[Asec] Statement from our colleagues

[Scott Kenworthy]

I received the following letter from some of our colleagues:

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This war has become our common terror, which affects us differently. Yet it affects each one of us. In these times of division and hatred, let us not forget that the territory which unites us is academia. Let us guard this territory. Today our personal task as academics is to condemn injustice, to support oppressed and to serve truth, freedom, and the future. We are reaching out to each of you who is touched by current geopolitical events.
We all know that many people in Russian universities and research institutions have resisted the actions taken by the regime by the means that were available to them: participating in the protests, risking arrest, supporting students who participated in the protests, and maintaining a critical stance in their research and teaching not allowing their work to be influenced by the ideological agenda of Putin’s state. They are a minority, but this minority is going to be punished indiscriminately at this moment by the action suggested by some members of the list. Today many institutions are calling off their collaboration with Russian researchers, and cancelling scholarships, which erases for many their hopes to receive visa and leave the dictatorial regime.
There are several dangers in isolating Russian academics indiscriminately: this will not further the cause of truth and justice, nor work towards sustainable peace. We need to respect courage and critical thought and not ostracize intellectuals on the basis of their nationality and their implicated collaboration with the actions of a regime just by the fact that they work in the institutions funded by the state. Let us remember the death of the great philosopher Walter Benjamin, who committed suicide on the French-Spanish border while trying to escape from the invading Wehrmacht.
 
Let us condemn the politicians and institutions. But let us support and consolidate as persons. And let us respect, support and cherish critical thought.
 
We would like to start an action:
 
Academia is beyond war!


Irina Paert, University of Tartu
 
Prof Dr E. (Katya) Tolstoj
Chair of Theology and Religion in Post-Trauma Societies
Vice-dean and Dean of Research, Faculty of Religion and Theology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam <https://workingat.vu.nl/faculties/faculty-of-religion-and-theology>
Director Institute for the Academic Study of Eastern Christianity <https://frt.vu.nl/en/research/institutes-and-centres/Institute-Academic-Study-Eastern-Christianity/index.aspx> (INaSEC)


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