Protecting academic freedom and human rights is foundational to the idea of the university as a community of scholars engaged in intellectual enquiry for its own sake. The ideal of a university as a space where ideas can be pursued without political, religious or commercial pressure is central. Ever since John Henry Newman, a high-profile convert to Catholicism, lectured on the idea of the university in 1852, an inclusive ideal of pluralism, free from religious and commercial influence, has prevailed.
This ideal is now under severe strain in the context of ongoing attacks on the Palestinian education system, which have been widely reported by international organisations.
That the assault on academic personnel and infrastructure in Gaza has been devastating is not in question. The images and the brute numbers speak for themselves: tens of thousands of civilian deaths, systematic destruction of civilian infrastructure, humanitarian aid blocked and a growing famine.
The ceasefire exists in name only, with repression in the occupied West Bank continuing unabated: house demolitions, arbitrary arrests, violent attacks by settlers and the expansion of illegal settlements. Reports from the UN and human rights organisations have comprehensively and unequivocally documented these abuses, which are particularly devastating for the most vulnerable in society.
Genocide is widely defined as the coordination of actions in an attempt to destroy the essential foundations of the life of human groups. The International Court of Justice has stated that Israel’s actions may amount to genocide and calls on all states that are party to the prevention of genocide convention to take measures to prevent genocide from occurring. The International Court of Justice has furthermore ruled that Israel must take all measures to protect Palestinians in Gaza from genocide.
At this important juncture in the conflict, it is our responsibility as senior academic managers – research directors, heads of departments, directors of studies – to respond to and protest the systematic destruction of the Palestinian education sector through acts of war by the Israeli state.
Scholasticide and the destruction of knowledge systems
The destruction of academic personnel and infrastructure in Gaza is not a side effect of war, but rather a targeted campaign that aims to suppress the scholarly traditions and knowledge systems of a society.
The obliteration of Palestinian research, education, knowledge formation and historiography through the bombing of universities, the killing of researchers and teachers and the destruction of archives has been described as scholasticide, educide and epistemicide.
As academics, our role is, of course, not to pursue foreign policy. It is, however, our duty to defend the fundamental conditions that facilitate our work: the academic freedom to educate and to research.
As academics in Swedish universities, we have particular conditions to consider. Swedish universities are statutory authorities, publicly funded and, with approximately 50 per cent of the population educated at university, they represent a key pillar of democracy.
As employees of statutory authorities, we are formally obliged to work in accordance with government policy. As a particular type of public agency, universities have enjoyed a high degree of autonomy, where the content of research and teaching is concerned.
The tension between working in accordance with government policy and critique of that policy has been apparent in how students and staff may express solidarity with Palestinians, with some university-based demonstrations having been violently shut down.
Does it need stating that the ideal of the university as a pluralist and inclusive community of scholars is worth defending as a crucial aspect of democracy?
Swedish universities’ failure to protest the violent eradication of university life and infrastructure in Gaza may represent a form of complicity with that violence.
Particularly given the problem of Sweden’s longstanding neutrality during armed conflict, preventing academics from protesting the destruction of academic personnel and infrastructure risks being perceived as a form of passive alignment to collusion with the Gaza epistemicide.
Institutional silence and its consequences
When Swedish universities and their representatives remain silent about the attack on the fundamental conditions of academic life for Palestinians, we ask what our collective silence conveys to students, researchers and teachers?
Silence does not necessarily amount to an objective impartiality. To turn a blind eye and to fail to act against serious alleged international crimes is to be complicit with that violence by omission, if not by commission.
Failing to recognise that universities have an ethical and moral responsibility to take a stand in cases of serious and widespread war crimes and human rights violations endangers our collective faith in academic leadership and in our shared professional ethics.
When war crimes and human rights violations are alleged to have been committed by a government with which the Swedish government has military cooperation, with a risk of genocide identified in international legal proceedings, there are strong reasons for universities to explicitly condemn such actions.
Our silence ultimately threatens our own autonomy as academic leaders and university employees.
As university academics in Sweden, statutory values underpin our work for democracy, objectivity, the free formation of opinions and the equal value of all people. In all our work – and not least in our international collaborations – we must ensure that human rights are taken into account. The values of the Swedish state are incompatible with cooperation agreements with institutions that are involved in occupation, colonisation and other international war crimes.
Students, protest and democratic engagement
Students are a key part of the university, and we are responsible for their study environment. Students have the right to democratic participation and we have an obligation to protect that right. Universities are responsible not only for students’ safety, but also for their freedom of expression and right to protest.
The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, Gina Romero, has emphasised that academic leaders throughout universities must guide rather than condemn protesting students – through dialogue to deepen their democratic engagement.
If Swedish university principals prevent subordinates from acting in accordance with statutory values, or silence the commitment to human rights and academic freedom, we consider this to raise serious concerns about adherence to academic and professional ethical standards.
Academic leadership in times of crisis
We need to talk about how we can offer leadership in a time when democracy is under threat – and not how we dodge that responsibility.
The moral authority of universities is not based on silence. It is based on action, responsibility and practical acts of solidarity. We cannot stand by while what makes academia possible – free research, critical thinking and democratic rights – is being violently eradicated in real time.
Hannah Bradby, Professor and Head of Department, Department of Sociology, Uppsala University
Martin Harling, Lecturer in Education and Head of Department, Department of Childhood, Education and Society, Malmö University
Marta Kolankiewicz, Doctor of Sociology and Director of Studies, Department of Gender Studies, Lund University
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