EDINBURGH University should “publicly acknowledge” its links with harms caused in Palestine and help to repair the damage of dispossession, according to an expert in international relations.
Nicola Perugini, who teaches at the institution’s School of Social and Political Science, has made the call to mark the anniversary of the Balfour Declaration. Made by former PM and then-foreign secretary Arthur Balfour on November 2 1917, it asserted British Government support for the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine. It also pledged that “nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities”.
However, human rights remain in relation to free movement and the seizing of Palestinian land. Last week it was reported that Israel has approved around 3000 new settler homes in the occupied West Bank.
When the declaration was made, Balfour was part way through his near-40-year-long chancellorship at Edinburgh University. Perugini says it’s now time for the institution to consider “fundamental questions”. Writing in the Sunday National, he asks: “Why don’t we publicly acknowledge that the man that has been appointed to enhance our global academic reputation for 40 years was also a key political-intellectual actor in the production of a racialised imperial order that has dispossessed so many?
“What would be the implications of such a recognition? And since the question of Palestine is still alive as a colonial question that continues to generate violence and dispossession, as we have seen also recently: how could we contribute, with concrete and tangible institutional actions, to decolonise Palestine and repair our institutional entanglement with a settler colonial project that continues to deny Palestinians the right to self-determination and uproot them from their land? After all, the Balfour Declaration was also our Chancellor’s declaration.”
The call comes in the same week that the Edinburgh Slavery and Colonialism Legacy Review Group asked residents to help inform the way the capital “addresses its past links to slavery and colonialism”.
A university spokesperson said: “As an institution we are rooted in our history and there is a lot to celebrate and be proud of. Equally there are aspects of our past which are viewed as challenging today. We welcome debate from within our community on these issues as we continue to explore our historic links to race and colonialism.”
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel