Dear Keith
I respect this intervention greatly.
what is the point of the kind of work we try to do if it collapses into
the apparent debacle at Reed?
I have expressed my concern, and await a reply for my [one] entry to the
Encyclop.
I have demaded that all contributors and others are kep informed of
progress to ensure a satisfactory resolution to this
I have always tended to [soft socialist/anarchist?] to try and see if
engagement can produce leverage. Maybe in such advanced yesars I shd be
more realistic from the start....
we must persist in working on this
best
David
>>> "Halfacree K.H." <[log in to unmask]> 04/10/07 2:23 PM >>>
An open letter to Elsevier and all those involved in the IEHG
I am respectfully informing you of my decision to follow my fellow human
geography academics at Newcastle University and elsewhere and am
suspending work on my three contributions to Elsevier's International
Encyclopaedia of Human Geography. This is in protest at Reed Elsevier's
ongoing role as organiser of weapons fairs such as the Defence Systems &
Equipment International (DSEI) exhibitions in London.
This has been a difficult decision for me to make as it pits the total
repugnance with which I view the arms industry against a strong personal
ethic of staying true to commitments I make to others. However, having
been wrestling with these issues for quite some time now, and I
especially thank Dave (Featherstone) and Paul (Routledge) for this, I
feel that there is only one course I can take now that a greater
formalisation of our protest has emerged and has been discussed most
thoughtfully across the Critical Geography Forum.
I would like to add, though, that I have found past dealings with
Elsevier themselves via seeking reprint permissions, dealing with the
mechanics of publishing journal articles, etc. to be excellent and
supportive of the promotion of knowledge. Thus, again following the
Newcastle lead, my action initially only targets the high-profile IEHG
and I shall not be boycotting contributions towards other Elsevier
publications. However, I do of course reserve the right to revisit this
decision.
Again lifting often directly from the Newcastle statement, in greater
detail, I do not wish my labour to contribute to the profits of an
industry that is not regulated and policed sufficiently to prevent sales
of weapons to known abusers of human rights. Reports on the 2005 DSEI
fair highlighted serious shortcomings of this nature - see also the
excellent Mark Thomas's (2006) As Used on the Famous Nelson Mandela
(Ebury). More generally, echoing calls in Elsevier journals such as The
Lancet, The British Medical Journal, and Political Geography, as a
critical scholar committed to a culture of life I have profound concerns
about the incorporation of my labour into an enterprise that profits
from the production of the means of killing. Okay, so I am a small
small cog and with politics like mine my labour is compromised everyday
(!) but just sometimes one has to 'scream' (John Holloway 2002 Change
the World without taking Power, Pluto) 'enough'! After all, doesn't
'every little count' (sic.)...
Finally, as those of you know me will appreciate, I find this kind of
public statement attention seeking and hence embarrassing, but I do it
as part of the call on colleagues elsewhere to join the boycott, and to
urge those working in an editorial capacity on the IEHG to reconsider
their involvement.
Yours sincerely,
Dr Keith Halfacree (Geography, Swansea University)
Information:
http://www.caat.org.uk/armsfairs/academics.php
Disarm DSEI - http://www.dsei.org/
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