CHAPTER 8

INTELLECTUALS

The Redefinition of their Roles in a Neocolonial and Post-Enlightenment Era

Are intellectuals an autonomous and independent social group, or does every social group have its own particular specialized category of intellectuals? The problem is a complex one, because of the forms to date by the real historical process of formation of the different categories of intellectuals. Gramsci, Selections from the prison Notebooks. The job of the honest intellectual is to help out people who need help; to be part of the people who are struggling for rights and justice. That’s what you should be doing. But of course, you don’t expect to be rewarded for that. Chomsky interviewed by Leistyna, Presence of Mind

THIRD WORLD AND WESTERN INTELLECTUALS AND THE ENLIGHTENMENT MOVEMENT It is unquestionable that intellectuals play an important role in society. Through their scholarly work, they influence how people think and act. While some through their progressive and radical ideas challenge the status quo, others through their conservative thoughts and ideas contribute to maintain it. My goal in this chapter is to analyse what role Third World intellectuals and allies play or should play in the fight against the neocolonization of the Third World. Given that the West has the monopoly of the “other world” through conquest, exploitation, colonization, and slavery, Western intellectuals and scientists for the most part have had access to resources that have enabled them to produce high quality work. Western intellectuals such as David Hume, John Locke, Adam Smith, Marquis de Condorcet, Baron de Montesquieu, Rousseau, and Voltaire are prime examples. For instance, United States’, France’s, and Haiti’s legal system has been greatly influenced by ideas that Baron De Montesquieu (1975) and Jean Jacques Rousseau (1968) articulated in their respective books, The Spirit of the Laws and The Social Contract. Moreover, Western intellectuals, such as Voltaire, Hume, and Condorcet have profoundly impacted the world, especially during and after the Enlightenment movement that took place in Europe, particularly in France. As Steven Seidman (1994) observes, “If the Enlighteners were not creators of the scientific revolution, they were its great popularizers and propagandists. Through their writing and speeches, they proved indispensable in spreading the word of science to educated Europeans” (p. 21).

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Through their scientific vision of the world articulated in their scholarly work these intellectuals challenged the Greco-Roman Christian tradition, which has strongly influenced and shaped major institutions in society, such as school, family, and even the state. To paraphrase Walter Rodney (1972) during the colonization era, Greco-Roman Christian was wrongly used by the European colonialist power to enslave and dominate the “other.” Using the catholic religion as the symbol of salvation and purification, Christopher Columbus, the messenger of Queen Elizabeth of Spain, duped, exploited, and murdered millions of Indigenous people in Central, South America, and in the Caribbean. While his murderous legacy continues to cause economic, political, and psychological damages to the descendents of people he wiped out, ironically Christopher Columbus has been glorified as the brave discoverer of the so-called new world, which he exploited and destroyed. Moreover, within the Greco-Roman Christian Church in France, the clergy used religion to lie to people, monopolize power and wealth, and maintain social and economic inequalities. As the powerful ambassador of the church, the clergy was able to influence the political power structure and the state apparatus of European countries such as France. The clergy was not alone in using religion for its own imperial interest. Colonial European countries such as France, Great Britain, and Portugal used religion as a weapon to justify and maintain colonization in Africa, as Rodney (1972) made clear in his classic book, How Europe Underdeveloped Africa. Worst of all, religion has been used by the Roman Catholic Church as an ideological weapon to brainwash people’s minds, including students, so that they would accept the status quo. In my view, the Catholic Church was and still is in a powerful position to do so because it is believed to be the source and the depository of canonical truth. However, with the advent of the enlightenment movement, an old world was about to end, and the path for a new world was on its way to be paved. The church was no longer seen as the legitimate and reliable source of truth. Its power was challenged, weakened, and even destroyed by the fresh, new, and revolutionary ideas that stemmed from and were propagated by the philosophers and scientists of the enlightenment movement. It was no longer a question of believing blindly in the clergy, for people came to the realization that science, rather than merely religious faith, should guide their actions. Asymetrical power relations that the Church supported and maintained between the powerful and the powerless were questioned and threatened by revolutionary ideas and actions of Voltaire, Montesqueu, and Condorcet. Thus, the Enlighteners with their novel ideas opened a new horizon and shed some light on the world that was shadowed by the concentrated power of the Roman Catholic Church. It is undeniable that authoritative figures of the enlightenment movement fought against the injustice and aristocracy, which were reigned within the Catholic Church. They also stood up for a better world informed and led by reason and genial ideas of liberty, equality, and fraternity. While Montesquieu and Rousseau greatly contributed to and impacted the legal system worldwide, Voltaire and Condorcet produced an impressive body of social ideas which opened and continues opening people’s eyes on the social injustice perpetuated by the dominant class in society.

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