[Ura-list] Solidarity with Ukraine

[MMJocelyne Fernandez]

Dear all,

Johanna's assertion that "all uralicists condemn" may be true, but it 
does not automatically imply that all of them want to express it. Which 
should not prevent us from adding our signatures to already existing 
initiatives. In France the protests against the Russian invasion are 
mixed up with our campaign for the President election (to happen in 
early April), i.e. mostly concentrated on denouncing the "extremist" 
(right and left) candidates who had shown some sympathy for Putin's 
government - or reproaching Macron his failure in trying to negotiate 
with Putin. Consequently, academic initiatives are rare, and I am ready 
to put my name on declarations from elsewhere.

Thank you Johanna for sending us all this information, and Jeremy for 
remembering us of the word "moot", which I have always found somewhat 
ambiguous.

MMJocelyne Fernandez


Le 01/03/2022 à 23:46, Jeremy Bradley a écrit :
> Dear all,
>
> 1) I for one will absolutely put my name on any declaration there 
> might be. My gut feeling right now is that none of us in the West will 
> be wanting and getting visas to travel to Russia anyway as long as 
> Putin lives as a free man, so previous concerns that being too openly 
> outspoken might jeopardize my odds to get a visa are completely moot 
> at this point.
>
> 2) As regards Christopher's point, I think we should be careful with 
> what we expect from our colleagues in Russia. Given the complete 
> crackdown on any illusion of freedom of expression happening right 
> now, for Russia-based colleagues to express opinions running counter 
> to Kremlin narratives can be genuinely dangerous, and ultimately not 
> worth the risk. Even before things escalated people suspected FSB 
> agents everywhere (rightfully so, I might add), and it was hard to 
> judge what pro-Kremlin positions I've heard were genuinely held, or 
> expressed "just in case". We can just hope friends and colleagues are 
> on the right side of things, and if not, that the lies will become 
> untenable in the days to come. (And if it's an opt-in declaration, the 
> point becomes moot.)
>
> Best,
> Jeremy
>
>
>
> On 01/03/2022 23:16, Christopher Culver wrote:
>> Johanna Laakso <johanna.laakso at univie.ac.at> writes:
>>> the Uralicists of the world strictly condemn Putin’s aggression
>> Do they? Obviously a letter would draw signatures from those of us
>> outside Russia with access to free media. But at least in past
>> conflicts, I have only heard our colleagues in Russia support whatever
>> narrative is being presented on Russian state television. What good is a
>> collective letter from Uralicists where more than half of the scholars
>> in our field are unlikely to be represented?
>>
>> Also, I imagine that some whose careers involve fieldwork would be
>> worried about the harm this could do to their future prospects for being
>> granted Russian visas.
>>
>> Christopher Culver
>>
>>
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-- 
MMJocelyne FERNANDEZ(-VEST) Professor Emerita CNRS & Université Sorbonne 
Nouvelle
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