Uma lagrima para... Albert Hirschman (2) - Paulo Roberto de Almeida

Assim que cheguei em Washington, em 1999, minha primeira tarefa foi organizar a cerimônia de entrega da comenda da Ordem do Cruzeiro do Sul, que o presidente Fernando Henrique Cardoso havia concedido a seu amigo Albert Hirschman.
Transcrevo abaixo o texto que preparei para ocasião, na forma não revista.
Eu escolhi diversos títulos dos livros de Hirschman, para rechear esse discurso.
Paulo Roberto de Almeida 

715. “In Praise of a Wise Man”, Washington, 22 outubro 1999, 3 pp. Discurso em honra do Prof. Albert Hirschman, por ocasião da entrega das insígnias do Ordem do Cruzeiro do Sul, lido pelo Emb. Rubens Antonio Barbosa na Embaixada em 29.10.1999.

In Praise of a Wise Man

Prof. Albert Hirschman Award Speech

Order of the Southern Cross

Ordem do Cruzeiro do Sul

Speech delivered by

Ambassador Rubens Antonio Barbosa,

Washington, October 29, 1999

Distinguished Professor Albert Hirschman;

Ladies and Gentlemen;

This is a very special occasion, Professor Hirschman, not so much for you, as you have already received many honors, special distinctions, national orders, Mélanges Offertes and Festschriften worldwide, but rather for those of us who are privileged to share this moment with you.

         We are truly honored to gather here today to award you the Commander insignia of the Order of the Southern Cross, which has been bestowed upon you by your old friend, President Fernando Henrique Cardoso.

         I know it is customary, at events of this kind, to speak of the recipient’s wisdom, influence, and prominence.

         It is not my intention, however, to indulge in such an exercise of laudatory congratulations, although your accomplishments in various fields of the humanities and the social sciences are certainly worthy of such praise.

         Rather, let me simply try to chronicle the intellectual accomplishments of your entire lifetime through the titles and the principal topics of several of your books, as they are an indication of your own Journey Towards Progress.

         You began your intellectual path towards knowledge by reflecting on the foundations of National Power, which could be promoted and enhanced through an appropriate guidance of, and action on, the Structure of Foreign Trade.

         You have applied your knowledge and practical experience, acquired in Europe and the United States, to the analysis of Economic Policy Making in Latin America, just as you have dealt with a variety of Latin American Issues in a number of Essays and Comments about the entire region, as well as on specific countries, such as Colombia and Brazil.

         Taken as a whole, your books on Latin America, specifically on the Strategy of Economic Development, represent one of the most impressive intellectual and bibliographic contributions offered by a single scholar to our comprehension of the problems of a vast range of countries.

         Sometimes with Passion, always with great Interest, and certainly equipped with Political Arguments of the finest intellectual quality, you have argued in favor of a more humane kind of Capitalism in Latin America and elsewhere, Before its Triumph over alternative modes of production induced some complacency towards the less insidious faces of capitalism by many members of the Academia. 

         With a great Loyalty towards the Public Interest, you have raised your Voice to prevent a further Decline of States or Organizations and, while defending the so-called “subordinate class,” making your own contribution to a successful Exit from the human poverty and suffering that afflicts developed and developing countries alike.        

Your Essays have always pointed to some form of Trespassing, as you have sought to go Beyond the more common realms of Economics and Politics, seeking a Shifting Involvement and trying to Get Ahead Collectively.

         A constant trait in your academic work and, in fact, in your entire life, has been your capacity to analyze, and perhaps intellectually combine, Rival Views of Market and Society, as well as to Cross Boundaries, so as to fight the Rhetoric of Reaction and other social illnesses encore.  Neither the Perversity of certain economic arrangements, nor the Futility of the so-called leisure class has prevented you from acting politically in pursuit of your ideals.

         Cultivating what you yourself have called A Propensity to Self-Subversion, you stand as a model of a socially engaged person, devoted to the well being of the whole Gemeinschaft.

         Your humanistic qualities would have allowed you to engage in similar activities regardless of the era in which you were born, whether as a political man in a Greek agora, a civis Romanus during the Roman Republic, a free burguer in a medieval town of your native Germany, an honnête citoyen engaged in the transformation of the Ancien Régime, a freedom Fighter during the era of the American struggle for independence, a comrade to our own Liberators in Latin America, perhaps even as an intellectual leader of the Communard movement in the Paris of the late Empire or, finally, and most importantly, what you have been most of your life: a teacher, a Herr Professor, a Philosophe in the old Kantian style, a Uomo di Scienza, a Wise Man in its purest form.

         For all these qualities, and much more, President Fernando Henrique Cardoso has decided to award you the Commander Insignia of the Brazilian Order of the Southern Cross, which I now have the immense pleasure and distinct honor to present to you.