Leszek Kolakowski

Leszek Kolakowski, the Polish-born philosopher who died on Friday aged 81, began as an orthodox Marxist but moved towards "Marxist humanism" in the 1950s and 1960s, and was closely involved in the movement towards liberation that led, in 1956, to Poland's brief "October dawn"; later dismissed from the Communist Party, in 1968 he moved to the West, where he became a trenchant critic of Communism and its western apologists.

The relationship between freedom and political or religious beliefs, examined in many different contexts, was one of the main themes of Kolakowski's scholarship. The centre of his post-Marxist conceptual universe was the individual – a rational and freely acting subject, aware that there is a spiritual side of life, yet eschewing absolute certainty of either an empirical or transcendental sort: "I do not believe that human culture can ever reach a perfect synthesis of its diversified and incompatible components", he said. "Its very richness is supported by this very incompatibility of its ingredients. And it is the conflict of values, rather than their harmony, that keeps our culture alive."

It was therefore not the philosopher's role to deliver the truth, but to "build the spirit of truth" by questioning what appears to be obvious, always suspecting that there might be "another side" to any question. The true philosopher should approach any issue with scepticism and humility: "A modern philosopher who has never once suspected himself of being a charlatan must be such a shallow mind that his work is probably not worth reading", he said.

I think it it i wise to capture the current attention that is being spent on Haiti and create conversation(s) and understanding of the reality of the factors that have historically, politically and Economically contributed to Haiti becoming the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere . Learning about U.S. intervention and exploitation via our hemispheric hegemony and Economy in the region gives the context for this disaster severity and sheds light on what makes true and holistic "earthquake relief efforts". We need to take responsibility and ownership of what we have done, this is what U.S. Foreign policy looks like, it goes beyond documents and cheap goods, but that message is not found on the T.V.

Not very often is the world, especially the United States, concerned with Haiti, and i am talking about humanitarian/social concern. It is tempting in the midst of Emergency, and this is most certainly one, to respond via active means (i.e. donating, fund-raising). But i think we need to venture further down river and not simply define the problem as "the earthquake"-- all though there is obvious need for this type of work, and the earthquake is undoubtedly a priority to deal with, quickly; not that we have (but we did send the military cause that's what we do best). The problem lies not just in natural disaster but the Western policies of military intervention and economic exploitation that has speckled (may seem more like bullet-holed) Haiti's history. I think the situation Haiti is in now would of been greatly reduced if they had better infurstrcutre; more roads, hospitals, communication, buildings codes, an sovereign people's government, and independent, for country, economy. Had the country been able to develop and grow for itself and its people there would have been less destruction, better rescue potential and less death. For intervening and exploiting via our hemispheric hegemony in the region we are guilty of setting the context for this disaster. It is CRUCIAL to recognize the reality of consequence of our Foreign Policy; it is not something that happens but something that is happening. Th character of the U.S.: how it interacts with the world, especially the poor, the effects of this interaction, has to be made known. We need to define the problem not as the "the earthquake" but the "hegemony and carelessness of the United States and its people toward the rest of the world. We need to understand that natural disaster are rarely natural, often they are human induced.

Please take the time and effort to learn about the problem, at its roots-- for that is true earthquake relief.

and please donate and respond, but there is more to this than reacting, starting thinking. And know who you are giving your money too.

I will post links as i see them, but please check out this book it is written by Paul Farmer, and has a introduction by Noam Chomsky, the book is titled "The Uses of Haiti" , and a summery can be found here.