and Jewish communities have always coexisted well and respected each other, this being an example .
As you yourself teach, there is no absolute evil, and polarizing the context as was done in this report and in the event “The rights of the Palestinian people” generates, to say the least, indignation. Even because there was not a single speaker to speak about the Israeli and Zionist side.
A good principle for doing justice and clarifying anything is to listen to both sides, and not want to impose an absolute truth. I believe that it is not the purpose of Unicamp, Cori (Coordination of Institutional and International Relations) and much less yours, to generate divergences, polarize opinions or even publicize fanciful facts.
I believe in a society focused on a culture of peace and, if that is our commitment, why don't we hold a big event, but this time with speakers from both sides and a big party promoting peace among all peoples. That is our goal, to make a better world.
The suggestion and desire to achieve understanding among men remains. A big hug and wishes of harmony and peace for all of us.
Rubens Sonntag
NR – Jornal da Unicamp tried to listen to two specialized professors from USP, from the Jewish community, without getting answers in time for publication in the same December edition. On page 14 of this issue we bring an article by Peter Demant, PhD from the University of Amsterdam and visiting professor at the Department of History at USP, and who was a researcher at the Truman Institute for Peace Studies; on page 15, a letter from Medad Medina, consul general of Israel in São Paulo.
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Congratulations to the editors for their approach to the Palestinian issue. It is essential to break the siege of the mainstream Brazilian press, ignorant of the facts or allied with illegitimate interests.
Wilmar R. D'Angelis
IEL/Unicamp
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More deaths
They just shot a young girl to death. It was the fourth death of Israelis in the last two days (beginning of January/2002). It happened as we were leaving the cemetery for another victim's funeral. Journalists have their moments of being human. We were crying with sadness. They were the funerals of an intimate acquaintance, a good conversationalist, intelligent and cultured, a 70-year-old American Jew, an architect. He had been doing work for Palestinians in Bethlehem and Beth Jala for twenty years. He was well-liked in both Palestinian places and moved around carefree. They were friends.
Just yesterday we were talking about this terrible situation in which they kill each other like primitive animals. He, like us and some Palestinian friends sat and sipped super strong coffee, with nana, an herb that gives a sweet taste. It was in the almost empty Jerusalem bazaar. There have been no tourists since September 11th. They didn't go to the funerals. Dog world. Today, we will try to control our text. We are very angry. There was a time when we traveled everywhere carefree. We went to eat magnificent Arabic food in family restaurants in the Palestinian countryside. They know how to cook fish in Gaza like in a historic restaurant in Natal, in Rio Grande do Norte. It came straight from the sea preceded by a salad of fresh crisp lettuce, tomato, clean olive oil, lemon. I can not right now. It is dangerous even when accompanied by a guide.
There is uncontrollable hatred. Our friend was kidnapped when he was loading his car with gasoline as he had done for 20 years. They tell us that the Palestinian Police saw it. Did nothing. They beat him up, took him to a small forest and ended up killing him with kicks and shots. The young woman who died shortly afterwards was 30 years old. Other acquaintances have gone in the same way. We say acquaintances, because friends have to be for many years, like those who stayed at home in Brazil.
We have seen the worst in this life. A thousand passengers on a suburban train in Rio transformed into lumps of black coal, after colliding with a fuel car. People die with machetes in the streets of Bogotá with an Indian carrying dozens of toilet papers thinking they could make soup from them, an Indian dying from spitting blood after a week of contact with white people, an English colleague bending down to take photos of Syrian troops who were advancing and In seconds, he will be left with a headless trunk. But fellow 70 year old, crushed! My God! This will never end.
The Police explain that the number of attacks has increased significantly. It becomes dangerous again. Death doesn't choose sides. They die on the Palestinian side. There are many women in black in the Arafat area with photos of young men with a heartthrob type. Extinct promises. The people who settled in the region have nerves of steel. Right now we are listening to Syrian radio. Fatah's al Aksa Brigade, whose command lives in Damascus, gave the order to attack. He appealed to all Palestinian fighting organizations – Hamas, Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine that killed the Israeli minister – to coordinate one or more violent coups against the Jews. And we cannot forget what we emphasized yesterday in the case of Hizbalá, which we did not feel was understood or reflected there, in Brazil. He talks about killing Jews, which is different from Israelis. Jews are everywhere.
And most of these organizations, as the Zero Hora reporter's very serious work revealed, are out there. And the blow comes. It's inevitable.
It's a small world of great tragedies. Sharon, the head of the Israeli government, again yesterday called Arafat's world an “empire of lies”. We don't like adjectives. But it is not uncommon for us to compare what is said with what happens and one thing has nothing to do with the other. At the beginning of this war here, we remember that the first victim is always the truth. Always happens. The lie is a weapon of war.
News poisoned by journalist prejudice can be read and seen daily. One of the first lessons we received from an American tabloid, where we worked, was that “if no beautiful woman dies, the first one to die is beautiful”. So, we had disguised Matasalemic ages, the frivolous fats, claiming the impossibility of getting a photo. And the city was moved.
Here such extremes are unnecessary. Things like this are enough: “two young people were killed by the troops from the xi side who invaded the neighborhood; hours before, ten individuals had been killed in a bomb explosion left by the xis side...”. Ten is made less than two. And it can be explained. This is no ordinary war. In them, ancient peoples fight. They dispute land, ideologies, beliefs. It requires a lot of discipline not to take sides. In the case of television, the teams are made up of local people. Images are edited. The Jews root for your side. The Palestinians for theirs. When you see crowds you can never be sure whether there are a hundred or a thousand. The camera has no problem performing the miracle of reduction or multiplication. In 14 different types of war, we haven't learned enough to navigate this one. And the situation is so complex, with so many possible solutions, that it is impossible to predict winners.
Nahum Sirotsky
Portal IG correspondent in Israel
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No University
We would like to thank you for the published article (“Os sem-universidade”, Unicamp Fatos de August/2001). We are sending this email due to the approval, in the early hours of the 27th to the 28th of December/2001, by the São Paulo City Council, of the project to create the Popular University of the City and Citizenship, as an open university, aimed at the rights to the city, citizenship and human rights.
This bill must now be sanctioned by Mayor Marta Suplicy.
The MSU (Movement of Those Without a University) presented the proposal in April 2001, to the president of the CMSP Education Committee, councilor Adalberto Angelo Custódio. At the time, members of the MSU were symbolically dressed in caps and prisoners, in reference to the university of crime that prevails in the face of the lack of future perspective imposed today on young people, who fall into crime and fill prisons. We want there to be more universities of life, perspective and future.
The role of the press is fundamental at this moment, so that the population becomes aware of the problem (more than 100 thousand entrance exam candidates were left out of Fuvest alone) and so that the mayor can be sensitized to implement the university as soon as possible.
Access to the Popular University will be done without an entrance exam, through a draw or public choice, carried out by the Municipal Education Council.
Marta Palmeira
From the MSU Communication Coordination
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copy
I received some copies of this newspaper from students who were there at Unicamp, at the National University Meeting (MST). The newspaper is not good. It's great. I would like to receive it, but in office hours there is no information on how to subscribe.
Agostinho José Soares
Retired professor from UFES and advisor to the MST
Carapina (ES))
NR – The Jornal da Unicamp is sent free of charge upon request by email topress@obelix.unicamp.br, or by letter to the Communications and Press Office, at the address in the file below.
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