Update, 9:55pm, 3 December: This story has been updated with statements by The Edinburgh Tab and the Russian Speaking Society. They can be viewed at the bottom of this article.
The Edinburgh University Ukrainian Society (EUUS) has criticised a recent article in The Edinburgh Tab discussing the Russian-Speaking Society (RSS) at the University.
Published on Tuesday, the article described various experiences of anti-Russian sentiment towards members of the RSS since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February.
One RSS member told The Edinburgh Tab that she had received a death threat in an Instagram direct message.
EUUS said in an Instagram post that they believe that The Edinburgh Tab’s article represented a “false view” of the Russian-Speaking Society’s conduct.
In addition, they have published a letter they and several other Eastern European societies sent to EUSA in late November discussing what they say is concerning behaviour by the RSS.
Speaking to The Student, a spokesperson for EUUS said: “The only thing we have received [in response from EUSA] so far is an invitation to meet with RSS to ‘reach a compromise’ and ‘find a way to co-exist’.
The spokesperson also said that the situation had been difficult for the society to deal with.
“[This experience has been] incredibly upsetting and traumatising to not only members of our society, but to the Ukrainian community within the university at large.”
“This kind of conduct, the manipulation of facts, deliberate spread of disinformation, and tolerance to all of the mentioned, is precisely the reason why the illegal Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine is happening today.
“These sentiments were routinely expressed and left unchallenged for years before, probing the kind of illegal violent escalation Ukraine has been suffering from for nine months and counting.”
The society said that it wanted to refute claims made by students in The Edinburgh Tab’s article, including the claim that the RSS had taken “an explicit anti-war position.”
EUUS said that the Russian-Speaking Society’s decision to host a “tea tasting [and] lecture” with Moscow-based teahouse Nitka was standing against any “anti-war position.”
The teahouse holds weekly tea-tastings at a Moscow cathedral, the construction and operation of which was funded by the Russian government.
EUUS said they were “horrified” that the RSS had allowed the event to go ahead, and drew attention to the cathedral’s promotion of a Russian-nationalist ideology.
The Student has found no specific public condemnation of the Russian invasion of Ukraine by the RSS.
It has found several public condemnations of “war” made by the society in February, however these statements did not condemn the invasion itself.
The Russian-Speaking Society has been contacted for clarification.
EUUS also included in their post a letter sent by several Eastern European societies to EUSA in late November, which addressed concerns they had with conduct by the Russian-Speaking Society.
Alongside the Ukrainian Society, the Lithuanian, Slovak and Czech, Estonian, Polish, and Latvian societies signed the letter.
The societies expressed frustration at the Russian-Speaking Society’s logo, which includes the flags of several countries, including Ukraine and Armenia, which have experienced colonial rule by Russia.
They described the logo as being dismissive of Russification, the historical process by which many ethnic groups in areas bordering Russia have historically been forced to adopt Russian cultural customs in place of their own, including use of the Russian language.
The open letter states: “The society has adopted a logo we simply cannot accept as representatives of nations whose flags have been included in it.
“To [include the flags] within an outline of a traditional Russian doll in a show of unification and multiculturalism is not only insensitive and tone-deaf in the current context, it is also ignorant of the historic experiences of those countries with regards to Russian colonial rule.”
“To place our flags within the logo of the Russian-Speaking Society is insulting to us, to our families, and to our countries, all of whom suffer from collective generational trauma as a result of Russia’s centuries-old attempts to erase our distinct national identities.”
EUUS and the other signatories of the letter have called upon the RSS to “remove flags of countries upon which the Russian language was forcibly and violently imposed upon from their logo – namely, all but Russia itself.”
RSS changed its Facebook logo to one which did not include the flags in question on 14 September, however the logo including the flags returned on 20 September.
The Russian Speaking Society has been contacted for clarification on why the decision to change the logo was reversed.
The letter also raised concerns about the behaviour of one member of the Russian Speaking Society committee, who has been accused by several Eastern European students of making statements supportive of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The Student is working to verify these claims.
The Edinburgh Tab initially declined to comment on this article. However, after the article was published, it provided a statement for publication regarding statements by the Edinburgh University Ukrainian Society carried in this article.
The original version of this article carried an incorrect lead into a quote by a spokesperson for the Edinburgh University Ukrainian Society in its body text which implied The Edinburgh Tab deliberately spread misinformation about the situation discussed in this article.
The line leading into the quote has been updated to accurately contextualise the quote as discussing the society’s difficult experience with parts of the student community. Edinburgh University Ukrainian Society’s full statement to The Student is available below. The Student apologises for the error.
Update, 9:55pm, 3 December: Statement by The Edinburgh Tab to The Student
The Edinburgh Tab is a voice for all Edinburgh students, and encourages all students to come and tell their story if they wish it to be heard. The intention of the article was to bring attention to the negative experiences of Russian students who felt that their voices were being lost, but in doing so not to dismiss the voice of Ukrainian students. We are committed to raising awareness of how Edinburgh students can support Ukraine, a resource you can find on our site.
https://thetab.com/uk/edinburgh/2022/03/01/here-are-11-ways-edinburgh-students-can-support-ukraine-75991
Update, 3:40pm, 2 December: Statement to The Student by the Russian Speaking Society
In our social media we have two posts, both regarding the current war in Ukraine. Although we didn’t make an explicit comment about the Russian government directly, we reiterated the main idea that we do not support the war, and thus do not support the actions of the Russian government which has started it.
Many of our society members have a Russian passport, as well as have their family in Russia. Unfortunately, we therefore cannot allow public statements regarding our opinion on the Russian government’s actions, as this can potentially threaten our members upon arrival to Russia.
From 4th March there is a law stating that any disinformation and discrediting of the Russian army may lead to prosecution and has in fact already let to many people facing the consequences upon the arrival to Russia Here are a few links describing this matter:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_2022_war_censorship_laws
http://www.consultant.ru/document/cons_doc_LAW_10699/4618fd95c30a6fbe7717ceaebf64f082e735c9ad/
The letter being published by the Ukrainian society has been going around for quite sometime, as it has already been signed by 5+ societies, which we (and I stress this), have not been contacted about personally by any of the societies who have negotiated or signed the petition.
Our logo as the Russian society previously, was directly referencing the Russian flag and symbolism of the Russian Coat of Arms. That has been changed by us in due course as we thought it was nationalistic and offensive both to our members and other societies.
During the transition, our Facebook profile picture has simply been blank with a monochromatic picture, as we were still working on the logo. We, along with all the other Slavic, Russian-Speaking and Russian Societies across the UK have discussed changing our logos this year.
What you may notice, is that all the logos include the idea of multiculturalism, not due to us spreading Russification and alleged colonialism implied in the choice of symbols, but rather the fact that our members come from the most diverse backgrounds and represent numerous countries and nationalities.
After having heard this complaint for the first time we as an execute committee have discussed this with the EUSA representative, Shaun Thomas and the claim has been dismissed.
Full statement by the Edinburgh University Ukrainian Society to The Student
This ordeal has been deeply painful for us for several reasons. For one, we are extremely disappointed to see no response to our letter we’ve sent to EUSA and to see the Association take no unequivocal stance against war crime apologia on campus – the only thing we have received so far is an invitation to meet with RSS to “reach a compromise” and “find a way to co-exist”.
Secondly, we find The Tab’s article to be a clear example of not only questionable standard of journalism demonstrated by releasing an article with no fact-checking of statements presented as fact, thereby setting a dangerous precedent of spreading disinformation on an issue that carries real-life consequences for some, but also an example of presenting a one-sided interpretation of the war’s consequences among students.
Finally, the combination of EUSA’s inaction, probing of dialogue with those whom we’ve already flagged concerns about as being in favour of war-positive rhetoric, and the lack of any consideration for the experiences of Ukrainian students, whose families and friends are at risk of dying from a Russian shelling on a daily basis, all of these elements together have made this experience incredibly upsetting and traumatising to not only members of our society, but to the Ukrainian community within the university at large.
This kind of conduct, the manipulation of facts, deliberate spread of disinformation, and tolerance to all of the mentioned, is precisely the reason of why the illegal Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine is happening today – these sentiments were routinely expressed and left unchallenged for years before, probing the kind of illegal violent escalation Ukraine has been suffering from for nine months and counting.
Joint letter to EUSA
To whom it may concern,
As representatives of Edinburgh University’s international community and as students with a desire to stand up for what is right, we are writing this letter to bring EUSA’s attention to several issues that remain unaddressed and directly implicate members of our community concerning the operation and activities of the recently rebranded Edinburgh University Russian-Speaking Society, previously Russian Society (RSS).
Firstly, the society has adopted a logo we simply cannot accept as representatives of nations whose flags have been included in it. To include the flags of countries like Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, Latvia, Armenia, Estonia, among others, within an outline of a traditional Russian doll in a show of unification and multiculturalism is not only insensitive and tone-deaf in the current context, but it is also ignorant of the historic experiences of those countries with regards to Russian colonial rule. The historic policies of Russification as the direct cause behind the existence of non-Russian Russian-speaking peoples were nothing short of destructive and invasive. To place our flags within the logo of the Russian-Speaking Society is insulting to us, to our families, and to our countries, all of whom suffer from collective generational trauma as a result of Russia’s centuries-old attempts to erase our distinct national identities and cultures. As representatives of the nations included in the logo, we’d like to formally vocalise our position of disagreement and disappointment of having had to write this letter in the first place and call on the RSS to remove flags of countries upon which the Russian language was forcibly and violently imposed upon from their logo – namely, all but Russia itself.
Secondly, we are horrified to see RSS having put on an event on October 16 in partnership with a Russian Moscow-based tea company Nitka, which uses the Main Cathedral of the Russian Army as one of its two distribution locations in Moscow. The Cathedral was built and is sponsored by the Russian government, and its name should serve as enough of a descriptor of its nature. If it isn’t, we would like to highlight that this particular church and its interior imagery have been linked with the ‘Russkiy Mir’ (‘Russian World’) ideology, which has been described as “Putin’s creation of an ideology that fuses respect for Russia’s Tsarist, Orthodox past with reverence for the Soviet defeat of fascism in the Second World War”. This location is listed in the Instagram bio of the Nitka tea company – hard to miss if messaging them about a potential collaboration. The Society’s willingness to cooperate with such companies must be interrogated.
Thirdly, we are appalled to have been approached by a few members of the student community who informed us of having had encounters with an RSS member who vocalised their support of Russia’s war in Ukraine to them in conversation, even inviting them to watch the Moscow Victory Day parade flaunting Russian military strength in May 2022, four months into Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine that has killed thousands and displaced millions. The student is a member of several EUSA societies, two of which have subsequently reprimanded them. Those who approached us are happy to provide supporting evidence for this conduct if such is required, anonymously, out of concern for their safety. Seeing as the student has been vocal about their supportive position of Russia’s actions in Ukraine, it puts under question whether RSS has had no issue with tolerating war crime apologia amongst members of their own society, which directly implicates and endangers members of our wider university community who have loved ones currently in Ukraine, spending their mornings in bomb shelters, living under mandatory curfew and with little provision of electricity, not to mention the adverse impacts of this conduct on the mental health of Ukrainian students on campus who may find themselves sharing educational spaces with individuals such as the one in question, actively supporting actions that have lead and continue to lead to the kidnapping, torture, injury, and killing of thousands of Ukrainians.
These issues are not disputable issues to be considered through the lens of free speech. Free speech cannot be used to shield hate speech and actions which directly negatively affect members of the university community – especially when said and done with the knowledge of the implications.
We call on the University of Edinburgh to commit to making our campus one that has no tolerance for war crime apologia the same way as it has no tolerance for racism, sexism, xenophobia, homophobia, ableism, and any other discriminatory and harmful rhetorics. Our university is no place for the defence of, let alone support for, war crimes.
We hope that the aforementioned issues are adequately addressed and that an explicit position on such conduct is adopted by EUSA. On our part, we will be putting a joint motion forward in the upcoming Student Council meeting concerning discipline on spreading war crime apologia within the student community.
Signed,
Edinburgh University Ukrainian Society
Edinburgh University Lithuanian Society
Edinburgh University Slovak and Czech Society
Edinburgh University Estonian Society
Edinburgh University Polish Society
Edinburgh University Feminist Society
Edinburgh University Latvian Society
Edinburgh Women in Politics and IR
Edinburgh University Debates Union
Edinburgh University Gaming Society
Edinburgh University Political Union
Edinburgh University Computer Science Society
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