“FROM THE ECONOMIC TSUNAMI TO THE UCOPIC SOLUTION”

At first I had a feeling of strangeness: being asked to present an economic book?
It is true that I have a sociology degree in Algeria, in which, still following the French standard, I had about six subjects in economics, including one entitled “Crisis and growth”, in which the professor, from the good French capitalist school, who tried to convince us that the crises of the said system were not only necessary, but an opportunity for growth, following in the footsteps of the then-famous guru, the famous Schumpeter.

In the case of this presentation, as it was my friend Rui Santos, I did not refuse and read the book. Easy to read, even for non experts in economics, it reveals the author's visionary thinking, which I had already noticed a long time ago in an episode between the two of us, which I reveal now… “… My first computer was bought at Sistec, the company that Rui Santos founded, a heavyweight Sharp, if my memory serves me, of more than seven kilos. A lot of weight for a laptop, even more, for those who suffered from herniated discs (from the spine, not the hard disc, understand!); It was the most modern that existed at the time. I traveled with him and wrote the book “The Generation of Utopia” in Berlin. Back in Angola, with the book published, I became aware of smaller and much lighter notebooks, as well as more powerful… In a presentation at Filda, I met Rui Santos and told him the story of the hard work that took me to take the computer to Berlin, of the mess with the security of the airlines and we laughed about it… Then what I wanted to reveal appears. Rui Santos suddenly asks, “the book is on the computer, right ?? I propose you a deal: -
Give me that machine only with the book's file and I replace it with a new generation, weighing less than three kilos and very fast. I intend to create the Museum of Informatics one day and that piece will be kept there, Visitors will be able to manipulate and see that the book is actually there in the original….” …Of course, I accepted it immediately !

The Museum has not yet been created, but it certainly will be. Rui is persistent, as well as visionary. This little story, among others he could tell, shows one of his character traits, giving importance to symbolic things, without acting as an accountant. Because if you have been trained in accounting and still use it, your imagination is far beyond numbers and accounts of must and there. Observe, read, reflect, and end up being one step ahead … Allways !

That is why this book bothers you. And it can bother a lot of people, clinging to old concepts, some of which have become canons of economics, a discipline that is intended as science, but that in most cases is just ideology in disguise. Rui Santos, in this book, presents ideas that throw into the corner what many of us, from all walks of thought in the social sciences, have acquired for sure.
It is not by chance that you will see in the different opinions expressed and published on the back cover and in the preface the phrase, more or less modulated but with the same epicenter, and I quote: “a person may not agree with the author, but ...”

I would also say the same thing if I were not here, and with pleasure, presenting this true intellectual tsunami about the problems that concern us at the moment.

The current crisis of capitalism, because that is what it is all about, in addition to being the most acute in history, also has the particularity of being absolutely global. Woe to anyone who thinks he is safe from his splashes or his dark wave.
Some commentators blame it on certain governments, especially in Europe where, suddenly, they discovered that leaders compel others to work and themselves do not put their brain cells into productive work. Weak leadership, it is said.

Some careless cicadas are also accused, directing countries that were happily indebted because others would pay the kilapis (*), countries of southern Europe, forgetting that everything was revealed or started in the United States. For other publicists, the main culprits are the financial speculators, with their practical corollary, the rating agencies.
In a text that I published months ago I called this current capitalism that of the mice, because of these agencies, always making money from others, which are just a poorly hidden instrument of a very limited number of speculators who dominate the world of finance and, therefore, the universe.

Just as there is agrarian capital, industrial, financial, commercial capital, today it should also be considered speculative capital, the true master of all of us, although apparently virtual. I know that there are people in total disagreement with these heresies desecrating the sacred soil of the least imperfect political-economic system on the face of the Earth, and perhaps even Rui Santos disagrees, but that is my idea, without much argument, say ticket.

Fortunately, writers don't need proof, they live on intuitions. Well, the author of “From the Economic Tsunami to the Utopian Solution” has his explanation for the scares we are experiencing and the boldness to propose a solution, which he himself calls utopian. As you know, I am an unconditional supporter of utopias and I often say that looking for the impossible allows you to find the possible. That is the role of utopia. Show a path, point to a blue light at the bottom of the horizon that makes men walk, whether or not they find honey at the end of their search.

I fully share the author's concerns about the social consequences of the current situation and also with one of the proposed solutions, which is to do everything to try to give jobs to everyone or almost. This should be the main purpose, being in this case thinking about Angola. The work remains, whatever your detractors say with many PhDs in the art of keeping the money of others, the basis of support, not only for an economy, but for a country or even humanity. And, associated with work, comes the effort required in the growth and constant improvement of professional qualification and therefore of education. True development requires an advanced, demanding, rigorous and extended education system as much as possible. Without that, there is no redemption.

In the same way, this book proposes an idea but above all a path, an idea involved by some strong statements and an almost heretical proposal. The idea underlying the whole book, and which I retain with particular affection, is that of the need to discuss matters, move forward with suggestions, without fear of making mistakes, breaking economic, cultural and social taboos, because what counts is a final consensus . A stone in the pond, as they say in good Portuguese.

Rui Santos, for compelling us to think about complicated matters but presented in a simple way, for leading us to exchange opinions, even the most fantasistic ones, deserves our thanks for his boldness, thanks for always being at the forefront.

Pepetela