In this edition I complete my praise of the Literary Festival, without prudery or restraint. Opinion should be lucid, grounded, honest… and open to contradiction; it does not have to be pure, nor bland. This was the best one ever; and I do not say that out of surprise – there is none; or seduction – there is. I say it because I feel, in my skin, the luxury of this cultural cascade; of the sharing of ideas; of the pleasure of thinking and debating… More than the sum of its arts and names, Rota das Letras stirs the mind; and tells us that this exists in Macau. It is not just a nice little festival; it is life happening; with voice and neurons. Chapeau, Ricardo!
In this edition (pp. 10–13) I try out a style that appeals to me; I cannot help surrendering to it. I am not a literary critic, much less a theatre critic; I do not have that gift. But Miguel Carvalho’s book – Por Dentro do Chega (Inside Chega) – and Margarida Vila-Nova’s monologue – À Primeira Vista (At First Sight) – cannot go unnoticed. They are two hymns to style, talent and competence. Having them here, and their wanting to be here, is part of what we want to be – of the city we want to have.
That said, I turn to the main theme here: Amitav Ghosh says, in the interview we published last week, “If we all want to live the American dream, we need five planets.” I can no longer think without the challenge this poses to us: absolute and definitive.
Anyone who believes – as I do – that progress, rights and freedoms, consumption, ambition, even waste… are theoretically universal rights, regardless of gender, race, culture or ideology, will have to colonise five planets to sustain all that for 8 billion people. Or else drastically lower expectations; produce less, consume less… and settle the spirit into a different logic.
In reality, the path that takes hold of us is neither one nor the other; it is the law of the strongest: if the planet is to be destroyed, then I will be at the controls; at least I will die fatter and later than you. In fact, along the way I will build a few bunkers on Earth and a few military barracks in space. Brilliant…
As Ghosh tells us, the crises are so many, and so wide-ranging, that he no longer even feels like focusing on environmental chaos: death of biodiversity; death by war; death of values; death of hope… so much to resolve that we have lost consciousness; even that of our own survival.
Communists, socialists, democrats and liberals, fascists… all sell the same fish: with me there will be more production, more exports, better distribution, more jobs, money, consumption… Are there exceptions? Of course; in their millions. But the abyss that governs life is precisely this profitable life. There is not the same for everyone – there never was. But there is this illusion that each and every one of us can have a little more than we do. And that is a lie – we cannot. A tragic contradiction.
Those who can think do so: the last thing I need is for you to have as much as, or more than, me. So I will look after what is mine, even if you think it is yours. Because I want to, because I can, because I command – that is my right – it is part of my national security – and personal security too: I will control the oil, the gas, the technology, the water, the fertilisers and pesticides, artificial intelligence, whatever else exists and is needed. The people – my people – need only be grateful; or do they want to be poor and let the enemy grow rich? That heretic!
I no longer know what to call this; nor which theory to use in fighting it. I know that I see no ideology giving an answer to it; and I know that one cannot talk about this without talking about that. Why am I in this mood? Because I am infected by that virus, the urge to listen. I spent days reading, watching, thinking and discussing, giving and receiving… it is culture, stupid; it is the Festival, my friend. I repeat: Script Road Festival is not a collection of authors and autographs; it truly has the art of moving us. Disagree, if you like – or not. Feel alive.
