Well I suppose it took a person from Scotland, the home of the
Enlightenment, to let us see what should have been staring us in the face.
And perhaps one day we will thank Neil and the RGS. Why as we approach the
twenty first century do geographers of all people want to have national
professional associations? Why can't we have a genuine international
association? No AAG, no IBG. Surely that would be of benefit to
postgraduates world wide. Also can anyone think of any other national
academic association that would have got itself in this position? The BSA?
The British Psychological Society? The Royal Historical Society even ?
What of the IGU-- there is an institution that I have a lot more respect for
than the RGS which seems now to have great difficulty in shaking off its
imperial origins and coming to terms with the reality of the new century.
Now if someone was to say the RGS was proposing to take down the David
Livingstone statue at 1 Kensington Gore and to replace it with one of Ken
Saro-Wiwa then I would say it was coming to terms with a post-colonial
world. In the long run some of the arguments are saying that will happen
if we hang in there and fight but in the long run all of us will be dead.
Sorry to take issue with Adam Tickell but I see no sign of consciences in
voting against cutting links. I see arguments that persuaded people to vote
against but not consciences, allowing conscience on such a matter as voting
against this particular motion is a very slippery slope. I can obviously
think of a number of occasions in this century where people would argue that
they were guided by their consciences to do the most terrible acts.
Andy Charlesworth
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