BOOK PRESENTATION “20 COMMITMENTS FOR THE FUTURE”, by Manuel Pedroso Marques, by José Alberto Baptista

August 8 | 8:30 PM

Location: Lagos Book Fair – Armazém Regimental Org.: CM Lagos Duration: 60 min Age rating: M16 Free entry

A commitment is a will, it is a freedom. They manifest in options, actions, and behavioral attitudes, peaceful or violent. The need or absence of commitment carries the same burden of responsibility. Universal commitments that current events highlight are discussed, such as those inherent to Universal Principles and International Law, the new frontiers opening in the Arctic, terrorism, rivalries, wars, climate change, and other topics. At the beginning of the millennium, it was noted that for the first time in history there were more democracies than dictatorships. Today, the situation has reversed. The 20 commitments attempt to explain some reasons. The world accepts the normalizing phrase of war from Master Clausewitz: “War is the continuation of politics by other means.” Democratic thought should not consider that there is a continuity between politics and war. War is a rupture with politics. History and current events prove that there are more wars between dictatorships than between democracies.

We address the issue of deterrence, the Third World War, and the New International Order. The future has always been uncertain and frightening, but it is the only thing that brings us new opportunities. It is necessary to know how to seize them. We conceive that the freedom to have or not have a certain commitment can carry responsibility for the community and the State. A distinction that places the citizen at the edge of the cliff between personal coherence and social commitment.

BIOGRAPHY: Manuel Pedroso Marques was born in Lisbon, is a colonel in the Army, and participated, as a captain, in a military and civil action against the dictatorship in 1961. Judged, convicted, exiled in France and Brazil, he was reintegrated after April 25. He was a writer, editor, manager, and wrote on topics of Administration, social, and political issues. A writer for the Delta Larousse Encyclopedia, directed by António Houaiss, he was the editor of three publishing imprints in Brazil. In Portugal, he was president of RTP, the Diário Notícias company, and Capital, administrator of Bertrand and Difel, advertising companies, and Agência Lusa de Notícias. In military functions, he was twice placed in the office of the Chief of Staff of the Army, was a military advisor to Prime Minister Mário Soares, and was an instructor for Military Administration captains in Strategy and Administration Theory classes. He published: “Freedom is also will” (co-authored), “Power Relations in the Company”, “The Strategic Game in Management”, “Difficult Times, Urgent Decisions”, and “The Exiles forget nothing, but speak little.”