[WSMDiscuss] François Houtart walks on...

[JS CACIM]

Tuesday, June 6, 2017

Warriors in movement….

François Houtart walks on...

Thank you, Boa, for posting this news, sad as it is.  What a shock…..  Though I suppose I can't deny that given François’ age, somewhere in the recesses of my mind I have been expecting this news – and even though as you know so well, he was always one of those people who seemed truly ageless, and so I almost came to believe that this might never happen.

            So now, it is the time to remember him, and as you say Boa, to honour him in the way that he would have wanted : To go on fighting for the causes that he fought so tirelessly for.

For those who did not know François Houtart, here – only as a shortcut that does not really do justice to all that he was or that he did - is the bio I developed for him for his essays, one each in two forthcoming books that I have recently edited, ‘Mahmoud Mohamed Taha, Islamic witness in the contemporary world’ in The Movements of Movements, Part 1 : What Makes Us Move ? and ‘ ‘We Still Exist’ ’ (on the Zapatistas) in The Movements of Movements, Part 2 : Rethinking Our Dance :

François Houtart, a Catholic priest, liberation theologian, and scholar, is presently Professor at the Instituto de Altos Estudios Nacionales (National Institute of Higher Studies) in Quito, Ecuador; associated with the Fundación del Pueblo Indio del Ecuador (Foundation of the Indigenous Peoples of Ecuador); and Vice President of the World Forum for Alternatives. He was the founder of CETRI (Centre Tricontinental), a Belgian non-governmental organisation, and Special Representative of the President of the General Assembly of the UN in the Commission on the Reforms of the Financial and Monetary System, headed by Joseph Stiglitz. He is one of the initiators of the World Social Forum, and was former chair of the International League for the Liberation of the Peoples and an expert for the Vatican Council II. As a sociologist, he has written more than forty books, and he founded the magazine Alternatives Sud.

            I guess I now need to change the tense in this bio – but given who he was, it also seems to make so much sense to keep in the present; because he will always be with us…..

            In François’ memory, and with a parting embrace -

            JS


> On Jun 6, 2017, at 1:25 PM, Boaventura de Sousa Santos <bsantos at ces.uc.pt> wrote:
> 
> Amigos, friends,
> 
> Faleceu François Houtart. Muitos de nós perdemos um querido amigo, mas muitos muitos mais perderam um lutador incansável por um outro mundo possível. A melhor maneira de honrar a sua memória é seguir lutando pelas causas pelas quais ele lutou.
> 
> Falleció François Houtart. Muchos de nosotros perdimos un amigo querido, y muchos muchos más perdieran un luchador incasable por otro mundo posible. La mejor manera de honrar su memoria es seguir luchando por las causas que dominaran toda su vida. 
> 
> François Houtart passed away. Many of us lost a very dear friend, and many many more lost a tireless fighter for another possible world. The best way to honor his memory is to go on fighting for his causes.
> 
> Boaventura de Sousa Santos
> Sao Paulo, 6 Junho 2017
> 
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Livros recentes. Libros más recientes. Recent books. Derniers livres.
> 
> Épistémologies du Sud. Mouvements citoyens et polémique sur la science <https://www.editionsddb.fr/livre/fiche/epistemologies-du-sud-9782220081427> (Éditions Desclée de Brouwer, 2016); If God Were a Human Rights Activist <http://www.boaventuradesousasantos.pt/media/SantosFlyer_FINAL.pdf> (Stanford University Press, 2015); Epistemologies of the South. Justice against Epistemicide <http://www.boaventuradesousasantos.pt/media/FLYER_Santos%20-%20Epistemologies%281%29.pdf> (Paradigm Publishers, 2014); Revueltas de Indignación y Otras Conversas <http://www.boaventuradesousasantos.pt/media/BSS_Revueltas.pdf> (La Paz, 2015); O Direito dos Oprimidos (Editora Almedina <http://www.almedina.net/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=24314>/Editora Cortez <http://www.cortezeditora.com.br/direito-dos-oprimidos-o-1487.aspx/p>, 2014); A Justiça Popular em Cabo Verde (Editora Almedina <http://www.almedina.net/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=25573>/Editora Cortez <http://www.cortezeditora.com.br/justica-popular-em-cabo-verde-a-1559.aspx/p>, 2015).
> 
>  
> BOAVENTURA DE SOUSA SANTOS
> Janeiro-Julho (January-July)
> Centro de Estudos Sociais
> Colégio de S. Jerónimo
> Apartado 3087
> 3000-995 Coimbra, PORTUGAL
> Tel.: (351 - 239) 855582 
> Fax: (351 - 239) 855589
>  
> Agosto-Dezembro (August-December)
> University of Wisconsin-Madison
> Law School, 975 Bascom Mall
> Madison, WI 53706
> E.U.A
> Phone: (1- 608) 263 7414
> Fax: (1 - 608) 262 5485
>  
> EMAIL: bsantos at ces.uc.pt <mailto:bsantos at ces.uc.pt>
> http://www.boaventuradesousasantos.pt <http://www.boaventuradesousasantos.pt/>
> Alice project: http://alice.ces.uc.pt <http://alice.ces.uc.pt/>
> http://www.ces.uc.pt <http://www.ces.uc.pt/>

______________________________

Jai Sen

jai.sen at cacim.net <mailto:jai.sen at cacim.net>
www.cacim.net <http://www.cacim.net/> / http://www.openword.net.in

Now based in New Delhi, India (+91-98189 11325) and in Ottawa, Canada, on unceded Algonquin territory (+1-613-282 2900) 

Recent publications :

Jai Sen, ed, 2016  – The Movements of Movements, Part 1 : What Makes Us Move ? (forthcoming in 2017 from New Delhi : OpenWord and Oakland, CA : PM Press), ADVANCE PREFINAL ONLINE MOVEMENT EDITION @ www.cacim.net <http://www.cacim.net/>
Jai Sen, ed, 2013 – The Movements of Movements : Struggles for Other Worlds, Part I. Prefinal version of Volume 4 Part I in the Challenging Empires series. New Delhi : OpenWord.  Prefinal version 1.0 available @ http://www.into-ebooks.com/book/the_movements_of_movements/ <http://www.into-ebooks.com/book/the_movements_of_movements/>
FORTHCOMING PUBLICATIONS  :

Jai Sen, ed, 2017a – The Movements of Movements, Part 1 : What Makes Us Move ?.  Volume 4 in the Challenging Empires series (New Delhi : OpenWord and Oakland, CA : PM Press).  Available for pre-order at PM Press <http://www.pmpress.org/>
&

Jai Sen, ed, 2017b – The Movements of Movements, Part 2 : Rethinking Our Dance.  Volume 5 in the Challenging Empires series (New Delhi : OpenWord and Oakland, CA : PM Press)

CHECK OUT CACIM @ www.cacim.net <http://www.cacim.net/>, OpenWord @ http://www.openword.net.in <http://www.openword.net.in/>, and OpenSpaceForum @ www.openspaceforum.net <http://www.openspaceforum.net/>
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