In the December entry for the blogging carnival (the good, bad and ugly of archaeology blogging) I mentioned the Scholars At Risk Network, after learning about the network from Sam Hardy over at [Un]Free Archaeology. As a direct result of my mention of them in my blog post another great blogger, Loretta Kilroe, brought to my attention CARA, the Council for Assisting Refugee Academics.
I think it is time to dig a bit deeper to highlight these two fantastic organisations in the work that they do and why they are needed. Too often in the online blogging community we espouse the knowledge of others and thank the wonders of the internet for bringing everyone together when only an estimated 34-39% of the earth’s population have access to the internet. We have to realize that many academics today still face being severely curtailed in pursing their research topics or face other consequences (imprisonment/torture) because of political oppression, rife censorship or imposed sanctions in variety of countries world wide.
CARA
CARA’s underlining approach and mission statement is simple:
“Academic Freedom is the principle which underpins and informs CARA’s work defending the right of individuals to explore the world of ideas, literature and science unfettered by political, social or religious oppression, censorship, or sanction” (Source).
The banner of the CARA site highlighting one issue that often stops refugees (Image credit: source).
The council was originally founded in 1933 by William Beveridge to assist other scholars after he learnt of the displacement of academics from Nazi Germany on racial and/or political grounds and subsequently launched a rescue operation. The organisation continued to grow throughout the next 70 years, helping out academics not just during the Second World War but also during the repressive Stalinist period in Russia, the unrest in the Middle East and throughout the South African Apartheid period. Today it’s focus has shifted towards the Middle East, with a particular focus on Iraq, and to certain areas of the African continent. Although not initially called CARA, the organisation changed it’s name in 1999 to it’s present name as a reflection of it’s world wide operational basis.
CARA are currently running three programmes at the moment in the UK, the Middle East and Zimbabwe. The United Kingdom program offers, and provides, assistance to “enable persecuted academics many of whom are refugees and asylum seekers, to return to academia or an allied profession in the UK at a level commensurate with their skills and experience” (source). The Middle East program is centered on Iraq and Syria, helping academics that have either settled in the UK as a result of conflict or those that are still living in Syria or Iraq. The Iraq program was launched in 2006 as a direct result of the rise in kidnappings of academics in the country and the continued killings of civilians in the country. The Syria program was founded as a result of the grim situation that has developed in the country over the past two years.
CARA is helping academics both in Syria, and those that have fled to the surrounding countries and the UK, by providing practical advice on survival and academic help. The Zimbabwe program was set up in 2009 in response to the flood of academics feeling the country. Importantly the program also aims to stifle the dramatic decline in quality of the higher education in the country, where it can. A number of reports on these programs, and others conducted by the organisation, can be found on the CARA site.
Scholars At Risk Network
Scholars at Risk Network (SAR) hold much the same values as CARA in the belief that their work is grounded in the principle of academic freedom, that is the freedom to pursue academic research without fear of censorship, intimidation, fear of violence or of discrimination. The network organisation has its initial roots in the Human Rights program at the University of Chicago in 1999, and it quickly grew to join other international education and academic advocacy groups within a few short years of its founding.
In particular the SAR network has joined forces with the Institute for International Education in helping to offer an endowed rescue fund to help scholars and academics who are in perilous situations. Moving it’s base to New York University in 2003, SAR has continued to provide funds for scholars as well as participating in a broad range of advocacy work in centers across the world. This has been reinforced by SAR developing partner networks across Europe, the Middle East and Africa during the last decade or so. Further information on SAR’s history can be found here.
Personal freedom is often underrated until you realise what it is like being able to freely express yourself (Image credit: source).
SAR’s first and foremost task is protecting scholars by arranging positions of sanctuary and safety, often offered as one semester or one year long positions as academic posts at host universities. Further to this, the network also runs a Scholars-In-Prison project designed to protect scholars who are unable to leave their home countries, as well as keeping an active up -to-date record on attacks and widespread threats to individuals, departments and institutions. Secondly, the SAR network runs workshops and training sessions as a part of its active outreach work, as well as circulating monitor reports highlighting the recent developments in the root causes of intellectual repression. Find out more here.
Why Is It Important?
It is vitally important to always resist the powers that seek to limit the intellectual and individual freedom. Knowledge, invention and imagination are the three crucial foundations for thought that are expressed in higher education and the academic environment. The persecution, suppression or imprisonment of academics happens for a variety of reasons and I must point out here that I do no ignore the general population at the expense of the academic. Rather it is due to my passion and experience of higher education that I have wrote about CARA and the SAR network, that this blog is, for me, the ideal venue to help raise awareness of these two fantastic organisations. Sadly these organisations are necessary in the modern world, very necessary.
The world of higher education is a wonderfully mixed and diverse one where no two people are ever the same and may have strong views and opinions. It is, like archaeology itself, a very fluid environment in which individuals come and go. Universities have the strong focused economic base in the areas where they are situated but they operate in a myriad of professional and social entanglements, often crossing borders around the world with research projects, societies and professional links. If one scholar cannot offer a hand to another in need then that is a very sad world indeed, especially when the binding force of academia is co-operation.
…And Introducing Médecins Sans Frontiéres
Further to the above two organisations that support academics in need I would also heartily recommend supporting Médecins Sans Frontiéres (MSF, otherwise known as Doctors Without Borders). Established in 1971 and currently working in over 60 countries worldwide, Médecins Sans Frontiéres has provided medical aid to millions of people during its history whilst remaining an independent organisation which is run and and owned by staff both present and past. With over 90% of its income coming from individual donors MSF maintains the ability to be an neutral and independent organisation, able to help sick and injured people worldwide independent of national boundaries, institutions or governments regardless of gender, race or religion. It is also a transparent worldwide organisation, which is split into a number of associations and sections.
The organisation works in a variety of crisis environments (including armed conflicts, epidemics and disease outbreaks, environmental disasters, exodus of refugees or helping people who are excluded from healthcare) by helping to establish centers of treatment. In a number of cases they have to be clandestine operations to protect the patients and MSF staff from harm and violence in unstable environments, such as in Syria currently for example.
Further to this MSF also carry out medical research to help produce the best results for helping their patients and to help future humanitarian missions. As a part of this they allow the research produced to be freely accessible to anyone. I personally have supported this charity in the past (and continue to when I can) because I cannot imagine what my life would be like if the medical facilities for treating my previous fractures were non-existent: I realise I am lucky to have access to such good healthcare. In short it is also my way of saying thank you. You can also donate or apply to join MSF during operations if you have a medical background. You can support MSF here!
These Bones Of Mine 