National Health Service. SNS. 30 years of Resistance: 3rd edition

Authors

António Arnaut
University of Coimbra
Keywords: Nacional Health Service, NHS, Legislation, Social Rights

Synopsis

Men and institutions are always looking for lost time. For me, it hurts the time they lost to the NHS, but I now want to look to the future with optimism and confidence. I trust in the strength of fair and generous ideas. I trust in democracy and its rules of operation: the President of the Republic will comply and enforce the Constitution. Members of Parliament and Governors will be able to respect the will of the People, the only source of their legitimacy. If everyone has the common good, justice and social cohesion in mind, and, in this humanist logic, considers health as a right of all and not a privilege of those who can afford it, the NHS will be an April carnation that will never wither.

Author Biography

António Arnaut, University of Coimbra

António Arnaut was born in 1936, in Cumieira, Penela. A lawyer, politician, and writer, Arnaut was an activist against the dictatorship from his youth, a member of the Socialist Action (1965), a candidate for deputy of the Democratic Opposition (1969), and founder of the Socialist Party (1973). After the April Revolution he was deputy vice-president of the Assembly of the Republic and Minister of Social Affairs. He is the author of the law that created the National Health Service (1978/79), considered the great social reform of democracy, which has earned him numerous honours: the Corino de Andrade Prize, the Gold Medal for Distinguished Services and the National Health Prize of the Ministry of Health, Honorary Member of the Portuguese Academy of Medicine, and the Medal of Merit (gold) of the Order of Doctors, among other distinctions. The University of Coimbra awarded him, on a proposal from FEUC, the degree of Doctor Honoris Causa (2014), in recognition of his work as a driving force behind the NHS. A. Arnaut was invited to join Freemasonry in 1972, but was only initiated after the Revolution. After becoming a Master in 1976, he reached grade 33 in 1992. He was a Venerable and a speaker in his Lodge, representing the Grand Diet, a member of the Council of the Order and President of the Grand Masonic Court. As Grand Master (2002-2005) he practiced a policy of opening Freemasonry to the community, receiving in the Masonic Palace the President of the Republic, the President of the Assembly of the Republic, and other entities. He is an honorary worker and Venerable from several GOL Lodges; president of the Portuguese League of Human Rights and of the Coimbra Regional Council of the Portuguese Bar Association; and founder and president of the Portuguese Association of Legal Writers. He is awarded the Medal of Cultural and Political Merit of the Municipality of Penela, the Gold Medal of the Municipality of Coimbra and the Medal of Honour of the Portuguese Bar Association. He is decorated with the Order of Freedom (Grand Officer, in 2004, and Great Cross, in 2016). On its 80th anniversary, the Municipality of Penela gave his name to the local library. He made his debut as a writer in 1954, but only after leaving active politics in 1983 could he dedicate more time to writing, his youthful passion. With 30 published titles (poetry, fiction and essay), A. Arnaut has adopted the role of a civically committed writer, who considers literature as "the expression of his own humanity and of all humanity". An indispensable book for those who wish to know the essentials of Freemasonry: principle and fundamental values, origins and evolution, ritual and initiation, esotericism and Masonic secrecy, as well as the role of organization over the centuries in defending the great values of Man, translated into the classic trilogy - Freedom, Equality, Fraternity. The author also reveals to us some figures of Portuguese and foreign Freemasonry, which are, simultaneously, great figures in Universal History; traces the Portuguese Masonic picture from 1727 to the present day; gives us an outline of "Opus Dei", which he considers anti-masonry; and addresses the relations with the Catholic Church. Finally, he publishes several historical documents, including an article by Fernando Pessoa in defence of the Masonic Order. A timely and necessary book to dispel myths and prejudices, because, as the author writes, Freemasonry "remains shrouded in the mist of mystery and the verrine of slander. One can still detect in its perception by collective consciousness the label of being somehow involved in ‘unclear business’, owing to the executioners of the Inquisition and the totalitarian regimes that, from time to time, still flourish in the spirit of the incautious". What organization is this, that cultivates tolerance and free thought, that made the independence of the United States and the French Revolution, led the liberal and republican revolutions in Portugal, that had and has in its bosom, monarchs and presidents of the Republic, bishops and lay workers and intellectuals, believers of all religions and agnostics of all sensibilities? Introdução à Maçonaria answers many of these questions.

Serviço Nacional de Saúde. SNS. 30 anos de Resistência. 3ª edição
Published
June 3, 2020

Details about the available publication format: PDF

PDF
ISBN-13 (15)
978-989-26-1845-6
doi
10.14195/978-989-26-1845-6

Details about the available publication format: Amazon

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Physical Dimensions