Joel Kovel: "In Memorium: Walt Contreras Sheasby"

[Yoshie Furuhashi <furuhashi.1@xxxxxxx>]

Date: Sat, 21 Aug 2004 00:02:46 -0400
From: joel kovel <jkovel@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: GreenAllianceUSA@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

This will be published in the journal Walt and I worked on together,
Capitalism Nature Socialism

In Memorium
Walt Contreras Sheasby

With the passing on August 20, 2004, of Walt Sheasby, Capitalism
Nature Socialism lost a stalwart editor and brilliant contributor, I
lost a dear and loyal friend, and the world lost a visionary fighter
for ecological socialism. There was a bitter irony to Walt's death,
as he succumbed at age 62 to complications of West Nile Virus, one of
the rogue pathogens kicked into orbit by the destabilizations of the
ecological crisis against which he focussed his formidable talent in
the later years of his life. Sheasby had a monk-like dedication to
radical inquiry and politics, indeed, he once described himself to me
in such terms. Scornful of ordinary success and worldly comfort, he
lived for the cause, dividing his efforts between ceaseless activism
and organization, on the one hand, and the scholarship he loved above
all, on the other. He had an immense library, which included a
well-thumbed set the MEGA, Marx and Engels' complete works. His work
on Marx for this journal was of major importance, beginning with his
essay on "The Inverted World," and continuing through his recent
series on Marx and the Victorians, the third installment of which was
to have appeared in the December issue, with its further revelations
on the theme that Marx was much more deeply conversant with
biological thought and much more appreciative of nature than had been
previously acknowledged.

These and other contributions-and there were more, many more, on
numerous aspects of radical politics-are the chief ways the world
will know of Walt and miss him. What I will miss in addition, will be
the wry humor, the selflessness admixed with unquenchable optimism, a
certain Romanticism, and a deep fidelity and integrity that will long
survive the occasional differences we experienced. Walt guided me
through my own quixotic exploration into Green presidential politics
in 2000, and the memory of his companionship will be with me forever.

Joel Kovel
--
Yoshie

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* Calendars of Events in Columbus:
<http://sif.org.ohio-state.edu/calendar.html>,
<http://www.freepress.org/calendar.php>, & <http://www.cpanews.org/>
* Student International Forum: <http://sif.org.ohio-state.edu/>
* Committee for Justice in Palestine: <http://www.osudivest.org/>
* Al-Awda-Ohio: <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Al-Awda-Ohio>
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