As an international master’s program we know that many of our students live simultaneously in Germany and elsewhere. What is happening worldwide has repercussions on the ways in which our students live and feel here in Hannover. Especially in times of political turmoil and social crisis, this simultaneity can quickly turn into an almost unbearable burden, especially if students are new to Hannover or Germany and have no communities with which they can share their anxiety or despair.
In the recent weeks, things have escalated most horribly in Iran, a country from which many of our students stem. We are looking with horror at the regime’s merciless responses to the protests and the people’s pervasive demand for change. Thousands have been killed, and the regime’s excessive violence extends to arbitrary detainment, imprisonment, torture, and a sweeping disregard for the country’s civil society. Students and other academics are crucially affected by all of these measures, and we know that it is impossible for many of our students to continue their studies in Germany as their friends and families are suffering in Iran, especially since the channels of communication and information have been willfully blocked.
We stand by their side and we protest the brutality with which the regime, once more, came down on the people. At the same time, we know that for many of our students it will be painful that we single out this atrocity. What about the Kurdish struggle? What about Syria? What about Gaza? What about the many other places all over the world where people suffer? What about antisemitism, islamophobia, anti-Black racism, or anti-immigrant violence? Some instances are small-scale and largely ignored by the media, others are glaringly visible and much discussed. But the pain for the ones who witness from afar what their families or loved ones are going through cannot be measured in the currency of media attention.
We will take this most recent horror as a point of departure to establish spaces for all students who are struggling as a result of political conflicts or wars in their home countries. Please know that you can talk to us when you are affected by such events. We will help with practical aspects such as deadlines. And we would like to create spaces for students to meet—either individually or in groups. To this end, we will liaison with AStA (the students’ association), who are working toward similar ends on a university-wide level. Please get in touch with any of the instructors, but particularly with the program’s director Ruth Mayer and our tutor Büşra Öktem if you want to help in this endeavor or if you feel affected.
- The Faculty of the Division of North American Studies, English Seminar, LUH