The suicide
The Student Parliament has shot itself in the foot.
På norsk; "Illustration: Anders N. Kvammen")
Illustration: Anders N. Kvammen
Even though Venstrealliansen based its campaign on populist utopias, this should still be surprising even to their firmest supporters
Last week, the Student Parliament decided to academically and commercially boycott a number of somewhat dodgy countries; Israel, the UK, the US and China to name but a few. But, what does an academic boycott imply? To cut all ties as to exchange programmes, to send home all visiting professors and to stop reading academic works from the countries in question.
Whether this is a good idea, scientifically speaking, is probably rather questionable seeing as how the majority of science comes out of the US, and how all research within natural sciences is standing on the shoulder of giants. Not only is this like flushing Norwegian research down the drain, this is also a kick in the bollocks to any student who fancies an exchange programme with one of these countries. That student politicians can be at ease with this, is a crime so obscene that their days in office should have been over before they began. Even though Venstrealliansen based its campaign on populist utopias, this should still be surprising even to their firmest supporters.
To those of you who feel this resolution is a major blow to the desired internationalisation, it may interest you to know that this resolution will hardly have any practical or political effects. But what consequences could have emerged from this? Would such a boycott be able to create liberty, equality, tolerance and fraternity? Would it make Israel withdraw its troops from Palestine, or China from Tibet? Or Morocco from Western Sahara? Would the religious regime in Iran stop executing minours if we throw out Iranian exchange students? In Iran, students are the ones who bleed for democracy and human rights. They are the ones being battered in the streets in the name of shattering the dream of a better life. Academic circles do not only provide common ground, but also create a humanistic foundation for their noble fight against sharia, corruption and anachronistic dogmas.
When the Norwegians more than 100 years ago gave the Swedes the boot and decided to set their own agenda, there were two men at the helm; professors Brögger and Nansen.
Who is then to blame for the Student Parliament’s suicide attempt? Moderat Gruppe tabled the proposal and pushed it through only to claim that this was a stunt in order to show the illegitimacy of the Parliament. The one who tabled the proposal sticks by his argument that this is an indication that the Parliament should be dissolved. Moderat Gruppe is supposed to tip the scales in favour of the non-socialist bloc. It is not supposed to ruin an already fragile student democracy. The University of Oslo is a far-left university characterised by socialist thoughts and ideas. If Moderat Gruppe does not realise that socialist ideas die hard and change focus to pragmatism rather than parody, it is time to move to the US before the boycott kicks in.
