The country –and more notably Montevideo- is seeing how adolescent or youth violence spreads with an unimagined speed, taking educational establishments as its center. Continúa leyendo EL PENSADOR: SIEMPRE EL LENGUAJE
With the burning problem, on the verge of explosion, of our Argentine neighbors, turned into one of the most dramatic and tragic negative examples that can be experienced, Continúa leyendo EL PENSADOR: ALGO HAY QUE HACER
Uruguayan society continues to be burdened with complex problems, apparently without being aware of their magnitude. Continúa leyendo EL PENSADOR: La Cenicienta Desorientada
As if we were missing any, a problem has appeared to disturb the daily life of Uruguayans, which I don’t know whether to call unexpected, but whose causes – not its visible consequences – I don’t know that requires immediate attention from the competent authorities. Continúa leyendo EL PENSADOR: ¿DÓNDE ESTA LA CONEJA?
I believe that this process began just after the Second World War, although I will not develop this theory now, as it would extend my reflection to the point of exhaustion. Continúa leyendo EL PENSADOR: PERDIENDO EL TIEMPO
What’s wrong with Minister Heber? Tiredness, anemia? No no. In any case, the opposite: excitement. It has plunged headlong into the center of a disorderly and highly politicized debate on security, which includes figures for the reduction in crime, questioning the construction of those figures, contradictions, abrupt and even absurd comparisons with previous administrations and a string of plans to improve police services and their effectiveness, in the midst of complaints of internal corruption in the Headquarters and projects -in some cases delusional- on the rehabilitation of both prisoners and those released after serving their sentences. Continúa leyendo EL PENSADOR: DISUASIÓN «Falta sin Aviso»
A few years ago, during a television report, the Argentine philosopher and writer Santiago Kovladoff outlined an intelligent reasoning when analyzing the increasingly conflictive democratic coexistence in his country – today it is decidedly worse, it must be admitted – focusing on the impoverishment of language. Continúa leyendo EL PENSADOR: EL VALOR DE LAS PALABRAS
In a country delicately balancing on a fine wire so as not to rush into a crisis that could jeopardize the immediate future, there is a majority of politicians who, shamelessly, have anticipated foreseeable dates, adapting them to their anxiety and ambitions, launching into a brutal pre-election campaign. Continúa leyendo EL PENSADOR: CRECE EL ESCEPTICISMO
In days gone by, various academics, teachers and, of course, politicians, spoke about education reform. Actually, as had happened before, perhaps without so much enthusiasm, we were inundated with statements. Continúa leyendo EL PENSADOR: El Enunciado, Escondite Perfecto
In my previous column, you reflected on the progressive and dangerous cracking that affects national politics and, consequently, society itself. Continúa leyendo EL PENSADOR: Formación del Carácter
The circumstances that are repeated in the national society, clearly cracked, force us to return to a question. Continúa leyendo EL PENSADOR: NO HAY PUENTES
We all know that in Montevideo -although the problem is also in the interior of the country- there are thousands and thousands of citizens, especially those who have the lowest income, and what to say about those who suffer below the poverty line, who They are living in undignified conditions. Continúa leyendo EL PENSADOR: VIVIENDAS..¿QUE VIVIENDAS?
In our country, in the middle of the period of any government -from this point of view, when describing it, it can be profoundly ironic-, when it is time to fulfill pre-electoral promises and present essential projects for the future in order to find sufficient consensus , politics is transformed, with the basic thrust of the opposition, in a carnival of sticks thrown at the wheels of everything that must move, in the celebration of suspicion, lies and insults as legitimate resources and, ultimately, in the drawing of a frightful shadow that will obscure all intelligence that society expects and will give way to the umpteenth advance of the umpteenth campaign in fits and starts with a view only to sit on the soft seat of power, no matter how much time is left before the votes enter the polls. Continúa leyendo EL PENSADOR: LA GRAN MATERIA PENDIENTE
How do you describe someone who, suddenly, and already at an advanced age, thinks they discover -in reality it is their memory that brings back the memory of a distant memory, or not so much-, a serious problem in the loss of some old and good habits, enjoyed by your generation and who knows how many more in the past? Continúa leyendo EL PENSADOR: AQUELLOS VIEJOS, BUENOS HÁBITOS
The history of humanity has been teaching, for a long time, that a close interdependence -whether between political forces of the same country, or between it and all the others with which it maintains stable relations- requires common purposes if disaster is to be avoided. . And constructive common purposes will not prevail unless some community of sentiment is formed. Continúa leyendo EL PENSADOR: BENEVOLENCIA Y PROPÓSITOS COMUNES
It is possible that, between the end of this year and the beginning of the next legislative period, the Uruguayan Parliament will face the responsibility of deciding on the two reforms that the government and the opposition consider essential: social security and education. Continúa leyendo EL PENSADOR: ¿Y LA BASE, EL CIMIENTO?
Aclaro, ya en el inicio, que esta columna ya fue escrita y publicada. Pasa que hace tanto tiempo, que es probable muchos no la recuerden y hasta no la hayan leído. Por eso la reitero, obvio que con ciertas actualizaciones y para que tenga vigencia. Continúa leyendo EL PENSADOR: LOS CHIMPANCÉS DE LA POLÍTICA
There is a simple exercise -obviously simpler the more intellectual capacity and good intentions the person who undertakes it has- that citizens could do about politics, the object of so much dislike and distrust today: appeal to memory, history books and any other way that allows us to remember if it is true that the quality of those who exercise it has been progressively diminishing at least since the middle of the last century. Continúa leyendo EL PENSADOR: LA PREPARACIÓN DEL POLÍTICO
If I had the obligation to define the attitude of Uruguayan politics – all of it, government and opposition, although the generalization makes it uncomfortable – in the face of the ups and downs that are shaking the region, with different intensity depending on which country we are talking about, I would need, to be the civilized as possible, appeal to a metaphor. Continúa leyendo EL PENSADOR: ¡Ah QUÉ CÓMODO LIMBO..!
When we talk about improving coexistence in our society, the first thing to understand is summed up in a school-level phrase, even though that is the root of many misunderstandings and conflicts: “My rights can reach the limit where the rights of others». We all have constitutional rights in a democratic State, as well as obligations, but for both, no one ignores that there are limits. Continúa leyendo El PENSADOR: DETALLES MÍNIMOS, GRANDES PROBLEMAS
Now that we are just a few steps away from deciding on the educational reform project – or so the facts seem to indicate – I feel the impulse, even at the risk of being labeled as simplistic, to insist that the essential point is learning to read correctly, to develop comprehension and, in parallel, speak, write and think better. Continúa leyendo EL PENSADOR: EL LENGUAJE Y SUS COMPLEJIDADES
The world of the future will be inextricably linked to the formation of the personality of those who, day by day, awaken to life. That is, those who are born with innate abilities –such as swimming or being amazed at the life they are beginning to discover- and others that will be built according to how they are treated. Continúa leyendo El PENSADOR: TODO EMPIEZA MUY TEMPRANO
There are problems in Uruguayan society, diagnosed decades ago, which, far from being resolved, become more complex and inconvenient. Perhaps, at least in part, they are expanded by the accelerated complexity of everyday life. That imposed by the rapid progress of problems caused even by important activities -and intrinsically constructive- such as science, technology and education, in addition to others, these pathological, such as social security in a country that sees its population age more than others and where the weakness in the fight against crime and corruption is losing ground, for now without remedy. Continúa leyendo EL PENSADOR: AH, LA JUSTICIA
About a week ago it became known, through a survey, that fifty percent of Uruguayan citizens «did not hear or know anything about the pension reform project» presented by the Executive Branch to Parliament. Continúa leyendo EL PENSADOR: DESCONOCIMIENTO CIUDADANO
I warn, without too much difficulty, that the unpopularity of politicians continues to increase among the majority of our society. Continúa leyendo EL PENSADOR: EL PESIMISMO CRECE
As he usually shakes his threadbare clothes, almost without exception for a long, long time, I begin by admitting that the question I am going to expose is not new. Continúa leyendo EL PENSADOR: CONSTRUCCIÓN DE PUENTES
Hate is killing us. Every day that passes, Uruguayan society is divided into tribes – small, large, of all sizes – that base their philosophy, if that is what generates their actions, on intolerance, lack of respect for those who think differently , fanaticism, discrimination, racism and the idea of dogma prevailing over the postulate. Continúa leyendo EL PENSADOR: EPIDEMIA DE ODIO
If there is an issue that politicians, so-called specialists, journalists and even many simple citizens who shout inconsistencies have turned into a gigantic pot of Spanish-style stew, which they feed with fiery enthusiasm without wanting to stop, it is security. Continúa leyendo EL PENSADOR: Y, SI «LA POLICÍA A LA CALLE»
Listening to the arguments between pro-government parliamentarians and those of the opposition that have begun to torment our search for serenity, without pauses and at the speed of state-of-the-art machine guns, we can see that if something is lacking, or directly lacking in relation to the Rendering of Accounts project, it is the understanding. Continúa leyendo EL PENSADOR: HACIA EL ENTENDIMIENTO
A report from an international specialized institute has been circulating for days among the professional journalistic media and on social networks, which measures the global level of the intellectual and cultural capacity of human society. Continúa leyendo EL PENSADOR: CADA VEZ PEOR
I am convinced that a vast majority of adult citizens in our country do not have the remotest idea about the pension reform bill; that is to say, they do not know -unless slogans are repeated here and there, depending on where the sun is that warms them- how it will affect their lives and those of their descendants or why and, much less, the implications it will have on the economy on which we will all continue to depend afterwards. Continúa leyendo EL PENSADOR: SOLO SÉ QUE NADA SÉ
A republican democracy, to be really and not in appearance, that is to say to function as it should, must be based on the independence of three essential Powers that are related to consolidate it: the Executive, the Legislative and the Judicial. Continúa leyendo EL PENSADOR: DIFÍCIL, NO IMPOSIBLE
Hay una corriente filosófica de cierta antigüedad que sostiene que a muchos de nosotros solamente nos interesan los hechos de nuestra vida privada, lo que nos hace difícil experimentar subjetivamente, y de modo inteligente, lo que ocurre alrededor, es decir en la sociedad que integramos y en el planeta en el que ella debe funcionar. Continúa leyendo EL PENSADOR: SOCIEDAD e INDIVIDUO
In its most common and understandable meaning, to think means to reflect, to carefully examine something to form an opinion. Implicit in this act is the fact that it allows forming ideas, opinions and even inducing action. Continúa leyendo EL PENSADOR: EL LENGUAJE
I don’t know if when I write this column, the issue I want to deal with will have been resolved or will still be coming and going. Assuming the risk of developing reflections in this scenario, I do not want to curtail my right to free critical opinion. Continúa leyendo EL PENSADOR: UN FALLO POLÉMICO
LA AGENCIA MUNDIAL DE PRENSA 