What a surprise I just got by reading the news , just now : Albert Jacquard died yesterday .
Short biography :
The geneticist and leftist Albert Jacquard died Wednesday , September 11 at his home in Paris (sixth district) at the age of 87 years , according to his son . The polytechnic , born December 23, 1925 , which was to honor the association Right to Housing ( DAL ) President , was swept away by a form of leukemia , he said .
course
Coming from a family of good society Lyon , Albert Jacquard is received Polytechnique 20 years later in 1951 and between Seita ( national company that manufactures tobacco and matches ) to work on the establishment of an early computer systems. After a brief stint at the Ministry of Public Health , he joined the National Institute of Demographic Studies (INED ) in 1962. But approaching forty and » realize that we are not eternal and we do not want to spoil his life at ridiculous things. » Albert Jacquard then went to study population genetics in the prestigious American University of Stanford, then returns to the INED and spent two doctorates in genetics and human biology in stride. In addition to teaching and his expert to the World Health Organization (WHO) work , it will then cease to remove the supposedly scientific racist theories and arguments will witness even in 1987 at the trial of Nazi Klaus Barbie for crimes against humanity. His first books , such as » Praise the difference : genetics and man » (1978) meet a great success that will not fail , even when drift towards philosophy, popular science or anti- liberal humanism . His commitment Pr Jacquard dislikes liberalism and it will also parliamentary candidate in Paris in 1986, sustained by various movements of the alternative left , then in 1999 the environmentalist list list led by Daniel Cohn- Bendit ( in 84th position). In the 1990s , Albert Jacquard will put its media verve serving another cause : the inadequately housed and undocumented . Occupation of a Dragon Street building in 1994 , the Church of St. Bernard in 1996 … his face old Greek fauna quickly becomes as familiar as that of the Abbé Pierre , Gaillot or Emmanuelle Béart , his comrades . Age assisting, honorary president of the LAD had been more discreet while continuing to support the poor and pushing rants , as in his daily column on France Culture from 2001 to 2010.
IN CLOSING
He ‘s been a man of the left , it does not detract from the man he was throughout his valeur.C is a noble man who fought for noble causes.
I think his fight continues even after his death. Also , I will continue to inspire me with his ideas.
When I listen to his videos or when I read it, I feel more human, more open and compassionate to my fellow men .
Also, in memory of a great man, Albert Jacquard , here is an article published Oct. 7, 2009 :
Awareness of danger save humanity
He may have exceeded 80 years , the French intellectual Albert Jacquard does not continue unless wearing his call for a more just and sustainable society , the only way to avoid anything less than the end of the human adventure . Le Devoir has met while he was passing through Quebec .
Albert Jacquard message is clear : either humanity away from the race for eternal economic growth and continues to consider the planet’s resources as infinite , or it will face its own shipwreck in a future not so long ago .
And the deep recession that hit the world should serve him as a first step in thinking about how to avoid the worst .
The French intellectual refuses also to characterize global setbacks of the last year of « crisis. » « What we are going through , it’s not a crisis, it is a mutation . A crisis , it ends , as all the talking of the » crisis . » But for me, there is no crisis in a human adventure with such serious consequences. There are changes , that is to say that there are opportunities to develop new ideas, especially in the economic sector. »
Because it is urgent to rethink our relationship with what he calls the doctrine of « growth » seen as one way out of the doldrums and move on. « If growth means growth in consumption , it is a deception that can not last , he said during a meeting with Le Devoir. Those who preach the growth of consumption in countries where basic needs are already more than satisfied , are more harmful than spreading their drug dealers . »
The best way to raise the issue would be the question of the availability of resources of the Earth, wasted without proper restraint , especially since the beginning of the industrial era. This is the case , for example, fish stocks in the world that should be exhausted within a few decades , according to the United Nations Program for the Environment . Yet billions of people depend largely for their daily food . What to do? » We know we will not leave Earth to colonize another planet. The question we should be asking , for all resources is how they distribute . »
This is certainly not the case at present . « The way economists often neglect to take into account the finiteness of the Earth is significant of human behavior towards her , Albert Jacquard rightly notes in his most recent book, The countdown has begun? . In many areas , the alert level has been exceeded, particularly in the use of non-renewable resources, which is the case of energy , gas , coal and oil sources for example . The fastest possible stop the ongoing destruction is required with the aim to delay or even avoid burnout . »
Generations to come
The thing is all the more essential that the polytechnic and geneticist 83 years insists that the riches which have taken millions of years to form also belong » to generations yet unborn . » While the idea may seem like common place , its implementation would require nothing less than the establishment of a structure of « global governance , » says Jacquard . « You can not imagine that six billion people can get by without organizing powers and without establishing a global democracy. Or this is not possible, then it’s over , or it is possible and we have to try . »
Wide program, especially when observing the sometimes Kafkaesque complexity of large structures such as the UN or when negotiations on the Kyoto Protocol . « There is a societal choice , says Jacquard . Can we admit that human life should be summarized in the fight against the other , so-called liberalism ? Or , during a lifetime, we can try to achieve certain ideals , » such as improving the health of all , the conservation of resources and protection of the environment?
And this will create a society that is both » just and sustainable » diverted « growth at all costs » must be rooted in the educational system. « The events of the summer of 2008 seem to have made progress in several steps the countdown leading to economic disaster and the author notes in his latest book . Fortunately , awareness of the danger, too, has increased . It can help us to avoid the worst. The outcome depends on the clarity and the education system. »
Provided , of course, it is not exploited as a tool for training the workforce « competitive » in a « market » of knowledge . « The school is in the service of those who turn to it for it helps to be themselves , not in the service of society. It is not responsible to provide human ready it needs . » He also denounced the tendency to introduce more and more the concept of » competition « in the vocabulary of education. « For me, this is a real scandal. The goal is not to give the means to fight against the other , but rather to meet the others. Therefore, it is necessary to an educational system that ignores the charts. »
Despite the magnitude of the task that Albert Jacquard wants to see humanity tackle , he refuses the label » catastrophic » or » utopian . » « Even if they are for some very revolutionary , these ideas settle in the name of a reality, » he believes. As proof, his lectures attracted many people from various backgrounds. « I do not have a solution , it is however unclear. My goal is not to build the society of tomorrow , is to show that it does not look like today . Because that is whether or not the danger is there ? Yes , the danger is there and it is a huge risk because it could be the end of humanity. »
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QUOTES TO REMEMBER :
» or mankind away from the race for eternal economic growth or it will face its own shipwreck. »
» it is urgent to rethink our relationship with the dogma of the « growth ».
« You can not imagine that six billion people can get by without organizing powers and without establishing a global democracy. »
Rest in peace big man , keep up the fight!
