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Afghan burqa-clad women walk along a street in Kandahar on September 3, 2024. The Taliban government's new law to "promote virtue and prevent vice" has codified their austere rules for Afghan society. Women and girls can no longer take education beyond the sixth grade. Women cannot participate in social life, work in public or private sectors, and even visit gyms, restaurants, or parks, under the Taliban's strict vision of Islam . (Photo by Sanaullah SEIAM / AFP)

A lifeline – with challenges and risks

Norway’s support for scholars at risk is a lifeline for displaced academics. As displaced scholars, however, we see that challenges remain.

In Norway, debates on academic freedom have intensified, driven by controversies like calls to boycott Israel and growing reliance on external funding. One aspect of this debate that should not be overlooked is the experience of displaced scholars in Norway.

Once you reach the safety of a country like Norway, can you really feel free? Are you safe?

The decision as an academic to leave your homeland is fraught with uncertainties. It’s an almost impossible choice.

Staying involves physical risk but offers hope of perhaps helping your family, your colleagues, your friends. Leaving means leaving everything, with the hope of continuing your work and giving voice to the people you left.

And once you reach the safety of a country like Norway, can you really feel free? Are you safe?

Countries in crisis

The larger geopolitical problems we have lived through are beyond the ability of Norway and its universities to help, of course. But they are an important backdrop.

In Gaza, every one of the territory’s universities has been levelled by bombs, and many academics have died. But this catastrophe has only strengthened the resolve of students and educators alike to continue to study and speak.

In Afghanistan, the Taliban has created one of the world’s most severe women’s rights crises. Women and girls can no longer take education beyond the sixth grade. Women’s faces, bodies, and voices are being erased from public life. They cannot participate in social life, work in public or private sectors, and even visit gyms, restaurants, or parks.

In Eritrea, the government controls access to the internet and to information, and the completion of secondary and tertiary level education is linked to obligatory national service administered by the military. Strict control of mass media ensures nothing is said or done to challenge the current regime.

And in Iran, calling out the existing government on policies that restrict freedom of expression, and even calling out the policies that have led to widespread degradation of the environment, can result in persecution, or even death.

Speaking freely here – but our words travel

Even though we can speak freely here in Norway, our words here can still have consequences for us and our families.

In some cases, displaced scholars in Norway are only granted a 2-year visa. That raises the question of what will happen when we must return home.

The oppressive governments we left can use what we have said and done here in Norway to seek retribution.

Or they can strip of us of the academic gains we have made here, or even our citizen rights.

What happens to those of us who are women and are working on PhDs here in Norway if we return to regimes where women have no rights?

Offering insights – and hope

We know that Norway Scholars at Risk, the programme that brought us here, values the diversity we bring to Norwegian society, academic and otherwise.

Our freedoms here give us tools that we would not have in our home countries. We are privileged to be able to speak freely – and to organize.

This kind of information sharing fosters cross-cultural understanding, innovation, and the exchange of ideas, which are vital for addressing global challenges.

One of us is working with project funded by NORAD to enhance e-learning in Gaza. Universities across Europe have expressed interest in helping with educators who can teach online.  This can help fill the vacuum left by the deaths of so many academics in Gaza.

Educational initiatives and programmes reaching out to Gaza aim not just to impart knowledge, but also to foster a sense of normalcy, dignity, and hope amid the chaos.

Education also serves as a powerful tool for rebuilding and revitalizing society. It empowers individuals with the ability to think critically, innovate, and effectively address the pressing challenges they face.

Cross-cultural understanding to address global challenges

Internationalization and the freedom to think are essential protections for education worldwide.

Our freedom to speak has allowed several of us to publish books. One of us is working on a book in Norwegian with the support of the Norwegian Non-Fiction Writers and Translators Association. This book, “Totalitarianism and the Environment” would have never been published in Iran, the author’s home country. Another of us has written an autobiography of a refugee’s perspective and experience.

This kind of information sharing fosters cross-cultural understanding, innovation, and the exchange of ideas, which are vital for addressing global challenges.

As displaced scholars, we may never be wholly safe or free from the troubles that beset our home countries, even though we are in Norway.

Yet we believe our work here supports education as a dynamic and inclusive force for progress and peace.

This opinion piece was originally published in Norwegian in Khrono, an independent national news platform that covers higher education issues in Norway. The article is a result of the conference “Academic freedom and knowledge sharing in Norway and at home: Displaced scholars speak out,” organized in collaboration with SAR Norway, co-financed by Fritt Ord and held at NTNU in November 2024.

References:
AbuSamra, A. (2024). Brain Drain or Brain Circulation? The Impact of Gaza’s 7th October War on the Displaced Academicians and Personnel of Higher Education Institutions. Journal of Higher Education Theory and Practice24(10).

Ginbot, Z. (2024). A New Chapter in the North: A Refugee’s Journey from the Sunny Hills of Eritrea to the Chilly Fjords of Norway.