The AStA FU supports the statement from FSI Geschichte on the Ukraine war and the following demands.
We as the FSI Geschichte demand that the university should be opened up to refugees as quickly as possible. Especiallypeople from third countries who stayed in Ukraine to study at the beginning of the war, face unnecessary difficulties accesing German universities. All bureaucratic barriers must be removed for them as well!
Short-term admission of students to the FU must also be organised. For better integration, this must not only happen in the form of guest students, but regular opportunities must be found to continue their studies. We therefore urgently need more courses, especially in English and German language courses for beginners. We call on the FU to set these up and to lobby the senate for funding!
We also call on the lecturers at the FU to get in touch with their Russian colleagues instead of breaking off contact. It is currently difficult for Russian Nationals to get information that does not come from the Russian state media. We are advocating reaching out to Russian students and academics instead of falling back into rhetoric reminiscent of the Cold War. The Russian people cannot be equated with their government, a general suspicion helps no one!
In this context, we refer to the good statement from communication sciences, which we can endorse: https://www.fu-berlin.de/presse/informationen/fup/2022/fup_22_030-verantwortungsvoller-journalismus-im-krieg/index.html
It can’t be about playing off „good“ and „bad“ refugees or people with Ukrainian and Russian backgrounds against each other. We demand that all people who have to flee because of war, persecution and misery be accepted and we oppose all racism!
Anyone who experiences racism at the university or has other problems is welcome to contact us. Our email address is: fsigeschichte@riseup.net
Finally, we would like to point out the official information of the Senate for Ukrainian refugees, which is also available in English, Ukrainian and Russian: https://www.berlin.de/ukraine/.
Those who want to get involved in helping refugees can also find information here:
– https://blogs.fu-berlin.de/help-ukraine/
– https://www.berlin.de/ukraine/helfen/
The refugee students should not be punished twice for something they cannot do anything about. We cannot change the life-threatening situation from which they fled. But we can do something to help them finish their education with as few problems as possible.
FSI Geschichte FU