[lbo-talk] Re: Losing Iris Young

[Patrick Bond]

(Hear hear. I recall a visit to Joburg around five years ago where she 
expressed disagreement in a seminar with two dozen comrades from Jubilee 
South Africa, over the nature of reparations demands. Even where she 
retained a tactical and discursive difference, her deep respect for the 
opposing position left everyone mightily impressed. Where Iris thought 
the SA Constitution was a good example of debates leading to consensus 
and we thought it was part of the overall elite transition decoration, 
she listened, argued hard, and probably changed her position a bit, as 
did we. Where she thought that reform of the UN was a feasible and 
useful objective - again, contrary to the buzz in Joburg and Durban 
where anti-UN demos attracted tens of thousands in 2001-02 - her 
insistence on closure of the World Bank and IMF left us all in good 
spirits during debate. So it is rare that one has memories of someone 
great who has passed, that include minor comradely clashes, where such 
memories are the building blocks of dignity. In this case, Iris' stellar 
reasoning and commitment exemplify how to move from safe zones of 
agreement to ultimately more fruitful sites of collegial friction. I 
hope many of us can learn that skill - the best of the 
cosmopolitan-democracy tradition - given the extent of  'difference' in 
our lives, a matter so crucial to her own work.)

Dennis Brutus wrote:
> It was with deep sadness that I read the posting from Debate  of the 
> death of Iris Young. This is indeed a great  loss for all of us. She 
> had gained a distinguished reputation as a philosopher and feminist 
> and her absence means a great loss for all of us working in the field 
> of social justice. Both in her work at the university of pittsburgh - 
> where we were colleagues,- and her later work at the university of 
> chicago, she impressed with the clarity and profundity of her thought 
> and made a powerful impression on the thought of others. In 
> associating with her, I was particularly sturck by the unfailing 
> courtesy and patience she showed, even to those with whom she was in 
> deep disagreement. I mourn her passing as a friend and as a thinker 
> and extend my warmest fraternal condolences to her family and friends 
> and all who will be bereaved by the loss of someone whose ideas 
> contributed materially in our work to achieve a more just social 
> order. dennis brutus, visiting scholar, centre for civil society, 
> university of kwazulu-natal, professor emeritus, university of 
> pittsburgh pa usa
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