ABRUPTO

10:16 (JPP)

O ABRUPTO FEITO PELOS SEUS LEITORES:
ESTILHAÇOS DA QUADRATURA DO CÍRCULO

Títulos académicos do Primeiro-ministro

Ontem ao ver atentamente a quadratura do círculo fiquei com a noção de que o processo de admissão à Ordem dos Engenheiros não foi totalmente explicado. Algumas coisas ficaram por esclarecer e outras ficaram muito confusas.

Os títulos Engenheiro e Engenheiro Técnico são conferidos pela Ordem dos Engenheiros (OE) e pela Associação Nacional de Engenheiros Técnicos (ANET).

Na OE podem inscrever-se todos os licenciados de cursos reconhecidos pela Ordem.

Na ANET todos os bacharéis e licenciados pelos politécnicos.

No entanto qualquer licenciado de cursos não reconhecidos pela OE, pode candidatar-se através de um exame nacional. Segundo as regras que estão na página da OE (que eu conheço muito bem porque como pode ver pelo anexo fiz o exame este ano), o exame deve ser requerido até ao dia 10 de cada ano.

No exame dura o dia inteiro. Da parte da manhã efectua-se a parte específica, à escolha da pessoa que se candidatou. Da parte da tarde efectua-se a parte geral com uma pergunta de cada uma das outras áreas (excepto a que foi efectuada da parte da manhã).

As áreas do exame são as seguintes:

- Planeamento e Ordenamento do Território

- Vias de Comunicação

- Estruturas e Betão Armado

- Construções Civis

- Hidráulica, Hidrologia e Recursos Hídricos

- Geotecnia e Fundações

Para efectuarem o exame em Coimbra compareceram os alunos:

- Instituto Politécnico de Viseu, Castelo Branco, Leiria, Tomar, Guarda

- Instituto Superior de Engenharia de Coimbra

- Instituto Piaget de Viseu

- Universidade de Aveiro

Para efectuarem o exame em Lisboa compareceram os alunos:

- Instituto Politécnico de Beja, Portalegre, Setúbal, Autónomo

- Universidade do Algarve, Católica Portuguesa, Independente, Lusófona e Moderna

Para efectuarem o exame no Porto compareceram os alunos:

- Instituto Politécnico de Bragança, Viana do Castelo

- Instituto Piaget de Mirandela

- Instituto Superior de Engenharia do Porto

- Universidade Fernando Pessoa

O Eng. Téc. José Sócrates não se inscreve na OE porque não pode, para tal teria que efectuar o exame (e ser aprovado).

(António Godinho)

Analisando os estatudos da Ordem dos Engenheiros, logo de início, no artigo 2º, tratando das suas atribuições, aparece o seguinte:

/2 – Na prossecução das suas atribuições, cabe à Ordem:

g) Proteger o título e a profissão de engenheiro, promovendo o procedimento judicial contra quem o use ou a exerça ilegalmente;
/
Parece-me que estamos, no caso do cidadão José Sócrates, perante uma situação óbvia em que utiliza o título de Engenheiro ilegalmente.

Vejamos, para comprovar o que digo, um pouco mais dos estatutos da Ordem:/
/

/*Artigo 4.º* Título de engenheiro/

/Para efeitos do presente Estatuto, designa-se por engenheiro o titular de licenciatura, ou equivalente legal, em curso de Engenharia, inscrito na Ordem como membro efectivo, e que se ocupa da aplicação das ciências e técnicas respeitantes aos diferentes ramos de engenharia nas actividades de investigação, concepção, estudo, projecto, fabrico, construção, produção, fiscalização e controlo de qualidade, incluindo a coordenação e gestão dessas actividades e outras com elas relacionadas./

Tendo em conta que José Sócrates não se encontra inscrito na Ordem dos Engenheiros, por nunca sequer se ter mostrado interessado em realizar o exame de admissão, parece-me óbvio que apenas resta àquele órgão, para manter a sua honra e a integridade do título que se propõe defender, proceder em conformidade com os seus estatutos.

Como estudante de engenharia (daqueles que têm que fazer as cadeiras para conseguir obter uma licenciatura) fico à espera de uma atitude íntegra e necessária por parte de quem tem o dever de pôr termo a este tipo de devaneios a que o Sr. Sócrates já nos tem vindo a habituar.

(Jean Barroca)

Futebol, claques, etc.

Já todos sabemos que no futebol profissional os “meninos” das claques oficiais, isto é, adeptos apoiados pelas direcções dos próprios clubes, se comportam mal e são estranhamente violentos e selvagens. Para minimizar os estragos, os actos criminosos e evitar a violação sistemática das segurança dos cidadãos que involuntariamente se cruzam no caminho destes energúmenos, a polícia cria, para cada jogo considerado de maior risco, pelotões e dispositivos de segurança, os quais pela sua própria natureza e excepcionalidade, custam muito dinheiro ao erário público.

A questão que quero colocar é a seguinte: quem paga estes dispositivos especiais? Não deveriam ser os próprios clubes, aqueles que negoceiam em cifras de muitos milhões de euros os contratos da esfera do futebol, que se exploram as emoções dos adeptos e organizam estas claques exemplares? Porque não é apresentada a factura (custos) dos serviços, de todos os serviços prestados pela polícia nestes dispositivos? É que se não á apresentada a respectiva despesa aos clubes, o mecanismo regularizador da despesa que funciona “naturalmente” é, mais uma vez, o orçamento do estado, ou seja, são os cidadãos bem comportados, que trabalham, cumprem com civismo a lei, que pagam os seus impostos, numa palavra aqueles que sustentam o país e que deveriam ser estimados que desembolsam mais estas verbas.

Os clubes coitadinhos, esses precisam sempre de serem apoiados e desculpabilizados mesmo quando são os mentores das claques. Os delinquentes ou os mafiosos que se abrigam e governam com a encenação teatral e histérica do futebol, estão talvez carentes de apoio social e psicológico, subsidiado pelo estado, está bom de ver….e nada de os prender e criminalizar, que os dispositivos policiais só lá estão para suster alguns estragos excessivos. É que sem algum controlo, o futebol pode sair prejudicado, portanto convém não exagerar. Há que compreender e pagar estas coisas, falando muito da compreensão e nada do pagamento.

(Jorge Oliveira)

Como achega envio-lhe um excerto do livro "The History of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon Volume IV", em que é descrita a actuação das facções do Hipódromo em Constantinopla, nos fins do Século VI DC (igualmente lhe envio o livro completo para enquadramento do texto retirado).

Chego a perguntar-me se o que observamos não será qualquer coisa de intrínseca na natureza humana, pelos menos em sociedades que perderam os seus ideais e que entraram num processo de decadência, pois são impressionantes as semelhanças do que então se passou com o que agora observamos.

Podemos observar que à época, após um longo período de crescimento constante da violência quer entre facções, quer extravasando para a cidade, o poder político aparece como refém de grupos violentos organizados, e o próprio poder judicial com raras excepções acaba por vergar-se (não sei o que isto me lembra...).

Esperemos que apareça alguém com a coragem de Teodora para reverter a situação e permitir a resolução do assunto (não que advogue os métodos drásticos utilizados por Belisário).

(Acácio Cunha)

Anexo: The History of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon Volume IV

The race, in its first institution, was a simple contest of two chariots, whose drivers were distinguished by white and red liveries: two additional colors, a light green, and a caerulean blue, were afterwards introduced; and as the races were repeated twenty-five times, one hundred chariots contributed in the same day to the pomp of the circus. The four factions soon acquired a legal establishment, and a mysterious origin, and their fanciful colors were derived from the various appearances of nature in the four seasons of the year; the red dogstar of summer, the snows of winter, the deep shades of autumn, and the cheerful verdure of the spring.

42 Another interpretation preferred the elements to the seasons, and the struggle of the green and blue was supposed to represent the conflict of the earth and sea. Their respective victories announced either a plentiful harvest or a prosperous navigation, and the hostility of the husbandmen and mariners was somewhat less absurd than the blind ardor of the Roman people, who devoted their lives and fortunes to the color which they had espoused. Such folly was disdained and indulged by the wisest princes; but the names of Caligula, Nero, Vitellius, Verus, Commodus, Caracalla, and Elagabalus, were enrolled in the blue or green factions of the circus; they frequented their stables, applauded their favorites, chastised their antagonists, and deserved the esteem of the populace, by the natural or affected imitation of their manners. The bloody and tumultuous contest continued to disturb the public festivity, till the last age of the spectacles of Rome; and Theodoric, from a motive of justice or affection, interposed his authority to protect the greens against the violence of a consul and a patrician, who were passionately addicted to the blue faction of the circus.

43

[Footnote 41: Read and feel the xxiid book of the Iliad, a living picture of manners, passions, and the whole form and spirit of the chariot race West's Dissertation on the Olympic Games (sect. xii. - xvii.) affords much curious and authentic information.]

[Footnote 42: The four colors, albati, russati, prasini, veneti, represent the four seasons, according to Cassiodorus, (Var. iii. 51,) who lavishes much wit and eloquence on this theatrical mystery. Of these colors, the three first may be fairly translated white, red, and green. Venetus is explained by coeruleus, a word various and vague: it is properly the sky reflected in the sea; but custom and convenience may allow blue as an equivalent, (Robert. Stephan. sub voce. Spence's Polymetis, p. 228.)]

[Footnote 43: See Onuphrius Panvinius de Ludis Circensibus, l. i. c. 10, 11; the xviith Annotation on Mascou's History of the Germans; and Aleman ad c. vii.]

Constantinople adopted the follies, though not the virtues, of ancient Rome; and the same factions which had agitated the circus, raged with redoubled fury in the hippodrome. Under the reign of Anastasius, this popular frenzy was inflamed by religious zeal; and the greens, who had treacherously concealed stones and daggers under baskets of fruit, massacred, at a solemn festival, three thousand of their blue adversaries.

44 From this capital, the pestilence was diffused into the provinces and cities of the East, and the sportive distinction of two colors produced two strong and irreconcilable factions, which shook the foundations of a feeble government.

45 The popular dissensions, founded on the most serious interest, or holy pretence, have scarcely equalled the obstinacy of this wanton discord, which invaded the peace of families, divided friends and brothers, and tempted the female sex, though seldom seen in the circus, to espouse the inclinations of their lovers, or to contradict the wishes of their husbands. Every law, either human or divine, was trampled under foot, and as long as the party was successful, its deluded followers appeared careless of private distress or public calamity. The license, without the freedom, of democracy, was revived at Antioch and Constantinople, and the support of a faction became necessary to every candidate for civil or ecclesiastical honors. A secret attachment to the family or sect of Anastasius was imputed to the greens; the blues were zealously devoted to the cause of orthodoxy and Justinian,

46 and their grateful patron protected, above five years, the disorders of a faction, whose seasonable tumults overawed the palace, the senate, and the capitals of the East. Insolent with royal favor, the blues affected to strike terror by a peculiar and Barbaric dress, the long hair of the Huns, their close sleeves and ample garments, a lofty step, and a sonorous voice. In the day they concealed their two-edged poniards, but in the night they boldly assembled in arms, and in numerous bands, prepared for every act of violence and rapine. Their adversaries of the green faction, or even inoffensive citizens, were stripped and often murdered by these nocturnal robbers, and it became dangerous to wear any gold buttons or girdles, or to appear at a late hour in the streets of a peaceful capital. A daring spirit, rising with impunity, proceeded to violate the safeguard of private houses; and fire was employed to facilitate the attack, or to conceal the crimes of these factious rioters. No place was safe or sacred from their depredations; to gratify either avarice or revenge, they profusely spilt the blood of the innocent; churches and altars were polluted by atrocious murders; and it was the boast of the assassins, that their dexterity could always inflict a mortal wound with a single stroke of their dagger. The dissolute youth of Constantinople adopted the blue livery of disorder; the laws were silent, and the bonds of society were relaxed: creditors were compelled to resign their obligations; judges to reverse their sentence; masters to enfranchise their slaves; fathers to supply the extravagance of their children; noble matrons were prostituted to the lust of their servants; beautiful boys were torn from the arms of their parents; and wives, unless they preferred a voluntary death, were ravished in the presence of their husbands.

47 The despair of the greens, who were persecuted by their enemies, and deserted by the magistrates, assumed the privilege of defence, perhaps of retaliation; but those who survived the combat were dragged to execution, and the unhappy fugitives, escaping to woods and caverns, preyed without mercy on the society from whence they were expelled. Those ministers of justice who had courage to punish the crimes, and to brave the resentment, of the blues, became the victims of their indiscreet zeal; a praefect of Constantinople fled for refuge to the holy sepulchre, a count of the East was ignominiously whipped, and a governor of Cilicia was hanged, by the order of Theodora, on the tomb of two assassins whom he had condemned for the murder of his groom, and a daring attack upon his own life.

48 An aspiring candidate may be tempted to build his greatness on the public confusion, but it is the interest as well as duty of a sovereign to maintain the authority of the laws. The first edict of Justinian, which was often repeated, and sometimes executed, announced his firm resolution to support the innocent, and to chastise the guilty, of every denomination and color. Yet the balance of justice was still inclined in favor of the blue faction, by the secret affection, the habits, and the fears of the emperor; his equity, after an apparent struggle, submitted, without reluctance, to the implacable passions of Theodora, and the empress never forgot, or forgave, the injuries of the comedian. At the accession of the younger Justin, the proclamation of equal and rigorous justice indirectly condemned the partiality of the former reign. "Ye blues, Justinian is no more! ye greens, he is still alive!"

49 [Footnote 44: Marcellin. in Chron. p. 47. Instead of the vulgar word venata he uses the more exquisite terms of coerulea and coerealis. Baronius (A.D. 501, No. 4, 5, 6) is satisfied that the blues were orthodox; but Tillemont is angry at the supposition, and will not allow any martyrs in a playhouse, (Hist. des Emp. tom. vi. p. 554.)]

[Footnote 45: See Procopius, (Persic. l. i. c. 24.) In describing the vices of the factions and of the government, the public, is not more favorable than the secret, historian. Aleman. (p. 26) has quoted a fine passage from Gregory Nazianzen, which proves the inveteracy of the evil.]

[Footnote 46: The partiality of Justinian for the blues (Anecdot. c. 7) is attested by Evagrius, (Hist. Eccles. l. iv. c. 32,) John Malala, (tom ii p. 138, 139,) especially for Antioch; and Theophanes, (p. 142.)] [Footnote 47: A wife, (says Procopius,) who was seized and almost ravished by a blue-coat, threw herself into the Bosphorus. The bishops of the second Syria (Aleman. p. 26) deplore a similar suicide, the guilt or glory of female chastity, and name the heroine.]

[Footnote 48: The doubtful credit of Procopius (Anecdot. c. 17) is supported by the less partial Evagrius, who confirms the fact, and specifies the names. The tragic fate of the praefect of Constantinople is related by John Malala, (tom. ii. p. 139.)]

[Footnote 49: See John Malala, (tom. ii. p. 147;) yet he owns that Justinian was attached to the blues. The seeming discord of the emperor and Theodora is, perhaps, viewed with too much jealousy and refinement by Procopius, (Anecdot. c. 10.) See Aleman. Praefat. p. 6.]

A sedition, which almost laid Constantinople in ashes, was excited by the mutual hatred and momentary reconciliation of the two factions. In the fifth year of his reign, Justinian celebrated the festival of the ides of January; the games were incessantly disturbed by the clamorous discontent of the greens: till the twenty-second race, the emperor maintained his silent gravity; at length, yielding to his impatience, he condescended to hold, in abrupt sentences, and by the voice of a crier, the most singular dialogue

50 that ever passed between a prince and his subjects. Their first complaints were respectful and modest; they accused the subordinate ministers of oppression, and proclaimed their wishes for the long life and victory of the emperor. "Be patient and attentive, ye insolent railers!" exclaimed Justinian; "be mute, ye Jews, Samaritans, and Manichaeans!" The greens still attempted to awaken his compassion. "We are poor, we are innocent, we are injured, we dare not pass through the streets: a general persecution is exercised against our name and color. Let us die, O emperor! but let us die by your command, and for your service!" But the repetition of partial and passionate invectives degraded, in their eyes, the majesty of the purple; they renounced allegiance to the prince who refused justice to his people; lamented that the father of Justinian had been born; and branded his son with the opprobrious names of a homicide, an ass, and a perjured tyrant. "Do you despise your lives?" cried the indignant monarch: the blues rose with fury from their seats; their hostile clamors thundered in the hippodrome; and their adversaries, deserting the unequal contest spread terror and despair through the streets of Constantinople. At this dangerous moment, seven notorious assassins of both factions, who had been condemned by the praefect, were carried round the city, and afterwards transported to the place of execution in the suburb of Pera. Four were immediately beheaded; a fifth was hanged: but when the same punishment was inflicted on the remaining two, the rope broke, they fell alive to the ground, the populace applauded their escape, and the monks of St. Conon, issuing from the neighboring convent, conveyed them in a boat to the sanctuary of the church.

51 As one of these criminals was of the blue, and the other of the green livery, the two factions were equally provoked by the cruelty of their oppressor, or the ingratitude of their patron; and a short truce was concluded till they had delivered their prisoners and satisfied their revenge. The palace of the praefect, who withstood the seditious torrent, was instantly burnt, his officers and guards were massacred, the prisons were forced open, and freedom was restored to those who could only use it for the public destruction. A military force, which had been despatched to the aid of the civil magistrate, was fiercely encountered by an armed multitude, whose numbers and boldness continually increased; and the Heruli, the wildest Barbarians in the service of the empire, overturned the priests and their relics, which, from a pious motive, had been rashly interposed to separate the bloody conflict. The tumult was exasperated by this sacrilege, the people fought with enthusiasm in the cause of God; the women, from the roofs and windows, showered stones on the heads of the soldiers, who darted fire brands against the houses; and the various flames, which had been kindled by the hands of citizens and strangers, spread without control over the face of the city. The conflagration involved the cathedral of St. Sophia, the baths of Zeuxippus, a part of the palace, from the first entrance to the altar of Mars, and the long portico from the palace to the forum of Constantine: a large hospital, with the sick patients, was consumed; many churches and stately edifices were destroyed and an immense treasure of gold and silver was either melted or lost. From such scenes of horror and distress, the wise and wealthy citizens escaped over the Bosphorus to the Asiatic side; and during five days Constantinople was abandoned to the factions, whose watchword, Nika, vanquish! has given a name to this memorable sedition.

52

[Footnote 50: This dialogue, which Theophanes has preserved, exhibits the popular language, as well as the manners, of Constantinople, in the vith century. Their Greek is mingled with many strange and barbarous words, for which Ducange cannot always find a meaning or etymology.]

[Footnote 51: See this church and monastery in Ducange, C. P. Christiana, l. iv p 182.]

[Footnote 52: The history of the Nika sedition is extracted from Marcellinus, (in Chron.,) Procopius, (Persic. l. i. c. 26,) John Malala, (tom. ii. p. 213 - 218,) Chron. Paschal., (p. 336 - 340,) Theophanes, (Chronograph. p. 154 - 158) and Zonaras, (l. xiv. p. 61 - 63.)]

As long as the factions were divided, the triumphant blues, and desponding greens, appeared to behold with the same indifference the disorders of the state. They agreed to censure the corrupt management of justice and the finance; and the two responsible ministers, the artful Tribonian, and the rapacious John of Cappadocia, were loudly arraigned as the authors of the public misery. The peaceful murmurs of the people would have been disregarded: they were heard with respect when the city was in flames; the quaestor, and the praefect, were instantly removed, and their offices were filled by two senators of blameless integrity. After this popular concession, Justinian proceeded to the hippodrome to confess his own errors, and to accept the repentance of his grateful subjects; but they distrusted his assurances, though solemnly pronounced in the presence of the holy Gospels; and the emperor, alarmed by their distrust, retreated with precipitation to the strong fortress of the palace. The obstinacy of the tumult was now imputed to a secret and ambitious conspiracy, and a suspicion was entertained, that the insurgents, more especially the green faction, had been supplied with arms and money by Hypatius and Pompey, two patricians, who could neither forget with honor, nor remember with safety, that they were the nephews of the emperor Anastasius. Capriciously trusted, disgraced, and pardoned, by the jealous levity of the monarch, they had appeared as loyal servants before the throne; and, during five days of the tumult, they were detained as important hostages; till at length, the fears of Justinian prevailing over his prudence, he viewed the two brothers in the light of spies, perhaps of assassins, and sternly commanded them to depart from the palace. After a fruitless representation, that obedience might lead to involuntary treason, they retired to their houses, and in the morning of the sixth day, Hypatius was surrounded and seized by the people, who, regardless of his virtuous resistance, and the tears of his wife, transported their favorite to the forum of Constantine, and instead of a diadem, placed a rich collar on his head. If the usurper, who afterwards pleaded the merit of his delay, had complied with the advice of his senate, and urged the fury of the multitude, their first irresistible effort might have oppressed or expelled his trembling competitor. The Byzantine palace enjoyed a free communication with the sea; vessels lay ready at the garden stairs; and a secret resolution was already formed, to convey the emperor with his family and treasures to a safe retreat, at some distance from the capital.

Justinian was lost, if the prostitute whom he raised from the theatre had not renounced the timidity, as well as the virtues, of her sex. In the midst of a council, where Belisarius was present, Theodora alone displayed the spirit of a hero; and she alone, without apprehending his future hatred, could save the emperor from the imminent danger, and his unworthy fears. "If flight," said the consort of Justinian, "were the only means of safety, yet I should disdain to fly. Death is the condition of our birth; but they who have reigned should never survive the loss of dignity and dominion. I implore Heaven, that I may never be seen, not a day, without my diadem and purple; that I may no longer behold the light, when I cease to be saluted with the name of queen. If you resolve, O Caesar! to fly, you have treasures; behold the sea, you have ships; but tremble lest the desire of life should expose you to wretched exile and ignominious death. For my own part, I adhere to the maxim of antiquity, that the throne is a glorious sepulchre." The firmness of a woman restored the courage to deliberate and act, and courage soon discovers the resources of the most desperate situation. It was an easy and a decisive measure to revive the animosity of the factions; the blues were astonished at their own guilt and folly, that a trifling injury should provoke them to conspire with their implacable enemies against a gracious and liberal benefactor; they again proclaimed the majesty of Justinian; and the greens, with their upstart emperor, were left alone in the hippodrome. The fidelity of the guards was doubtful; but the military force of Justinian consisted in three thousand veterans, who had been trained to valor and discipline in the Persian and Illyrian wars.

Under the command of Belisarius and Mundus, they silently marched in two divisions from the palace, forced their obscure way through narrow passages, expiring flames, and falling edifices, and burst open at the same moment the two opposite gates of the hippodrome. In this narrow space, the disorderly and affrighted crowd was incapable of resisting on either side a firm and regular attack; the blues signalized the fury of their repentance; and it is computed, that above thirty thousand persons were slain in the merciless and promiscuous carnage of the day. Hypatius was dragged from his throne, and conducted, with his brother Pompey, to the feet of the emperor: they implored his clemency; but their crime was manifest, their innocence uncertain, and Justinian had been too much terrified to forgive. The next morning the two nephews of Anastasius, with eighteen illustrious accomplices, of patrician or consular rank, were privately executed by the soldiers; their bodies were thrown into the sea, their palaces razed, and their fortunes confiscated. The hippodrome itself was condemned, during several years, to a mournful silence: with the restoration of the games, the same disorders revived; and the blue and green factions continued to afflict the reign of Justinian, and to disturb the tranquility of the Eastern empire.

53

[Footnote 53: Marcellinus says in general terms, innumeris populis in circotrucidatis. Procopius numbers 30,000 victims: and the 35,000 of Theophanes are swelled to 40,000 by the more recent Zonaras. Such is the usual progress of exaggeration.]