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Friday, December 10, 2010

Sobre religião e identidade

  Pensando sobre religião e identidade, formulo a seguinte pergunta: quais critérios usar para falar da identidade Cristã?
  Vejamos, o Cristianismo não se define etnicamente. Referências:
1- Adão. Qual foi a etnia de Adão? (Gênesis 2)
2- Raabe não era israelita (Josué 2)
3- A pregação de Jonas (Que foi curta!) (Jonas 3). O povo de Níneve creu rapidinho. Já os israelitas...
4- O bom Samaritano (Lucas 10)
5- O Eunuco etíope (Atos 8)
6- A visão de Pedro com  o lençol descendo. Os judeus começam a entender que a salvação não é só para sua etnia. (Atos 10)

Agora a pergunta difícil: o Cristianismo se define religiosamente? A parábola do bom Samaritano ajuda-nos novamente. O Samaritano, além de ser da etnia "errada", era herege. A expressão sadia de religiosidade ganhou significado não com uma identidade religiosa definida a priori (levita e sacerdote na parábola), mas no ato de empatia com o que sofre. Isto é, tornou-se uma identidade religiosa a posteriori, advinda da empatia no termo mais humano possível.

Saturday, December 04, 2010

Para além da cristandade

“[Para além da cristandade,] há uma religião verdadeiramente cristã, sem dogmas (Deus, o chamamos pai, mas podemos também chamá-lo mãe; os padres são homens, mas poderiam ser também mulheres), fundada na fé e na esperança de que com a caridade se realiza verdadeiramente o reino de Deus, começando por este mundo. [...] O verdadeiro ecumenismo cristão se realizará quando o próprio cristianismo compreender que deve abater as barreiras que ele mesmo criou – e que o pontificado atual parece querer cada vez mais solidificar: aqui nós, cristãos, lá, o Islã malvado; aqui os normais, lá, os gays e os diferentes. A tarefa dos cristãos não é converter os outros e fazêlos tornarem-se como nós; mas começar a liquidar a própria (pretensão de) identidade, para acolher a todos.” (Vattimo, in “O cristianismo e a ultramodernidade”, IHU on-line, citado no artigo "O cristianismo não-religioso de Bonhoeffer e Vattimo", por Suzel Tunes )


#qcnfs
#csnome

Saturday, November 06, 2010

Pequenas notas sobre pluralismo religioso

Hoje teve aqui em Brasília um congresso chamado 'Visão 2010' que aconteceu na igreja presbiteriana do Planalto. Teve um painel com o tema do pluralismo religioso. O título era algo como 'Exclusivismo, Inclusivismo e Pluralismo religioso'. Na mesa: Caroline Soares, Rev. Rubem Amorese, Rev. José Sipaúba da Costa Júnior e Marcela Campos. Acho o tema muito importante.
  Embora eu tenha uma opinião um tanto mais plural do que a mesa, gostei das colocações. Aqui eu elaboro um pouco mais um comentário meu.
  Começo com Mateus 25, onde os discípulos não percebem quando viram Jesus (39). E Jesus diz que "quando vocês fizeram isso ao mais humilde dos meus irmãos, foi a mim que fizeram". Isto é, Jesus está disfarçado no faminto, sedento, no refugiado, no doente e na pessoa presa. Isto é, Jesus está disfarçado em todos os que sofrem.
  Quando falamos sobre inclusão, exclusão e pluralidade, falamos de limites, de fronteiras (amigo Felipe Fanuel: Tillich tem algo a dizer aqui?). Quais são os critérios para defender "os de dentro" e "os de fora"?
  Em Mateus 25 vejo um critério de pertencimento (isto é, Cristo na pessoa), mas não um critério de exclusão. Esse critério de pertencimento, neste caso, é o sofrimento.
  Contudo, o critério nominal religioso acaba sendo mais prontamente assumido. Isto é, quando se fala 'há salvação fora de Cristo?' as pessoas muito rapidamente acabam pensando em fronteiras das religiões: cristianismo, Espiritismo, ateísmo, agnosticismo, catolicismo, etc. A situação interessante seria quando misturamos esses critérios. Por exemplo, poderia Jesus estar disfarçado de um Espírita preso? Ou disfarçado de um pajé faminto? Ou disfarçado de um pai-de-santo doente?
  Ainda sobre esse Jesus escondido, lembro de duas outras passagens - dentre outras - nos evangelhos em que Jesus é confundido por outra pessoa. (Aliás, parando para pensar, existem várias passagens em que a identidade de Jesus é confundida). Buenas, Jesus é confundido com um jardineiro logo após a sua ressurreição. E Jesus continua escondido por várias horas sem ser percebido pelos dois discípulos no caminho de Emaús.

Friday, November 05, 2010

Experimentando com liturgias brasileiras

Em vez de eu esperar um belo dia em que terei tempo para escrever o artigo com calma, pensei em fazer um post escrevendo desestruturadamente tentando captar essência de ideias.
 Tenho visitado as pessoas do Núcleo Rural Monjolo aqui no Distrito Federal. Para conhecer melhor, clique aqui e aqui. Já em um outro artigo eu elaborei sobre a motivação de pensar em espiritualidades engajadas a partir da cultura. Por que pensar em espiritualidade e cultura? Porque penso que há uma chance de pessoas cultivarem com linguagens que façam mais sentido e que, portanto, seriam autênticas.
 Comunidades como a do Monjolo parecem-me ser interessantes para o desenvolvimento de novas 'formas' de ser igreja e de repensar liturgia porque i) pessoas são religiosas, ii) há pessoas politicamente engajadas e iii) é uma comunidade acostumada com o sofrimento , iv) há diversidade de religiões. Não sei o que esperar da influência da herança cultural evangélica, porém. Pode ajudar ou pode atrapalhar.
  A ideia inicial seria o desenvolvimento de algo tipo uma CEB (Comunidade Eclesial de Base). Só que tentando desenvolver aos poucos junto com a comunidade uma linguagem própria. Pulo por cima da eclesiologia por enquanto e vou direto para a liturgia. A questão da eclesiologia seria mais ampla e mais importante.
O que nortearia essa liturgia?
 - A linguagem deve ser construída com a comunidade. Não funcionará bem se eu pensar a coisa toda e dar 'mastigada' porque não vai fazer muito sentido.
 - Usar coisas do cotidiano deles. Procurar embutir no cotidiano os rituais, e/ou derivar os rituais do cotidiano.
 - A história deles deve ser frequentemente lembrada.
 - Deve haver lugar para a espontaneidade.
 - Usar objetos e símbolos que tenham significado para eles. Criar novos símbolos.
 - Uso de recursos visuais.
 - Resgatar e incentivar traços folclóricos antigos. Preservar vários, alterar alguns fazendo alusão a 'espiritualidade'.
  - Ainda na linha de uso de objetos do cotidiano, integrar gestos e danças.
  - Evitar o uso de músicas evangélicas num primeiro instante.
  - Trechos cantados ou recitados que incluam indivíduos e grupo.
  - Incorporar a preparação de refeições em grupo como parte da liturgia. Incorporar gestos e danças e falas à preparação.
  - Ver a refeição em grupo como eucaristia.

Ainda: verificar com Teólogos, Antropólogo e Psicólogos liturgias e ir aprimorando frequentemente. Construir liturgias em conjunto com 'movimentos sociais' presentes na comunidade ou relacionados à ela.

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Osias Segura's questions on emerging church in Latin America

Here is my attempt to quickly answer some of Osias Segura's questions for his research.



Osias Segura wrote:



"Saludos!! Soy profesor adjunto en el Seminario Fuller (www.fuller.edu), y me han solicitado escribir un capitulo para un libro sobre iglesias emergentes en America Latina. Esto se publicara en un libro en Ingles, en EE.UU. No hay nada escrito sobre el tema en ingles (de forma academica), y hay mucho desconocimiento sobre lo que esta sucediendo en America Latina. Me encantaria conocer sus experiencias sobre el tema, y para ello tengo las siguientes preguntas:

Iglesias emergentes
  1. ¿Has escuchado de las iglesias emergentes?
  • ¿Qué has escuchado que “iglesia emergente” significa?
  • ¿Cómo, cuándo,  y dónde escuchaste por primera vez de iglesias emergentes?
  • ¿Crees que existan iglesias emergentes en América Latina?
  • ¿Crees que hagan falta? ¿Si crees que no hacen falta, qué te preocupa de ellas?
  • ¿Formas parte de una iglesia emergente?
  • ¿Si formas parte de una, en su perspectiva que caracteriza una iglesia emergente?
  • ¿Sos parte de alguna red o compañerismo  de iglesias emergentes?
  • ¿Desde hace cuanto tiempo funciona esa red, y cuantas iglesias forman parte de esa red?
Nuevos modelos de hacer y ser iglesia
  1. ¿En cuanto a la práctica de la justicia, y el quehacer evangelistico y discipulador, qué caracteriza, según su experiencia eclesial, lo que haces para servir a poblaciones posmodernas?
  2. ¿Crees que hay un nuevo despertar en el surgimiento de nuevos modelos de iglesias? ¿Cómo son estas “nuevas” iglesias, qué  las caracteriza?
  • -Cuéntame un poco: ¿Cómo se definen a sí mismo? ¿Como hicieron esa transición y de que transfondo denominacional venían? ¿Cómo se consideran ahora? ¿De donde tomaron esas ideas para hacer ese cambio? ¿Cómo ha sido la reacción de la gente en la iglesia?
  1. ¿Has escuchado de grupos “neomonasticos” en América Latina?
  • -Cuéntame un poco: ¿Cómo se definen a sí mismo? ¿Como hicieron esa transición y de que transfondo denominacional venían? ¿Cómo se consideran ahora? ¿De donde tomaron esas ideas para hacer ese cambio? ¿Cómo ha sido la reacción de la gente en la iglesia? ¿Te consideras parte de una denominación? ¿De qué tipo? ¿Cómo se considera la gente asiste a su iglesia?
El culto y el quehacer de la misión de la iglesia
  1. ¿Qué aspectos creativos has incorporado en ministerios, y en los cultos de la iglesia? ¿Cómo ha sido la reacción de la iglesia local ante estos cambios? ¿Surgieron estos cambios desde la iglesia local, o vino de algún líder de afuera?
  2. ¿Qué significa ser espiritual? ¿Cómo entiendes la separación entre lo secular y lo sagrado? ¿Cómo unes lo secular y lo sagrado? ¿Cómo es que la gente la congregación entiende estos aspectos?
  3. ¿Cómo se distribuye el poder en la iglesia? ¿Quién manda en su iglesia? ¿Has escuchado de organizaciones planas? ¿Han puesto en práctica algo relacionado al “liderazgo compartido”? Comparte alguna experiencia. ¿Han tenido experiencias en la distribución de poder? ¿Cómo ha sido la transición? ¿Cómo ha sido la reacción de la gente de la iglesia?

Pueden contestar a estas preguntas de forma concisa (si, no) y en un solo escrito (no necesariamente responder pregunta por pregunta).
"

So, let me try to answer some of these questions.


Iglesias emergentes
  1. ¿Has escuchado de las iglesias emergentes?
  • ¿Qué has escuchado que “iglesia emergente” significa?
I understand that the question refers to what I hear and not to what I personally heard. I heard a couple of things:
-  "emerging church" is a new model of church that is trying to adapt its message to the younger generations. Most people will go on to say that in doing so, "the emerging church" is compromising "the Gospel" by conceding too much of it to culture. 
- "emerging church" is a new liberal movement in Latin America.
- "emerging church" is just a new fashion that really shouldn't exist, because the church needs to be "biblical", nothing more nothing less. "We shouldn't have any labels".
  • ¿Cómo, cuándo,  y dónde escuchaste por primera vez de iglesias emergentes?
The first time I heard about emerging churches was around 2005. I was in Canada and heard from my Baptist pastor that we were in a "different context", a different contemporaneity, what some people called, in his words 'post-modernity'. I then found out about Emergent Village and read the book "Emerging Churches" by Bolger.
  • ¿Crees que existan iglesias emergentes en América Latina?
So, I don't know any, but it may exist. I think that the closest thing to an "emerging church" in Latin America would be CEBs - Comunidades Eclesiais de Base. I have visited many people and 'networks' in Brazil. It seems that there are some circles of (middle class) friends that feel and think that they are  "out of church" - because of their diverse theological views, or emphasis on practice or with living with the poor or "unusual" moral views. But these circles or 'networks' still have not developed a better sense of 'autonomy' nor have they any term or label strong enough to have a name or identity.
I have started a 'movement' called Conversa Sem Nome / Conversación Sin Nombre (Nameless Conversation). It is a distributed and federated attempt to connect different conversations between heterogeneous peers (people and whole networks). It doesn't even pretend to be about church or religion in fact. And it doesn't pretend to impose an identity on whoever 'joins' the conversation. It is an attempt to document and expose interesting conversations. 
  • ¿Crees que hagan falta? ¿Si crees que no hacen falta, qué te preocupa de ellas?
Yes, I think we miss them. I think that "emerging churches" will present the best ways for people in my country to express their spirituality and to converse with culture in the long run. But I think these "churches" must be very diverse in all kind of criteria, if they are to 'be relevant'.
I already lived in the North for decades and in the South for decades too. I would call it the "yes we can" of the North versus the "no we cannot" of the South (hopefully not as a prejudice, but as a historical footnote). The various demonstrations of abusive power by authorities in the South conditioned people to have a pessimist view of hopeful proposals, such as 'the emerging church'. So in the South people are suspicious of the new thinking 'who is behind this', 'how is someone to make money from this', 'what do they want from me' and so on. I feel that in the North people commit to ideals and ideas more readily. 
  • ¿Formas parte de una iglesia emergente?
No, I don't . But I would like to. While I'm in Brazil, I'm working with a community specifically with plans so that they might be an 'emerging church' in the future. I would call them a CEB. I am part of la Conversación Sin Nombre, however. ( See www.conversasemnome.com .) Many friends I talked to "joined" the conversations. Others I spoke to liked the idea and wanted to join, but haven't done so 'formally' yet (perhaps because they don't have a Facebook account). But the way la Conversación Sin Nombre is, they may already be in the conversation and may not even realise.
  • ¿Si formas parte de una, en su perspectiva que caracteriza una iglesia emergente?
I think there should not be one characteristic. I would start with what Bolger wrote and modify it. I think that the main characteristics would be:
- Identification with Jesus. And this reading of Jesus would find a radical, contesting figure, as depicted by the liberation theologias.
- Transformation of the secular realm: There will be a new understanding of 'culture' that will change theology itself and, most importantly, praxis (and, for  churches coming from the 'inside stream', ecclesiology and liturgy) . Here a 'revisionist' theology, which is constantly revising itself, will help.
- Living in community: these communities must be recognized by their strong communal practice and view. Geographical and virtual networks. And these communities, in the context of Latin America, must include people with some key differences: income level (very important), theological views, and reconfigured family (because of reconfigured moral views), among others.

And about the derived characteristics:
- Receiving "the other": these communities must have a refined view of "the other". Here "the other" is mostly the suffering one: the landless, the miserable, the ones with no shelter, LGBTQs, mentally disabled, children, women, those with diverse political views, AND those with diverse theological views. This implies a greater collaboration and even integration with African and native religions. And for urban settings, a greater collaboration with atheists. 
- Serving with generosity: beyond assisting the poor, these communities must engage with the poor in their causes. This implies in close relationship with social movements: landless workers movements, shelterless movements, unions, women rights, LGBTQ activism, pacifists, etc.
- Participating as producers: here the key in the Latin American context is the new relationship with culture. Latin American communities must rediscover culture (including folklore). A political/historical critique may be necessary to interpret the forms of cultural oppression and alienation. These communities must learn to appreciate and leverage culture in its popular sources. Only after the communities may  shape their  language and symbols in dialog with culture. 
- Leading as body: here the political questions of 'body' and 'community' must come to the forefront. Who has power? What legitimates it? How can 'emerging churches' create new forms of arrangements? How can these group topologies spawn across sacred/secular boundaries and reconfigure (local) politics?
Having said all that, these characteristics give room for very diverse kinds of "churches", some of which may not even call themselves "churches". (For instance, many of these communities may be 'neo-neo-pentecostals')
  • ¿Sos parte de alguna red o compañerismo  de iglesias emergentes?
No. But I'm part of other networks,which are not "emerging churches":
- Conversa Sem Nome | Conversación Sin Nombre
- Evangelicals For Justice (Evangélicos Pela Justiça): a small group of evangelicals interested in socio-political matters.
- I have been befriending a very poor community in  a neighbourhood of 70 families (see http://gustavofrederico.blogspot.com/search/label/Monjolo ), helping it in every aspect of their lives and I hope it will become a CEB and an emerging church in the future.
  • ¿Desde hace cuanto tiempo funciona esa red, y cuantas iglesias forman parte de esa red?
Not applicable.

Nuevos modelos de hacer y ser iglesia
  1. ¿En cuanto a la práctica de la justicia, y el quehacer evangelistico y discipulador, qué caracteriza, según su experiencia eclesial, lo que haces para servir a poblaciones posmodernas?
Here in Latin America, the term "postmodernity" deserves some care. In one sense "postmodernity" in the South refers to a compound epoch , where communities live with pre-modern, modern and postmodern processes at the same time (interpreting "postmodernity" in an economical, technological and cultural way). So the characteristics of my actions could be listed as:
- active participation in politics. Here political actions derive from ethics. These political actions are not a means to propagate a certain religious view. Going beyond binaries of modernity should help the political dialog and cooperation, and revise criteria for political assessments.
- constant revision of theology, which produces dialogue (with diverse groups, including Christians and non-christians). This relates to 'evangelism'. 'Evangelism' has its proselitism highly diluted for me. The only characteristic of 'reproduction' left in it is the sense that "this thing" is worth living for and, therefore, worth sharing/living out with others.
- The simple fact of poor  'hanging out' with rich or middle class is very important.
  1. ¿Crees que hay un nuevo despertar en el surgimiento de nuevos modelos de iglesias?  - YES - ¿Cómo son estas “nuevas” iglesias, qué  las caracteriza?
I already wrote about it above. But here the question is more general. Here we are speaking about 'new churches' and not 'emerging churches'. There is an important article in the Brazilian press in a magazine called "Época" ("A nova reforma protestante") which speaks about these 'new churches' in a precise and accurate way. 'new churches' in new models will likely be a large number of churches in the near future in Latin America. But I suspect there will be fewer 'emerging churches' and the growth of 'emerging churches' will be slower.
The 'new churches' will be characterized by new liturgy (with more technology, more interactive stuff, with more lights and glamour) , a greater emphasis on distributed topologies (pastor-less churches, etc). Some of these 'new churches' will have an ambiguous relationship with culture, featuring certain elements of the secular (such as secular music). Most of these 'new churches' will be the result of non-disruptive changes to existing churches.
  • -Cuéntame un poco: ¿Cómo se definen a sí mismo? I don't like being simplistic and reductionist. I would prefer to converse with who is making the question. But since this is part of a research, I would call myself an emerging liberationist. 
  • ¿Como hicieron esa transición y de que transfondo denominacional venían? I grew up as a traditional Baptist. I then flirted with the 'renewal movement' in the late 80s and 90s. I was hoping that this movement would bring a new understanding of 'community' and I liked its proposal of 'breaking with unreasonable tradition'. I  soon realised that their proposal changed the wrapping but not the contents. I lived 11 years in Canada. However, I wouldn't say that this was a significant cause of my current views. While in Canada I barely had any contact with anyone who call him/herself "emergent" or "emerging".  I'm living back in Brazil temporarily and will return to Canada at the end of the year.  
  • ¿Cómo se consideran ahora? ¿De donde tomaron esas ideas para hacer ese cambio? I read a lot. In English, Portuguese and Spanish. My background is in Computer Science. I believe the Social Sciences are very important in the shaping of these theological discussions. So I began to speak with people from the Social Sciences.
  • ¿Cómo ha sido la reacción de la gente en la iglesia? I think that the "emerging" ideas in Latin America have some things that are palatable and others that are not to the traditional churches. In my case, I didn't find appropriate to insist in changes or new views because I'm here in Brazil only for 18 months. And I think that a 'longer path' of laying foundations by writing, speaking to people, engaging in social movements, such as landless workers, shalterless urban workers, social disobedience, etc, living out in new communities (that is, exploring new praxis) is a better way. 
  1. ¿Has escuchado de grupos “neomonasticos” en América Latina?  Yes. I have a friend of mine. He is a Catholic. A Catholic Biblical scholar, actually. He identifies himself with Liberation Theology (even though  he is a revisionist of it). He lives in a neomonastic community. The other community I know - Monjolo - has certain aspects of a neo-monastic community: they share money/resources, they refer to themselves as a community in geographical terms, 99% of them is either catholic or evangelical ( "evangélico") but they don't yet call themselves "neomonastics". Even because it is a rather big community, of around 70 families.
  • -Cuéntame un poco: ¿Cómo se definen a sí mismo? ¿Como hicieron esa transición y de que transfondo denominacional venían? ¿Cómo se consideran ahora? ¿De donde tomaron esas ideas para hacer ese cambio? ¿Cómo ha sido la reacción de la gente en la iglesia? ¿Te consideras parte de una denominación? ¿De qué tipo? ¿Cómo se considera la gente asiste a su iglesia?
El culto y el quehacer de la misión de la iglesia
  1. ¿Qué aspectos creativos has incorporado en ministerios, y en los cultos de la iglesia? I had the opportunity of speaking to the local pastor. I told him that I didn't join the other Presbyterian church because it is very 'formal'. For instance, I didn't like the lack of participation of women in leadership  there. And I didn't like the fact that the pastors wear suit and tie. Also, in "my" local church (I go there once in a while. I'm not very active nor assiduous at all) I have promoted the singing of new music that speaks more about social justice. This church is really an exception in Brazil: it must be one of the few that has an interesting concept against divides between secular and sacred. It still has, however, a great difficulty in changing its liturgy. They have created a 'neutral/ 3rd place' for arts and culture (Saturdays), but the church is still slow in debating or accepting the deeper theological implications of this and still isn't very keen on changing the Sunday liturgy. I also spoke to the pastor about my difficulty with women not being formally in leadership. He shares my frustration, but at the same time, I don't see him doing anything about it in the local church. I have to say, though ,that I proposed that the church participate in the National Referendum for the Limit of Land Ownership. This is sponsored by social movements, some of which catholics involved with the landless rural workers movement (MST), and the church, not without debate, accepted participating in it. But the leadership was very much afraid of 'taking on' a political subject. The leadership often cited throughout the process they wanted to be neutral on the Referendum. The pastors were more in favour of taking a position in the Referendum, however, in favour of a 'YES' vote for the limit.

  1. ¿Cómo ha sido la reacción de la iglesia local ante estos cambios? I'm frustrated that even these simple suggestions I mention above are moving fast enough. Even my suggestions of music with different lyrics I made months ago wasn't yet taken, despite promises to do so. 
  2.  ¿Surgieron estos cambios desde la iglesia local, o vino de algún líder de afuera?  
  3. ¿Qué significa ser espiritual? ¿Cómo entiendes la separación entre lo secular y lo sagrado? ¿Cómo unes lo secular y lo sagrado? These are important and complicated questions. I think there should be no divide in principle with the sacred and the profane.I think that the local church must be a place where everyone is welcome. I think there is space for a local faith community to express their spirituality, and I think that this moment may have some language , some 'spiritual language' that is not common outside the communitiy. I still think that this language must be as close as possible to culture. This language must derive, in fact, from (what we call secular) culture.  ¿Cómo es que la gente la congregación entiende estos aspectos? I think people in general in the congregation may have some suspicion of it, but they don't grasp it and when they realise the extent of the possibilities they would be scarred and against it. I would like to propose 'popular liturgies' for Monjolo - the poor community. I would need to call it something else other than 'church'. And even son, if I mix the popular/folkloric elements as I'm thinking, they may still be scandalized. But I don't know. I may be surprised.
  4. ¿Cómo se distribuye el poder en la iglesia? ¿Quién manda en su iglesia?  It is not any different than the standard Presbyterian church in Brazil. There is the Coucil and the main pastor. Power is somewhat distributed, but the pastor still has a heavy weight on the decisions.
  5. ¿Has escuchado de organizaciones planas? ¿Han puesto en práctica algo relacionado al “liderazgo compartido”? Comparte alguna experiencia. ¿Han tenido experiencias en la distribución de poder? ¿Cómo ha sido la transición? ¿Cómo ha sido la reacción de la gente de la iglesia?
It is not much applicable, because I didn't actively participate in the local presbyterian church. 

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Problemas no CD-ROM do Coelho Sabido

Comprei o CD-ROM do Coelho Sabido e tive problema para instalá-lo no meu computador. Depois da instalação, tentando jogar aparecia uma mensagem dizendo que o software não achou o arquivo
c:\resource\rrk32.exe . Eu então copiei todo o diretório d:\resource para c:\  e o software funcionou.

Wednesday, October 06, 2010

How-to: subtitling Youtube videos

1- Download the FLV video with DVDVideoSoft Free Studio.
    Comment: other tools will download AVIs in MPEG-4 V2 format, but I had problems later on manipulating the video without the codec (MP42 is the 4-digit code I think).

2- Convert the FLV to AVI and XVid or DivX encoding with the FLV Converter software.

3- Create the subtitle offline in a text file.

4- Open the video and the text file with DivXLand Media Subtitler. That's the easiest subtitler tool in the world.
    Comment: it didn't work for me on Windows Server 2008  R2 64 bits. Not sure about Windows 7 64 bits... It only worked on Windows 7 32 bits for me.

5- Open the video with VirtualDub. Download and install the Alpha Station Subtitler plug-in for VirtualDub if you haven't done so yet.

6- Choose full processing mode in video in VirtualDub. Under 'Video -> filters' choose the subtitler filter (it will be there if you installed the plug-in in the previous step)

7- Save the AVI VirtualDub. The result is a new AVI file with the subtitles.

I had a problem with the subtitle in that the font size was too big. Size 48 to be precise. I manually opened the .ssa file generated by DivXLand Media Subtitler and I replaced font size 48 with 16 near the header of the file. It is a text file and it's not difficult to understand.

Thursday, September 30, 2010

My daily SharePoint frustration - XIX

This error happened with SharePoint Server 2010.

The error:


********** ERROR: The template you have chosen is invalid or cannot be found.

STACK:    at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPGlobal.HandleComException(COMException comEx)
   at Microsoft.SharePoint.Library.SPRequest.ApplyWebTemplate(String bstrUrl, String bstrWebTemplateContent, Int32 fWebTemplateContentFromSubweb, Int32 fDeleteGlobalListsWithWebTemplateContent, String& bstrWebTemplate, Int32& plWebTemplateId)
   at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPWeb.ApplyWebTemplate(String strWebTemplate)
   at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPSiteCollection.Add(SPContentDatabase database, SPSiteSubscription siteSubscription, String siteUrl, String title, String description, UInt32 nLCID, String webTemplate, String ownerLogin, String ownerName, String ownerEmail, String secondaryContactLogin, String secondaryContactName, String secondaryContactEmail, String quotaTemplate, String sscRootWebUrl, Boolean useHostHeaderAsSiteName)
   at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPSiteCollection.Add(SPSiteSubscription siteSubscription, String siteUrl, String title, String description, UInt32 nLCID, String webTemplate, String ownerLogin, String ownerName, String ownerEmail, String secondaryContactLogin, String secondaryContactName, String secondaryContactEmail, Boolean useHostHeaderAsSiteName)
   at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPSiteCollection.Add(String siteUrl, String title, String description, UInt32 nLCID, String webTemplate, String ownerLogin, String ownerName, String ownerEmail, String secondaryContactLogin, String secondaryContactName, String secondaryContactEmail, Boolean useHostHeaderAsSiteName)
[...]

What I was trying to do: 
  I was trying to create a site collection with a custom template.

The cause of the problem:
   I was following some instructions from internal documentation on how to localize the site. One step instructed me to copy the site template XML file from the English directory to 

C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\14\TEMPLATE\LCID\XML
  
  After I deleted the XML files from both English and Japanese sites, the problem went away. I didn't try to delete just from the Japanese directory.


Monday, September 27, 2010

Integral Missions and Ecumenism En Passant

    Yesterday Rev Wilson Costa was preaching at the Igreja Presbiteriana do Lago Norte in Brasília, Brazil. I and my family have been attending the church whenever possible for over a year now. Rev Wilson Costa is currently the Executive Secretary of the Fraternidade Teológica Latinoamericana seção Brasil (aka FTL-B). The pastor of Igreja Presbiteriana do Lago Norte is Rev Carlos Veiga. He is the President of FTL-B. I don't need to summarize here what is FTL-B. There is plenty of documentation available about it. I would just like to highlight here how intimately related is FTL-B with Integral Missions (Missão Integral in Portuguese and Misión Integral in Spanish). FTL-B is, indeed, the forum of Integral Missions in Latin America.
  Rev Wilson Costa preached yesterday about, well, Missions. It was a nice sermon. I liked it overall. (Despite the fact that it took about one hour. And despite another detail that I'll elaborate on below). He even read Matthew 25, for instance.
   In the middle of the sermon Rev Wilson Costa told us a "joke". It went like this: a very poor woman was in dire need. It then went on the radio to ask for help. A Pai-de-santo - the name given to male priests of Afro-Brazilian religions - then wanted to play a prank on her. He gathered lots of supplies to give away to the woman. And he asked those who would deliver it to make sure they mentioned that the supplies were given by the Pai-de-santo. And so it went. When the woman received it, she was very glad, but did not ask who gave it to her. The helpers then asked if she didn't want to know who gave it to her. She then replied: "no, I don't quite want to know. I know that if God wanted to give it to me, even the Devil would obey".
  To me the first problem with the story is the immediate association of the Pai-de-santo with the "Devil". The "Devil" or Satan for Brazilian evangelicals is the impersonation of everything evil. The association of the Afro-Brazilian religions with the "demonic" is close to xenophobia to me. Because it follows that the followers of these other religions are less-than-human. In more troubled times it may happen that basic human rights may be restricted to the followers of these other religions because of these views. Latin American history demonstrates that. This association is, therefore, disrespectful.
  The reckless narration may be better understood in the context of the carelessness of Brazilian evangelicals with ecumenism, even those engaged with Integral Missions. If there were one "group" from which you would expect more proximity with other religious it would be from folks in Integral Missions. Padilla, for instance, wrote that "if church's mission is the mission of the Kingdom of God, then it must be at the same time evangelical and ecumenical" ( "O que é Missão Integral?", René Padilla. Editora Ultimato, 2009, ISBN 978-85-7779-031-9. page 132, free translation by Gustavo) Still, incidents like these are unwarranted and go almost unnoticed.

Thursday, September 09, 2010

The Outcry of the Excluded Ones - yearly event in Brazil

Every year on September 7th happens "The Outcry of the Excluded Ones" ("Grito dos Excluídos" in Portuguese) during the celebrations of the national Independence of Brazil. "The Outcry of the Excluded Ones" happens in many major cities in parallel with the official celebrations. It is organized mostly by organic/social movements. In it, they question the "Independence" of Brazil when we know that still millions in Brazil suffer from hunger. They question the official celebrations, of which a military parade is the major attraction, trying to encourage the participation of everyone. It resembles a big block party. When money and time permits, they plan for "entertainment" for the families, including children and the elderly. In 2009 they setup a popular courtroom (unofficial), where they carried out the proceedings against the government, with the symbolic votes of the whole population.
  This year "The Outcry of the Excluded Ones" happened in conjunction with the Popular Referendum for the Limit on Land Ownership. The popular referendum is the initiative of a Forum on land reform in Brazil created years ago by 54 different entities, including unions, religious organizations, NGOs and social movements. The Referendum is not an 'official' one, as it is not carried out by the government. In it, people can vote 'YES' or 'NO' on two questions. It is one instrument for the society to express itself and for politicians to do act to progress on the neglected issue of land reform.
  As I wrote in my previous post, the statistics are sad.

  • 1% of the properties occupy more than 44% of the overall owned land.
  • There are 4 million families without access to land ownership.
  • Urban population continues to grow rapidly and the rural population continues to decline.
  • 11 million families live in "favelas" (slums) or unlawful areas, or risky areas
CPT ('Pastoral Commission of the Land' - Comissão Pastoral da Terra, a catholic entity) registers anually the violence related to land concentration. On average over the past 25 years from 1985 to 2005 there were yearly:
  •  2,709 families expelled from their land !
  • 63 people assassinated in land disputes !
  • 13,815 families expelled by the Judiciary with orders executed by the Executive through the police
  • 422 people arrested because of land disputes !
  • 765 conflicts directly related to the fight for the land !
  • 92,290 families involved in conflicts for the land !
In absolute numbers, over these past 25 years there were 1,163 assassination occurrences  with the death of 1,546 rural workers. Out of these 1,163 assassination occurrences  only 85 were judged, with the condemnation of 20 masterminds and 71 executioners. Out of the 20 masterminds found guilty, the only one currently arrested is Mr. Vitalmiro Bastos de Moura (Bida), found guilty for being the mastermind of the assassination of Sister Dorothy Stang (the case got international press coverage).
  Also, the very large land properties and agrobusiness often impose working conditions analogous to slavery. CPT recorded throughout these 25 years (1985-2009) 2,438 occurrences of slavery, in which there were 163,000 workers involved.

  This year I was very glad to participate actively in both "The Outcry of the Excluded Ones" and the referendum. Many families from Brazlândia - a city in the outskirts of Brasília - who have no real housing took part. They participate in a movement called Movimento dos Trabalhadores Sem Teto (MTST). Other friends from other movements also participated in the celebrations. I had the opportunity of hoping on the sound truck  and speaking to the crowd representing Evangélicos Pela Justiça (Evangelicals for Justice). It is a group still in formation that seeks to act and debate social and political issues in relation to religion. I basically said that we were there in support of the Outcry and that we support the needed land reform in Brazil. And that the disparity in the resource distribution in Brazil is absurd.

  You can see some photos below.



Milena and Samuel putting signs on the grass


This is me speaking on the sound truck

Wednesday, September 08, 2010

Brasília and social movements

The meeting was scheduled for 7 PM at a building downtown. I didn't know where it was exactly, but I had the address. It was a meeting to organize the Popular Referendum for the limit on land ownership in Brazil. Brazil is the second worst country in land distribution, just behind Paraguay. The statistics are very sad.

  • 1% of the properties occupy more than 44% of the overall owned land.
  • There are 4 million families without access to land ownership.
  • Urban population continues to grow rapidly and the rural population continues to decline.
  • 11 million families live in "favelas" (slums) or unlawful areas, or risky areas
CPT ('Pastoral Commission of the Land' - Comissão Pastoral da Terra, a catholic entity) registers anually the violence related to land concentration. On average over the past 25 years from 1985 to 2005 there were yearly:
  •  2,709 families expelled from their land !
  • 63 people assassinated in land disputes !
  • 13,815 families expelled by the Judiciary with orders executed by the Executive through the police
  • 422 people arrested because of land disputes !
  • 765 conflicts directly related to the fight for the land !
  • 92,290 families involved in conflicts for the land !
In absolute numbers, over these past 25 years there were 1,163 assassination occurrences  with the death of 1,546 rural workers. Out of these 1,163 assassination occurrences  only 85 were judged, with the condemnation of 20 masterminds and 71 executioners. Out of the 20 masterminds found guilty, the only one currently arrested is Mr. Vitalmiro Bastos de Moura (Bida), found guilty for being the mastermind of the assassination of Sister Dorothy Stang (the case got international press coverage).
  Also, the very large land properties and agrobusiness often impose working conditions analogous to slavery. CPT recorded throughout these 25 years (1985-2009) 2,438 occurrences of slavery, in which there were 163,000 workers involved.

  I arrived at the meeting. There were around 8 people, men and women. Young and old. Some of them brought snacks to share. We were discussing details of how to carry out the popular referendum on the limit of land ownership. I was there representing Evangelicals for Justice, a new group that acts on social and political matters. The sharing of the snacks turned the gathering into a holy place for me. 

Source of data: Fórum Nacional pela Reforma Agrária e Justiça no Campo
Translation: Gustavo K-fé Frederico

Friday, September 03, 2010

Fazendo uma urna para o plebiscito popular pelo limite da propriedade da terra

Comecei com uma caixa comum de papelão. Eu tinha um papel pardo também.













Coloquei o papel pardo em volta da caixa. A ideia era ter cartazes do plebiscito em volta da caixa. Quis pôr antes esse papel para deixar a superfície da caixa mais lisa.







































Usei 3 cartazes para cobrir toda a superfície da urna. Alarguei o buraco com um estilete pra cédula passar fácil. Só falta pôr agora a folha de identificação da urna.

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

O reinado que acontece no amor solidário aos pobres - 1

Citações curtas do livro "Deus em nós: O reinado que acontece no amor solidário aos pobres", por Hugo Assmann e Jung Mo Sung.

"
A crítica do consumismo é uma das marcas da esquerda azeda e negativista. Em vez de alegrar-se com uma certa difusão da renda e do poder aquisitivo, os negativistas antimercado despejam o seu moralismo contra o que me dá enorme alegria, ver o povo comprando e fruindo do prazer de comprar. Positivar o prazer em geral e com ele o prazer da compra.
Isso faz parte do sacrificialismo ocidental/cristão, com sua noção de um deus dolorista e antiprazer. Isso evoluiu, pari passu, com o machismo e antifeminismo ocidentais.
O prazer de consumier não é uma invenção do capitalismo. Faz parte da condição humana. O que Hugo Assmann sempre criticou foi o fetiche da mercadoria ditando as relações humanas e sociais. O problema não está no prazer de comprar ou de consumir, mas na classificação do grau da dignidade humana dos indivíduos a partir do critério do padrão de consumo. Aliás, uma das razões da luta em favor dos pobres é para aumentar a capacidade de consumo deles. A 'libertação' não pode significar transformar todcas as pessoas em 'franciscanos' ou monges de vida austera. Esse tipo de vida religiosa, presente nas mais diversas tradições religiosas, deve ser compreendida como uma crítica às sociedades que não reconhecem a humanidade dos pobres, mas não como um ideal de vida para toda a sociedade. Isso seria, como diz Assmann, exaltar um sacrificialismo dolorista.
"

Friday, August 20, 2010

Culto, lugar de cura




Mais uma noite, mais uma operação. Tentando transformá-lo em um homem mais depurado, mais feliz, fizeram mais uma incisão. Merda, doutor, temos que parar com esses experimentos. Acalme-se, você não sabe do que está falando, Murdoch. Vai dar tudo certo, vai dar tudo certo.

PowerShell listing web sites

And here is a PowerShell script to list web sites.

 Import-Module WebAdministration

while($true) {
    Write-Host '--- - - - '
   Get-Item IIS:\Sites\* | Select-Object -property Name,State
    Write-Host ' ******** '
    Start-Sleep -s 20  
  }
 





Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Monjolo - 4

 After the ordeal, families at Núcleo Rural Monjolo were asking the government "why?", "what's the plan?", "how long?", all reasonable questions. After months of questions and no answers and no actions, it became clear that the government wasn't going to do anything. Families insisted to call the media to go there. Most of the time, the media went there and the government answered that they were working to solve all the problems. There was an instance when a local newspaper went there. In the printed story the government falsely reported that they distributed construction material and food to the local residents. Many people report that they just couldn't talk to anyone from the government when they tried to go to the governmental building complex (which, of course, is far away from where they are).
  Since 2008 until today many other removals happened at Cidade Estrutural. They removed more families to Monjolo and to other areas. At Monjolo alone today there are 70 families that were displaced by the government in other areas. This year alone there were at least 2 removal operations. In one, about 1 month ago, of them government employees threatened a family of a single mother with 6 children. They said that if she didn't leave that they would take away her children. She decided to lock herself in her house. The government employees decided to break into her home. They fought. Neighbours came bringing their cellphones with cameras. She still refused to leave and they left. Her neighbour wasn't so lucky. They convinced her to leave.
 Another removal operation happened about 3 months ago at Cidade Estrutural. And that's at Cidade Estrutural alone.
  I didn't mention the removal operations from Brazlândia, that happened one month ago. They were 800 families (yes, 800 families) living under 250 tents that occupied a piece of land far away in the District, and police went there to remove them.

See also:
  Part 1
  Part 2
  Part 3

Monjolo - 3

 And so in 2008, 40 families were removed from their homes and placed at Núcleo Rural Monjolo. It was supposed to be a temporary shelter until the homes back at Cidade Estrutural were ready. There at Núcleo Rural Monjolo there was nothing. No sewage, no work, no transportation, no health, no water, no electrical energy, no school transportation, no toilet. The government put about 2 chemical toilets there. After a month or two they stopped sending people to clean them.

See also:
  Part 1
  Part 2
  Part 4

Monjolo - 2

The removal process was a terrible event. The government brought in the police to force people out of their homes. At times children were alone in their homes, with their mother out to work. They still came and told the children to leave. And they began destroying homes right away with hammers. The government brought in trucks to carry away the dump generated with the home demolitions. Actually, the "move" of furniture and reusable construction materials were often mixed with dump of demolitions. So most people lost their furniture too. Moreover, the government brought in jailed criminals to work on the removal, which was strictly forbidden in the Brasília Sustentável plan. Friends of mine at Monjolo later on spoke to me of seeing "movers" stealing furniture at the date with the help of local residents.
  Joaquim showed to me the 48 hour "notice" that the government "served" them with to leave their homes. It had 2 sentences that didn't say much. It didn't say why they had to leave. It wasn't signed by a judge - and it had to be. It didn't say how long they were to be displaced. It didn't say where they were to go. And of course it didn't mention anything about their rights.
  I heard a man saying that he spent more than R$ 15 000 on his home. Considering the minimum wage is R$ 510, if he earned 2 minimum wages and put 1 minimum wage monthly toward his house, it would have taken him 2 years and a half to build it. That is, the government likely took away at least 2 years and a half of his earnings, not counting the value of the land!
  The government employees also told them (including the children who were home alone)that the sewage work was urgently necessary. That there was a huge storm in the forecast for the following day that was going to wash them away and kill them all. And that they had to leave immediately.
  This was July 2008.
  The original plan was for the government to build a number of houses within Cidade Estrutural prior to the removal, and for these families to move there. The houses were not ready, however. There was another important problem with the houses: they were built next to the garbage dump. When it rains, liquid residue flowed from the garbage dump to the houses, flooding them with smelly waste. Also, the houses were very small. Many families had more than 6 members. Later on in 2010, a local association went to justice against the government, against the move to these houses. An inspection was performed by justice officials and technicians. They determined that no one could live under those conditions, and justice vetoed the houses.
  Still at Estrutural, some of the families were forcibly put on the "social rental" program of the government. However, the government paid their rentals whenever they wanted, that is, once in a while. So often these families were expelled by landlords 3, 4 times. I knew a woman who moved 8 times with the "social rental" program! Today she suffers from severe depression. She - and a number of families - are traumatized with the whole story.
 Back to July 2008, these 40 families were removed to a "temporary" place called Monjolo. They put them under sailcloth.

See also
Part 1
Part 3
Part 4

Monjolo - 1

I have been following the case of the Monjolo neighbourhood. Monjolo - or Núcleo Rural Monjolo - is the name of a poor rural neighbourhood here in Brasília, Brazil.
   Let me try to write down their story.
   The story begins at Cidade Estrutural, another city within the Federal District of Brazil. In July of 2007, TERRACAP, the government branch that looks after land allocation and urban "planning", went to speak to a number of people saying the government was going to build an Olympic Villa and that they had to move. Most of the families survived by picking garbage, recycling garbage, or with small occasional services. Some of the families had enough area for small plantations to grow some vegetables. Most of them was going through the process of getting their land ownership papers. When they moved there, that was "no man's land". On average these families lived there 15 years before the forced removal. (Speaking to people of other neighbourhoods, I learned that here in the Federal District it is common for poor families to apply for land ownership, with lawyers of good faith or pro-bono, but the government doesn't hand out "official" papers, just because they are poor. They end up getting some papers where the land is kind of theirs. )
  After July 2007 a year went by and nothing happened. Until government employees and a local deputy (Eliana Pedrosa, who is a candidate again in 2010) showed up and handed out a notice that these 40 families had 48 hours to leave their homes. The community leader, Ismael, said at the time that in a closed-door meeting with the then Governor Mr. Arruda, the Governor said that these families would have to leave peacefully or by force.
   A little more context. And this context is specially important for folks in North America and Europe. The government of the Federal District got a US$ 115,000,000 (15 million US$) loan from the World Bank to implement a project called "Brasília Sustentável" (Sustainable Brasília). The contract is registered as contract number 7326-BR. This plan contemplated a number of urban changes throughout the District. For the Cidade Estrutural it included the construction of an Olympic Villa, the construction of popular homes for displaced families and sewage. Part of the money was to be used to completely shutdown the local garbage dump. Indeed, Cidade Estrutural began because of the local garbage dump, which attracted families that had nothing and survived eating from the garbage and recycling paper and plastic from the garbage. The money was completely consumed. The garbage dump is there until today. The Olympic Villa is nearly finished. By 2008 the houses were not ready. However, the planned time schedule agreed with the World Bank required the government of the Federal District to remove a number of families for sewage work. If that wasn't done the World Bank would not forward the second part of the loan to the government. So the government rushed to comply with the time table. The government removed 40 families by force from Cidade Estrutural to the Núcleo Rural Monjolo. Núcleo Rural Monjolo had no infrastructure whatsoever.

  To be continued.

Below are some photos at Núcleo Rural Monjolo in 2010.






Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Deus não tem um plano B

"Caros irmãos de Jerusalém,
  Shalom da parte do nosso Senhor e Salvador Jesus Cristo. Escrevo para alertá-lo sobre novos ventos de doutrina e para encorajá-lo a permanecer na Verdade. Pois sabemos que alguns lobos andam por aí sob a pele de ovelhas buscando devorar a quem quer que se afaste do rebanho.
  Ora, esses 'cristãos emergentes', por assim dizer, andam desvirtuando a Verdade com uma série de heresias, algumas das quais nem apropriadas são ao judeu. Lembremos do nosso Senhor Jesus Cristo, que viveu e morreu judeu. Ele deixou o exemplo ao sempre ir à Sinagoga. Assim, portanto, vós também não deixeis de ir à Sinagoga. Como judeu, Ele não veio abolir a lei, mas cumpri-la. Assim vós também, cuidai para que não deixeis de serem judeus. Alguns cristãos novos estão abandonando a Verdade, chegando até a desprezar as Escrituras Sagradas. Ensinam erroneamente que não é necessário mais haver circuncisão nem seguir a lei. Estes 'cristãos emergentes' por assim dizer estão abandonando as Escrituras, menosprezando a Verdade. Ao invés de influenciar as culturas com o cerne do Judaísmo como foi tão bem ensinado por nosso Senhor Jesus, esses cristãos deixam-se contaminar pelas culturas ao seu redor, abandonando o puro Judaísmo do nosso Senhor Jesus. Pois enquanto devemos até nos adaptar às diferentes culturas ao nosso redor a fim de ganhar mais almas para o Judaísmo, o fundamento da vossa fé judaica, que é o nosso Senhor e Salvador Jesus Cristo, deve permanecer inalterado. Porque Deus não nos chamou para outro caminho. Não abandonem, portanto, a sinagoga. A sinagoga, mesmo imperfeita, é a arca de Noé: enquanto dentro da arca o odor era inconveniente, ela foi a salvação daqueles que creram. Deus não tem um plano B. Cristo não veio nos revelar uma nova Verdade, mas nos lembrar da Verdade ensinada por Deus aos nossos antepassados.
  Maranatha!
"

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Documentário sobre Monjolo em formato eletrônico grátis

O documentário "Monjolo: Todo Mundo Tá Feliz?" está disponível em formato digital gratuitamente.

Você pode vê-lo diretamente neste site: http://www.vimeo.com/13156660

Você também pode baixar o arquivo do DVD e gravar um DVD em casa. Veja como fazê-lo:

Pré-requisitos:

1- Um programa que grave um DVD, como o ImgBurn (acesse http://www.imgburn.com/ ou http://www.baixatudo.com.br/imgburn )

2- Um programa cliente de Torrent, como o µTorrent (acesse http://www.utorrent.com/ )

3- Um drive de DVD e um DVD virgem.

Instruções:

1- Instale os programas de pré-requisito acima.

2- Utilize o µTorrent  para fazer o download do arquivo .torrent. Faça o download do arquivo .torrent. Abra o arquivo .torrent com o programa µTorrent. Isso fará com que o download do DVD comece. O download do DVD pode demorar, pois é um arquivo grande. O nome do arquivo é Monjolo_DVDStyler_dvd_image.iso.

3- Após o fim do download com o  µTorrent, você terá em seu computador um arquivo chamado Monjolo_DVDStyler_dvd_image.iso de cerca de 2,9 Gb de tamanho. (Um arquivo .iso com a imagem de um  DVD é um arquivo que contém todo o conteúdo do DVD.)

4- Abra o programa ImgBurn. Insira o DVD virgem no drive de DVD.

5- No ImgBurn, selecione "Write image file to disc".

6- Em "Source", clique no ícone de uma pasta amarela para abrir o arquivo de imagem do DVD: Monjolo_DVDStyler_dvd_image.iso.


7- Clique na figura de baixo para gravar o DVD.


8- Espere a conclusão da gravação do DVD. (Nota: o programa ImgBurn pode abrir o drive do DVD e pedir para você fechá-lo para verificação. Isto pode acontecer ou não dependendo do seu hardware). O DVD está pronto!

Monday, July 12, 2010

Documentário - "Monjolo: Todo Mundo Tá Feliz?"

  O documentário mostra o drama de várias famílias que subsistiam do lixão na Vila Estrutural no Distrito Federal e que foram removidas à força para uma Área de Proteção Ambiental Permanente pelo Governo do Distrito Federal. Vídeo produzido pelos Evangélicos Pela Justiça (EPJ) em 2010. Para ter mais informações sobre o filme ou sobre formas de ajudar as famílias do Monjolo acesse www.epj.org.br .
  Adquira já o DVD "Monjolo: Todo Mundo Tá Feliz?" !

  Igrejas: Organizem uma reunião do seu grupo caseiro ou Escola Bíblica Dominical para ver e debater o filme "Monjolo: Todo Mundo Tá Feliz?". Acompanha um Guia de Discussão para o grupo e um Guia para Líder.
 
  Universidades, Bibliotecas Públicas e Escolas: Entrem em contato com o EPJ para adquirir o filme e promover debates.

  Roteiro e produção: Gustavo K-fé Frederico
  Entrevistas: Caroline Soares
  Imagens: Webson Dias
  Trilha sonora: Maurício Domene - Estúdio Next
  Locução: Bernardo Hanssen

Link do filme: http://www.vimeo.com/13156660





Monjolo: Todo Mundo Tá Feliz? de Gustavo Frederico no Vimeo.

Monday, June 14, 2010

Tuitões - consulta FTL-B - sobre a fala do reverendo Guilhermino Cunha


A pior fala da consulta da FTL-B foi a do reverendo Guilhermino Cunha. A apresentação tentou mostrar como vivemos hoje em um caos total chamado de pós-modernismo decorrido da Liberté Égalité Fraternité da Revolução Francesa e que há uma grande conspiração para implantar um chip de RFID da Mondex na sua mão. Só faltou mostrar um gráfico mostrando que o aumento global da temperatura é inversamente proporcional ao número de piratas, demonstrando, assim, que a causa do aquecimento global é o declínio no número de piratas, conforme afirma a Religião do Monstro de Espagueti Voador.  O abuso de imagens chocantes no PowerPoint ou tentaram manipular as emoções das pessoas ou demonstraram uma crença em uma surrealidade pra lá de Bagdá. 

Saturday, June 05, 2010

Spiritualities engaged in social movements from within the Brazilian culture

(This article was originally published in Portuguese for the digital magazine Novos Diálogos. I translated it to English.)

I'm not a theologian, even though I was raised going to churches. Not being a theologian and not having any formation in the Humanities, I regret in part not mastering languages and concepts that perhaps would allow a better understanding of the divine mysteries. However, I think there are many advantages to meditating on the divine without being a theologian. The first one is that I don't inherit certain language vices nor other pre-shaped concepts. This allows me to develop thoughts and put ideas into practice that make sense to me without many distractions or mumbojumbo. This practical field includes the daily living of someone not confined to religious spaces. The second advantage is that of escaping from the scrutiny of formal theologians. I, therefore, feel free to write in prosaic Portuguese hoping that seeds of new languages find fertile soil.

Even though I have many christian friends, I dedicate this text to those who for whatever reason see themselves outside a religious social group. I won't ask them to find the nearest church. Instead in the spirit of new dialogues, I hope to share here mini-simple-aspirations related to popular spirituality hoping to hear and see something from them.

In his last supper, Jesus used the bread and the wine to speak, in a p(r)o(ph)etic way about his body and blood. This way Jesus identifies common and universal cultural traits - the food and the drink - to designate them as his body and blood. The most common daily event is made holy. The very fact of Jesus being a man, having lived and talked with the most diverse people of the most varied backgrounds and having told stories with the language of the daily life corroborates towards the identification of the divine from popular culture.


I propose for people who commonly do not get involved with religious practice to seek to express spiritualities engaged in social movements from within the Brazilian culture. Let us imagine different social movements, mainly the excluded or minority voices, developing practical paths and simple spiritualities that express their feelings of denouncement, indignation, hope and hopelessness. The historical pilgrimage of the group could be documented and annotated with sacred stories, like the (hi)stories of the christian bible. This would introduce a new native language. Thus it would not be anymore one exterior (theological) language (and, therefore, artificially false language) that would express the longings of a determined social group, but a rich and inherent language whose semantic would be supported by the history of the group.


Let us imagine still that these spiritual expressions use elements of local cultures, specially folkloric elements. This spirituality will be expressed through repente or cordel, or transmitted to children from the mouth of story tellers. Hand gestures, tongue-twisters and simple games of the daily life will be created in this process.


I ask common people not to wait for models or plans to start these practices. Not even wait for a religious person to begin. I ask them for themselves to start it asap. Meanwhile, I invite certain professionals from the Humanities to collaborates in both active participation of these practices and theoretical formulations.


Anthropologists could help us to intertwine, on the one hand, culture and religion in the daily living and to un-intertwine, on the other, culture and religion pointing to the multiple correlations between instances of them both. In this process, we would see the creation of "non-liturgical liturgies": rites that would go beyond the false dichotomies between the "religious" and the "secular". With that in mind, they could start from these questions towards other ones: how are symbols and habits of a determined social group related with its reality? What do their symbols and habits say about the relations of power among the members of the group? What meanings do these symbols have outside the group? Would there be the possibility of creating new symbols and rituals with the capacity to subvert the illegitimate powers from the local scope to the global ones? How do symbols oscillate over time between the maintenance of the status quo and social rupture? Is it possible to maintain the symbols accessible to the whole social group avoiding "codifications of the elite" and favouring "the popular"?

Political scientists could shape in conjunction with groups of social movements language expressions that enable the analyses of political conjunctures. They could identify historical patterns. They could read holy books such as the christian bible making parallels between the narratives and realities. Political scientists could coordinate political laboratories in situ. They would provide different languages for the social movements that would allow debates related to questions like "what are the characteristics of political relations that tend to preserve life?" or "what would be the main mechanisms of subversion of destructive practices in contemporary macropolitics?"

Philosophers would have precious contributions in the expressions of spirituality of social movements. First, they could work in the (auto)awareness of groups. Also, one could ask: what would be the ethical questions that arise from the context of a certain group? After that, as good philosophers, they could enumerate the questions about virtually everything which is not listed. Also in this process philosophers would have a responsibility to cooperate with the development of new languages for the group. These languages, like in the activity of the political scientists, would allow the articulation of new questions related to political, social and economical relations of the group.

Poets and artists would be necessary in the spiritual expressions of social movements. They would be key both in the construction of new languages and in the expressions of the inexpressive.

However, I think that more important than possible collaborations of professionals in the process would be the stories of common people engaged in the various social movements, mainly that of the excluded ones and minority voices. Please, tell us your stories.