FW: [Marxism] Tributes to Jim Blaut

["Craven, Jim" <JCraven@xxxxxxxxx>]

A few people have the privilege of walking in the footsteps of giants. 
The memory of Jim, of what he stood for and what he did, will always 
remain strong with so many of his colleagues, students, grandstudents, 
and great-grandstudents, who are finding it hard to imagine a world 
without him. With Dick Peet, "it was a shock to hear about him..frankly 
I' m in deep disbelief."

Jim Blaut's contributions, not just to radical geography but to radical 
thought and action in general, will always be with us. He was one of the

very few geographers whose influence outside geography was as great or 
even greater than within our field: his work is well-known to 
psychologists, anthropologists, historians...the list goes on and on. 
But the picture that I will forever carry in my mind is of the three of 
them, Jim, incredibly tall, tiny Meca, and 13-year old Gini waving 
across the airfield in St. Thomas nearly 35 years ago. As Anne Reid put 
it "he was in every sense larger than life" .


Response: I would heartily endorse this moving tribute to Jim. I still
have the many correspondences with him over the years on subjects like
flying (I'm also a pilot), life in Puerto Rico where I lived for three
years and taught at InterAmerican university and Jim taught at
University of Puerto Rico, radical geography, economics, economic
history, Indigenous rights and genocide against Indigenous Peoples,
agglomeration structures (time and space)and unbalanced growth and
development vis-a-vis the "logic" of capitalism, origins of capitalism,
capitalist media techniques in mind/soul control and manipulation,
eurocentric marxists and Indigenous struggles, house/academic
marxism,and many other subjects.

"All men[and women] must die, but death can vary in its significance.
The ancient Chinese writer Szuma Chien said: 'Though befalls all men
[and women] alike, it may be weightier than Mount Tai or lighter than a
feather.' To die for the people is weightier than Mount Tai, but to work
for the fascists and die for the exploiters and oppressors is lighter
than a feather." Chairman Mao Zedong

Jim's passing was indeed heavier than Mount Tai.

Jim Craven
   

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