Celebrating Women's Work for Peace and Justice

Last night, I went to a fantastic panel called "Peace Messengers - A celebration of women's work for Peace Justice", part of a Nobel Prize Exhibition called Beautiful Minds, in UTS.

A little bit about the Nobel Prize:
Established by the inventor of the dynamite Albert Nobel (Sweden 1833-1896), it uses the interests of his fortune to award the year's most outstanding contributors in the world in the fields of Physics, Chemistry, Medicine, Literature, Economics and Peace. What a vision!

Reflections from the women's dialogue:
One of the women participating on the panel was a Masters Law student from Afghanistan, who said a couple of things that stayed in my mind.

First, when she talked to her family about studying abroad (after having her studies interrupted many times), her mother said she'll find her wherever she was and cut her head off. Coming from another woman, that's harsh.

Secondly, talking about the future, she said she wanted to come back to be a teacher, judge or politician. But that would totally depend on the current government, whether they will allow women to study, work and even leave their houses or not. I can understand that people who never had something (freedom, for instance) find it difficult to fight for it. But in the Afghan case, women pass from times when they have rights to times when they don't, depending on the government rules. I sincerely cannot understand how power orientation can vary dramatically and still be unquestionably obeyed. I've been thinking about this social dynamic since then, as it's the very opposite of how I believe(d) social forces worked.

Hearing the Dalai Lama

I mentioned before that the Dalai Lama was coming to Australia and China didn't want the Australian Prime Minister to meet him, right? Well, Dalai Lama came, PM met him and world continues.

Besides the PM, I also had a chance to meet the Buddhist leader (well, not really meet, but listen to his speech on a rainy Saturday morning in a public park).

We talked about compassion and found ways of explaining it in a way that would fit any creed. He said we need to find contentment with limited material accumulation, otherwise we'll be unhappy pursuing a limitless goal that excludes the others. On the other hand, emotional accumulation and wisdom brings happiness exactly because it's limitless, with an upside of including others.

The highest moment for me came in the end.
Somebody asked: Dalai Lama, what's the meaning of life?
And he humbly responded: To be very direct, well, I don't know!

World Heritage in Northeast Australia

According to the Lonely Planet, locals from Cairns “speak reverently about their region and will look at you with undisguised pity if you’re form ‘down south’”. That was exactly what happened in the first hours of our 3,5 days long weekend in Cairns, when we talked to some authentic Australian blokes in a local pub.

In our 3 days, we had the chance to:

- Stay in a $19 backpackers’ place (with dinner included ;o))
- Drive through the beautiful sinuous road of the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area, in the middle of the rainforest, headed to Cape Tribulation
- Do a short walk and see where the rainforest meets the see
- Take a boat in the Daintree River and see 3,5 meters crocodiles
- And most importantly: snorkel and dive in the exuberant Great Barrier Reef! (I saw all sorts of corals, molluscs, fish and even sea turtles, crown fish - Nemos! - and a shark!)

The Reef totally deserves to be called World Heritage, as it has so much to teach to humanity with its interrelations, uniqueness and beauty. More than the colours, shapes, dimensions and features, the incredibly intricate harmony of life under the water is really impressive. Camouflage, fluorescent, tiny, gigantic, funny and odd fish are host by hard or flexible (but always gentle) nurturing corals. When the water current is strong, they all pulse in the same rhythm, as if they were guided by the best of the orchestra’s maestros.

At the end of the weekend, I got a jellyfish scarf, felt a lot of “saudade” from Brazil and shared the Cairns citizens’ pride for living in the paradise.

Life in the Great Barrier Reef

In 2003, I went scuba diving for the first time in Arraial do Cabo (RJ, Brazil). Marcos, my diving partner, was absolutely in love with the sport and used to say there's nothing richer and more revealing than life under the water. He was absolutely right! Look at what his statement means in the Great Barrier Reef, the largest coral reef system in the world, which:
- stretches for 2,600 km;
- covers an area of approximately 344,400 square kilometres;
- began growing 20,000 years ago;
- hosts 700 species of corals, 30 of whales, 6 of sea turtles, 125 of sharks, 200 of birds, 5000 of molluscs and 1500 of fish;
- is breathtaking!

Amazing Burmese Democracy Female Activist

Recently I’ve been finding myself more interested than generally in people who are outstanding for some reason, especially women. And the interesting thing about them is that all of them seem to search for honesty, not fearing too much change, exposure or other people’s judgment.

As I’m going to Asia in September, I’ve started to look for such examples there. And just found the most amazing one: a pro-democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi from Burma (now officially called Myanmar), one of the closest military dictatorships in the whole world.

“Aung San Suu Kyi is the Nobel Prize-winning peace activist who is being detained by the military dictatorship of Myanmar. She is the daughter of Burmese General Aung San, a popular hero for helping to establish national independence (1948). Aung San was assassinated in July of 1947, and two year-old Suu Kyi left Burma and lived and studied in India and the United Kingdom. In 1988 she returned to Burma at a time of political upheaval and ended up leading the National League for Democracy (NLD) in opposition to the ruling military regime. Inspired by the non-violent practices of Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr., she became a national hero and an international celebrity. She was placed under house arrest in 1989, but the NLD still convincingly won popular elections in 1990. The military junta refused to give up power and held Aung San under house arrest until 1995 (she won the Nobel Prize for peace in 1991). She was detained again from September 2000 until May 2002, during which time the NLD was having secret negotiations with the junta in an effort to break the political deadlock. In May 2003 she was again detained, taken into "protective custody" as confrontations between the NLD and government supporters increased. Despite diplomatic pressure and international pleas for her release, she continues to be held in Myanmar; in May of 2006 the ruling military junta announced an extension of her house arrest for an indefinite period.”

In such cases we perceive:
- How important it seems to be for leaders to leave their countries for a little while, in order to enlarge their perspective and consolidate their strength to fight against injustice at home;
- How little international recognitions and treaties can value at some situations, in the sense that a Nobel Prize Peace activist can be kept detained from spreading the word about peace in her own country.

Real Beauty

For the ones too concerned about physical appearance, a very educational movie by Dove.



And for the ones who want to have some fun, the slob evolution (click here) - I love anonymous people's creativity!

Movement Our São Paulo: Another City

Some weeks ago I got to know this movement going on in São Paulo and so much wished I was there. Just because it’s one of the best initiatives I’ve heard of recently and, in my point of view, a potentially hyper transformative one.

Let me explain: it’s a chaordic, democratic and ethical movement aiming to build a fair, safe, beautiful and sustainable city for all its citizens and visitors. Inspired in the successful experience of the city of Bogotá, the idea is to construct a social, economic and political alliance which is capable of engaging society and holding government accountable in the long term, because of its credibility, wide representation and effectiveness.

The movement is not led by any political party or religious institution. In fact, it doesn’t even have a Board of Directors, so that it’s opened for ideas from companies, organisations and citizens.

All the best to this fantastic movement! I already share your vision and am eager to contribute in some months’ time!

Click here to learn more about Our São Paulo: Another City (in portuguese)

Oxfam Training - getting serious

Hey everyone,

Our training for the 100 km Oxfam Trailwalk in getting serious. We’ve been bush walking at least 30 km every second weekend, so that we can finish this challenge and reward our efforts, the donors of the campaign and the various poor people helped by Oxfam around the world.

This time we did the Convict Trail part of the old Great North Road in Hawkesbury, northwest of Sydney. We also walk into the night for the first time. Exciting times...

More info about the Trailwalk? Click here!

Wanna donate? Click here!





This weekend I won't be able to train. But it's for a good cause. I'm going to Cairns and the Barrier Reed. Oh, yeah! So be attuned for stories and pictures of tropical and exuberant Queensland!

End of the Australian CSIRO Sustainability Network

Since I arrived in Australia, I’ve been part of a Sustainability virtual network, fed by Elisabeth Heiji from CSIRO, an intelligent, sensitive and very coherent woman. Today the 14.000 people participating in the network received the newsletter with a note saying that was the last one, as CSIRO considered the program a proved success and would move resources to new initiatives.

I’d like to share with you some parts of Elisabeth’s last words to the network:

“Looking around, I see many of us thinking about sustainability – we may even be involved with it in our professional lives – but, whether as a result of inertia, complacency, the entrenched social systems around us, or a mixture of all of these, we are collectively doing very little personally in our homes and lifestyles. Actions such as replacing incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescents and installing low-flow shower heads barely scratch the surface and, furthermore, are consumerist solutions based on trading new goods for old. They fail to tackle the very basic issue of our reverence for the natural world and behaviour towards it. When change occurs at this more intrinsic level, it can radically transform for the better both our own wellbeing and our environmental footprint.”

She also quoted Manfred Lenzen saying that “troubling is the fact that research has indicated that there is little correlation between knowledge and concern and action: emissions attributable to households are strongly linked to consumer spending, which doesn’t seem to be affected by environmental issues, even when these issues and problems are well known by those households”

If welfare doesn’t improve our harmony with the planet, why a bigger government?

If wealth doesn’t really bring comfort for societies, why focus on economic development?

And the biggest of all:

If education doesn’t drive action, what does? Should we use the consumerism and create trends and fashions? Should we restrict our freedom and impose certain behaviours through law? Or should we finally accept that we only radically change in extreme situations?

What do you think?

Grêeeeeemiooooo!!!

Oh, yes! After a couple of pretty hard years, my warrior an immortal team is back. Won the State championship and is doing pretty well in the most important Latin American championship, the Libertadores da América. The coolest thing, though, is not that it has won the first match of the semi finals, but the way it has been happening: with a lot of strength, overcoming unfavorable situations, with women going to the stadium and the unique avalanche commemoration when the goals finally come.

For the foreigners, please check the videos below to understand what being in a Brazilian soccer stadium means. And bring your passion to support Immortal Grêmio in this amazing journey!

Stadium feeling


Avalanche