Etonism at University of Kansas

Etonism: philosophy of tolerant reason

Patrício Batsîkama.

1) Definition

Etymologically, the term etonism is from the nickname of "Etona" that means in languages 1) reasons, 2) allegations, 3) indulgence, 4) evidence that generates 5) the justice and the tolerance.

2) Meanings in the society

In his sculpture they are morphologically evidenced three treatments on the surface of the matter, namely 1) flat treatment; 2) rude treatment and finally 3) accidental treatment. Each one is a code:

#1. The flat treatment indicates well-knowledge; a man of superior class; race or tribe or religion of majority; thought well-organized and structured;

#2. The rude treatment reveals an acquired knowledge without academism, like autodidacticism; middle class; speech out of the scientific perimeters but with certain admissibility; race, tribe or religion of lot of people, but not of majority;

#3. The accidental part of the sculptures indicates some knowledge’s lack (pure empiricism); inferior class; race, tribe, religion of minority.

In his painting, it is the same thing. The three color intensities (hot, cold and neutral) all of them constitute the same foregoing codes in the sculpture: 

1)       The hot intensity indicates dominance, prosperity, energy, intense desires that usually correspond to the gender referred in the precedent #1 of the sculpture’s code;

2)       The neutral intensity marks the balance and inspires recomfort nurtured from two opposed poles (hot and cold). As we can verify, it corresponds to the gender precedent #2 of the sculpture;

3)       The cold intensity is naturally contrary of #1 and its code corresponds to the #3.

In the painting, Etona also uses two shades in apposition with a monochromatic illustration, in this case we do return to three unbalance poles.

Etonism is not merely as an artistic philosophy but above all, as the criteria of the own philosophy (of the reason). Basically, the knowable elements of the etonism (doctrine of the reason) are sculptural tri-treatments and/or pictorial tri-shades. In reality, we find racism, tribalism and all kind of discrimination in . As all of us know, the art is language and Etona after military services where he lived racism/tribalism/discrimination, is trying codifying his struggle against these social defects (racism/tribalism/discrimination) in his sculpture and painting:

1. Racism:

Choosing for rigorous rules, we can exterminate the pejorative sense of race with racism, but we will never exterminate the idiosyncratism present in every man. That is why it is so natural that I like myself or my family or patriotically my country. De gustibus et coloris num disputadum: should neither discuss the taste nor the colors. It signifies if the racism is nowadays "taste" of a lot of people, its resolution becomes so complicated. But if we truly intended to combat the racism, we should accept each race such as: the unquestionable existence of everything. In reality we don’t exalt this defect[1], but we believe that if each one takes conscience of the tolerant justice accepting other «races» such as, not only the racism won't really be right in its existing but also the usually employ of word «race» will start to be shameful and slowly or naturally will grow up possibilities of its disappearance in the conscience and, maybe, in the human language.

2. Tribalism:

In beginning, the tribalism was just an (tribal) organization for best management of the interests of all avoiding some oppressors. Destroying, the colonialist act injected an intellectual virus: tribalism would be the fomentation of the instability in any Republic of different tribes. Now, it was the colonialist act that intentionally created «pseudo-tribes» and anarchically distributed in Republics, daughters of the colonization. Automatically the neo-colonialism with its so-loved principle divite ut regnes fomented tribalism truly perverse, in the detriment of a (colonized) people systematically dismembered.

The action was not simply to inject the virus, but also to create the medicine. The salvation would be in forgetting the African languages and simultaneously to hug faithfully and respectfully the European languages. The only reason seems to be that the African languages would be poor in vocabulary, rebellious to the science and it lacked the properties of a normal language. Raphaël Batsîkama wrote: «French, Italian, Portuguese, German was considerate as inappropriate «patois» and Latin was the only language acceptable, that’s why Koppernick became Copernicus. The German Guttenberg printed the Bible in Latin for great publicity of his invention, etc. But still today, even in Rome Latin was «abolished». Today French is exalted as the gods’ language; English not only has great population, but it’s a language satisfactorily explicit; Spanish enchants not less than made Virgil’s language.

3. Discrimination

All organization supposes a separation and paradoxically the peacefulness will only exist when the organization among the men is literally respected in its systemization. Will it be in that case a normal discrimination?

Let’s suppose a single job offer whose candidates are: 1) my nephew, 2) someone known and 3) another citizen. We normally have to privilege their capacities. If all of them have the same qualities, I’ll obviously choose somebody of trustworthy. Literally he will be my nephew and successively the acquaintance. But if one among them shows superior efficiency, he will be my preferred. Taking a risk in my nephew with poor capacities seems etonialy the real discrimination because this choice won't be favourable for me nor so a little for the mistakenly chosen person. This is what etonism calls discrimination. As we can remark, it is not new, but its presentation (in sculpture and painting) maybe is.

Conclusion: after-War

Art has great auditorium in all society, specially the music, theatre, dance, etc. And António Tomas Ana offers us his sculpture and painting messages. In our knowledge, War is finished in and several Angolans are looking for the manner of amelioration in the Angolan society. Etona is one of them, that why he was prided Civil Merit Order, 1^st Level by the President of the Republic of Angola . In the Etona opinion, the Angolans need to cultivate the tolerance because the War didn’t permit the auto-censure, auto-critique, human respect, ethics, etc. And he thinks that etonism can be good way for creation of harmony in Angolan Society and maybe one of the save ways of resolution of the problem of these deficiencies (racism, tribalism and discrimination) passively.

Why Etona prefer the passive way? He believes that the actual civilization is based on no-violence, and the save manner to resolve the problem is the «cleaning of memory» using the subjective reason. Socially the Angolans have several problems, but Etona prefer to delimit his «labour camp» in racism, tribalism and discrimination, there are four years ago, travelling around the world, at the universities particularly, where specialists can advise him some thing positive in the scientific ways. That why here we are, talking to this audience and waiting for advising or critiques. Do please consider this communication as our petition to you, and not a really disputation. Thank you.

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[1] We think that racism is social defect (mistake).