[Asec] Statement by ASEC Officers against the Invasion of Ukraine (adopted 25 February 2022)

[Scott Kenworthy]

Dear colleagues:

On this question, I have to agree with Prof. Kormina. This was recently discussed in a Facebook thread, and Catriona Kelly commented:

I'm against academic boycotts because they always hurt the internationalists and those interested in dialogue with the outside world. Also, how can we expect anyone to oppose the Russian government if we punish them just for being Russian?

Our Russian colleagues are overwhelmingly opposed to this war and should not be punished because of the actions of the Russian government—indeed they also need our support at this time if Russia is to have a better future.

Scott


Dr. Scott M. Kenworthy, Associate Professor 
Dept of Comparative Religion
Miami University, Oxford OH 45056
Miami faculty profile <https://miamioh.edu/cas/academics/departments/comp-religion/about/faculty-staff/kenworthy/index.html>
Academia.edu profile <https://muohio.academia.edu/DrScottKenworthy>
My latest book: Understanding World Christianity: Russia <https://www.fortresspress.com/store/productgroup/1900/Understanding-World-Christianity>

> On Mar 5, 2022, at 02:46, Jeanne Kormina <kormina at eu.spb.ru> wrote:
> 
> Dear colleagues,
> 
> being a Russian myself (who have close relatives in Ukraine and whose heart is breaking into pieced from what is happening now) I am not in a position to oppose the letter below, but as a member of an international academic community I feel that I have to.
> 
> My colleagues and friends working at HSE, European University and other institutions in St Petersburg and other cities do not support the war. Our houses are not bombed, but our future is killed. We go on protests, sign petitions - and each of us is risking of being not just fired but detained for a long term. We collect money to pay to solicitors who help our students arrested during the protests; we are seeing our wonderful students of all levels and colleagues (especially young men) fleeing the country - they could become (and some are) the world-level academics in history, sociology, anthropology and other disciplines but many of them will not. 
> 
> War is a horrible thing. We all are too weak to stop the invasion. But we can keep solidarity within our academic community and keep judging each other on the basis of our talent and work and not nationality. Let's stop the war on the territory which we all guard - the academy.
> 
> P.S. Writing this letter I am putting myself at risk: since yesterday anybody who called "the operation" "war" in this country can be put into prison for up to 15 years. 
> 
> Yours sincerely,
> Jeanne Kormina 
>  
> От: Asec [asec-bounces at easternchristianity.org] от имени Zhuk, Sergei [sizhuk at bsu.edu]
> Отправлено: 4 марта 2022 г. 22:48
> Кому: Mudrak, Myroslava; David Goldfrank; Frank Sysyn
> Копия: asec at easternchristianity.org
> Тема: Re: [Asec] Statement by ASEC Officers against the Invasion of Ukraine (adopted 25 February 2022)
> 
> Dear colleagues:
> 
> On 24 February 2022, at 5 am the armed forces of the Russian Federation attacked Ukraine, launching a full-scale invasion on our country. It is a completely unjustified attack that, as of 27 February, killed 352 civilians, including 16 children, wounded 2,040, and caused great destruction of civil infrastructure. Explosions, bombings, and air raids have hit all major Ukrainian cities. The aggressor’s tanks and heavy artillery crossed the Ukrainian border from the north, the south, and the east. On 27 February Putin threatened to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine. This is a war of a scale unseen in Europe since 1945, and the whole world is watching it happen. 
> 
> We are grateful to our allies for imposing economic and political sanctions on the Russian Federation. However, the aggressor continues to use scholarly language to justify its aggression, to use academic superiority to reinforce hierarchies and further reproduce injustice and violence. We need to change the optics and rethink lasting inequalities in academic and knowledge production that privilege certain perceived centers such as Russia and silence perceived peripheries such as Ukraine. We object. 
> 
> On behalf of academic organizations and institutions in Ukraine, we are asking for your solidarity and support. We call to boycott the Russian state now until it completely withdraws from Ukraine and is held responsible for its war crimes:
> 
>   Suspend cooperation with academic institutions and institutes funded by the Russian state;
> 
>   Boycott conferences, workshops, lectures organized by academic institutions that are directly and indirectly linked to or funded by Putin’s regime and Russian capital;
> 
>   Cancel any cooperation with Russian scholars, no matter how well-published or celebrated, as long as they openly support Putin’s regime, silence its crimes, or do not publicly and directly oppose it;
> 
>   Refuse any donations, funding, or sponsorship from Russian organizations, their proxies, and affiliates based in other countries.
> 
>   Remove Russian state-funded publications from SCOPUS and prevent scholars working at state-funded institutions from publishing in indexed scholarly journals. 
> 
>  Cease partnerships with Russian publishing houses that receive funding from the state. 
> 
> When the war will be over and international justice will be served, we will look forward to not only re-establishing but also redefining our scholarly networks, collaborations, and projects in the hopes of more equality in scholarship and society.
> 
> This is a moment to reflect on unequal power dynamics in academia. We urge you to ensure fair and proportionate representation of Ukraine and other countries that have long been lost and silenced in imperial shadows and hear voices that can change our understanding of the structures in which we live. 
> 
> While we support mutual collaboration and exchange, we cannot in good faith engage in scholarly projects with Russia until it withdraws from Ukraine. We recognize that many scholars protest Putin’s actions and have to live in an atmosphere of un-freedom; still, we must acknowledge the deep and lasting legacy of imperial attitudes and actions towards Ukraine. 
> 
> Please help Ukraine by communicating your commitment to this statement publicly and encourage your peers to follow your example.
> 
> We have the power to stop the bloodshed and war. Let’s combine our efforts and end Russia’s war on freedom, democratic values, truth, and the whole civilized world.
> 
> Sincerely,
> 
> 
> 
> Volodymyr Sheiko
> 
> Director General of the Ukrainian Institute
> 
> 
> 
> Dr. Sergei I. Zhuk,
> Professor of History,
> Department of History,
> Ball State University,
> Muncie, IN 47306
> tel.: 765-285-8735
> fax: 765-285-5612
> e-mail: sizhuk at bsu.edu
> From: Asec <asec-bounces at easternchristianity.org> on behalf of Mudrak, Myroslava <mudrak.1 at osu.edu>
> Sent: Thursday, March 3, 2022 10:30 AM
> To: David Goldfrank <goldfrad at georgetown.edu>; Frank Sysyn <f.sysyn at utoronto.ca>
> Cc: asec at easternchristianity.org <asec at easternchristianity.org>
> Subject: Re: [Asec] Statement by ASEC Officers against the Invasion of Ukraine (adopted 25 February 2022)
>  
> See attached notice:
>  
> From: Asec <asec-bounces at easternchristianity.org> on behalf of David Goldfrank <goldfrad at georgetown.edu>
> Date: Thursday, March 3, 2022 at 10:20 AM
> To: Frank Sysyn <f.sysyn at utoronto.ca>
> Cc: "asec at easternchristianity.org" <asec at easternchristianity.org>
> Subject: Re: [Asec] Statement by ASEC Officers against the Invasion of Ukraine (adopted 25 February 2022)
>  
> Thanks, Frank:
>  
> Not at all important in the light of leitmotif, the need for more Orthodox prelates to condemn Putin's criminal war, but silly or careless mistake in the article:  "... the nascent Orthodox Church of Ukraine in 2019 (for centuries, it has been under administrative leadership of the Patriarch of Moscow):" The author doesn't know of the 1721-1917 sinodal period in Russian Church history?
>  
> best to all -- stay safe, well ...
>  
> David G
> _______________________________________________
> Asec mailing list
> Asec at easternchristianity.org
> http://easternchristianity.org/mailman/listinfo/asec_easternchristianity.org

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://easternchristianity.org/pipermail/asec_easternchristianity.org/attachments/20220305/3131fc83/attachment.htm>