Soros – Real Father of Reforms in Poland
With the change of Poland from a communist dictatorship to a free market system, much credit has been given to Leszek Balcerowicz, who supposedly is the father of the “miraculous” economic reform. However according to the special report published by the Executive Intelligence Review of Washington, D.C., the real brains behind the reforms that have impoverished and enslaved Poles for generations is a Hungarian Jew, mega speculator George Soros, who also carries American passport.
Born in Budapest, Hungary in 1930 and educated in England, George Soros and his Curacao based Quantum Fund have quickly become a silent partner of Rothschild’s, Reichman’s, US expelled Marc Rich, Israeli arms merchant Saul Isenberg and many other wealthy and influential Jews, such as Henry Kissinger. The main objectives of their activities are speculative investments to take advantage of political and economic weaknesses of various countries.
Soros' Quantum Fund makes money by anticipating economic shifts around the world. In 1992 Soros thought the British pound would lose value because of political and economic pressures. He borrowed billions of pounds and converted them to German marks. When the pound collapsed Sept. 16, Soros repaid the pounds at the lower rate and pocketed the difference. His profit: $1 billion.
To understand how George Soros is different from other financial speculators, just ponder this: Enron's whiz kids, once considered the acme of high-finance innovation, named one of their infamous off-balance sheet partnerships "Chewco" -- after the "Star Wars" character Chewbacca. Soros chose to name his primary vehicle for earning billions of dollars "the Quantum Fund."
He was alluding, says his biographer, Michael Kaufman, to Werner Heisenberg's theory of "indeterminacy": the impossibility of knowing simultaneously both the position and velocity of any atomic particle. As applied to markets, the implication was that you can't invest in something (especially on a Soros-ian scale) without affecting its prospects, for good or ill.
"Soros's choice," writes Kaufman, "was both an ironic wink and a gesture of homage to notions of fallibility, reflexivity, and his own convention of incomplete determinism."
OK, so Soros is like, really smart, and those Enron guys, despite the Harvard MBAs, now look kind of dumb. But the two did have some things in common.
Soros is credited with being the chief developer of the hedge fund -- a strategy for investing that, at its simplest, maximizes an investor's ability to pick winners (and losers) and yet at the same time insures against larger market trends that could be completely unpredictable. So, for example, at the same time you are buying one company's stock because you think its stock price will rise, you are selling another's short, because you think it will fall. By balancing your long and short positions, if something unexpected happens, like a terrorist attack, that drives all stock prices up, or down, across the board, you are insured against losing your shirt. Some of your bets will win, no matter what. And if nothing unexpected happens, all of your bets might win.
As Enron mutated away from being a natural gas trader into a financial derivatives player, it advanced the concept of hedging beyond the sublime and the ridiculous straight to the land of pure idiocy. Enron, the biggest bankruptcy of all time, even bet on bankruptcy protection! In this, Enron's derivatives traders were descendants of Soros; as financial speculators intent on beating the system by being really, really smart, they attempted to hedge against every possible eventuality.
Soros and the latter-stage Enron both strove to make money chiefly by manipulating money. The difference is that Soros rarely lost a bet, while Enron's executives, blinded by greed and hubris, took themselves to the cleaners.
Are financial speculators parasites profiting off the people and companies who do the real work, or do they in any way produce value themselves? Michael Kaufman's intriguing biography of Soros never fully addresses this question -- one of the few flaws in an otherwise eminently readable book on the enigmatically fascinating Soros. And Soros himself neatly sidesteps the conundrum, by virtue of what he has done with his winnings.
Soros, a "revolutionary plutocrat," would-be philosopher king and one-man Marshall Plan, set out to change the world -- to use his billions to fund the spread of "open societies." He became a one-man conduit of funds from West to East, from affluent to non-affluent.
Which raises another question that Kaufman's bio never delves into too deeply. When an ordinary individual donates money to charity, it's easy to respect that as a personal choice. But when the individual involved can spend billions -- when he's the kind of person who can casually say, "Tell me about the health of the king of Thailand ... I happen to own 5 percent of the Thai stock market this week" -- then you start to wonder, is this really kosher? Who is this man accountable to?
One of Soros' nicknames is "The Man Who Broke the Bank of England," in reference to a famous multibillion dollar bet his fund made that John Major's Conservative government would not be able to prop up the value of the British pound. The phrase is usually used admiringly -- what a paragon of financial expertise this Soros guy is!
But what if, say, Osama bin Laden was doing the betting? What if such manipulation was pursued on behalf of "the closed society" as opposed to the open?
Liberals love to shower Soros with respect, ignoring his Wall Street background, because his motives are so obviously honorable, and the money he is spending so clearly is going to "good" causes. But his life raises some troubling questions about the autonomy of capital in the era of globalization. Make enough money, and you don't have to obey anyone's rules.
As one might expect from the first "authorized" biography of Soros, "Soros: The Life and Times of a Messianic Billionaire" is flattering to its subject. But it's never fawning, and the psychological portrait it draws is convincing and illuminating.
Soros' life, no matter how you slice it, has been extraordinary. The first several chapters of the biography -- which deal with the teenage Soros' efforts to avoid the depredations of first the Nazis and then the Soviets in his native Hungary -- read like a thriller. As Kaufman notes, this background makes it easy to understand how Soros was able to cope with the pressures involved with high-stakes investing: When your formative experiences include watching friends and colleagues get rounded up and shipped off to Auschwitz in the waning days of World War II, it's likely that little else will ever be able to frighten you.
Soros' early experiences with fascism and totalitarianism also illuminate his motives, later on, in helping Eastern European and Soviet dissidents. Kaufman excels at dissecting and explaining Soros' psychological makeup. As just one data point -- can you imagine a Rockefeller or Carnegie or Gates frankly talking about insights gained from psychoanalysis, if they ever even admitted to seeing a therapist at all?
Kaufman gets Soros to open up -- about his analysis, about his family, about his dreams. A picture emerges of a man who was not only intensely self-critical but also sought out criticism from others. And his obsession with being an actual philosopher, along with his grandiose visions of single-handedly changing the world, make him come off as more than slightly neurotic.
Few neurotics, of course, are able to dispense about a half a billion dollars a year to whomever they choose. Is that really a good thing?
During the Asian financial crisis of 1997, the prime minister of Malaysia, Mahathir Mohammad, accused Soros of destabilizing his country through currency speculation. According to Kaufman, Soros was not involved in currency trading in Malaysia at the time, but his response, at a conference held in Hong Kong that year, is instructive.
"Dr. Mahathir's suggestion yesterday to ban currency trading is so inappropriate that it does not deserve serious consideration. Interfering with the convertibility of capital at a moment like this is a recipe for disaster. Dr. Mahathir is a menace to his own country."
Never mind that the stringent restrictions on currency flow that Malaysia did impose are now widely considered to have worked spectacularly well. What's important isn't whether Soros was wrong or right, but the arrogance implicit in Soros' categorization of Mahathir as a "menace."
If you or I were to think that Mahathir is a neo-authoritarian despot who is fundamentally anti-democratic, that's one thing. But Soros can get peeved at a leader and decide to bankroll a popular movement aimed at destabilizing a government. He's done it before! If I were a Malaysian citizen aware of what Soros had done in Poland and Czechoslovakia and the former Soviet Union, I'd be a little worried when he started calling my leader bad names. Who could stop him? Who could censure him?
No one.
Soros has stated that he doesn't do philanthropy in countries where he is involved as a trader, and vice versa. He has also noted that he considers his philanthropy moral and his money-management business "amoral." But is it really possible to make such distinctions? If the consequences of a billion-dollar bet on a currency change "anomaly" destabilizes a given country's economy, boosting unemployment and inflation, does that balance out the good karma that accrues from connecting all of Russia's universities to the Internet?
We should all be grateful that deep down, George Soros appears to be a good guy, at least as judged according to liberal Western values. His commitment to "openness" is sincere; his dedication to improving people's lives is unquestionable. He is the ultimate meddling, bleeding-heart liberal do-gooder, and for that, let's give him a cheer.
But at the same time, a guy like George Soros can't be voted out of office if you disagree with him. And when his billions of dollars can affect public policy, not just in his own country but in any country of his choosing, there is good reason to be a little bit nervous. Maybe Prime Minister Mahathir is indeed a menace to his own country. But on a bad day, a grumpy George Soros could be a menace to any country.
In order to gain valuable inside knowledge of the speculative possibilities, George Soros has set up a huge organization of inter-related “open society” institutes staffed mainly by Jews. Although his “institutes” have been expelled from China, Russia, Indonesia and the Czech Republic, they exist in Albania, Belarus, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia, France, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgystan, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the USA. There is no doubt that this organization allows for great economic intelligence gathering possibilities to detect weaknesses subject to financial speculation. But to go one step further, George Soros has also been known to manipulate the outcome of the political process by funding his own candidates in presidential elections, as recently documented in the Ukraine and Peru. In today’s information age, it is much more profitable for speculators to have their own people (insiders) in the government they are planning to raid. His favorite agenda is to convince the government of a particular country that neo-liberal reform is the best way out of financial crisis, so he can take advantage and speculate with their currency and privatization. Soros justifies his methods with a statement that what he is doing may not be moral but it is not against the law.
According to Lyndon LaRouche, Soros has gained a new position in the course of the 1997-98 period. The big thing that is occurring in Southeast Asia and in East Asia, is that the Prime Minister of Malaysia, Mahathir bin Mohamad, has become a hero of economics. He defied Al Gore, he defied Madeleine Albright--personally, nose-to-nose in Asia--on the issue of George Soros. And Madeleine Albright and Al Gore came to the enraged defense of George Soros.
In the period between October 1998 and the Brazil crisis of February 1999, George Soros was used as a key adviser on how to generate an avalanche of fraudulent money, which was used in particular to try to deal with the Brazil debt crisis. So, George Soros has gone from being a figure of what he was earlier, to using his experience and connections for a somewhat different operation. He's a key part of what is actually being generated, a global hyperinflation like that of Weimar 1923.
The thing that must always be remembered is that the United States, as a national economy, is presently hopelessly bankrupt. For example, the United States, at the current rate, has a national current account deficit rate of approximately a half-trillion dollars a year. Well, that's the mark of a bankrupt business. It has no hope of ever earning the income to pay that deficit. We don't know how much money is being put in to try to keep the United States from collapsing. Official figures from central bankers and others show at least $1 trillion a year. LaRouche estimates is that, in addition to that, there is an additional trillion dollars a year or more, which is now going into over-the-counter derivatives.
In other words, the United States, as an economy, is presently like a hopelessly bankrupt firm, which is borrowing ever vaster amounts of credit by the day, to keep from closing the door. By every objective standard, the U.S. economy and the U.S. dollar are the most bankrupt nation in the world. And, it's a time bomb that can set off the biggest financial collapse in all history, a collapse that will sink the entire world economy.
So, states LaRouche, the significance of Soros, is that these fellows are trying to keep alive, keep the bankruptcy from the door, long enough to establish their kind of world government, or one-world government, system.
As if this was not enough, George Soros has also been actively promoting the free use of narcotics, which leads to greater liberalization of the particular countries and greater possibilities of speculative gains.
According to the EIR Report, Soros has been personally responsible for introducing “shock therapy” economic chaos into the emerging economies of Eastern Europe since 1989. He has foisted on fragile new governments in the East, the most draconian economic madness, policies that have allowed Soros and his financial friends to loot the resources of large parts of Eastern Europe at less than dirt-cheap prices.
In Poland, in late 1989, Soros personally organized a secret meeting between the communist government of Mieczyslaw Rakowski (also Stanislaw Gomulka and Wojciech Jaruzelski), and the leaders of the then-illegal opposition, the Solidarnosc trade-union umbrella organization. According to well-informed Polish sources, at that 1989 meeting between the communist regime and the Solidarnosc, Soros unveiled his “plan” for Poland: The communists must let the opposition Solidarnosc take over government so as to gain the confidence of the population.
Then, said Soros, the state must act deliberately to bankrupt its own industrial and agricultural enterprises using astronomical interest rates, withholding needed state credits, thus burdening firms with unpayable debt. Once that was done, said Soros, he would encourage his wealthy international business friends to come to Poland as prospective buyers of privatized state enterprises. A good example of this Soros privatization plan is the case of the large steel facility, Huta Warszawa. According to steel experts the complex, a modern one, would cost $3-4 billion for a Western company to build new. The Polish government agreed to assume the “debts” of Huta Warszawa, and sell the debt-free, steel making complex to Milan Company, Lucehini, for a price of $30 million!
To further the Soros plan, Soros personally recruited his friend (Belorussian Jew with American passport), 35-year old Harvard economist, Jeffrey Sachs, whose only prior claim to experience was that of advising the Bolivian government on the advantages of the disastrous neo-liberal reform. Next, Soros set up one of his numerous foundations, the Stefan Batory Foundation, staffed by Polish Jews related to the Mazowiecki government. The Stefan Batory Foundation became the official sponsor of Sach’s work in Poland in 1989-90. Before his recent move on Peru to advise Soros-sponsored President Alejandro Toledo and his Belgian-Jewish-Polish wife Eliane Karp, Sachs visited Poland over 40 times. In 1996, although officially never employed by the Polish government (as argued by Janine Wedel) , Sachs neverless was decorated with the Order of White Eagle by post-communist President Alexander Kwasniewski.
Soros boasted that he had “established close personal contact with Walesa’s chief advisor, Bronislaw Geremek. I was also received by Gen. Jaruzelski, the Head of State, to obtain his blessing for my foundation.” He also worked closely with the “eminence grise” of Polish “shock therapy”, Prof. Trzeciakowski , a behind-the-scene adviser to Finance and Economics Minister Leszek Balcerowicz. Soros also cultivated relations with the man who would first impose Sach’s “shock” therapy on Poland: Balcerowicz himself. When Lech Walesa was elected President of Poland, Soros said: “largely because of Western (Washington) pressure Walesa retained Balcerowicz as Minister”. Balcerowicz imposed a freeze on wages while industry was to be bankrupted by cutoff of state credits. Industrial output fell by more than 30% over two years.
Since, during early “shock therapy”, Balcerowicz maintained a fixed rate of dollar exchange with interest rates in Polish zloty reaching 80% a year, for many years Poland was a dream country for currency speculators like George Soros. Unfortunately, during those years there was no tax on the interest earned in Polish banks and therefore there are no records as to how much money was siphoned out of the country. Tax on the interest earned was applied in the year 2001 and only since then has interest income been recorded. Although there are no verifiable records, I estimate Poland lost up to $30 billion dollars due to speculation with its currency exchange. Prof. Kazimierz Poznanski, of the University of Washington, documents that Poland has lost over $80 billion dollars through manipulation of currency exchange and dishonest privatization.
Soros admits he knew in advance that his “shock therapy” would cause huge unemployement (approx. 20% in 2002), closing of factories, and social unrest. For this reason he insisted that Solidarnosc be brought into the government. Through his Batory Foundation, Soros also co-opted key media opinion-makers such as Adam Michnik (Gazeta Wyborcza), and with cooperation from the U.S. Embassy in Warsaw, imposed a media censorship favorable only to Soros’s “shock therapy” and hostile to all critics – a censorship which rivaled that of the communists, according to some Polish reports.
Not a shabby achievement for a Hungarian Jew, who survived the “holocaust” and started with nothing else but a name. His personal net worth is estimated at 15 billion dollars. “Time” magazine has characterized George Soros as a “modern-day Robin Hood”, who robs from the rich to give to the poor countries of Eastern Europe and Russia. “Time” claimed that Soros made huge financial gains by speculating against Western central banks, in order to use his profits to help the emerging post-communist economies of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, to assist them to create what he calls an “Open Society”. “Time’s” statement is entirely accurate in the first part, and entirely inaccurate in the second. He robs from rich Western countries, all right – then he uses his profits to create the basis to rob even more savagely from the East, under the cloak of “philanthropy”. His goal is to loot wherever he can. Soros has been called the master manipulator of the “hit-and-run capitalism” and Poland with cooperation from the postcommunist rulers, has been one of his easy prey. However, officially, there are no records that George Soros himself or his Quantum Fund has taken out a single dollar out of Poland. The real looting was done by others, who were fully protected by the privacy laws of the post-communist banking system.
What Soros means by “open”, is to open up, for him and his financial predator friends, the economies of the former Warsaw Pact countries, so they can loot their resources and assets. By bringing people like Jeffrey Sachs and their economic “shock therapy” into emerging economies, Soros has laid the foundation for buying invaluable assets of whole regions of the world at dirt-cheap prices, for himself and his selected rich friends, who share a dream forming world government one day.
It must be stated that George Soros would never be able to create crisis in Poland without the full cooperation of the perpetual oligarchy of the Polish-Jewish and meddling of the American-Jewish politicians, but their treason is a subject for discussion some other time.
Stanislaw Tyminski
Encl.
EIR Special Report: “The true story of Soros the Golem”, April 1997
Interview with Lyndon LaRouche, Executive Intelligence Review, , July 7, 2000.
George Soros “Underwriting Democracy”, 1991
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Polish Prof. Boguslaw Wolniewicz on the Formal Ontology of Situations
Polish Prof. Boguslaw Wolniewicz on the Formal Ontology of Situations
INTRODUCTION
"The theory presented below was developed in an effort to clarify the metaphysics of Wittgenstein's Tractatus. The result obtained, however, is not strictly the formal twin of his variant of Logical Atomism. but something more, general, of which the latter is lust a special case. One might call it an ontology of situations. Some basic ideas of that ontology stern from Stenius Wittgenstein's Tractatus, Oxford, 1968 and Suszko Ontology in the Tractatus of L. Wittgenstein - Notre Dame Journal of Formal Logic, 1968.
Let L be a classic propositional language. Propositions of L are supposed to have their semantic counterparts in the realm of possibility, or as Wittgenstein put it: in logical space. These counterparts are situations, and S is to be the totality of them. The situation described by a proposition a is S(a). With Meinong we call it the objective of a."
From: Boguslaw Wolniewicz - A formal ontology of situations - Studia Logica 41: 381-413 (1982). pp. 381-382.
"Different ontologies adopt different notions of existence as basic. Aristotle's paradigm of existence is given by the equivalence:
(A) to be = to be a substance.
On the other hand, the paradigm of existence adopted in Wittgenstein's Tractatus is given by the parallel equivalence:
(W) to be = to be a fact.
Now, an Aristotelian substance is the denotation of an individual name, whereas a Wittgensteinian fact is the denotation of a true proposition. It seems therefore that the notions of existence derived from these two paradigms should be quite different, and one might readily expect that the metaphysical systems erected upon them will display wide structural discrepancies.
It turns out, however, that in spite of this basic difference there runs between these two systems a deep and striking parallelism. This parallelism is so close indeed that it makes possible the construction of a vocabulary which would transform characteristic propositions of Wittgenstein's ontology into Aristotelian ones, and conversely. To show in some detail the workings of that transformation will be the subject of this paper.
The vocabulary mentioned is based on the following four fundamental correlations:
Aristotle
1) primary substances (substantiae primae)
2) prime matter (materia prima)
3) form (forma)
4) self-subsistence of primary substances (esse per se)
Wittgenstein
1) atomic facts
2) objects
3) confiugration
4) independence of atomic facts
Aristotle's ontology is an ontology of substances, Wittgenstein's ontology is an ontology of facts. But concerning the respective items of each of the pairs (1)-(4) both ontologies lay down conditions which in view of our vocabulary appear to be identical. To show this let us confront, to begin with, the items of pair (1): substances and facts.
(The interpretation of Aristotle adopted in this paper is the standard one, to be found in any competent textbook of the history of philosophy. Therefore, with but one exception, no references to Aristotle's works will be given here.)Relatively to the system involved substances and facts are of the same ontological status. Aristotle's world is the totality of substances (summa rerum), Wittgenstein's world is the totality of facts (die Gesamtheit der Tatsachen). For Aristotle whatever exists in the basic sense of the word is a primary substance, for Wittgenstein - an atomic fact. Moreover, both ontologies are MODAL ones, allowing for different modes of being (modi essendi); and both take as basic the notion of `contingent being' (esse contingens), opposed to necessary being on the one hand, and to the possibility of being on the other. Both substances and facts are entities which actually exist, but might have not existed. The equality of ontological status between substances and facts is corroborated by the circumstance that both are PARTICULARS, there being - as the saying goes - no multiplicity of entities which FALL UNDER them.
Substances and facts stand also in the same relation to the ontological categories of pairs (2) and (3). Both are always COMPOUND entities, a substance consisting of matter and form, and a fact consisting of objects and the way of their configuration. But in neither of the two systems is this compoundness to be understood literally as composition of physically separable parts or pieces. The compoundness (compositio) of a substance consists in its being formed stuff (materia informata), and the compoundness of a fact in its being a configuration of objects.
In view of correlation (4) we have also an equality of relation which a substance bears to other substances, and a fact to other facts. Self-subsistence is the characteristic attribute of primary substances: substantia prima = ens per se. If we take this to mean that each substance exists independently of the existence or non-existence of any other substance we get immediately the exact counterpart of Wittgenstein's principle of logical atomism stating the mutual independence of atomic facts. It should be noted that thus understood the attribute of self-subsistence or independence is a relative one, belonging to a substance - or to a fact - only in virtue of its relation to other substances - or facts.
From a Wittgensteinian point of view Aristotle's substances are not things, but hypostases of facts, and thus their names are not logically proper names, but name-like equivalents of propositions. (By that term we mean roughly either a noun clause of the form `that p', or any symbol which might be regarded as a definitional abbreviation of such clause.) Surely, from the Aristotelian point of view it might be easily retorted here that just the opposite is the case: substances are not `reified' facts, but on the contrary - facts are 'dereified' substances. Without passing judgement on these mutual objections let us note in passing that their symmetric character seems to be itself an additional manifestation of the parallelism discussed."
From: Boguslaw Wolniewicz - A parallelism between Wittgensteinian and Aristotelian ontologies. In Boston studies in the philosophy of science. Vol. IV. Edited by Cohen Robert S. and Wartofsky Marx W. Dordrecht: Reidel Publishing Company 1969. pp. 208-210 (notes omitted).
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS (Works in Polish are not enclosed)
In 1970 Boguslaw Wolniewicz published a Polish translation of Ludwig Wittgenstein Tractatus logico-philosophicus.
A difference between Russell's and Wittgenstein's logical atomism. In Akten des XIV. Internationalen Kongresses für Philosophie. Wien, 2. - 9. September 1968 - Vol. II. Wien: Herder 1968. pp. 263-267Reprinted in: Logic and metaphysics (1999) - pp.193-197
"A note on Black's 'Companion'," Mind 78: 141 (1969).Reprinted in: Logic and metaphysics (1999) - p. 229."It is a mistake to suppose that in Wittgenstein's "Tractatus" the meaning of Urbild has any connexion with that of picture. "
A parallelism between Wittgensteinian and Aristotelian ontologies. In Boston studies in the philosophy of science. Vol. IV. Edited by Cohen Robert S. and Wartofsky Marx W. Dordrecht: Reidel Publishing Company 1969. pp. 208-217Proceedings of the Boston Colloquium for the philosophy of science 1966/1968.Reprinted in: Logic and metaphysics (1999) - pp.198-207
"Four notion of independence," Theoria 36: 161-164 (1970).Reprinted in: Logic and metaphysics (1999) - pp.127-130.WFour (binary) relations of independence I(p,q) between propositions are distinguished: the Wittgensteinian I sub-w, the statistical I sub-s, the modal I sub-m, and the deductive I sub-d. The validity of the following theorem is argued for: I sub-w(p,q) implies I sub-s(p,q) implies I sub-m(p,q) implies Isub-d(p,q). "
Wittgensteinian foundations of non-Fregean logic. In Contemporary East European philosophy. Vol. 3. Edited by D'Angelo Edward, DeGrood David, and Riepe Dale. Bridgeport: Spartacus Books 1971. pp. 231-243
"The notion of fact as a modal operator," Teorema: 59-66 (1972).Reprinted in: Logic and metaphysics (1999) - pp. 218-224"The notion of fact /fp = "it is a fact that p"/ is characterized axiomatically, and the ensuing modal systems shown to be equivalent to tT, S4 and S5 respectively."
Zur Semantik des Satzkalküls: Frege und Wittgenstein. In Der Mensch - Subjekt und Objekt (Festchrift für Adam Schaff). Edited by Borbé Tasso. Wien: Europaverl. 1973. pp.
Sachlage und Elementarsätz. In Wittgenstein and his impact on contemporary thought. Proceedings of the Second International Wittgenstein Symposium, 29th August to 4th September 1977, Kirchberg/Wechsel (Austria). Edited by Leinfellner Elisabeth. Wien: Hölder-Pichler-Tempsky 1977. pp. 174-176
"Objectives of propositions," Bulletin of the Section of Logic 7: 143-147 (1978)."The paper sketches out a semantics for propositions based upon the Wittgensteinian notion of a possible situation. The objective of a proposition is defined as the smallest situation verifying it. Two propositions are assumed to have the same objective iff they are strictly equivalent. Formulas are given which determine the objectives of conjunction and disjunction as functions of the objectives of their components. finally a link with possible-world semantics is established."
"Situations as the reference of propositions," Dialectics and Humanism 5: 171-182 (1978)."The reference of propositions is determined for a class of languages to be called the "Wittgensteinian" ones. A meaningful proposition presents a possible situation. Every consistent conjunction of elementary propositions presents an elementary situation. The smallest elementary situations are the "Sachverhalte"; the greatest are possible worlds. The situation presented by a proposition is to be distinguished from that verifying it, but the greatest situation presented is identical with the smallest verifying. The reference of compound propositions is then determined as a function of their components."
"Les situations comme corrélats semantiques des enoncés," Studia Filozoficzne 2: 27-41 (1978).
Wittgenstein und der Positivismus. In Wittgenstein, the Vienna circle and critical rationalism. Proceedings of the third International Wittgenstein Symposium, 13th to 19th August 1978, Kirchberg am Wechsel (Austria). Edited by Bergehel Hal, Hübner Adolf, and Eckehart Köhler. Wien: Hölder-Pichler-Tempsky 1978. pp. 75-77
"Some formal properties of objectives," Bulletin of the Section of Logic 8: 16-20 (1979)."The objectives of propositions as defined in an earlier paper are shown here to form a distributive lattice."
A Wittgensteinian semantics for propositions. In Intention and intentionality. Essay in honour of G. E. M. Anscombe. Edited by Diamond Cora and Teichman Jenny. Ithaca: Cornell University Press 1979. pp. 165-178"More than once Professor Anscombe has expressed doubt concerning the semantic efficacy of the idea of an 'elementary proposition' as conceived in the Tractatus. Wittgenstein himself eventually discarded it, together with the whole philosophy of language of which it had been an essential part. None the less the idea is still with us, and it seems to cover theoretical potentialities yet to be explored. This paper is a tentative move in that direction.According to Professor Anscombe, (*) Wittgenstein's 'elementary propositions' may be characterized by the following five theses: (1) They are a class of mutually independent propositions.(2) They are essentially positive.(2) They are such that for each of them there are no two ways of being true or false, but only one.(4) They are such that there is in them no distinction between an internal and an external negation.(5) They are concatenations of names, which are absolutely simple signs.We shall not investigate whether this is an adequate axiomatic for the notion under consideration. We suppose it is. In any case it is possible to modify it in one way or another, and for the resulting notion still to preserve a family resemblance with the original idea. One such modification is sketched out below."
"On the lattice of elementary situations," Bulletin of the Section of Logic 9: 115-121 (1980).
"On the verifiers of disjunction," Bulletin of the Section of Logic 9: 57-59 (1980).
"The Boolean algebra of objectives," Bulletin of the Section of Logic 10: 17-23 (1981)."This concludes a series of papers constructing a semantics for propositional languages based on the notion of a possible "situation". Objectives of propositions are the situations described by them. The set of objectives is defined and shown to be a boolean algebra isomorphic to that formed by sets of possible worlds."
"A closure system for elementary situations," Bulletin of the Section of Logic 11: 134-139 (1982).
"On logical space," Bulletin of the Section of Logic 11: 84-88 (1982).
"Ludwig Fleck and Polish philosophy," Dialectics and Humanism 9: 25-28 (1982).
"A formal ontology of situations," Studia Logica 41: 381-413 (1982)."A generalized Wittgensteinian semantics for propositional languages is presented, based on a lattice of elementary situations. Of these, maximal ones are possible worlds, constituting a logical space; minimal ones are logical atoms, partitioned into its dimensions. A verifier of a proposition is an elementary situation such that if real it makes true. The reference (or objective) of a proposition is a situation, which is the set of all its minimal verifiers. (Maximal ones constitute its locus.) Situations are shown to form a Boolean algebra, and the Boolean set algebra of loci is its representation. Wittgenstein's is a special case, admitting binary dimensions only."Contents:0. Preliminaries; 1. Elementary Situations1.1.The Axioms; 1.2.Some Consequences; 1.3. W-Independence; 1.4.States of Affairs;2. Sets of Elementary Situations2.1.The Semigroup of SE"-Sets; 2.2.The Lattice of Minimal SE"-Sets; 2.3.Q-Spaces and V-Sets; 2.4.V-Equivalence and Q-Equivalence; 2.4.V-Classes and V-Sets;3. Objectives of Propositions3.1. Verifiers of Propositions; 3.2. Verifying and Forcing; 3.3. Situations and Logical Loci; 3.4. Loci and Objectives of Compound Propositions 3.5. The Boolean Algebra of Situations;4. References
"Truth arguments and independence," Bulletin of the Section of Logic 12: 21-28 (1983).
"Logical space and metaphysical systems," Studia Logica 42: 269-284 (1983)."The paper applies the theory presented in "A formal ontology of situations" (Studia Logica, vol. 41 (1982), no. 4) to obtain a typology of metaphysical systems by interpreting them as different ontologies of situations.Four are treated in some detail: Hume's diachronic atomism, Laplacean determinism, Hume's synchronic atomism, and Wittgenstein's logical atomism. Moreover, the relation of that theory to the "situation semantics" of Perry and Barwise is discussed."
"An algebra of subsets for join-semilatttices with unit," Bulletin of the Section of Logic 13: 21-24 (1984).
"A topology for logical space," Bulletin of the Section of Logic 13: 255-259 (1984).
"Suszko: a reminiscence," Studia Logica 43: 317-321 (1984).Reprinted in: Logic and metaphysics (1999) - pp.302-306
"Die Grundwerte einer wissenschaftlichen Weltauffassaung," Conceptus 19: 3-8 (1985)."The scientific world-view is one of the fundamentals of our culture. It can be characterized in part by its specific system of values. A world-view is regarded as a scientific one if "truth" is one of its primary values, that is, as a value which is not a means, but an end in itself. Truth is served in particular by the two instrumental values of conceptual clarity and openness to critique. Their standing is (at present) low, for two reasons. (1) Unclear thinking not only promotes social idols; its consequences are also often difficult to see clearly and immediately. (2) In any case truth is of no interest (in a biological sense) to human beings; therefore, critique can at best be a socially tolerated activity. On the other hand, truth is not only a value, but also a force which in the long run cannot be held back; this fact gives some hope to adherents of the scientific world-view. "
"Discreteness of logical space," Bulletin of the Section of Logic 15: 132-136 (1986).
"Entailments and independence in join-semilattices," Bulletin of the Section of Logic 18: 2-5 (1989)."The paper generalizes Wittgenstein's notion of independence. in a join-semilattice of elementary situations the atoms are the Sachverhalte, and maximal ideals are possible worlds. A subset of that semilattice is independent iff it is free of "ontic ties". This is shown to be equivalent to independence in von Neumann's sense."
"On atomic join-semilattices," Bulletin of the Section of Logic 18: 105-111 (1989).Reprinted in: Logic and metaphysics (1999) - pp. 307-312.
The essence of Logical Atomism: Hume and Wittgenstein. In Wittgenstein. Eine Neubewertung. Akten 14. Internationale Wittgenstein-Symposium. Vol. 1. Wien: Hölder-Pichler-Tempsky 1990. pp. 106-111
"A question about join-semilattices," Bulletin of the Section of Logic: 108 (1990).
Concerning reism in Kotarbinski. In Kotarbinski: logic. semantics and ontology. Edited by Wolenski Jan. Dordrecht: Kluwer 1990. pp. 199-204Reprinted in: Logic and metaphysics (1999) - pp.265-271
Elzenberg's logic of values. In Logic counts. Edited by Zarnecka-Bialy Ewa. Dordrecht: Kluwe 1990. pp. 63-70Reprinted in: Logic and metaphysics (1999) - pp. 286-292 (with the title: Elzenberg's axiology""1. Values are what our value-Judgements refer to, and the passing of Judgements is one of our vital activities, like sleeping and breathing. We constantly appraise things as good or bad, pretty or ugly, as noble or base, well-made or misshapen. No wonder that both the act of appraisal and that which it refers to - i.e. the real or spurious values - have been always the source of philosophical reflexion. In systematic form such reflexion is what we call axiology.In Polish philosophy it was Henryk Elzenberg (1887-1967) who reflected upon matters of axiology most deeply and incisively.(...)3. Leibniz had said somewhere: "There are two mazes in which the human mind is most likely to get lost: one is the concept of continuity, the other is that of liberty". This admits of generalization: all concepts are mazes, viz mazes of logical relations between the propositions that involve them.One such maze is the concept of 'value'. Possibly, it is even the same as one of the two mentioned by Leibniz, only entered - so to say - by another door. For it would be in full accord with Elzenberg's position - and with that of Kant too - to adopt the following characteristic: values are what controls the actions of free agents. Thus the concepts of value and of liberty should constitute one conceptual maze, or - which comes to the same - two mazes communicating with each other.To get a survey of such logical maze the first thing is to fix the ontological category of the concept in question. Thus, in our case, we ask what kind of entities are those 'values' supposed to be. (Ontological categories are the most general classes of entities, the summa genera A term even more general has to cover literally everything: like 'entity' or 'something'. For everything is an entity, just as everything is a something.)Different ontologies admit different sets of categories. The categories most frequently referred to are those of 'objects', 'properties', and 'relations'; the more exotic ones are those of an 'event', a 'set', a 'function', or a 'situation'. One point, however, is of paramount importance: the categories admitted In one ontology have to be mutually disjoint". p. 63; 66.
"A sequel to Hawranek/Zygmunt," Bulletin of the Section of Logic 20: 143-144 (1991).
Needs and value. In Logic and ethics. Edited by Geach Peter. Dordrecht: Kluwer 1991. pp.
On the discontinuity of Wittgenstein's philosophy. In Peter Geach: philosophical encounters. Edited by Lewis Harry. Dordrecht: Kluwer 1991. pp. 77-81Reprinted in: Logic and metaphysics (1999) - pp. 13-17.
"A question of logic in the philosophy of religion," Bulletin of the Section of Logic 22: 33-36 (1993).
On the synthetic a priori. In Philosophical logic in Poland. Edited by Wolenski Jan. Dordrecht: Kluwer 1994. pp. 327-336
Logic and metaphysics. Studies in Wittgenstein's ontology of facts. Warsaw: Polskie Towarzystwo Semiotyczne 1999.Contents: Preface 11; Discontinuity of Wittgenstein's philosophy 13; 1. Elementary situations as a lattice of finite length 19; Elementary situations as a semilattice 73; 3. Independence 127; 4. Elementary situations generalized 137; 5. Auxiliary studies 193; 5.1 The Logical Atomisms of Russell and Wittgenstein 193; 5.2 A parallelism between Wittgenstein and Aristotle 198; 5.3 Frege's semantics 207; 5.4. The notion of fact as a modal operator 218; 5.5 "Tractatus" 5.541 - 5.542 224; 5.6 History of the concept of a Situation 229; 6. Offshoots 243 6.1 Languages and codes 243; 6.2 Logic and hermeneutics 254; 6.3 Kotarbinski's Reism 265; 6.4 On Bayle's critique of theodicy 271; 6.5 Elzenberg's axiology 286; 6.6 Needs and values 293; 6.7 Suszko: a reminiscence 302; Supplements 307; Indices: Index of subjects 317; Index of names 326; Index of Tractatus references 329.
"Atoms in semantic frames," Logica Trianguli 4: 69-86 (2000)."Elaborating on Wittgenstein's ontology of facts, semantic frames are described axiomatically as based on the notion of an elementary situation being the verifier of a proposition. Conditions are investigated then for suchframes to be atomic, i.e. to have lattice-theoretic counterparts of his "Sachverhalte"."
"Extending atomistic frames," Logica Trianguli 5 (2001)."A "semantic frame" is bounded join-semilattice of elementary situations, with its maximal ideals to represent possible worlds and mapped into the complete sets of propositions determined by a given abstract logic (L, Cn). A frame is Humean if the elementary situations are separated by its possible worlds, and it is atomistic if the semilattice is so. One frame is the extension of another if the latter is an {0,1}-subsemilattice of the former satisfying certain conditions discussed."
Tractatus 5.541 - 5.542. In Satz un Sachverhalt. Edited by Neumaier Otto. Sankt Augustin: Academia Verlag 2001. pp. 185-190"In Wittgenstein's "Tractatus", thesis 5 is the Principle of Extensionality: all propositions are truth-functions of their clauses. This, however, has been often thrown into doubt. There are - it is said - compound propositions whose truth-value does not depend on that of their clauses. The usual example given are the so-called intensional contexts, like "John thinks that p", or "John says that p". And indeed, the truth-value of "p" is patently immaterial here to that of the whole proposition which it is part of.Wittgenstein's retort are the following much discussed theses, adduced here in a translation of our own:5.54 In the general propositional form, propositions occur in one another only as bases of truth-operations.5.541 At first sight it seems that a proposition might occur in another also in a different way.Particularly in certain propositional forms of psychology, like "A believes that p is the case", "A thinks p", etc.For taken superficially, proposition p seems here to stand to the object A in some sort of relation.(And in modem epistemology - Russell, Moore, etc. - these have actually been construed that way.)5.542 However, "A believes that p", "A thinks p", "A says p" are clearly of the form " 'p' says p "; and this is not correlating a fact with an object, but a correlation of facts by correlating their objects.The objection is met here in two steps. Firstly, it is pointed out that a proposition of the form "John says that p" is actually of the form "'p' says that p". The idea is this: the proposition "John says that Jill has a cat" means: John produces the sentence "Jill has a cat", the latter saying by itself that Jill has a cat. In such a way propositions get independent of the persons producing them, and communicate some objective content. It is surely not by John's looks that we come to know about Jill's cat, but merely by his words. Whom they stem from, is irrelevant.In his second step Wittgenstein follows Frege's interpretation of indirect speech, but with modifications. He points out that the formula " 'p' says that p " is equivalent to some compound proposition in which neither the proposition "p" as a syntactic unit, nor anything equivalent to it, does occur although there occur all the logically relevant constituents of "p" separately.(...)The distinction between abstract and concrete states of affairs is not drawn explicitly in the "Tractatus". But it fits well thesis 5.156, if we expand that thesis by a few words of comment, added here in brackets:5.156(d) A proposition may well be en incomplete image of a particular (concrete) situation, but it is always the complete image (of an abstract one).The circumstance that in 5.156 not "states of affairs", but "situations" are mentioned, is of no consequence in our context. We assume that states of affairs are just atomic situations, and so the distinction between "concrete" and "abstract" applies to both."
"Extending atomistic frames: part II," Logica Trianguli 6: 69-88 (2003)."The paper concludes an earlier one (Logica Trianguli, 5) on extensions of atomistic semantic frames. Three kinds of extension are considered: the adjunctive, the conjunctive, and the disjunctive one. Some theorems are proved on extending "Humean" frames, i.e. such that the elementary situations constituting their universa are separated by the maximally coherent sets of them ("realizations")."
"On a minimality condition," Bulletin of the Section of Logic 34: 227-228 (2005).
Alex BajanRAQport Inc.2004 North Monroe StreetArlington Virginia 22207Washington DC AreaUSATEL: 703-528-0114TEL2: 703-652-0993FAX: 202-318-4021sms/cell T-mobile: 703-485-6619EMAIL: office@raqport.comor alex@raqport.comWEB SITE: http://raqport.com
INTRODUCTION
"The theory presented below was developed in an effort to clarify the metaphysics of Wittgenstein's Tractatus. The result obtained, however, is not strictly the formal twin of his variant of Logical Atomism. but something more, general, of which the latter is lust a special case. One might call it an ontology of situations. Some basic ideas of that ontology stern from Stenius Wittgenstein's Tractatus, Oxford, 1968 and Suszko Ontology in the Tractatus of L. Wittgenstein - Notre Dame Journal of Formal Logic, 1968.
Let L be a classic propositional language. Propositions of L are supposed to have their semantic counterparts in the realm of possibility, or as Wittgenstein put it: in logical space. These counterparts are situations, and S is to be the totality of them. The situation described by a proposition a is S(a). With Meinong we call it the objective of a."
From: Boguslaw Wolniewicz - A formal ontology of situations - Studia Logica 41: 381-413 (1982). pp. 381-382.
"Different ontologies adopt different notions of existence as basic. Aristotle's paradigm of existence is given by the equivalence:
(A) to be = to be a substance.
On the other hand, the paradigm of existence adopted in Wittgenstein's Tractatus is given by the parallel equivalence:
(W) to be = to be a fact.
Now, an Aristotelian substance is the denotation of an individual name, whereas a Wittgensteinian fact is the denotation of a true proposition. It seems therefore that the notions of existence derived from these two paradigms should be quite different, and one might readily expect that the metaphysical systems erected upon them will display wide structural discrepancies.
It turns out, however, that in spite of this basic difference there runs between these two systems a deep and striking parallelism. This parallelism is so close indeed that it makes possible the construction of a vocabulary which would transform characteristic propositions of Wittgenstein's ontology into Aristotelian ones, and conversely. To show in some detail the workings of that transformation will be the subject of this paper.
The vocabulary mentioned is based on the following four fundamental correlations:
Aristotle
1) primary substances (substantiae primae)
2) prime matter (materia prima)
3) form (forma)
4) self-subsistence of primary substances (esse per se)
Wittgenstein
1) atomic facts
2) objects
3) confiugration
4) independence of atomic facts
Aristotle's ontology is an ontology of substances, Wittgenstein's ontology is an ontology of facts. But concerning the respective items of each of the pairs (1)-(4) both ontologies lay down conditions which in view of our vocabulary appear to be identical. To show this let us confront, to begin with, the items of pair (1): substances and facts.
(The interpretation of Aristotle adopted in this paper is the standard one, to be found in any competent textbook of the history of philosophy. Therefore, with but one exception, no references to Aristotle's works will be given here.)Relatively to the system involved substances and facts are of the same ontological status. Aristotle's world is the totality of substances (summa rerum), Wittgenstein's world is the totality of facts (die Gesamtheit der Tatsachen). For Aristotle whatever exists in the basic sense of the word is a primary substance, for Wittgenstein - an atomic fact. Moreover, both ontologies are MODAL ones, allowing for different modes of being (modi essendi); and both take as basic the notion of `contingent being' (esse contingens), opposed to necessary being on the one hand, and to the possibility of being on the other. Both substances and facts are entities which actually exist, but might have not existed. The equality of ontological status between substances and facts is corroborated by the circumstance that both are PARTICULARS, there being - as the saying goes - no multiplicity of entities which FALL UNDER them.
Substances and facts stand also in the same relation to the ontological categories of pairs (2) and (3). Both are always COMPOUND entities, a substance consisting of matter and form, and a fact consisting of objects and the way of their configuration. But in neither of the two systems is this compoundness to be understood literally as composition of physically separable parts or pieces. The compoundness (compositio) of a substance consists in its being formed stuff (materia informata), and the compoundness of a fact in its being a configuration of objects.
In view of correlation (4) we have also an equality of relation which a substance bears to other substances, and a fact to other facts. Self-subsistence is the characteristic attribute of primary substances: substantia prima = ens per se. If we take this to mean that each substance exists independently of the existence or non-existence of any other substance we get immediately the exact counterpart of Wittgenstein's principle of logical atomism stating the mutual independence of atomic facts. It should be noted that thus understood the attribute of self-subsistence or independence is a relative one, belonging to a substance - or to a fact - only in virtue of its relation to other substances - or facts.
From a Wittgensteinian point of view Aristotle's substances are not things, but hypostases of facts, and thus their names are not logically proper names, but name-like equivalents of propositions. (By that term we mean roughly either a noun clause of the form `that p', or any symbol which might be regarded as a definitional abbreviation of such clause.) Surely, from the Aristotelian point of view it might be easily retorted here that just the opposite is the case: substances are not `reified' facts, but on the contrary - facts are 'dereified' substances. Without passing judgement on these mutual objections let us note in passing that their symmetric character seems to be itself an additional manifestation of the parallelism discussed."
From: Boguslaw Wolniewicz - A parallelism between Wittgensteinian and Aristotelian ontologies. In Boston studies in the philosophy of science. Vol. IV. Edited by Cohen Robert S. and Wartofsky Marx W. Dordrecht: Reidel Publishing Company 1969. pp. 208-210 (notes omitted).
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS (Works in Polish are not enclosed)
In 1970 Boguslaw Wolniewicz published a Polish translation of Ludwig Wittgenstein Tractatus logico-philosophicus.
A difference between Russell's and Wittgenstein's logical atomism. In Akten des XIV. Internationalen Kongresses für Philosophie. Wien, 2. - 9. September 1968 - Vol. II. Wien: Herder 1968. pp. 263-267Reprinted in: Logic and metaphysics (1999) - pp.193-197
"A note on Black's 'Companion'," Mind 78: 141 (1969).Reprinted in: Logic and metaphysics (1999) - p. 229."It is a mistake to suppose that in Wittgenstein's "Tractatus" the meaning of Urbild has any connexion with that of picture. "
A parallelism between Wittgensteinian and Aristotelian ontologies. In Boston studies in the philosophy of science. Vol. IV. Edited by Cohen Robert S. and Wartofsky Marx W. Dordrecht: Reidel Publishing Company 1969. pp. 208-217Proceedings of the Boston Colloquium for the philosophy of science 1966/1968.Reprinted in: Logic and metaphysics (1999) - pp.198-207
"Four notion of independence," Theoria 36: 161-164 (1970).Reprinted in: Logic and metaphysics (1999) - pp.127-130.WFour (binary) relations of independence I(p,q) between propositions are distinguished: the Wittgensteinian I sub-w, the statistical I sub-s, the modal I sub-m, and the deductive I sub-d. The validity of the following theorem is argued for: I sub-w(p,q) implies I sub-s(p,q) implies I sub-m(p,q) implies Isub-d(p,q). "
Wittgensteinian foundations of non-Fregean logic. In Contemporary East European philosophy. Vol. 3. Edited by D'Angelo Edward, DeGrood David, and Riepe Dale. Bridgeport: Spartacus Books 1971. pp. 231-243
"The notion of fact as a modal operator," Teorema: 59-66 (1972).Reprinted in: Logic and metaphysics (1999) - pp. 218-224"The notion of fact /fp = "it is a fact that p"/ is characterized axiomatically, and the ensuing modal systems shown to be equivalent to tT, S4 and S5 respectively."
Zur Semantik des Satzkalküls: Frege und Wittgenstein. In Der Mensch - Subjekt und Objekt (Festchrift für Adam Schaff). Edited by Borbé Tasso. Wien: Europaverl. 1973. pp.
Sachlage und Elementarsätz. In Wittgenstein and his impact on contemporary thought. Proceedings of the Second International Wittgenstein Symposium, 29th August to 4th September 1977, Kirchberg/Wechsel (Austria). Edited by Leinfellner Elisabeth. Wien: Hölder-Pichler-Tempsky 1977. pp. 174-176
"Objectives of propositions," Bulletin of the Section of Logic 7: 143-147 (1978)."The paper sketches out a semantics for propositions based upon the Wittgensteinian notion of a possible situation. The objective of a proposition is defined as the smallest situation verifying it. Two propositions are assumed to have the same objective iff they are strictly equivalent. Formulas are given which determine the objectives of conjunction and disjunction as functions of the objectives of their components. finally a link with possible-world semantics is established."
"Situations as the reference of propositions," Dialectics and Humanism 5: 171-182 (1978)."The reference of propositions is determined for a class of languages to be called the "Wittgensteinian" ones. A meaningful proposition presents a possible situation. Every consistent conjunction of elementary propositions presents an elementary situation. The smallest elementary situations are the "Sachverhalte"; the greatest are possible worlds. The situation presented by a proposition is to be distinguished from that verifying it, but the greatest situation presented is identical with the smallest verifying. The reference of compound propositions is then determined as a function of their components."
"Les situations comme corrélats semantiques des enoncés," Studia Filozoficzne 2: 27-41 (1978).
Wittgenstein und der Positivismus. In Wittgenstein, the Vienna circle and critical rationalism. Proceedings of the third International Wittgenstein Symposium, 13th to 19th August 1978, Kirchberg am Wechsel (Austria). Edited by Bergehel Hal, Hübner Adolf, and Eckehart Köhler. Wien: Hölder-Pichler-Tempsky 1978. pp. 75-77
"Some formal properties of objectives," Bulletin of the Section of Logic 8: 16-20 (1979)."The objectives of propositions as defined in an earlier paper are shown here to form a distributive lattice."
A Wittgensteinian semantics for propositions. In Intention and intentionality. Essay in honour of G. E. M. Anscombe. Edited by Diamond Cora and Teichman Jenny. Ithaca: Cornell University Press 1979. pp. 165-178"More than once Professor Anscombe has expressed doubt concerning the semantic efficacy of the idea of an 'elementary proposition' as conceived in the Tractatus. Wittgenstein himself eventually discarded it, together with the whole philosophy of language of which it had been an essential part. None the less the idea is still with us, and it seems to cover theoretical potentialities yet to be explored. This paper is a tentative move in that direction.According to Professor Anscombe, (*) Wittgenstein's 'elementary propositions' may be characterized by the following five theses: (1) They are a class of mutually independent propositions.(2) They are essentially positive.(2) They are such that for each of them there are no two ways of being true or false, but only one.(4) They are such that there is in them no distinction between an internal and an external negation.(5) They are concatenations of names, which are absolutely simple signs.We shall not investigate whether this is an adequate axiomatic for the notion under consideration. We suppose it is. In any case it is possible to modify it in one way or another, and for the resulting notion still to preserve a family resemblance with the original idea. One such modification is sketched out below."
"On the lattice of elementary situations," Bulletin of the Section of Logic 9: 115-121 (1980).
"On the verifiers of disjunction," Bulletin of the Section of Logic 9: 57-59 (1980).
"The Boolean algebra of objectives," Bulletin of the Section of Logic 10: 17-23 (1981)."This concludes a series of papers constructing a semantics for propositional languages based on the notion of a possible "situation". Objectives of propositions are the situations described by them. The set of objectives is defined and shown to be a boolean algebra isomorphic to that formed by sets of possible worlds."
"A closure system for elementary situations," Bulletin of the Section of Logic 11: 134-139 (1982).
"On logical space," Bulletin of the Section of Logic 11: 84-88 (1982).
"Ludwig Fleck and Polish philosophy," Dialectics and Humanism 9: 25-28 (1982).
"A formal ontology of situations," Studia Logica 41: 381-413 (1982)."A generalized Wittgensteinian semantics for propositional languages is presented, based on a lattice of elementary situations. Of these, maximal ones are possible worlds, constituting a logical space; minimal ones are logical atoms, partitioned into its dimensions. A verifier of a proposition is an elementary situation such that if real it makes true. The reference (or objective) of a proposition is a situation, which is the set of all its minimal verifiers. (Maximal ones constitute its locus.) Situations are shown to form a Boolean algebra, and the Boolean set algebra of loci is its representation. Wittgenstein's is a special case, admitting binary dimensions only."Contents:0. Preliminaries; 1. Elementary Situations1.1.The Axioms; 1.2.Some Consequences; 1.3. W-Independence; 1.4.States of Affairs;2. Sets of Elementary Situations2.1.The Semigroup of SE"-Sets; 2.2.The Lattice of Minimal SE"-Sets; 2.3.Q-Spaces and V-Sets; 2.4.V-Equivalence and Q-Equivalence; 2.4.V-Classes and V-Sets;3. Objectives of Propositions3.1. Verifiers of Propositions; 3.2. Verifying and Forcing; 3.3. Situations and Logical Loci; 3.4. Loci and Objectives of Compound Propositions 3.5. The Boolean Algebra of Situations;4. References
"Truth arguments and independence," Bulletin of the Section of Logic 12: 21-28 (1983).
"Logical space and metaphysical systems," Studia Logica 42: 269-284 (1983)."The paper applies the theory presented in "A formal ontology of situations" (Studia Logica, vol. 41 (1982), no. 4) to obtain a typology of metaphysical systems by interpreting them as different ontologies of situations.Four are treated in some detail: Hume's diachronic atomism, Laplacean determinism, Hume's synchronic atomism, and Wittgenstein's logical atomism. Moreover, the relation of that theory to the "situation semantics" of Perry and Barwise is discussed."
"An algebra of subsets for join-semilatttices with unit," Bulletin of the Section of Logic 13: 21-24 (1984).
"A topology for logical space," Bulletin of the Section of Logic 13: 255-259 (1984).
"Suszko: a reminiscence," Studia Logica 43: 317-321 (1984).Reprinted in: Logic and metaphysics (1999) - pp.302-306
"Die Grundwerte einer wissenschaftlichen Weltauffassaung," Conceptus 19: 3-8 (1985)."The scientific world-view is one of the fundamentals of our culture. It can be characterized in part by its specific system of values. A world-view is regarded as a scientific one if "truth" is one of its primary values, that is, as a value which is not a means, but an end in itself. Truth is served in particular by the two instrumental values of conceptual clarity and openness to critique. Their standing is (at present) low, for two reasons. (1) Unclear thinking not only promotes social idols; its consequences are also often difficult to see clearly and immediately. (2) In any case truth is of no interest (in a biological sense) to human beings; therefore, critique can at best be a socially tolerated activity. On the other hand, truth is not only a value, but also a force which in the long run cannot be held back; this fact gives some hope to adherents of the scientific world-view. "
"Discreteness of logical space," Bulletin of the Section of Logic 15: 132-136 (1986).
"Entailments and independence in join-semilattices," Bulletin of the Section of Logic 18: 2-5 (1989)."The paper generalizes Wittgenstein's notion of independence. in a join-semilattice of elementary situations the atoms are the Sachverhalte, and maximal ideals are possible worlds. A subset of that semilattice is independent iff it is free of "ontic ties". This is shown to be equivalent to independence in von Neumann's sense."
"On atomic join-semilattices," Bulletin of the Section of Logic 18: 105-111 (1989).Reprinted in: Logic and metaphysics (1999) - pp. 307-312.
The essence of Logical Atomism: Hume and Wittgenstein. In Wittgenstein. Eine Neubewertung. Akten 14. Internationale Wittgenstein-Symposium. Vol. 1. Wien: Hölder-Pichler-Tempsky 1990. pp. 106-111
"A question about join-semilattices," Bulletin of the Section of Logic: 108 (1990).
Concerning reism in Kotarbinski. In Kotarbinski: logic. semantics and ontology. Edited by Wolenski Jan. Dordrecht: Kluwer 1990. pp. 199-204Reprinted in: Logic and metaphysics (1999) - pp.265-271
Elzenberg's logic of values. In Logic counts. Edited by Zarnecka-Bialy Ewa. Dordrecht: Kluwe 1990. pp. 63-70Reprinted in: Logic and metaphysics (1999) - pp. 286-292 (with the title: Elzenberg's axiology""1. Values are what our value-Judgements refer to, and the passing of Judgements is one of our vital activities, like sleeping and breathing. We constantly appraise things as good or bad, pretty or ugly, as noble or base, well-made or misshapen. No wonder that both the act of appraisal and that which it refers to - i.e. the real or spurious values - have been always the source of philosophical reflexion. In systematic form such reflexion is what we call axiology.In Polish philosophy it was Henryk Elzenberg (1887-1967) who reflected upon matters of axiology most deeply and incisively.(...)3. Leibniz had said somewhere: "There are two mazes in which the human mind is most likely to get lost: one is the concept of continuity, the other is that of liberty". This admits of generalization: all concepts are mazes, viz mazes of logical relations between the propositions that involve them.One such maze is the concept of 'value'. Possibly, it is even the same as one of the two mentioned by Leibniz, only entered - so to say - by another door. For it would be in full accord with Elzenberg's position - and with that of Kant too - to adopt the following characteristic: values are what controls the actions of free agents. Thus the concepts of value and of liberty should constitute one conceptual maze, or - which comes to the same - two mazes communicating with each other.To get a survey of such logical maze the first thing is to fix the ontological category of the concept in question. Thus, in our case, we ask what kind of entities are those 'values' supposed to be. (Ontological categories are the most general classes of entities, the summa genera A term even more general has to cover literally everything: like 'entity' or 'something'. For everything is an entity, just as everything is a something.)Different ontologies admit different sets of categories. The categories most frequently referred to are those of 'objects', 'properties', and 'relations'; the more exotic ones are those of an 'event', a 'set', a 'function', or a 'situation'. One point, however, is of paramount importance: the categories admitted In one ontology have to be mutually disjoint". p. 63; 66.
"A sequel to Hawranek/Zygmunt," Bulletin of the Section of Logic 20: 143-144 (1991).
Needs and value. In Logic and ethics. Edited by Geach Peter. Dordrecht: Kluwer 1991. pp.
On the discontinuity of Wittgenstein's philosophy. In Peter Geach: philosophical encounters. Edited by Lewis Harry. Dordrecht: Kluwer 1991. pp. 77-81Reprinted in: Logic and metaphysics (1999) - pp. 13-17.
"A question of logic in the philosophy of religion," Bulletin of the Section of Logic 22: 33-36 (1993).
On the synthetic a priori. In Philosophical logic in Poland. Edited by Wolenski Jan. Dordrecht: Kluwer 1994. pp. 327-336
Logic and metaphysics. Studies in Wittgenstein's ontology of facts. Warsaw: Polskie Towarzystwo Semiotyczne 1999.Contents: Preface 11; Discontinuity of Wittgenstein's philosophy 13; 1. Elementary situations as a lattice of finite length 19; Elementary situations as a semilattice 73; 3. Independence 127; 4. Elementary situations generalized 137; 5. Auxiliary studies 193; 5.1 The Logical Atomisms of Russell and Wittgenstein 193; 5.2 A parallelism between Wittgenstein and Aristotle 198; 5.3 Frege's semantics 207; 5.4. The notion of fact as a modal operator 218; 5.5 "Tractatus" 5.541 - 5.542 224; 5.6 History of the concept of a Situation 229; 6. Offshoots 243 6.1 Languages and codes 243; 6.2 Logic and hermeneutics 254; 6.3 Kotarbinski's Reism 265; 6.4 On Bayle's critique of theodicy 271; 6.5 Elzenberg's axiology 286; 6.6 Needs and values 293; 6.7 Suszko: a reminiscence 302; Supplements 307; Indices: Index of subjects 317; Index of names 326; Index of Tractatus references 329.
"Atoms in semantic frames," Logica Trianguli 4: 69-86 (2000)."Elaborating on Wittgenstein's ontology of facts, semantic frames are described axiomatically as based on the notion of an elementary situation being the verifier of a proposition. Conditions are investigated then for suchframes to be atomic, i.e. to have lattice-theoretic counterparts of his "Sachverhalte"."
"Extending atomistic frames," Logica Trianguli 5 (2001)."A "semantic frame" is bounded join-semilattice of elementary situations, with its maximal ideals to represent possible worlds and mapped into the complete sets of propositions determined by a given abstract logic (L, Cn). A frame is Humean if the elementary situations are separated by its possible worlds, and it is atomistic if the semilattice is so. One frame is the extension of another if the latter is an {0,1}-subsemilattice of the former satisfying certain conditions discussed."
Tractatus 5.541 - 5.542. In Satz un Sachverhalt. Edited by Neumaier Otto. Sankt Augustin: Academia Verlag 2001. pp. 185-190"In Wittgenstein's "Tractatus", thesis 5 is the Principle of Extensionality: all propositions are truth-functions of their clauses. This, however, has been often thrown into doubt. There are - it is said - compound propositions whose truth-value does not depend on that of their clauses. The usual example given are the so-called intensional contexts, like "John thinks that p", or "John says that p". And indeed, the truth-value of "p" is patently immaterial here to that of the whole proposition which it is part of.Wittgenstein's retort are the following much discussed theses, adduced here in a translation of our own:5.54 In the general propositional form, propositions occur in one another only as bases of truth-operations.5.541 At first sight it seems that a proposition might occur in another also in a different way.Particularly in certain propositional forms of psychology, like "A believes that p is the case", "A thinks p", etc.For taken superficially, proposition p seems here to stand to the object A in some sort of relation.(And in modem epistemology - Russell, Moore, etc. - these have actually been construed that way.)5.542 However, "A believes that p", "A thinks p", "A says p" are clearly of the form " 'p' says p "; and this is not correlating a fact with an object, but a correlation of facts by correlating their objects.The objection is met here in two steps. Firstly, it is pointed out that a proposition of the form "John says that p" is actually of the form "'p' says that p". The idea is this: the proposition "John says that Jill has a cat" means: John produces the sentence "Jill has a cat", the latter saying by itself that Jill has a cat. In such a way propositions get independent of the persons producing them, and communicate some objective content. It is surely not by John's looks that we come to know about Jill's cat, but merely by his words. Whom they stem from, is irrelevant.In his second step Wittgenstein follows Frege's interpretation of indirect speech, but with modifications. He points out that the formula " 'p' says that p " is equivalent to some compound proposition in which neither the proposition "p" as a syntactic unit, nor anything equivalent to it, does occur although there occur all the logically relevant constituents of "p" separately.(...)The distinction between abstract and concrete states of affairs is not drawn explicitly in the "Tractatus". But it fits well thesis 5.156, if we expand that thesis by a few words of comment, added here in brackets:5.156(d) A proposition may well be en incomplete image of a particular (concrete) situation, but it is always the complete image (of an abstract one).The circumstance that in 5.156 not "states of affairs", but "situations" are mentioned, is of no consequence in our context. We assume that states of affairs are just atomic situations, and so the distinction between "concrete" and "abstract" applies to both."
"Extending atomistic frames: part II," Logica Trianguli 6: 69-88 (2003)."The paper concludes an earlier one (Logica Trianguli, 5) on extensions of atomistic semantic frames. Three kinds of extension are considered: the adjunctive, the conjunctive, and the disjunctive one. Some theorems are proved on extending "Humean" frames, i.e. such that the elementary situations constituting their universa are separated by the maximally coherent sets of them ("realizations")."
"On a minimality condition," Bulletin of the Section of Logic 34: 227-228 (2005).
Alex BajanRAQport Inc.2004 North Monroe StreetArlington Virginia 22207Washington DC AreaUSATEL: 703-528-0114TEL2: 703-652-0993FAX: 202-318-4021sms/cell T-mobile: 703-485-6619EMAIL: office@raqport.comor alex@raqport.comWEB SITE: http://raqport.com
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Video of UK Jewish MP: Israel acting like Nazis in Gaza Video of UK Jewish MP: Israel acting like Nazis in Gaza
Video of UK Jewish MP: Israel acting like Nazis in Gaza Video of UK Jewish MP: Israel acting like Nazis in Gaza
Video of UK Jewish MP: Israel acting like Nazis in Gaza Video of UK Jewish MP: Israel acting like Nazis in Gaza
from Rabble, January 20, 2009.
Sir Gerald Kaufman, the veteran Labour MP, yesterday compared the actions of Israeli troops in Gaza to the Nazis who forced his family to flee Poland.
During a Commons debate on the fighting in Gaza, he urged the government to impose an arms embargo on Israel.
Sir Gerald, who was brought up as an orthodox Jew and Zionist, said: "My grandmother was ill in bed when the Nazis came to her home town a German soldier shot her dead in her bed."
"My grandmother did not die to provide cover for Israeli soldiers murdering Palestinian grandmothers in Gaza. The present Israeli government ruthlessly and cynically exploits the continuing guilt from gentiles over the slaughter of Jews in the Holocaust as justification for their murder of Palestinians."
He said the claim that many of the Palestinian victims were militants "was the reply of the Nazi" and added: "I suppose the Jews fighting for their lives in the Warsaw ghetto could have been dismissed as militants."
He accused the Israeli government of seeking "conquest" and added: "They are not simply war criminals, they are fools."http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMGuYjt6CP8
Video of UK Jewish MP: Israel acting like Nazis in Gaza Video of UK Jewish MP: Israel acting like Nazis in Gaza
from Rabble, January 20, 2009.
Sir Gerald Kaufman, the veteran Labour MP, yesterday compared the actions of Israeli troops in Gaza to the Nazis who forced his family to flee Poland.
During a Commons debate on the fighting in Gaza, he urged the government to impose an arms embargo on Israel.
Sir Gerald, who was brought up as an orthodox Jew and Zionist, said: "My grandmother was ill in bed when the Nazis came to her home town a German soldier shot her dead in her bed."
"My grandmother did not die to provide cover for Israeli soldiers murdering Palestinian grandmothers in Gaza. The present Israeli government ruthlessly and cynically exploits the continuing guilt from gentiles over the slaughter of Jews in the Holocaust as justification for their murder of Palestinians."
He said the claim that many of the Palestinian victims were militants "was the reply of the Nazi" and added: "I suppose the Jews fighting for their lives in the Warsaw ghetto could have been dismissed as militants."
He accused the Israeli government of seeking "conquest" and added: "They are not simply war criminals, they are fools."http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMGuYjt6CP8
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Lech Kaczyński - President of the Republic of Poland help to Georgia.
Lech Kaczyński - President of the Republic of Poland help to Georgia.
Tribute to Georgians : " For your freedom and ours "
Tribute to Georgians in Polish Service
Lech Kaczyński - President of the Republic of Poland
Born in Warsaw in 1949. Studied law at Warsaw University. In 1971, he moved to Sopot to work as a scholar at the University of Gdańsk. In 1980 he took a doctor’s degree in labor law, and in 1990 he was awarded a post-doctoral degree.
In 1977, he began to work for the Interventions Office of the Worker Defense Committee. A year later be became involved in the activity of Independent Trade Unions. In August 1980 he was nominated as an adviser of the Gdańsk Inter-plant Strike Committee. He was also a delegate to the First National Congress of the „Solidarność” Trade Union. Interned during the martial law. When released from internment, he returned to trade union activities. He was a member of the underground Solidarity authorities.
In December 1988, became a member of the Civic Committee with Lech Wałęsa. He took part in the Round Table Talks in the team focused on trade union pluralism. In 1990, he was nominated as the Union’s first deputy chairman involved in the running of the Solidarity Trade Union. He was elected senator in the June 1989 election, and two years later a parliamentary deputy representing the Center Civic Alliance Party. In 1991, he was appointed as the head of the National Security Office at the President’s Chancellery. A year later, in1992, he was nominated as the president of the Supreme Chamber of Control (NIK) and he continued to hold that office until 1995.
In June 2000, Lech Kaczyński was nominated as the Minister of Justice by Prime Minister Jerzy Buzek. He soon became the most popular member of the cabinet.
In April 2001, he was elected as the head the National Committee of the Law and Justice Party (PiS) to be elected the party’s president in spring 2001. After the September 2001 parliamentary election he returned to the parliament as the party’s deputy. In autumn 2002 he was elected Warsaw’s mayor with a big advantage over his opponents. He started his term in office by declaring a war against corruption – the so-called „Warsaw connections” - and by restoring law and order. In March 2005 he officially declared his intention to run as a presidential candidate.
Elected President of the Republic of Poland on October 23, he assumed the office on December 23, 2005 by taking an oath before the National Assembly.
Lech Kaczyński’s wife, Maria, is an economist. His daughter Marta graduated from the Department of Law at Gdańsk University. She is married to Piotr, and in 2003 she gave birth to her daughter, Ewa.
Mr. and Mrs. Kaczyński are fond of animals. They have two dogs and two cats.
Vilayat Guliyev: “Cooperation with Poland opens up opportunities for Azerbaijan to establish closer partnership with such international organizations as UN, EU and NATO”
Maria Kaczyńska, wife of the President of the Republic of Poland, comes from a patriotic Polish family from the Vilnius region in Lithuania. Her mother, Lidia Mackiewicz, was a teacher; her father, Czesław Mackiewicz, was a specialist in forestry. The family settled within the present Polish borders after the Second World War. During the war her father was taking part in guerrilla warfare against the German forces occupying the Vilnius region; one of his brothers fought at Monte Cassino in Italy as a soldier of the Polish Corps of General Władysław Anders. The second brother, an officer of the Polish Army, was killed at Katyń Forest.
Maria Kaczyńska attended primary and secondary schools in Rabka Zdrój in southern Poland. She graduated from the Department of Maritime Transport of the Higher School of Economics (now the University of Gdańsk) in Sopot on the Baltic coast. After receiving her diploma she worked at the Maritime Institute in Gdańsk, where she conducted research into the developmental perspectives of maritime freight markets in the Far East.
In 1978 she married Lech Kaczyński, at that time an assistant research fellow at the Faculty of Law of Gdańsk University, an activist of the democratic anti-Communist opposition in Poland. In June 1980 she gave birth to her daughter, Marta, and shortly afterwards, in August 1980, widespread labour strikes broke out in Gdańsk and other Polish cities; the "Solidarity" trade union movement was established. When the Communist authorities cracked down on "Solidarity" and introduced martial law in Poland in 1981, her husband was interned for almost a year; after his release he was active in the underground "Solidarity" movement. At that time Maria Kaczyńska was on maternity leave; finally she decided not to return to work at the Maritime Institute. She engaged in tutoring and worked as a freelance translator from English and French; at the same time she was bringing up her daughter and helping her husband in his fight against the Communist regime in Poland.
After the fall of the Communist regime, during the period of political transformation of the country, when her husband held several important public offices, Maria Kaczyńska always supported charitable and cultural initiatives, especially when Lech Kaczyński was Mayor of Warsaw in 2002-2005. When she became the First Lady of Poland in 2005, her public activities took on a new dimension. As First Lady she co-operates with Polish and foreign non-governmental organizations focusing on social, medical and humanitarian issues. She participates in charity projects, using her position to help impoverished and handicapped persons, notably children with health problems and disabilities. She supports initiatives enriching Polish cultural life, acting in concert with artistic and intellectual circles. She is committed to promote her country abroad and to strengthen the positive image of democratic Poland in the world. She sometimes acts as Special Envoy of the President, representing her husband at official functions in various countries. She is involved in the international promotion of Polish cultural heritage.
Maria Kaczyńska takes an interest in literature and art; she loves music, ballet and the theatre. She likes travelling, which gives her an opportunity to gain an insight into the lives and traditions of other countries. She values both family life and social life. She enjoys spending her time with her three-year-old granddaughter Ewa. She speaks English and French and possesses some knowledge of Spanish and Russian.
The First Lady admits to having a strong personality. Her pleasant manner, cheerfulness and a fine sense of humour have won her a lot of friends; she is always open to new ideas. In matters of dress and personal adornments she prefers restrained, classical style.
Both the President and the First Lady love animals; they own two dogs and two cats.
PRESIDENTIAL PALACE
00-071 Warszawa, Krakowskie Przedmiescie 48/50
Tel. (+48) (022) 695-29-00
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[ 01 Aug 2008 16:12 ]
President of Poland will also participate in the 4th Energy Summit in Baku in November this year
Baku. Lachin Sultanova – APA. Azerbaijan’s ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary to Poland Vilayat Guliyev interviewed by APA
-Foreign Minister of Poland called Azerbaijan one of the ten priority countries. This is perhaps in terms of energy security of Poland. And what does cooperation with Poland promises Azerbaijan?
-Azerbaijan is in the focus of attention of the European Union with its important geostrategic position, rich natural resources, leading position in the region and dynamic development. It is undeniable that Poland is one of EU members, which take especially great interest in our country. It was underlined several times that Azerbaijan-Poland relations rose to the stage of strategic partnership both on the level of president and foreign minister and political-economic relations with Azerbaijan were priority for Poland. Of course, both energy security of Europe and Azerbaijan’s becoming an important transit country play important role here. It should also be mentioned that Azerbaijan, which already has broad financial opportunities, can implement important economic projects along with Poland and make investments in the country’s economy in the near future. In this respect it is possible to predict that interest of Poland and other countries of Eastern European bloc in Azerbaijan will increase gradually. Cooperation with Poland opens up opportunities for Azerbaijan to establish closer partnership with such international organizations as UN, EU and NATO. The support for the right position of our country and adoption of the statement condemning Armenia’s aggressive policy in the UN discussions on Nagorno Karabakh in March this year was possible thanks to the active position of such EU members as Poland, Romania and Baltic states. In May this year Poland and Sweden offered to simplify visa regime and strengthen the relations with such post-Soviet countries as Azerbaijan, Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia. Another important indicator is the expansion of Poland’s relations with GUAM. Polish President Lech Kaczyński’s statement during the bilateral meetings in Paris, within the framework of EU-Mediterranean countries summit supporting Azerbaijan’s position may be assessed as another answer to the question what Poland can do for our country. I think that there is enough unused potential both in political and economic spheres and the atmosphere of mutual confidence, sincere and business relations between the presidents of the two countries will raise Azerbaijan-Poland relations to a higher level.
-In the first half of 2008 Azerbaijan-Poland relations were very dynamic in terms of high-level mutual visits. Will this rate continue till the end of the year?
In February this year President Ilham Aliyev paid the second official visit to Poland within the past three years. The heads of states had productive talks, important documents were signed during the visit. In April-June Azerbaijan’s Ministers of Foreign Affairs, National Security and Interior Affairs visited Poland. Chairman of Polish Senate participated in the 90th jubilee of Azerbaijani Parliament, First Lady of Poland came to Baku to attend the international conference “The role of women in cross-cultural dialogue” in June. The third meeting of Azerbaijan-Poland intergovernmental economic commission is planned to take place in September-October in Warsaw. Polish president will also attend the 4th Energy Summit in Baku in November. You see both sides are interested in preserving tempo and dynamics of the relations.
-On what stage is the establishment of Sarmatiya-2 Company? Is it possible to say that the energy summit planned to be held in Baku in November will make contributions to this issue?
-As these issues are still on the stage of preparation, I would not like to make predictions that can surpass the developments and opinions of experts. Suffice it to say that after the 1st Energy Summit chaired by Azerbaijani President in Krakow in May 2007 the interest in the idea of delivering Caspian’s energy resources to Europe by alternative ways aroused and the European Union has taken interest in this project more seriously. The increase of the number of participants in the following summits is the display of this interest. During Ukrainian President’s visit to Baku Azerbaijan once more demonstrated that its position on the idea of new oil pipeline is unchangeable. Taking all this into account we can say that a number of important decisions will be made during Baku summit in November.
-Poland has held two national exhibitions in Baku up to now. How have these exhibitions influenced the bilateral economic relations?
-Undoubtedly, each exhibition is the important indicator of a country’s economic opportunities and potential. On the other hand, such exhibitions offer opportunities to the producers and exporters to establish closer and direct relations. In this respect, Polish exhibitions held in Baku have made influence on the economic cooperation and increase of trade turnover between the two countries. I regret that our consumers have not paid enough attention to Poland’s food industry meeting high ecological requirements or light industry with high-quality and relatively cheap products. Besides, Azerbaijan is more known in Poland as a country of oil and gas and this casts shadow on the opportunities of cooperation in other spheres. Transport-related problems also pose some obstacles in the intensive implementation of economic relations.
-Does Azerbaijan also plan to hold similar exhibitions demonstrating its economic opportunities in Poland?
The next meeting of Azerbaijan-Poland Intergovernmental Commission will be held in Warsaw in October-September of the current year. Within the framework of that event, Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Economic Development plans to demonstrate an exhibition reflecting the development of various spheres of the country’s economy over the last couple of years. Besides, Poland attaches great significance to the activity of this commission. Polish Deputy Prime Minister Pavlak has recently been appointed the chairman of the joint economic commission.
-What projects are implemented in the humanitarian field? Are you satisfied with the research and development works carried out in Polish archives in regard to Azerbaijan at the beginning of the twentieth century?
Considerable progresses have been made in this field since the Embassy was opened in Poland. Close relations have been established between Baku Slavic University and Warsaw and Poznan universities. Rector of Baku Slavic University, Professor Kamal Abdulla has twice been to Poland in this respect. The Polish delegation led by Rector of Warsaw University visited Baku in May, conducted meetings at Baku Slavic University and other higher institutions and discussed the ways of mutual cooperation. Azerbaijani language is taught at Warsaw University at present. Research and development works in Polish archives in regard to Azerbaijan at the beginning of the twentieth century are possible to be carried out individually. We also do our best to help our historians and philologists in this work within the bounds of possibility. For instance, our Embassy had considerable services in finding out Nasiman Yagublu’s monography devoted to Azerbaijan-Poland relations in twenties-thirties of the last century. We are also going to publish M. A. Rasulzadeh’s book “Azerbaijan in struggle for independence” translated into Polish in Warsaw in 1938. We will make every possible endeavor to continue this work henceforth.
-What historical points have been reflected in the book dedicated to Azerbaijan People’s Republic published by you?
My book entitled “Azerbaijan in Paris Peace Conference” have been published in Baku this year. In April, 1919, the Azerbaijani delegation led by the Parliament’s Chairman A. Topchubashov paid a visit to Paris and published a number of booklets and brochures in English and French for the purpose of closely introducing their state to the European community and representatives of political circles. I’ve translated one of those books from English and published. I’ve always interested in the history of our first republic and I continue my research and development works in Polish archives in my spare times.
Alex Lech Bajan
Polish American
RAQport Inc.
2004 North Monroe Street
Arlington Virginia 22207
Washington DC Area
USA
TEL: 703-528-0114
TEL2: 703-652-0993
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Tribute to Georgians : " For your freedom and ours "
Tribute to Georgians in Polish Service
Lech Kaczyński - President of the Republic of Poland
Born in Warsaw in 1949. Studied law at Warsaw University. In 1971, he moved to Sopot to work as a scholar at the University of Gdańsk. In 1980 he took a doctor’s degree in labor law, and in 1990 he was awarded a post-doctoral degree.
In 1977, he began to work for the Interventions Office of the Worker Defense Committee. A year later be became involved in the activity of Independent Trade Unions. In August 1980 he was nominated as an adviser of the Gdańsk Inter-plant Strike Committee. He was also a delegate to the First National Congress of the „Solidarność” Trade Union. Interned during the martial law. When released from internment, he returned to trade union activities. He was a member of the underground Solidarity authorities.
In December 1988, became a member of the Civic Committee with Lech Wałęsa. He took part in the Round Table Talks in the team focused on trade union pluralism. In 1990, he was nominated as the Union’s first deputy chairman involved in the running of the Solidarity Trade Union. He was elected senator in the June 1989 election, and two years later a parliamentary deputy representing the Center Civic Alliance Party. In 1991, he was appointed as the head of the National Security Office at the President’s Chancellery. A year later, in1992, he was nominated as the president of the Supreme Chamber of Control (NIK) and he continued to hold that office until 1995.
In June 2000, Lech Kaczyński was nominated as the Minister of Justice by Prime Minister Jerzy Buzek. He soon became the most popular member of the cabinet.
In April 2001, he was elected as the head the National Committee of the Law and Justice Party (PiS) to be elected the party’s president in spring 2001. After the September 2001 parliamentary election he returned to the parliament as the party’s deputy. In autumn 2002 he was elected Warsaw’s mayor with a big advantage over his opponents. He started his term in office by declaring a war against corruption – the so-called „Warsaw connections” - and by restoring law and order. In March 2005 he officially declared his intention to run as a presidential candidate.
Elected President of the Republic of Poland on October 23, he assumed the office on December 23, 2005 by taking an oath before the National Assembly.
Lech Kaczyński’s wife, Maria, is an economist. His daughter Marta graduated from the Department of Law at Gdańsk University. She is married to Piotr, and in 2003 she gave birth to her daughter, Ewa.
Mr. and Mrs. Kaczyński are fond of animals. They have two dogs and two cats.
Vilayat Guliyev: “Cooperation with Poland opens up opportunities for Azerbaijan to establish closer partnership with such international organizations as UN, EU and NATO”
Maria Kaczyńska, wife of the President of the Republic of Poland, comes from a patriotic Polish family from the Vilnius region in Lithuania. Her mother, Lidia Mackiewicz, was a teacher; her father, Czesław Mackiewicz, was a specialist in forestry. The family settled within the present Polish borders after the Second World War. During the war her father was taking part in guerrilla warfare against the German forces occupying the Vilnius region; one of his brothers fought at Monte Cassino in Italy as a soldier of the Polish Corps of General Władysław Anders. The second brother, an officer of the Polish Army, was killed at Katyń Forest.
Maria Kaczyńska attended primary and secondary schools in Rabka Zdrój in southern Poland. She graduated from the Department of Maritime Transport of the Higher School of Economics (now the University of Gdańsk) in Sopot on the Baltic coast. After receiving her diploma she worked at the Maritime Institute in Gdańsk, where she conducted research into the developmental perspectives of maritime freight markets in the Far East.
In 1978 she married Lech Kaczyński, at that time an assistant research fellow at the Faculty of Law of Gdańsk University, an activist of the democratic anti-Communist opposition in Poland. In June 1980 she gave birth to her daughter, Marta, and shortly afterwards, in August 1980, widespread labour strikes broke out in Gdańsk and other Polish cities; the "Solidarity" trade union movement was established. When the Communist authorities cracked down on "Solidarity" and introduced martial law in Poland in 1981, her husband was interned for almost a year; after his release he was active in the underground "Solidarity" movement. At that time Maria Kaczyńska was on maternity leave; finally she decided not to return to work at the Maritime Institute. She engaged in tutoring and worked as a freelance translator from English and French; at the same time she was bringing up her daughter and helping her husband in his fight against the Communist regime in Poland.
After the fall of the Communist regime, during the period of political transformation of the country, when her husband held several important public offices, Maria Kaczyńska always supported charitable and cultural initiatives, especially when Lech Kaczyński was Mayor of Warsaw in 2002-2005. When she became the First Lady of Poland in 2005, her public activities took on a new dimension. As First Lady she co-operates with Polish and foreign non-governmental organizations focusing on social, medical and humanitarian issues. She participates in charity projects, using her position to help impoverished and handicapped persons, notably children with health problems and disabilities. She supports initiatives enriching Polish cultural life, acting in concert with artistic and intellectual circles. She is committed to promote her country abroad and to strengthen the positive image of democratic Poland in the world. She sometimes acts as Special Envoy of the President, representing her husband at official functions in various countries. She is involved in the international promotion of Polish cultural heritage.
Maria Kaczyńska takes an interest in literature and art; she loves music, ballet and the theatre. She likes travelling, which gives her an opportunity to gain an insight into the lives and traditions of other countries. She values both family life and social life. She enjoys spending her time with her three-year-old granddaughter Ewa. She speaks English and French and possesses some knowledge of Spanish and Russian.
The First Lady admits to having a strong personality. Her pleasant manner, cheerfulness and a fine sense of humour have won her a lot of friends; she is always open to new ideas. In matters of dress and personal adornments she prefers restrained, classical style.
Both the President and the First Lady love animals; they own two dogs and two cats.
PRESIDENTIAL PALACE
00-071 Warszawa, Krakowskie Przedmiescie 48/50
Tel. (+48) (022) 695-29-00
CHANCELLERY OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF POLAND
00-902 Warszawa, ul.Wiejska 10
Switchboard (Operator) (+4822) 695-29-00
Press Office
(+4822) 695-12-40, (+4822) 695-12-41 , Fax 695-12-53 i 54
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[ 01 Aug 2008 16:12 ]
President of Poland will also participate in the 4th Energy Summit in Baku in November this year
Baku. Lachin Sultanova – APA. Azerbaijan’s ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary to Poland Vilayat Guliyev interviewed by APA
-Foreign Minister of Poland called Azerbaijan one of the ten priority countries. This is perhaps in terms of energy security of Poland. And what does cooperation with Poland promises Azerbaijan?
-Azerbaijan is in the focus of attention of the European Union with its important geostrategic position, rich natural resources, leading position in the region and dynamic development. It is undeniable that Poland is one of EU members, which take especially great interest in our country. It was underlined several times that Azerbaijan-Poland relations rose to the stage of strategic partnership both on the level of president and foreign minister and political-economic relations with Azerbaijan were priority for Poland. Of course, both energy security of Europe and Azerbaijan’s becoming an important transit country play important role here. It should also be mentioned that Azerbaijan, which already has broad financial opportunities, can implement important economic projects along with Poland and make investments in the country’s economy in the near future. In this respect it is possible to predict that interest of Poland and other countries of Eastern European bloc in Azerbaijan will increase gradually. Cooperation with Poland opens up opportunities for Azerbaijan to establish closer partnership with such international organizations as UN, EU and NATO. The support for the right position of our country and adoption of the statement condemning Armenia’s aggressive policy in the UN discussions on Nagorno Karabakh in March this year was possible thanks to the active position of such EU members as Poland, Romania and Baltic states. In May this year Poland and Sweden offered to simplify visa regime and strengthen the relations with such post-Soviet countries as Azerbaijan, Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia. Another important indicator is the expansion of Poland’s relations with GUAM. Polish President Lech Kaczyński’s statement during the bilateral meetings in Paris, within the framework of EU-Mediterranean countries summit supporting Azerbaijan’s position may be assessed as another answer to the question what Poland can do for our country. I think that there is enough unused potential both in political and economic spheres and the atmosphere of mutual confidence, sincere and business relations between the presidents of the two countries will raise Azerbaijan-Poland relations to a higher level.
-In the first half of 2008 Azerbaijan-Poland relations were very dynamic in terms of high-level mutual visits. Will this rate continue till the end of the year?
In February this year President Ilham Aliyev paid the second official visit to Poland within the past three years. The heads of states had productive talks, important documents were signed during the visit. In April-June Azerbaijan’s Ministers of Foreign Affairs, National Security and Interior Affairs visited Poland. Chairman of Polish Senate participated in the 90th jubilee of Azerbaijani Parliament, First Lady of Poland came to Baku to attend the international conference “The role of women in cross-cultural dialogue” in June. The third meeting of Azerbaijan-Poland intergovernmental economic commission is planned to take place in September-October in Warsaw. Polish president will also attend the 4th Energy Summit in Baku in November. You see both sides are interested in preserving tempo and dynamics of the relations.
-On what stage is the establishment of Sarmatiya-2 Company? Is it possible to say that the energy summit planned to be held in Baku in November will make contributions to this issue?
-As these issues are still on the stage of preparation, I would not like to make predictions that can surpass the developments and opinions of experts. Suffice it to say that after the 1st Energy Summit chaired by Azerbaijani President in Krakow in May 2007 the interest in the idea of delivering Caspian’s energy resources to Europe by alternative ways aroused and the European Union has taken interest in this project more seriously. The increase of the number of participants in the following summits is the display of this interest. During Ukrainian President’s visit to Baku Azerbaijan once more demonstrated that its position on the idea of new oil pipeline is unchangeable. Taking all this into account we can say that a number of important decisions will be made during Baku summit in November.
-Poland has held two national exhibitions in Baku up to now. How have these exhibitions influenced the bilateral economic relations?
-Undoubtedly, each exhibition is the important indicator of a country’s economic opportunities and potential. On the other hand, such exhibitions offer opportunities to the producers and exporters to establish closer and direct relations. In this respect, Polish exhibitions held in Baku have made influence on the economic cooperation and increase of trade turnover between the two countries. I regret that our consumers have not paid enough attention to Poland’s food industry meeting high ecological requirements or light industry with high-quality and relatively cheap products. Besides, Azerbaijan is more known in Poland as a country of oil and gas and this casts shadow on the opportunities of cooperation in other spheres. Transport-related problems also pose some obstacles in the intensive implementation of economic relations.
-Does Azerbaijan also plan to hold similar exhibitions demonstrating its economic opportunities in Poland?
The next meeting of Azerbaijan-Poland Intergovernmental Commission will be held in Warsaw in October-September of the current year. Within the framework of that event, Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Economic Development plans to demonstrate an exhibition reflecting the development of various spheres of the country’s economy over the last couple of years. Besides, Poland attaches great significance to the activity of this commission. Polish Deputy Prime Minister Pavlak has recently been appointed the chairman of the joint economic commission.
-What projects are implemented in the humanitarian field? Are you satisfied with the research and development works carried out in Polish archives in regard to Azerbaijan at the beginning of the twentieth century?
Considerable progresses have been made in this field since the Embassy was opened in Poland. Close relations have been established between Baku Slavic University and Warsaw and Poznan universities. Rector of Baku Slavic University, Professor Kamal Abdulla has twice been to Poland in this respect. The Polish delegation led by Rector of Warsaw University visited Baku in May, conducted meetings at Baku Slavic University and other higher institutions and discussed the ways of mutual cooperation. Azerbaijani language is taught at Warsaw University at present. Research and development works in Polish archives in regard to Azerbaijan at the beginning of the twentieth century are possible to be carried out individually. We also do our best to help our historians and philologists in this work within the bounds of possibility. For instance, our Embassy had considerable services in finding out Nasiman Yagublu’s monography devoted to Azerbaijan-Poland relations in twenties-thirties of the last century. We are also going to publish M. A. Rasulzadeh’s book “Azerbaijan in struggle for independence” translated into Polish in Warsaw in 1938. We will make every possible endeavor to continue this work henceforth.
-What historical points have been reflected in the book dedicated to Azerbaijan People’s Republic published by you?
My book entitled “Azerbaijan in Paris Peace Conference” have been published in Baku this year. In April, 1919, the Azerbaijani delegation led by the Parliament’s Chairman A. Topchubashov paid a visit to Paris and published a number of booklets and brochures in English and French for the purpose of closely introducing their state to the European community and representatives of political circles. I’ve translated one of those books from English and published. I’ve always interested in the history of our first republic and I continue my research and development works in Polish archives in my spare times.
Alex Lech Bajan
Polish American
RAQport Inc.
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Friday, August 15, 2008
Radio Maryja with community for over 5 million people in Poland and all over the world.
Radio Maryja with community for over 5 million people in Poland and all over the world.
Nasz Dziennik, 2007-09-16
A few questions politically incorrect...
1. Those who listen to Radio Maryja know that the radio station does not identify with any political party. People from various backgrounds, circles speak on the air, even those who belong to various political societies. Of course you will hear words of critique on the air; their target is not any particular political party and its structures but the morale of specific persons irrespective of their political attachments. This critique is delivered in the spirit of Gospel, that is not just a "sweet story about Jesus", who pats everyone on the head and agrees with everyone, but as an evaluation of human attitudes that Jesus himself conducted, very often very harshly, e.g. when he called King Herod "a fox", and the Pharisees - "grobami pobielanymi". Additionally, it's not Radio Maryja that identifies with a specific political party but it's the liberal media that tries to identify Radio Maryja with some political groups! It is worth noting that various media identified Radio Maryja with different political parties at different times, always simply to discredit the radio station by attaching its name to a chosen political party. This is why mass media attempts to convince the public of the Catholic station's supposed political outlook.
2. The "criticism" of Radio Maryja in the media usually comes down to labeling it as "xenophobic radio" or "voice of hatred". The truth is that the radio station sometimes airs harsh criticism of actions of some groups operating in Poland and outside; the Torun based station never calls for any hatred towards anybody, especially any nations! Additionally, those that speak or are quoted on the air are people from different countries, speaking different languages, who love the truth and are its advocates in the name of true and pure brotherhood and cooperation between the nations. There was a time when a well-known actor publicly declared his surprise when he heard that Radio Maryja is spreading hatred towards other nations. He stated he never heard any such things at Radio Maryja. Nothing less, nothing more. This only leaves a question: when will someone finally present proof to support the allegation that Radio Maryja calls for hatred towards other nations? Or maybe someones will have to face the truth and apologize for distributing slander against the Torun-based radio station?
3. One of the most serious, and at the same time the strangest allegations against Radio Maryja is that it is breaking the unity of Church. Meanwhile Radio Maryja's contribution to uniting worshippers in Poland and around the world is extremely valuable. Unity of Church is not a static value but a reality requiring constant development. Gospel and the word of God, propagating healthy teachings of the Church, participation in sacristy, prayer, caring for the underprivileged, and finally declaration of Christianity that is given not only by clergy but also by laics, are meant to build that unity. Is there any other Polish or international media that spreads Gospel, the Pope's teachings, lectures and speeches of the bishops, katechezy given based on the Catholic Church Katechizm, commentaries and biblical meditation daily? How much more can you contribute to the strengthening of the unity of Church?
4. In all this current medial noise it is often difficult to see the fact that those media that often take great care to promote the unity of Church are those used to propagate atheism. They eagerly allow speaking the members of the clergy that, worried about the good of the worshippers, spread. These clergymen act with good intentions when they try to use any possible newspaper, magazine, radio or television station to propagate Catholicism, without paying any attention to the anti-religious profile of some of these media. It must be remembered that the means never justify the ends - the media as well! Those members of the clergy that appear in magazines, newspapers, radio and television stations that often spread anti-Christian texts cause the disturbances in the Church unity causing confusion amongst the believing mass media recipients. In this way they are authenticating those communicators that are fighting against the Church and the truth of the Gospel. Why is such little attention being paid to the dangers that result from the activities of antagonistic mass media, which misshape the image of the Church and try to divide the believers?
5. Radio Maryja is a public broadcaster; its operation is possible thanks to donations from the listeners that speak on the air. It is a stage that allows Catholics to partake in the evangelism, and with that - in unifying the Church. Thanks to the radio station they have a way to influence the public, political, cultural, and educational activities of Poles in Poland and around the world. Is there a better mean of public communication encouraging Catholics to - according to the teachings of the Church - take responsibility for the political and public life in the name of justice and Christian love?
6. To paraphrase a famous American preacher, Archbishop Fulton John Sheen we ca say that if you want to see what if holiest in the world take a look at what is most persecuted. Radio Maryja is persecuted not because someone spoke unfortunate words on the air, lied to the listeners, or disrespected someone (in laic mass media this is standard practice) but because it is through the radio station that the Gospel is spread around the world. If Radio Maryja and its founders were not a danger to the society of atheists that is trying by all means to make Poland and the world a society of atheists, we would not be persecuted. If the truths spoken on the air had no real value, were not real, good, truthful land faithful, they would not be attacked, falsified, and laughed at. If it wasn't for Radio Maryja, the Polish Church would be virtually helpless and silent, following the example of the traditionally strong Irish Church, whose "evangelical power" and the influence on the daily life are weakening because - as stated by one the lecturers at a seminary academy at Maynooth - they do not have access to media or laic capable of protecting the Church in public. Whose interests lie in weakening or even annihilating Radio Maryja?
Fr Prof. Dr. hab. Ryszard Hajduk CSsR
Nasz Dziennik, 2007-09-16
A few questions politically incorrect...
1. Those who listen to Radio Maryja know that the radio station does not identify with any political party. People from various backgrounds, circles speak on the air, even those who belong to various political societies. Of course you will hear words of critique on the air; their target is not any particular political party and its structures but the morale of specific persons irrespective of their political attachments. This critique is delivered in the spirit of Gospel, that is not just a "sweet story about Jesus", who pats everyone on the head and agrees with everyone, but as an evaluation of human attitudes that Jesus himself conducted, very often very harshly, e.g. when he called King Herod "a fox", and the Pharisees - "grobami pobielanymi". Additionally, it's not Radio Maryja that identifies with a specific political party but it's the liberal media that tries to identify Radio Maryja with some political groups! It is worth noting that various media identified Radio Maryja with different political parties at different times, always simply to discredit the radio station by attaching its name to a chosen political party. This is why mass media attempts to convince the public of the Catholic station's supposed political outlook.
2. The "criticism" of Radio Maryja in the media usually comes down to labeling it as "xenophobic radio" or "voice of hatred". The truth is that the radio station sometimes airs harsh criticism of actions of some groups operating in Poland and outside; the Torun based station never calls for any hatred towards anybody, especially any nations! Additionally, those that speak or are quoted on the air are people from different countries, speaking different languages, who love the truth and are its advocates in the name of true and pure brotherhood and cooperation between the nations. There was a time when a well-known actor publicly declared his surprise when he heard that Radio Maryja is spreading hatred towards other nations. He stated he never heard any such things at Radio Maryja. Nothing less, nothing more. This only leaves a question: when will someone finally present proof to support the allegation that Radio Maryja calls for hatred towards other nations? Or maybe someones will have to face the truth and apologize for distributing slander against the Torun-based radio station?
3. One of the most serious, and at the same time the strangest allegations against Radio Maryja is that it is breaking the unity of Church. Meanwhile Radio Maryja's contribution to uniting worshippers in Poland and around the world is extremely valuable. Unity of Church is not a static value but a reality requiring constant development. Gospel and the word of God, propagating healthy teachings of the Church, participation in sacristy, prayer, caring for the underprivileged, and finally declaration of Christianity that is given not only by clergy but also by laics, are meant to build that unity. Is there any other Polish or international media that spreads Gospel, the Pope's teachings, lectures and speeches of the bishops, katechezy given based on the Catholic Church Katechizm, commentaries and biblical meditation daily? How much more can you contribute to the strengthening of the unity of Church?
4. In all this current medial noise it is often difficult to see the fact that those media that often take great care to promote the unity of Church are those used to propagate atheism. They eagerly allow speaking the members of the clergy that, worried about the good of the worshippers, spread. These clergymen act with good intentions when they try to use any possible newspaper, magazine, radio or television station to propagate Catholicism, without paying any attention to the anti-religious profile of some of these media. It must be remembered that the means never justify the ends - the media as well! Those members of the clergy that appear in magazines, newspapers, radio and television stations that often spread anti-Christian texts cause the disturbances in the Church unity causing confusion amongst the believing mass media recipients. In this way they are authenticating those communicators that are fighting against the Church and the truth of the Gospel. Why is such little attention being paid to the dangers that result from the activities of antagonistic mass media, which misshape the image of the Church and try to divide the believers?
5. Radio Maryja is a public broadcaster; its operation is possible thanks to donations from the listeners that speak on the air. It is a stage that allows Catholics to partake in the evangelism, and with that - in unifying the Church. Thanks to the radio station they have a way to influence the public, political, cultural, and educational activities of Poles in Poland and around the world. Is there a better mean of public communication encouraging Catholics to - according to the teachings of the Church - take responsibility for the political and public life in the name of justice and Christian love?
6. To paraphrase a famous American preacher, Archbishop Fulton John Sheen we ca say that if you want to see what if holiest in the world take a look at what is most persecuted. Radio Maryja is persecuted not because someone spoke unfortunate words on the air, lied to the listeners, or disrespected someone (in laic mass media this is standard practice) but because it is through the radio station that the Gospel is spread around the world. If Radio Maryja and its founders were not a danger to the society of atheists that is trying by all means to make Poland and the world a society of atheists, we would not be persecuted. If the truths spoken on the air had no real value, were not real, good, truthful land faithful, they would not be attacked, falsified, and laughed at. If it wasn't for Radio Maryja, the Polish Church would be virtually helpless and silent, following the example of the traditionally strong Irish Church, whose "evangelical power" and the influence on the daily life are weakening because - as stated by one the lecturers at a seminary academy at Maynooth - they do not have access to media or laic capable of protecting the Church in public. Whose interests lie in weakening or even annihilating Radio Maryja?
Fr Prof. Dr. hab. Ryszard Hajduk CSsR
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Ryszard Bender naukowiec - społecznik - polityk
Ryszard Bender naukowiec - społecznik - polityk
Ryszard Janusz Bender urodził się 16 lutego 1932 roku w Łomży, jako pierwsze dziecko Andrzeja i Stanisławy ze Stypułkowskich. W 1933 roku urodził się brat Eligiusz, w 1934 siostra Iwona, w 1937 Maria, w 1944 brat Andrzej. Ojciec Ryszarda po maturze i studiach w Wyższej Szkole Handlowej w Bydgoszczy podjął pracę w Łomży. Do wybuchu wojny w 1939 roku był kierownikiem diecezjalnego biura Akcji Katolickiej, u boku najpierw bpa Romualda Jałbrzykowskiego, a następnie Stanisława Kostki Łukomskiego. Społecznie czynny był w Stronnictwie Narodowym i bliskich mu organizacjach młodzieżowych oraz Towarzystwie Wioślarskim i Ochotniczej Straży Pożarnej w Łomży, którą kierował przez wiele lat. W czasie okupacji sowieckiej i niemieckiej działał w podziemnym ruchu narodowym w Łomży, parokrotnie więziony, zmarł w Jedwabnem 29 listopada 1944 roku.
Ryszard Bender rok przed wojną rozpoczął naukę w Szkole Powszechnej nr 4 w Łomży. Okupację sowiecką i niemiecką przeżył w Łomży, Ostrowi Mazowieckiej (1940-1941) i w Jedwabnem. Naukę w drugiej klasie podjął w 1939 roku w Łomży pod okupacją sowiecką. Za demonstracyjne nieprzyjęcie czerwonej chusty z rąk Jana i Marii Turlejskich wraz z kilkoma kolegami został relegowany ze szkoły. Następnie wraz z ojcem, nielegalnie przekroczywszy granicę sowiecko-niemiecką w Wojciechowicach koło Ostrołęki, przedostał się do Generalnej Guberni. W niedzielę 22 czerwca 1941 roku, w dniu rozpoczęcia wojny sowiecko-niemieckiej przystąpił w Ostrowi Mazowieckiej do spowiedzi i I Komunii św. połączonych z bierzmowaniem, którego udzielał sufragan łomżyński, bp Tadeusz Zakrzewski. Po ukończeniu w Ostrowi Mazowieckiej pod okupacją niemiecką trzeciej klasy, dalszą naukę w zakresie szkoły podstawowej kontynuował w Łomży na tajnych kompletach, gdyż w tzw. Bezirk Białystok, do którego włączono Łomżę, nie istniało szkolnictwo polskie, nawet elementarne. Po uwolnieniu Łomży spod okupacji niemieckiej w latach 1945 1950 uczył się w Państwowym Gimnazjum i Liceum im. Tadeusza Kościuszki w klasie licealnej o profilu humanistycznym, gdzie 10 czerwca 1950 roku zdał egzamin maturalny. W latach gimnazjalnych i licealnych czynny był w Sodalicji Mariańskiej jako jej diecezjalny sekretarz oraz w młodzieżowej strukturze Polskiego Towarzystwa Krajoznawczego, a także w harcerstwie łomżyńskim aż do jego zlikwidowania przez władze komunistyczne w 1949 roku. Pełnił tam funkcję drużynowego 5 Drużyny Harcerskiej, a następnie był członkiem komendy hufca. W trakcie likwidacji harcerstwa wraz z kolegami przetrzymywany był w piwnicach gmachu Powiatowego Urzędu Bezpieczeństwa. Za opozycyjną działalność polityczną w liceum nie otrzymał tzw. typowania, niezbędnego wówczas przy egzaminach na wyższe uczelnie państwowe. Podjął wówczas studia historyczne w Katolickim Uniwersytecie Lubelskim, gdzie typowanie nie było warunkiem koniecznym. ^
Studia historyczne w KUL łączył przez trzy początkowe lata ze studiami filozoficznymi, a właściwie społecznymi, na tzw. wówczas sekcji filozofii praktycznej Wydziału Filozofii Chrześcijańskiej, uczestnicząc w seminariach profesorów: Stefana Świeżawskiego, Pawła Czartoryskiego, Jerzego Kalinowskiego. Ten ostatni zatrudnił R. Bendera jako stypendystę-bibliotekarza w Katedrze Filozofii Prawa. Górę wzięły jednak studia historyczne. Skupił uwagę na dziejach nowożytnych, a przedmiotem swych zainteresowań uczynił wiek XIX. Uczęszczał na seminaria profesorów: Aleksandra Kossowskiego, ks. Mariana Rechowicza, Andrzeja Wojtkowskiego, Henryka Zinsa, ks. Mieczysława Żywczyńskiego. Im głównie zawdzięcza swą formację historyczną zdobytą w KUL. Pod kierunkiem prof. Andrzeja Wojtkowskiego przygotował rozprawę pt. Florian Ceynowa i udział jego w powstaniu 1846 r. na Pomorzu, na podstawie której uzyskał 27 stycznia 1955 roku stopień magistra w zakresie historii. W tymże roku rozpoczął studia doktoranckie w KUL, nazywane wówczas aspiranturą naukową, uzyskując stypendium naukowe ufundowane przez ks. Ferdynanda Machaya, wybitnego społecznika, archiprezbitera Kościoła Mariackiego w Krakowie. ^
W czasie studiów czynny był w życiu akademickim uczelni m.in. w "Bratniej Pomocy", do czasu jej zlikwidowania, w Kole Historyków Studentów KUL - nieZSPowskim - jako wiceprezes, w Polskim Towarzystwie Turystyczno-Krajoznawczym, które założył w KUL wraz z drem Pawłem Czartoryskim. Kierował z mgr Wacławem Kruszewskim wakacyjnymi obozami sportowymi studentów KUL we Fromborku. Organizował dla studentów KUL kursy i obozy żeglarskie oraz kajakowe. Wziął czynny udział w wydarzeniach związanych z tzw. polskim październikiem 1956 roku. Współprzewodniczył wielkiemu ogólnomiejskiemu wiecowi politycznemu w Lublinie. Po upadku, pod wpływem wydarzeń październikowych, komunistycznego ZMP, przejął z Wojciechem Górnym, Romanem Bojanowskim i Grzegorzem Lenartowskim będące dotąd pod patronatem ZMP na KUL Zrzeszenie Studentów Polskich (ZSP). Przyczynił się do tego, że w skład Rady Uczelnianej ZSP przy KUL weszli m.in. doktoranci i studiujący księża, jej członkami byli m.in. ks. Władysław Honkisz, ks. Ryszard Śliwiński, ks. Bohdan Bejze (dziś biskup, sufragan łódzki) sam zostając jej wiceprzewodniczącym i z jej ramienia członkiem Rady Naczelnej ZSP w Warszawie. Po przekształceniu ZSP w Socjalistyczne Zrzeszenie Studentów Polskich organizacja ta na KUL-u zaprzestała działalności. Po wydarzeniach 1956 roku R. Bender udzielał się również w Polskim Towarzystwie Turystyczno-Krajoznawczym, gdzie został wybrany członkiem Zarządu Głównego, a następnie Głównego Sądu Koleżeńskiego PTTK. Jesienią 1956 roku wraz z Karolem Głogowskim, Adamem Pleśnarem z Łodzi, Przemysławem Górnym z Warszawy i innymi należał do współzałożycieli Związku Młodych Demokratów i aż do jego rozwiązania przez władze administracyjne w styczniu 1957 roku był członkiem Zarządu Głównego ZMD, kierując jego ogniwem w Lublinie. Wraz z wyżej wymienionymi po rozwiązaniu ZMD odmówił wstąpienia do Stronnictwa Demokratycznego, motywując to wasalnością jego względem PZPR i obarczając winą za rozwiązanie ZMD. W tym czasie nawiązał kontakt ze środowiskiem skupionym wokół miesięcznika "Więź", redagowanego przez Tadeusza Mazowieckiego. Na łamach "Więzi" opublikował wiele rozpraw, m.in. jako pierwszy w kraju pisał o tzw. pakcie Ribbentrop-Mołotow z 23 VIII 1939 roku. W 1959 roku ukończył rozprawę doktorską, przygotowaną pod kierunkiem prof. Andrzeja Wojtkowskiego, pt. Ludność miejska Lubelskiego w akcji przedpowstaniowej 1861-1862. Recenzowali ją profesorowie: Stefan Kieniewicz i Stanisław Herbst z Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego oraz Juliusz Willaume z UMCS. Władze państwowe zabroniły w tym czasie przeprowadzania przewodów doktorskich w KUL na Wydziale Nauk Humanistycznych jako wydziale świeckim. W zaistniałej sytuacji prof. Stefan Kieniewicz zgodził się być promotorem rozprawy w Uniwersytecie Warszawskim. Stopień naukowy doktora nauk humanistycznych nadała uchwałą z dnia 24 stycznia 1961 roku Rada Wydziału Historycznego Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego. ^
W czasie przenoszenia przewodu doktorskiego z KUL na Uniwersytet Warszawski Ryszard Bender podjął zaoczne studia na Wydziale Prawa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego, przerwane po dwóch latach. Dnia 15 sierpnia 1959 roku w kościele parafialnym w Milanowie, w diecezji podlaskiej, zawarł związek małżeński z Marią Malik ur. 20 stycznia 1936 roku w Białej Podlaskiej, absolwentką mikrobiologii w UMCS. Ze względu na to, iż w 1959 roku żona, jako mikrobiolog, uzyskała skierowanie do pracy w Szopienicach koło Katowic, również R. Bender podjął pracę jako instruktor w Wojewódzkiej Bibliotece Publicznej w Katowicach. Jednocześnie co 2 tygodnie dojeżdżał do Lublina, prowadząc w KUL zajęcia z historii nowożytnej. W 1962 roku urodziła się córka Agnieszka, w 1963 roku Bogna, a w 1969 syn Iwo. ^
Po przeprowadzeniu przewodu doktorskiego w Uniwersytecie Warszawskim powrócił wraz z żoną do Lublina. Został starszym asystentem, a następnie adiunktem w KUL najpierw w Katedrze Historii Kultury Polskiej kierowanej przez prof. A. Wojtkowskiego, a po jego przejściu na emeryturę - w Katedrze Historii Nowożytnej, którą wcześniej kierowali kolejno prof. A. Kossowski i ks. prof. M. Żywczyński. W łączności z tymi profesorami, a także prof. Czesławem Strzeszewskim i prof. Janem Turowskim, przygotowywał rozprawę habilitacyjną: Reforma czynszowa w Ordynacji Zamoyskiej 1833-1864. Temat zaproponował prof. S. Kieniewicz. On też umożliwił przeprowadzenie na podstawie tej rozprawy w 1969 r. przewodu habilitacyjnego w Uniwersytecie Warszawskim. Recenzje przedstawili profesorowie: Andrzej Wojtkowski z KUL, Stefan Kieniewicz z UW i Janina Leskiewiczowa z Instytutu Historii PAN w Warszawie. Rada Wydziału Historycznego uchwałą z dnia l kwietnia 1969 roku nadała Ryszardowi Benderowi stopień doktora habilitowanego nauk humanistycznych z historii Polski nowożytnej. Z dniem l grudnia 1969 roku Senat Akademicki KUL powołał go na stanowisko docenta i kierownika I Katedry Historii Nowożytnej na Wydziale Nauk Humanistycznych, która to katedrą kieruje nieprzerwanie do dziś. W dniu 29 kwietnia 1970 roku Ministerstwo Oświaty i Szkolnictwa Wyższego nadesłało do rektora KUL pismo stwierdzające, iż "nie widzi możliwości pozytywnego załatwienia wniosków Uniwersytetu w sprawie powołania na stanowisko docentów ks. Piotra Poręby i dr. hab. Ryszarda Bendera". W rozmowie z prorektorem KUL prof. Stanisławem Papierkowskim jako pretekst podano fakt nawiązania kontaktów w czasie pobytu naukowego w Rzymie z Karolem Popielem i innymi przedstawicielami emigracyjnego chrześcijańsko-demokratycznego Stronnictwa Pracy. W następstwie stałych interwencji rektora KUL, ks. prof. Wincentego Granata, dopiero w następnym roku akademickim ministerstwo zmieniło swoją decyzję i pismem z dnia 29 października 1970 roku zatwierdziło uchwałę Senatu KUL o powołaniu dr. hab. R. Bendera na stanowisko docenta. Profesorem nadzwyczajnym został na podstawie uchwały Senatu Akademickiego KUL z dnia 22 kwietnia 1977 roku, opartej na recenzjach dorobku naukowego przedstawionych przez profesorów: Czesława Strzeszewskiego i ks. Mieczysława Żywczyńskiego z KUL, Tadeusza Mencla z UMCS i Stefana Kieniewicza z Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego. Ministerstwo zatwierdziło uchwałę 12 października 1977 roku. Tytuł naukowy profesora zwyczajnego przyznał Senat Akademicki KUL uchwałą z dnia 11 maja 1985 roku, opartą na ocenie dorobku naukowego przedstawionej przez profesorów: Czesława Strzeszewskiego z KUL, Stefana Kieniewicza z UW, Tadeusza Jędruszczaka z Instytutu Historii PAN w Warszawie, Janusza Pajewskiego z Uniwersytetu im. Adama Mickiewicza w Poznaniu. Uchwałę Senatu KUL ministerstwo zatwierdziło 18 października 1985 roku. W latach 1970-1975 Ryszard Bender pełnił funkcję prodziekana Wydziału Nauk Humanistycznych KUL, a w latach 1981-1987 przez dwie trzyletnie kadencje był dziekanem Wydziału Nauk Humanistycznych, wchodząc w skład Senatu Akademickiego. Za jego dziekaństwa zostały odbudowane w KUL neofilologie: angielska i germańska. Od 1961 roku jest członkiem Towarzystwa Naukowego KUL, a w latach 1974-1977 pełnił w nim funkcję sekretarza generalnego. Czynny w Lubelskim Towarzystwie Naukowym od 1975 roku był w latach 1978-1983 wiceprzewodniczącym, a w latach 1983-1987 przewodniczącym Wydziału I Nauk Humanistycznych. W 1987 roku, z inspiracji wybitnego polskiego okulisty prof. Tadeusza Krwawicza został wiceprezesem tegoż Towarzystwa i pełni tę funkcję do dziś. W latach sześćdziesiątych był przez kilka kadencji prezesem Związku Nauczycielstwa Polskiego przy KUL, a wraz z powstaniem NSZZ "Solidarność" członkiem tego związku. Za jego prezesury pod szyldem ZNP mógł KUL zbudować ośrodek wypoczynkowo-sportowy w Rogóżnie koło Łęcznej. Za nielegalną wówczas budowę ośrodka prezes i zarząd ZNP musieli uiszczać kary pieniężne i odpowiadać przed kolegium karno-administracyjnym. Desygnowany przez władze KUL w latach 1973-1977 był radnym Miejskiej Rady Narodowej w Lublinie, gdzie bronił spraw Uniwersytetu stale ograniczanego w swej działalności przez czynniki administracyjne i rząd. ^
Bywał często zapraszany przez uniwersytety Europy Zachodniej, a także tamtejsze organizacje katolickie, m.in. przez "Pax Romana" i Newman Association. Przez wiele lat odmawiano mu paszportu na wyjazd na Zachód (także po październiku 1956) odpowiadając m.in. interweniującemu Tadeuszowi Mazowieckiemu, wówczas posłowi PRL, że nikogo "z nożem w zębach" nie wolno wypuszczać z kraju na Zachód. Paszport na wyjazd zagraniczny, po dziewięciu latach odmowy (przedtem uzyskał jedynie pozwolenie na wyjazd w 1956 r. do Lwowa na kwerendę źródłową pozostałej tam części zbiorów "Ossolineum") otrzymał po raz pierwszy w 1965 roku, zaproszony przez Katolicki Uniwersytet w Louvain. Od tej pory wyjeżdżał za granicę nawiązując kontakty naukowe i współpracując z profesorami w Belgii, Austrii, Holandii, Danii, Niemczech, Włoszech, Wielkiej Brytanii, Izraelu i USA. ^
W czasie kilku pobytów badawczych w Stanach Zjednoczonych AP i w Kanadzie prowadził kwerendy źródłowe dotyczące Polaków, którzy po powstaniach w 1830/31 i 1863/64 emigrowali do Ameryki, badał udział Polaków w wojnie secesyjnej Stanów Zjednoczonych 1861-1865 oraz genezę stosunków dyplomatycznych polsko-amerykańskich, związanych z utworzeniem konsulatu amerykańskiego w Warszawie po powstaniu styczniowym, który przetrwał do 1916 roku. Badania powyższe spowodowały konieczność korzystania z zasobów archiwalnych i bibliotecznych wielu amerykańskich instytucji naukowych, m.in: National Archives i Library of Congress w Waszyngtonie, Hoover Institution w Palo Alto w Kalifornii, w Kościuszko Foundation w Nowym Jorku i w tamtejszym The Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America, w Instytucie Józefa Piłsudskiego w Nowym Jorku, w Centrum Polsko-Słowiańskim w Nowym Jorku, w Muzeum Polskim w Chicago i w tamtejszym Instytucie im. Romana Dmowskiego, w Archiwum Polonii w Orchard Lake, w archiwach i bibliotekach Polonii Kanadyjskiej w Toronto i Vancouver. W latach 1987-1988 i 1989-1990 prowadził badania historyczne w USA jako Senior Fellow Fulbright Foundation. W semestrze wiosennym 1996 roku wykładał na wydziale historii University of Minnesota w Minneapolis w Stanach Zjednoczonych. W USA i Kanadzie nawiązał współpracę naukową z licznym gronem profesorów i znawców najnowszej historii, byli to m.in.: Zbigniew Brzeziński, Jan Nowak Jeziorański, Stefan Korboński, Janusz K. Zawodny, Rett R. Ludwikowski, ks. Emil Altmajer, o. Michał Zembrzuski inicjator polskiej Częstochowy w USA i inni. Zaproszony przez Departament Stanu USA w 1978 roku poznał wiele ośrodków myśli politycznej, polityków amerykańskich oraz polonijnych m.in.: kongresmana Edwarda J. Derwińskiego, Luciena N. Nedzi, Clementa J. Zabłockiego, kardynała Jana Króla z Filadelfii, wiceprezydenta USA Waltera F. Mondale. Uczestniczył w Europie i w Ameryce w wielu kolokwiach, sympozjach i konferencjach naukowych. Brał udział w międzynarodowych kongresach historycznych: Wiedeń 1965, Moskwa 1970, San Francisco 1975, Bukareszt 1980, Stuttgart 1985 wygłaszając referaty, uczestnicząc w dyskusji. Był czynny w międzynarodowych sympozjach dotyczących stosunków polsko-żydowskich na przestrzeni dziejów w Oksfordzie (1984), w Jerozolimie (1988). W przedstawionych tam referatach ukazywał prawdę historyczną, prostował przekłamania. Brał udział w większości kolokwiów organizowanych przez Commission Internationale d'Histoire Ecclesiastique Comparee i wygłaszał referaty m.in.: w Oxfordzie (1974), Parmie we Włoszech (1973), Uppsali w Szwecji (1977), Warszawie (1978), Durham w Wielkiej Brytanii (1981), Lublinie (1996). Zapraszany przez uniwersytety, instytucje naukowe i organizacje społeczne z Europy i Ameryki wygłaszał referaty naukowe i odczyty m.in.: w University of Hull (Wielka Brytania) w 1988, w East Europę Centre w Londynie (1988), w Brooklyn College of University of New York wygłosił referat (1982) i uczestniczył w programie War and Society in East Central Europę in the Era of Nation States 1856-1870 kierowanym przez prof. Bela K Kiraly, jednego z głównych przywódców powstania węgierskiego w 1956 roku. W 1989 w Siena College, Albany N.Y., mówił o chrześcijańskiej demokracji w polskim państwie podziemnym w latach II wojny światowej. ^
Podczas pierwszego wyjazdu na Zachód w 1965 roku uczestniczył w Forum Europejskim, w Alpbach w Austrii. W tymże roku nawiązał kontakt z College d'Europe w Brugge w Belgii, z jego założycielem i rektorem Henri Brugmansem i jego następcą, Jerzym Łukaszewskim, dawnym wykładowcą KUL.
Już w 1965 roku w Paryżu po raz pierwszy nawiązał kontakt ze środowiskiem "Kultury" i jej naczelnym redaktorem Jerzym Giedroyciem. Mimo odmienności ideowych, o czym świadczą m.in. publikacje zamieszczone w "Kulturze", kontaktu tego nie przerwał. W tym samym roku nawiązał kontakt w Belgii z przedstawicielami europejskiej i polskiej chadecji, członkami przedwojennego i powojennego Stronnictwa Pracy, czynnymi m.in. w chrześcijańskim ruchu zawodowym: Franciszkiem Gałązką, Bolesławem Lachowskim, Janem Kułakowskim, Jakubem Sobieskim, prof. Stefanem Glaserem, przed wojną jednym z pierwszych profesorów KUL. We Włoszech wiele informacji źródłowych o polskiej chadecji i o Stronnictwie Pracy, jego dziejach przedwojennych, działalności pod okupacją niemiecką i sowiecką w latach II wojny światowej, likwidacji przez komunistów po wojnie i aktywności emigracyjnej uzyskał przede wszystkim od prezesa SP Karola Popielą, sekretarza generalnego Konrada Sienkiewicza, Stanisława Gebhardta, Stanisława Augusta Morawskiego. Trzej ostatni czynni byli w strukturach europejskiej i światowej chadecji. Umożliwili rozliczne spotkania z jej przedstawicielami, m.in. Aldo Moro, Arnaldo Forlanim, Angelo Bernasolą, Angelo Sferazzą. ^
Powyższe kontakty ze "świadkami historii" przed i powojennej Polski i Europy ułatwiały badania nad dziejami chrześcijańskiej myśli i działalności społecznej, których stał się jednym z wybitniejszych w Polsce znawcą i wychowawcą następnych badaczy. Do kontaktów tych dochodziło także w związku z działalnością publiczną prof. Bendera na polu katolicyzmu społecznego w Polsce i kręgach europejskich.
Związany początkowo z nurtem chrześcijańsko-społecznym "Więzi", po jego wyodrębnieniu się i skupieniu w 1967 roku w Ośrodku Dokumentacji i Studiów Społecznych (ODiSS) wszedł w skład jego Rady Społecznej i Rady Naukowej. W 1982 roku został wiceprzewodniczącym Rady Naukowej ODiSS u boku prof. Czesława Strzeszewskiego, a w 1986 roku przewodniczącym, którą to funkcję pełnił do 1996 roku, czyli do końca istnienia Rady. ^
Po powstaniu miesięcznika "Chrześcijanin w świecie" w 1969 roku R. Bender wszedł w skład jego redakcji. Był też członkiem redakcji wydawanego w latach 1981-1995 tygodnika katolickiego "Ład". Środowisko ODiSS starało się skupić wypuszczanych z więzień w czasach PRL ludzi z kręgów chrześcijańsko-demokratycznych (Wacław Bitner, Jerzy i Juliusz Braun, Stefan Kaczorowski, Konstanty Turowski, Adam Jurkiewicz, Kazimierz Studentowicz) i młodsze pokolenie, które od nich przejmowało ideę chrześcijańsko-społeczną, z myślą o odrodzeniu w przyszłości, po upadku lub osłabieniu reżimu komunistycznego, polskiej chadecji. Utrzymywana była oficjalnie i nieoficjalnie łączność z kierownictwem Europejskiej Unii Chrześcijańsko-Demokratycznej. Profesor Bender brał kilkakrotnie udział w konferencjach organizowanych za granicą przez te instytucje, m.in. w kongresach Włoskiej Partii Chrześcijańskiej Demokracji. Należał do współorganizatorów sympozjów polskiej i europejskiej chadecji: Dialogue et Cooperation, organizowanych na przemian w Polsce, w Belgii i we Francji. W 1976 roku wraz z prof. Cz. Strzeszewskim, prof. E. Wiśniowskim, ks. prof. F. Mazurkiem, dr Konstantym Turowskim oraz innymi osobami, głównie z Katolickiego Uniwersytetu Lubelskiego był współzałożycielem Klubu Inteligencji Katolickiej w Lublinie, pełniąc funkcje wiceprezesa, a od 1983 roku prezesa. W latach 1981-1983, do momentu przejęcia Polskiego Związku Katolicko-Społecznego przez siły podległe komunistycznej PZPR, był wiceprezesem Zarządu Głównego PZKS. Swa rezygnację z tej funkcji i członkostwa ogłosił na łamach "Tygodnika Powszechnego". W latach 1988-1989 był wraz z Władysławem Siła-Nowickim, prof. Zbigniewem Wierzbickim i Januszem Zabłockim współprzewodniczącym Chrześcijańsko-Demokratycznego Klubu Myśli Politycznej w Warszawie. W dniu 15 lutego 1989 roku ogłosił z trybuny sejmowej fakt reaktywowania 12 lutego tegoż roku chrześcijańsko-demokratycznego Stronnictwa Pracy, zlikwidowanego po wojnie przez władze komunistyczne. W latach 1989-1990 był wiceprezesem Stronnictwa Pracy, któremu prezesował mec. Władysław Siła-Nowicki. W latach 1990-1991 był wiceprezesem Chrześcijańsko-Demokratycznego Stronnictwa "Zjednoczenie". Od l987 roku pozostaje członkiem zarządu Stowarzyszenia Krzewienia Katolickiej Nauki Społecznej w Warszawie. W latach 1981-1987 był członkiem Rady Naukowej Episkopatu Polski, w latach 1989-1996 członkiem Komisji Episkopatu Polski "Iustitia et Pax". W 1980 roku został laureatem nagrody naukowej ODiSS im. Kardynała Stefana Wyszyńskiego. ^
Za wiedzą prymasów Polski był posłem na Sejm w latach 1976-1980 i 1985-1989. Głośne były jego przemówienia sejmowe, w których nie szczędził władzom komunistycznym ostrej krytyki, bronił spraw narodu, Polski i Kościoła. Przemówienia nierzadko w całości przedrukowywała prasa zagraniczna (m.in. "Le Figaro", "The Times", New York Times", "Die Welt", "Survey") a także polska prasa podziemna, m.in. "Spotkania". W pismach tych publikował również własne artykuły pod pseudonimem R. Ender. Protestował m.in. przeciw usuwaniu z hymnu narodowego Jeszcze Polska nie zginęła ostatnich jego zwrotek, które miały zostać zastąpione nowymi. Dzięki jego interpelacji w Sejmie w 1978 roku rząd musiał zrezygnować ze zmiany historycznych nazw miejscowości w Bieszczadach i w innych częściach Polski. Profesor pierwszy wystąpił w Sejmie przeciw próbom aneksji w 1988 roku Zatoki Pomorskiej przez NRD. Żądał relegalizacji "Solidarności" i uwolnienia więźniów politycznych, przywrócenia państwu nazwy Rzeczpospolita Polska, zniesienia nazwy PRL. Pierwszy wezwał publicznie z trybuny sejmowej w dniu 10 marca 1988 roku do ujawnienia prawdy o sowieckiej zbrodni w Katyniu. Przeforsował w Sejmie w 1988 roku, zanim upadły rządy komunistyczne, przywrócenie święta państwowego 11 Listopada, co nastąpiło już w roku następnym. Żądał z trybuny sejmowej relegalizacji polskiego PEN-clubu. Artur Międzyrzecki napisał na łaniach "Tygodnika Powszechnego": "pamiętne wystąpienie posła Ryszarda Bendera z l0 marca 1988 r. należy zarówno do annałów sejmowych, jak i do kronik Polskiego PEN-clubu". ^
Z inspiracji sekretarza Episkopatu Polski, zimą 1986 i 1987 roku odbywał kilkunastodniowe narady z przewodniczącym NSZZ "Solidarność" Lechem Wałęsą u oo. pallotynów na Krzeptówkach w Zakopanem. Przemyślenia i ustalenia tam dokonywane znajdowały następnie wyraz w jego przemówieniach sejmowych. Zimą i wiosną 1989 roku zgłoszony przez NSZZ "Solidarność" zasiadał jako poseł w Zespole do Spraw Reform Politycznych "Okrągłego Stołu" po stronie opozycji. Próby włączenia go do plenarnych obrad "Okrągłego Stołu" podejmowane przez przewodniczącego NSZZ "Solidarność" i koła kościelne napotkały na opór strony rządowej i lewicowych kręgów "Solidarności" o proweniencji komunistycznej. Ich presja wywarta na przewodniczącym NSZZ "Solidarność" spowodowała, że w wyborach z 4 VI 1989 roku do tzw. Sejmu kontraktowego nie znalazł się na tzw. liście Wałęsy, a kandydując niezależnie, przy zawiłościach ówczesnej ordynacji wyborczej nie uzyskał niezbędnej liczby głosów. W następnych wyborach z ramienia Wyborczej Akcji Katolickiej uzyskał mandat senatora z woj. łomżyńskiego i zasiadał w latach 1991-1993 w Senacie R.P., będąc przewodniczącym klubu senackiego Zjednoczenia Chrześcijańsko-Narodowego i wiceprzewodniczącym klubu parlamentarnego ZChN. Uczestniczył w pracach Komisji Zagranicznej i Komisji Konstytucyjnej Senatu R.P. Z ramienia Senatu R.P. był delegatem do Zgromadzenia Parlamentarnego Rady Europy w Strasburgu. Tam został wybrany wiceprzewodniczącym Klubu Konserwatystów (European Democratic Group), a także przewodniczącym Podkomisji do Spraw Europejskich Służb Publicznych (Sub-Committee on the European Civil Service). Wchodził również w skład Komisji Budżetu Rady Europy. Wielokrotnie przemawiał w czasie obrad plenarnych Zgromadzenia Parlamentarnego Rady Europy. Po rozwiązaniu przez prezydenta R.P. parlamentu, kandydując do Senatu w wyborach 1993 roku z woj. lubelskiego, nie został wybrany, choć uzyskał blisko 61 tys. głosów, zajmując trzecie miejsce spośród 15 kandydatów. W latach 1990-1991 był członkiem Komitetu Obywatelskiego przy Lechu Wałęsie, w 1990 roku członkiem Komitetu Doradczego Lecha Wałęsy. Powołany przez prezydenta R.P. w 1993 roku do Krajowej Rady Radiofonii i Telewizji, był jej przewodniczącym w roku 1994, kiedy sam zrezygnował. Dzięki niemu mogło uzyskać koncesję i zaistnieć w Polsce "Radio Maryja" oraz 25 radiostacji diecezjalnych i "Radio Jasna Góra". Zabiegał usilnie, przy sprzeciwie lewicowych i liberalnych członków KRR i TV, o koncesję dla katolickiej TV Niepokalanów. Od 1995 roku prof. Bender jest przewodniczącym Stowarzyszenia Ochrony Radiosłuchacza i Telewidza w Polsce. W dniu 7 września 1996 roku został pasowany na rycerza Czarnej Madonny z Jasnej Góry i objął przewodnictwo Komitetu Redakcyjnego "Rycerstwa Czarnej Madonny" w Polsce. Dwukrotnie był przyjęty na prywatnej audiencji przez Ojca św. Jana Pawła II, w 1989 roku i 24 IX 1996 roku, uczestnicząc wraz z małżonką we mszy św. w prywatnej kaplicy papieskiej w Watykanie i w Castel Gandolfo. ^
Rozległa działalność Profesora - społeczna, polityczna, a także na polu kościelnym, szła w parze ze złożonymi obowiązkami dydaktycznymi, przede wszystkim w macierzystym uniwersytecie oraz badawczymi, co wiązało się ze żmudną kwerendą archiwalną i biblioteczną, w kraju i za granicą. Badaniami swymi objął wiek XIX i XX. Skupił się przede wszystkim na dziejach powstania styczniowego, a także związanych z nim postaciach: Romualda Traugutta, Józefa Kalinowskiego (dziś już świętego Rafała), ks. Karola Mikoszewskiego i innych. Kolejny nurt zainteresowań badawczych prof. Bendera stanowi historia chrześcijańskiej myśli i działalności społecznej. Pod jego redakcją oraz prof. Cz. Strzeszewskiego dra K. Turowskiego zostało opublikowane w 1981 roku dzieło Historia katolicyzmu społecznego w Polsce 1832-1939. Przewodniczył też Komitetowi Redakcyjnemu Słownika biograficznego katolicyzmu społecznego w Polsce, którego trzy tomy ukazały się w latach 1991-1995.
Nieobca pozostaje mu także eseistyka historyczna i publicystyka społeczno-polityczna. Prezentowana ona była i jest na łamach wielu czasopism krajowych niekiedy już nie istniejących, podziemnych i emigracyjnych oraz ukazujących się nadal w Polsce i za granicą. Z pism tych wymienić należy m.in. "Kwartalnik Historyczny", "Roczniki Humanistyczne", "Rocznik Lubelski", "Przegląd Humanistyczny", "Przegląd Historyczno-Oświatowy", "Zapiski Historyczne", "Komunikaty Mazursko-Warmińskie", "Zeszyty Naukowe KUL", "Wiadomości Łomżyńskie", "Ethos", "Kunst und Kirche" (Wiedeń), "Survey" (Londyn), "Revue d'Histoire Ecclesiastique" (Leuven), "Bollettino dell' Archivio" (Mediolan), "Problems of Communism" (Washington D.C.), ,,Kultura"(Paryż); miesięczniki: m.in. "Więź", "Chrześcijanin w świecie", "Przegląd Powszechny"; tygodniki: "Tygodnik Powszechny", "Przegląd Tygodniowy", "Polityka", "Tygodnik Kulturalny", "Myśl Polska", "Przegląd Katolicki", "Głos" (Nowy Jork), "Przełom" (Toronto), "Niedziela", "Ład", który przez wiele lat współredagował. Do tego dochodzą liczne publikacje i wywiady w dziennikach polskich i zagranicznych. Całość rozległej tematycznie twórczości historycznej, publicystycznej oraz wystąpień publicznych, przemówień sejmowych i senackich dokumentuje dołączona bibliografia, która obejmuje ponad 600 pozycji. ^
Na seminarium prowadzonym przez prof. R. Bendera powstało do dziś 231 prac magisterskich oraz 13 doktorskich. Recenzował w KUL na Wydziale Nauk Humanistycznych, Wydziale Filozofii Chrześcijańskiej, Wydziale Teologicznym oraz w wielu uniwersytetach państwowych, a także za granicą, łącznie 29 rozpraw doktorskich. Profesor Bender patronował bądź uczestniczył w 11 habilitacjach przeprowadzonych w KUL, ATK, Uniwersytecie Jagiellońskim, Uniwersytecie Toruńskim, Uniwersytecie Opolskim. Opiniował 7 wniosków o tytuł naukowy profesora.
Informacje biograficzne związane z osobą prof. R. Bendera, zawierają wszystkie dotychczasowe edycje Kto jest kim w Polsce oraz większość innych, m.in. Kto jest kim w polityce polskiej (Warszawa 1993); Okrągły Stół - Kto jest kim "Solidarność", opozycja (Warszawa 1989); Kto jest kim w Lublinie (Lublin 1991); Kto był kim w drugim obiegu. Słownik pseudonimów pisarzy i dziennikarzy 1976-1989 (Warszawa 1995); Kto jest kim w Kościele katolickim (Warszawa 1996), także zagraniczne: Parliamentarians Observers and Special Guests of the Council of Europe - Biographies (Strasbourg 1992); Who is who in the Socialist Countries of Europe (Munchen 1989); Who's who in the World, 13 th, 14 th, and 15 th Edition oraz opracowania traktujące o najnowszej historii Polski i Kościoła. ^
prof. Mirosław Piotrowski
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