aaus-list @ ukrainianstudies.org -- [aaus-list] historians' public protest letter

[stephen velychenko <velychen@chass.utoronto.ca>]

Date:   Mon, 13 Jul 2009 20:11:16 -0400
From:   andrea graziosi <angraziosi@gmail.com>


Dear Colleagues,

Please find below the English version of the official protest of the Italian
Societ for the Study of Contemporary History (www.sissco.it) against the
application of Russia's recent decree on "the falsification of history to
the detriment of Russia's interests". The protest has also been been signed
by the Italian Association of Slavicists (
http://www.associazioneslavisti.it/).

all the best,

andrea graziosi, President
Società Italiana per lo Studio della Storia Contemporanea

************************

Società Italiana per lo Studio della Storia Contemporanea

SISSCo (www.sissco.it)


July 2, 2009


The Italian Society for the Study of Contemporary History is an
associationof approximately 700 hundred Italian professors and
researchers of 19
th and 20th Century history. It has always negatively viewed any state
interference in the scholarly debate. We deem such interference a threat to
the advancement of knowledge and have been concerned by the Russian
Federation President’s decree of May 15, 2009, “*On the commission to
counter attempts at falsifying history that damage Russia’s interests*.”

The letter that Academician V.A. Tishkov, Academic Undersecretary, History
and Philology Section, and Director of the History Section, Russian Academy
of Science, signed on June 23 in application of the above mentioned decree
confirms our fears.


The letter asks “the directors of the Institutes of the History and
Philology Section, Russian Academy of Science” to provide “an annotated (*
annotirovannyi*) list of the cultural-historical falsifications in the
fields of study your Institute is engaged in (indicating the falsifications’
main sources, the individuals or the organizations producing or promoting a
specific falsification, the potential danger such falsification poses to
Russia’s interest, and preliminary proposals for the scientific confutation
of the falsification in question).”


           These words do not need any comment. We are amazed that a
distinguished
colleague could put his reputation at risk without considering the impact
the letter he signed will have in deterring intellectual freedom in the
Section he directs and in his country, as well as on how his actions will be
judged by the international scholarly community. It is in fact evident to us
that conceiving historical research this way will cause serious damage to
the interests and prestige of Russia as a community of free citizens and as
the home of a rich and lively culture.


Fully convinced that only through a free and unfettered debate even the most
absurd and unpalatable theories will eventually suffer defeat, and that any
repressive intervention on the part of the state must be resisted, the
Italian Society for the Study of Contemporary History urges the
international community of scholars, and in particular other scholarly
societies, to make our Russian colleagues feel our support and those who
promoted or executed such decree feel our reprobation.


This is especially important because similar measures are being discussed,
and at times adopted in other countries, including some in the European Union.
In these cases – as in Russia – self-proclaimed “good intentions” are paving
the way to the degradation of that freedom which is, and must remain, the
only light directing the scholarly community.


Società Italiana per lo Studio della Storia Contemporanea

SISSCo (www.sissco.it)
-- 
Stephen Velychenko
CERES Associate;
Research Fellow,Chair of Ukrainian Studies;
Munk Center
University of Toronto
Devonshire Place
Toronto M5S 3K7