Inglês – Anpec 2017

Text 1 Charlemagne The necessity of culture Europe’s shared history should be treasured, not ignored Mar 12th 2016 | From the print edition of The Economist. THE Mausoleum of Augustus in Rome is a sad place: fenced off and closed to visitors. In most other countries this huge tomb in the city centre would be a treasured national monument. Yet for years the only use Romans made of it was to take their dogs to relieve themselves in the encircling weeds. The latest plans to restore it were approved in 2007. But it was only last month that some of the funding was set aside. With a new mayor due to be elected soon, the money might yet be diverted elsewhere. The plight of the final resting place of Rome’s first emperor illustrates an irony. The European states with the greatest ancient cultural heritage, Italy and Greece, are those whose governments spend least on the preservation of that heritage and promotion of the arts. In 2013 spending on culture accounted for 0.2% of public expenditure in Greece, the lowest share of any EU country, and a measly 0.6% in Italy, the second-lowest, jointly with Portugal and Britain. Culture’s most avid patrons were the Renaissance men and women of the government of Latvia, who gave it 3.2% of their budget. The parsimony of Italy and Greece is partly connected with their economic difficulties. They are the member states with the heaviest public debts (133% and 179% of GDP respectively). Some of the severest cuts prompted by the euro-zone crisis were made in their culture budgets. But even before the upheaval, Italy and Greece had a propensity for low official spending on culture, which was all the more damaging since private funding has traditionally been scorned in both countries. Culture has special relevance at a moment when Europeans are questioning their common identity more intensely than at any time since the second world war. There are two arguments for the claim that Europeans have more in common than base economic self-interest. One, promoted by the former pope, Benedict XVI, emphasises the continent’s Christian heritage. But many Europeans are understandably wary of defining themselves in terms of religion when Europe is secularising rapidly, and when many of its enemies use religion as a badge of identity. An alternative argument reaches back to classical times and finds in the Roman empire and Greek philosophy the continent’s earliest unification and common beliefs, most notably in democracy. Like other founding myths, this one contains a fair measure of wishful thinking: Plato was no fan of democracy. Even so, the classical narrative that weaves through history from ancient Athens by way of the Renaissance to the Enlightenment and beyond offers an identity for Europe rooted in cultural and intellectual, as well as religious, values. Culture is frequently cited by Greek and Italian officials as an implied reproach to uncouth northerners obsessed with rules: kicking either state out of the euro zone would be tantamount to Europe ripping out its heart. (…) In Greece the situation is radically different. Over 800,000 refugees arrived there in 2015. Trying to deal with this crisis, as well as pushing through pension reforms and bringing down national debt, has absorbed much of the government’s time and energy. But another reason why so little cash is available for culture is a view that Greece’s heritage is solely a matter of national concern. “Greece exists because of its heritage: other Europeans decided that, because of that heritage, it should be freed from Ottoman rule,” says Evangelos Kyriakidis of the Initiative for Heritage Conservation, a research organisation. The state lays claim to total ownership of the past: take a metal detector to hunt for ancient coins, as you can in many countries, and in Greece you could wind up in jail. Private cultural initiatives, even those funded by Greeks, are often met with disdain. Wine-dark seas Yet the state can no longer afford to protect all of the nation’s treasures. The archaeological service is overwhelmed. Of more than 10,000 formally recognised sites, fewer than 200 are open. Just as greater European involvement is needed to resolve the migration crisis, so there could be a case for closer European co-operation in cultural matters. The inauguration in June of an excavated site on Crete will make the point well. The EU provided more than 90% of the funds for one of the few on-site museums in Greece. Nikos Stampolidis, a professor of archaeology at the University of Crete who has made the excavation his life’s work, says the museum at Eleftherna will “shine a light into what archaeologists have chosen to call the Greek Dark Ages, before the Classical period.” That encompasses the time when Homer wrote. As Europe appears to fall into its own, darker period, what better way to celebrate shared, but increasingly questioned values than a museum that illuminates the times of its first great writer?

Text 2 Elections in the Philippines A family affair MANILA After a Supreme Court ruling, the presidential field takes shape, dominated by familiar names Mar 12 2016 | From the print edition of The Economist FOR decades political instability, a boom-and-bust economy and endemic corruption earned the Philippines the moniker of the “sick man of Asia”. But during the six years that Benigno Aquino has been president the country’s prospects have markedly improved. The economy has zipped along at an average growth rate of 6 a year, while foreign investment has more than tripled, with manufacturing, agribusiness and call centres all showing particular strength. Mr Aquino, whose family, huge landowners, is not short of a bob, has made a stand against corruption, and his approval ratings are high. But presidents may serve only one term, and an election for his successor takes place on May 9th, The question is whether Mr Aquino’s successor can keep the Philippines on the upswing. Five presidential candidates want to have a go. In America, a vice-president might present himself as the candidate for continuity. But in the Philippines voters elect the vice-president separately, and Mr Aquino has long been at odds with his number two Jejomar Binay, now a leading prospect to replace him. Until 2010 Mr Binay was mayor of Makati, the wealthy business and financial district of Manila. It is home to the country’s stock exchange and the biggest banks and corporations; it also has the capital’s least-awful traffic. Over the past year Mr Binay has faced a stream of corruption allegations from his time running Makati, including not declaring properties, city contracts awarded to family members, the existence of bogus charities and hundreds of ghost employees on the government payroll. But the allegations seem hardly to dent his standing. Ordinary Filipinos care more about their own poverty and about lower-level graft: sticky-fingered bureaucrats and policemen. In Mr Binay they see less a corrupt politician than one who gets things done: he makes much of having got Makati residents free health care and better schools. In a televised election debate last month Mr Binay slammed the government for under-spending on development and poverty alleviation (you could for a moment pretend that he was not part of the government he was railing against). One of the candidates jostling with Mr Binay for pole position is Grace Poe, a 47-year-old senator with a thin record but a compelling back story. She is said to have been abandoned at a cathedral as a baby, and was adopted by a popular film star, Fernando Poe, himself a presidential candidate in 2004. With bags of charm, in 2013 she won the highest ever number of votes for a Senate candidate. She shone when handling a congressional hearing into a botched raid against terrorists last year in which 44 policemen died. For some months Ms Poe’s candidacy had been in doubt. In December the election commission disqualified her, claiming that, as a foundling, she could not prove that she was a natural-born Filipina and that, as a former American resident, she had not lived in the Philippines for ten years – both constitutional requirements. Ms Poe appealed, and on March 8th the Supreme Court ruled in her favour. Though an independent, Ms Poe has backed Mr Aquino in the Senate. Now the president may be backing her behind the scenes, even though he has formally endorsed Manuel “Mar” Roxas, an old family ally. A former banker and interior minister, and the grandson of an earlier president, Mr Roxas has promised to carry on along Mr Aquino’s “straight path” fighting corruption. But he struggles to connect with ordinary Filipinos. Ms Poe, all sparkle, stands a better chance of winning. The other candidate with a chance is Rodrigo Duterte, or “Dirty Harry”, the crime-busting mayor of Davao, the largest city on the southern island of Mindanao. Though Muslims in western Mindanao have long waged a separatist battle, Davao is among the country’s safest cities, though the methods are dubious: vigilante execution squads that the mayor has endorsed. Mr Duterte speaks his mind. When a visit to Davao by Pope Francis last year caused traffic mayhem, Mr Duterte spluttered: “Pope, you son of a bitch, go home.” Asked about his womanising, he admitted to having two girlfriends, but complained that “without Viagra, I have a difficult time”. He appeals to people who want a strong leader. Others worry about how his rough edges will go down abroad. In the end, the race may come down to Ms Poe’s star power versus Mr Binay’s support from his party and business, and his strong links with local governments. No candidate promises to upend Mr Aquino’s programme, but then policy has never figured strongly in Philippine politics. For all of the country’s robust economy and its growing middle class, politics is driven by personalities and dominated by a few powerful families. Whoever wins in May, that will not change.•