Civil Courage

La evidente influencia de las emociones en la vida política invita a considerar la educación emocional como un aspecto significativo de la educación cívica. Resulta tan ilusorio pensar en una ciudadanía compuesta de agentes plenamente autónomos como irresponsable no realizar un decidido esfuerzo por educar en la libertad: y la libertad como facultad moral también consiste en adquirir sentimientos racionales y razonables, entendiendo aquí lo racional y lo razonable de acuerdo con Rawls. Entre estos sentimientos, el de un miedo razonable resulta esencial para que la autonomía colectiva se oriente hacia objetivos genuinamente satisfactorios al tiempo que equitativos.

El miedo es útil en cuanto nos aparta del peligro: el temor ante los excesos del poder forma parte de la justificación del sistema liberal de derechos y garantías. Sin embargo, la lectura de Aristóteles que hace Martha Nussbaum nos señala una serie de posibles fuentes de error en el cálculo del peligro que pueden dar lugar a un miedo irracional: identificar mal la amenaza, apreciar incorrectamente su magnitud; equivocarse en cuanto a la causa de la amenaza bien reconocida o manejar una concepción defectuosa del propio bienestar (y temer la corrupción de la sociedad por la mera incorporación de nuevos grupos étnicos, por ejemplo). Aun cuando deba ser revisada, esta argumentación aristotélica nos exhorta a colocar la competencia para realizar juicios prácticos en el centro de la educación cívica. Cabe preguntarse si la legislación educativa española facilita esto o no. En todo caso, el propósito de esta ponencia es establecer las bases de un programa  de formación del juicio tendente al desarrollo de un miedo razonable.

Professor Georg Lind and Professor Ewa Nowak formulated some explanations and hypotheses concerning data collected before and after 1981 (martial law in Poland). They show that political pressure, control and oppressive laws, the lack of freedom etc. are very unfavorable opportunities for moral judgment competence in university students: the latter decreases. Nowadays one may observe with the unaided eye that citizens and even academics' moral judgment is quietening down, at least in public sphere which is so important for democracy... After 10 years, our paper shows its new actuality....

Courage is undoubtedly a virtue. Aristotle, according to his doctrine of the mean, saw it as the desirable midway or balance point between two extremes, namely that of recklessness on the one hand and cowardice on the other. All spiritual people are people of principle and virtue. However, all principles and all virtues come with a high price tag because they have to be defended at all costs as they lie at the very core of any civilization. In this series of explorations into the nature of spirituality we have described it as the native instinct within all human beings to forge connections with themselves, with others and with that great Other some of us dare call God. There is an old proverb that says that ships are always safe in the harbour but that certainly is not what ships were built for. They were built for the open sea, to carry passengers and cargo, and, in doing so, to do battle with whatever storms might blow their way during such journeys. It takes great courage to put to sea. When speaking of abstract concepts like virtues, we are forced to indulge in these metaphors and images. On our journey to self-awareness or spiritual integrity we might consequently image the " self " as a ship that puts to sea, with great courage, indeed, and life itself as the sea or ocean on which that often brittle barque sails. As we grow up and age, we need more and more courage to be true to ourselves, to stand up for our inner principles and values, to dare to unfurl, raise and fly our flag of self-identity proudly aloft among those of our fellows. The Cuban American writer Anais Nin (1903–1977) put it beautifully when she declared that sooner or later in the course of any human's life the day will surely come " when the risk to remain tight in the bud is more painful than the risk it takes to blossom. " The task assigned us as humans is to blossom as true, authentic and whole beings, aware of both our strengths and weaknesses and with a desire to correct whatever faults lie within our power.

This paper discusses the research performed by the Romanian COURAGE team, which highlighted a peculiar sense of being European experienced by many ordinary individuals living under communist rule who created everyday meanings and cultural practices as if they lived in a free country. This identification with Europe is reflected in previously unknown private collections created by those who envisaged strategies of opposing the communist dictatorships that had rejected the fundamental values underpinning the European Union: rule-of-law, human rights or civil liberties,

The title says it all. This is an overview of 3 recent inspiring examples of non violent direct action and strike based movements to save what is still savable of mother nature as well as a look at a mobile friendly use of tech that could finally enable such movements to scale courage --to recruit and commit the millions of volunteers we will need willing to do NVDA and/or strikes to shut down city, state, and national economies long enough to force the pathologically greed addicted power elites to keep fossil fuels in the ground and move rapidly to implement Green New Deals

For thousands of years, and across cultural boundaries, the concept of courage has been politicized both by prominent political theorists and by the general public.  By associating courage with heroic views of citizenship and leadership, they have romanticized courageous political action and have helped develop and popularize three compelling (but competing) conceptions of political responsibility.

Re-citing and re-performing is always a political act. Transferred to 2017 into the reality of the Budapest-streets as a stage, this is all the more the case in The Curfew - a street performance by Katarina Sevic and Gergely Laszlo commissioned by the OFF Biennale Budapest 2017.

The muted victims and muted crowds are the addressees of The Curfew. It has no aspirations of changing society, of getting nationalistic radical xenophobic racists on the side of liberal and tolerant leftist and socially sensible individuals – but it says “You” and points at “you” as an individual not being silent, not being muted and hushed, not being a coward, opportunistic family man, housewife or intellectual. Just shout out loud, say it on the streets, and the Egg will help amplify your voice. Play it, play it out loud and don`t be bothered about the Strong and Loud – you can say it louder with the help of your Egg.