Canadá sem amigos e os direitos humanos sem defensores

Canada’s lonely stance was swiftly noticed north of the border. “We do not have a single friend in the whole entire world,” Rachel Curran, a policy director under former Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper, lamented on Twitter.

The UK was similarly muted in its response, noted Bob Rae, a former leader of the federal Liberal party. “The Brits and the Trumpians run for cover and say ‘we’re friends with both the Saudis and the Canadians,’” Rae wrote on Twitter. “Thanks for the support for human rights, guys, and we’ll remember this one for sure.”

Analysts and regional officials said the spat had little to do with Canada, instead characterising Riyadh’s actions as a broader signal to western governments that any criticism of its domestic policies is unacceptable.

While some in Canada had been disappointed to see the UK and Europe opt to publicly stay out of the diplomatic spat, Juneau described it as unsurprising. “When Saudi Arabia had comparable fights with Sweden and Germany in recent years, did Canada go out of its way to side with Sweden and Germany? No, not at all,” he said. “We stayed quiet because we had nothing to gain from getting involved. So on the European side, the calculation is the same.”

A Arábia Saudita, apoiada pelos EUA, escolhe autocarros com crianças a caminho da escola para bombardear no Yemen, a quem faz uma guerra particularmente cruel para atingir o Irão.

Ainda há quem se admire da região do Médio Oriente ter ódio aos americanos e aos sauditas. Entretanto, a Arábia Saudita faz bullying ao Canadá a propósito de uma observação sobre direitos humanos como já fez à Suécia e à Alemanha, sempre apoiada pelos EUA e com a cumplicidade silenciosa e gananciosa de outros países como a França, Espanha e outros que recebem o rei e o seu dinheiro com todas as honras e salamaleques possíveis. Qualquer dia é proibido falar mal da Arábia Saudita e, quem sabe, começamos a imitar as suas práticas contra as mulheres e os direitos humanos em geral.

Como é que a ONU pode sobreviver se o lema das nações é, 'cada um por por si e os outros que se danem?'

Uns dias depois dos ataques de Paris a mesquita de  Peterborough (Canada) foi incendiada. Então, os judeus abriram a sinagoga para os muçulmanos rezarem e agora fazem-no em conjunto e dizem que não é uma questão de religião mas de boa vizinhança e de ser canadiano. Assim devia ser sempre... que interessa rezar a um Deus num local ou em outro, ser duma religião ou de outra se o Deus, a existir, é o mesmo e a única coisa que muda é o ritual? Qualquer pessoa adulta com um mínimo de inteligência vê que os rituais e as idiossincrasias das diferentes religiões são vestimentas, coisas não essenciais à crença em um Deus e na salvação da alma. Quem as faz diferentes são os líderes, os homens que querem mais o poder de manipular multidões que o de respeitar e ajudar o outro.

Governos representativos têm pessoas que representam todas as partes, numa proporção equilibrada.

Should Canada take lessons from Finland's approach to education?

(your community blog)

Finland has quietly built the world's most successful public education system.

Finnish students have been consistently at the top of international surveys, tests and rankings over the past decade, a status earned by going completely against the grain of conventional thinking on how to improve education.

Dr. Pasi Sahlberg, one of Finland's foremost thinkers on educational reform, shared the secrets of Finland's success in an interview with CBC Sunday Edition host Michael Enright.

Sahlberg, a vocal critic of standardized education, is presently touring Alberta and Saskatchewan to explain ideas that many North Americans might considered controversial, even radical.

Underpinning the Finnish approach to education is the notion that school should be a place of self-discovery and personal development.

Instead of creating a hierarchy of subjects -- with math, science and literacy at the top -- Sahlberg says schools should be helping children find their natural interests or abilities.

Here are a few other Finnish approaches that may surprise Canadians:

• All educators, even those who aim to teach the youngest students, must themselves be highly educated. There are no fast-tracks into teaching, and every teacher must obtain at least a master's degree. Sahlberg notes that teachers go through a system as rigorous as those training lawyers and doctors.
• Standardized testing isn't a part of a child's early educational experience. Their work is largely evaluated through samples of their work. Students don't undergo formal testing until their teen years.
• Although there are preschools, children do not enter a formal classroom setting until they are seven years old. In children's earliest years, the emphasis is on informal play and on encouraging a child's imagination.
• Schools are "fear free" places, where homework and standardized testing are not seen as pillars of education.
• All schools in Finland are publicly funded. There are no charter schools or private schools in the country.

How are you smart?

Although Finland is a leader in implementing such ideas, there are institutions and thinkers pushing for similar approaches in North America.

California-based creativity expert Sir Ken Robinson, for instance, also argues that too many school systems privilege standardization and conformity over customization and diversity.

Robinson, who was knighted in the U.K. for his contribution to re-imagining education, argues that educators should not be asking "how smart are you?" but "how are you smart?" -- adding that the current system of education was designed and conceived for a different age.

"The problem is [governments around the world] are trying to meet the future by doing what they did in the past, and on the way they're alienating millions of kids," he said.

Efeito de estufa

Canadá abandona Protocolo de Quioto para evitar multas

Os países ditos, ricos, dão grandes exemplos. Assinam os acordos mas apenas para beneficiarem dos seus aspetos positivos. Quando a coisa lhes corre mal fazem-se de desentendidos, como a Alemanha e a França com os limites do 'déficit' que não cumpriram ou, até vão mais longe e abandonam o jogo, como neste exemplo do Canadá. Depois juntam-se em cimeiras de G isto e G aquilo a pregar lições de moral aos outros. De facto, a credibilidade do mundo ocidental, que se chama a si próprio, 'mundo livre', já viu melhores dias: eram os dias em que pelo menos tentavam viver à altura da suas palavras e dos seus ideais.

Hoje recebi mais um postal do Postcrossing.com.

Este veio do Canadá dum indivíduo extra-simpático.

O postal também é giro - é um mapa das 'belezas naturais' do país.

Cada vez gosto mais desta cena de enviar e receber postais. Bestialmente giro.