A DESOLATE INHERITANCE

Afonso Almeida Brandão"

THE Some recent and varied readings direct today’s chronicle to wards what has been, throughout time, human action on the Planet. What I try to leave here are just a few general lines on such a vast and complicated subject (?)

Through successive comparisons (and I am the one who tries to make them, from the readings I gather) I have gathered the information that the 20th century was the one with the greatest destructive capacity, much more than all that preceded it. I have no “official” confirmation of this fact because in all previous centuries the massacre and death toll are difficult to count. But there is an important detail: the weapons and destructive techniques of our previous century were of an enormous scope and increasingly progressive, because such effective means had never been achieved. It is surprising, of course, if we look at this from the simple humanist code of a normal respect for the survival of others. The 20th century was also the century in which principles were affirmed, in which respect for others was the most widely publicized and discussed. And it continued to be so until the end of the century. The continued aggression in various areas of the world simply did not stop. We could have assumed that globalization and closer relations would create greater total understanding. But the legacy that we have from the last century highlighted a destructive and persecutory practice that was not in any way in line with a general theory of Peace that was defended almost everywhere. This is the opposition that I have already had occasion to speak about in some previous articles that I wrote between Theory and Practice. It is worth noting that words did not match actions. And what some said is at odds with what others did. Another contradiction can be observed: while, on the one hand, the 20th century was generous in terms of openness and discoveries, and stimulated contacts and developments, on the other hand it created such sophisticated weapons and destructive activities that they gave no respite to the weakest and most unprotected.

Among the readings I have done, and which I reported to the Reader at the beginning of this column, I have not yet come across (and I do not know if there is) a factual enumeration of these terrible events in their entirety. And that only gradually have we come to realize, through communication and research, what happened in terms of murderous fury in various parts of the Planet. Here, the globalization of the media has served, at least, to give us a better understanding of what sometimes happened so far away. And of how it was possible for this to happen (and did happen) in the era most linked to fraternal discourse. This overview of so many devastating events has shaped my somewhat sceptical and astonished side. Even today, in the middle of the 21st century, the truth is that it bothers me to know that Man, alongside numerous positive movements (and the 20th century was remarkable in this regard, we must acknowledge), a detail that we cannot forget, was also a prisoner of the worst aspects of his ambition, his selfishness and his aggressiveness. It was obvious, in fact. Some have said that this is a constant in human nature, a kind of incomprehensible deviation to take the life of another.

And in these contradictions (we are made of contradictions, we also know) we appeal to Life and sow Death with the same naturalness, which is quite a paradox. And there is still a certain discomfort: we do not even know if future Historians, or Fact Finders, will have the minimum conditions to tell us (and even more: to Future Generations) what we did in the last 100 years. How the weak and the poor, or the defenseless, were deprived of basic rights. How the devastation and persecution were — and continue to be in this 21st century — uninterrupted and more violent. Just look at what has been happening for years now, all over the world and even here, among us, in Mozambique and also all over Southern Africa. Wars and violence that tend to persist. However, what is worth it is that there still exists (in those who exist, of course!) A FIRM WILL TO REFUSE, as best one can, tasks of destruction that are, at the end of the day, a game of submission and domination. Today more than ever, we must say this frankly. And the truth is that we have been living in them and have always lived in them — and we will continue to try to Live against them, too — if there is still Hope and Common Sense in Humanity and especially in those who govern the World we live in, increasingly transformed into a true unpredictable chaos...

2025/12/3