The Fight for Knowledge

(image) Academic freedom is crucial for the development of a society, and academics and students are important agents of change.

They play important roles in the development of a society by being critical public voices. Higher education and research are crucial conditions for development and liberation; education enables people to think critically and independently, but in order to achieve this academic freedom is necessary. Education is essential for social, political, civil and economic liberation.

With this year campaign, SAIH wants to focus on academic freedom because the right to academic freedom should be a common battle that concerns us all. Our goal is to show our solidarity with those who have lost their freedom, to make structures and obstacles preventing freedom visible, and to put forward alternatives of action to how students and academics in Norway can contribute to change the situation for those who experience censorship, punishment, and have had their freedom taken away.

SAIH’s campaign 2008 aims to therefore make the political obstacles visible, particularly obstacles for academics and students in the global South. As a specific approach to this, SAIH is now initiating a cooperation with the international network “Scholars at Risk”. The network works to increase freedom of expression and academic independence by offering temporary employment to academics that for political or other reasons cannot carry out their work at their own institutions. In this way, Norwegian students and academics have an opportunity to show their solidarity with their colleagues and fellow-students in the global South

Furthermore, by focusing on how global North/South-relations affect the global development of knowledge, and how lack of accessibility to academic research can be an obstacle to academic freedom, SAIH’s campaign will create awareness about how conditions in the global North can influence the situation of students and academics in the global South.

One approach to improve the availability of scientific research is “Open Access”, which deals with making scientific publications freely accessible on the World Wide Web. The author or originator keeps the legal rights to the publication, but gives the user the permission to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search within or link to the full text without demanding compensation. SAIH wants to participate in the discussion about the global exchange of knowledge and hindrances connected to this.

By: Siri Luthen, Vice President SAIH