Should International House and the British Council get out of Syria?

Posted on 20/04/2012 by alexcase

Quite apart from whatever risk there might be of teachers being trapped there if things really blow up (as very nearly happened in Libya), there must be some point at which the positive impact organisations can make by leaving as a protest would be more than the impact of staying. Or should cultural organisations absolutely never take decisions based on politics? If not absolutely never, where should the line in the sand be drawn?

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3 Responses to Should International House and the British Council get out of Syria?

  1. Stephen Greene's avatar Stephen Greene says:
    20/04/2012 at 13:52

    You raise an interesting point.

    I don’t think we can say that cultural organisations should never take political decisions, everything is political at the end of the day.

    Personally, I think they should stay for as long as they think they are doing some good for the people of Syria. That has to be a decision taken by the people on the ground.

    I am not sure, though, if the British Council is merely a cultural organisation. They seem to want to portray themselves as such, but lots of people would disagree.

  2. Paraskevi Andreopoulou's avatar Paraskevi Andreopoulou says:
    20/04/2012 at 14:21

    Well, I think it’s up to the United Nations to decide whether the International House and the British Council should stay or leave. If it is a matter of physical health being jeopardised, then,I believe they (UN) will proceed to terminate /cease temprorarlily the operation of these cultural organisations.

    But, deep down, I reckon the war conflicts in Syria are already fabricated, for the simple reason that some sort of political conspiracies are under way…

  3. mura's avatar mura says:
    20/04/2012 at 20:28

    as stephen mentions certainly BC (no idea about IH) is an extension of the British gov., they perform the promotion of the ideology of their funders.

    as to the staff involved they probably will be evacuated soon seeing as the US/UK seem bent on a military escalation.

    if all parties were acting in good faith there would be no problem for staff to be able to stay there unfortunately that is not the case.

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