Other Responses to “Culture of Silence” Article Inquiry

I sent the following email to a select group of international education colleagues. Below are two responses I received after the article was in its final draft. The first gave me the green light for attribution and the second asked that I share her/his comments on background.

Dear Friends & Colleagues,

Happy Solar New Year from Vietnam! I hope you had an enjoyable holiday. 

I’ve written a draft essay with the above title. It was inspired, so to speak, by some LinkedIn posts I’ve seen recently. The text below in blue is one example. I’d appreciate hearing your reaction to our colleague’s point that “A field that screams so loudly about justice is silent about so much.” S/herefers to “U.S. international ed practitioners” and the focus of my article is US international education but I’m open to other perspectives. What are the differences if any? 

How do you explain this “culture of mostly silence”? Assuming you think it’s possible, how do we move to a culture of action? 

While I’d prefer to quote you by name as an affirmation of a culture of action and engagement, I’m also fine with quoting you on background. No need for affiliation unless you don’t mind. Feel free to share this request with others who might have something to say on this matter. If possible, please respond by Friday, 5 January. If I don’t hear from you by then, I’ll assume you’re too busy or not interested.

Thanks for giving this some thought. 

Mark

For those who remember, what were U.S. international ed practitioners doing back in the early days of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars and the horrors of the surveillance and harassment regime that was enacted against so many Americans in the wake of 9/11? I’m genuinely curious.

Was the space active? Did it encourage knowledge? Did it organize? Or was there a culture of mostly silence back then, too, going about in the day-to-day as if nothing was amiss? A field that screams so loudly about justice is silent about so much…has this always been true?

Too Many Administrators, Too Few Activists

I think the biggest contributor to the “culture of silence” in the field is that IE is riven with administrators and there is a small minority of scholar-practitioners and an even smaller number of activists.

We need to build up the activists. 

Tom Millington, Founder and Executive Director

Too Many Questions, Too Few Answers

I was not in the US at the time of 9/11 or the early days of the Afghanistan or Iraq wars so it is impossible for me to comment on those times or any assertions about what happened.  My personal experience of that type of harassment was in _____ in the mid-1980s during the miners strike.  Driving in a car full of lads to play football was sometimes likely to end up being trailed closely or pulled over by the police.  As the only southerner on the team and with my ASDA identity card my presence usually seemed to confirm that we weren’t on our way to a picket and we were let go – I know that others were not so fortunate.  That is certainlyl not for publication because I do not think those occasional brushes with authorities in any way mirror the genuine horrors experienced by other targeted groups.  I have several Irish friends and the way they were treated from the late 70s to the 90s was abysmal.  

My point is that we can stand as an ally alongside an oppressed or persecuted group but that the lived experience they have is visceral and omnipresent. Intellectualizing, arguing and commenting is a privilege and my opinion is that individuals in countries where speech is broadly free should use it to make their case.  I do, however, think that it is important to be clear about what outcome you are seeking and why – it is rarely enough to simply be against something.  That would be a little like shouting into the void – as Violet-Elizabeth Bott threatens in the Just William books, “”I’ll thcream and thcream and thcream till I’m thick”.   As you know I have tried to focus my horror about the war in Ukraine on the practical step of having Russian universities who support Putin’s war removed from league table rankings so that they do not get the credibility the Russian government seeks.

Three other things seem important.  One result of my writing about Ukraine is that I have had a handful of requests to join other campaigns.  I had sympathy for each of them but declined to become highly active because I did not have the time to engage effectively.  If an opportunity to support on those issues comes my way I will do that but I do not spend time thinking hard or planning about what to say next.  

The second is that many people do not want to put themselves or their loved ones in the way of any potential harm and with the world the way it is difficult for me to argue that this is not a reasonable decision.  I always worry that this can lead to the progressive destruction of free society described in Pastor Martin Niemöller’s poem but individuals must make their own judgements.  

My final thought is that we all start from the presumption that we are right but must accept that we may hold views others find reprehensible or just poorly thought out.  I doubt that many people really believe mass killings are justified but their views might change if they became persuaded it was the only solution to protecting things they cherish and love.

My assumption in all of this is that the subject of the “culture of silence” is the heartbreaking destruction and death in Israel and Gaza.  It seems to me possible that some do not say anything because they do not know what to say.  They are distressed by the history, appalled by the brutality on 7 October and sickened by the carnage that followed.  Maybe that is how we should all feel.  Those who do speak tend to support one side or the other – seeing the initial violence as a response to years of tyranny or the massive destruction and loss of life as a legitimate response in seeking those responsible and preventing any recurrence.  In some ways speaking comes back to my point above – what solution do you propose that will not leave lives in future danger or the guilty unpunished?

If the point is that education institutions should be speaking up I wonder who they are speaking up for and what locus or authority they have.  Do they represent the views of Israelis and Gazans on campus or the broader staff and students?  Are they responding to the current conflagration simply because of its scale or because it is in the news?  Do they have answers to share that will solve the deep-rooted issues underlying what is happening?  What are they prepared to forego, as an institution but inevitably also on behalf of their staff and students, in raising their voice against authority?  It seems to me that institutions have multiple existences –  they are educators, employers and meet needs in society to name just a few – but I often wonder if they genuinely have an existence as formal bodies with a right or requirement to make statements outside of these activities.

US-Based International Educator