The liberal and confindustrial Luiss flirts with Iran

Brief considerations on the collaboration agreement between Luiss Guido Carli and Iran. Francis Walsingham's letter

Dear director,

I hope that none of your collaborators, unlike two names from Verità and Formiche , namely Camilla Conti and Gabriele Carrer , have criticized the collaboration agreement between Luiss and Iran in such a blatant manner.

I really hope so, because it is precisely from the academic world that signs of openness to others, to those different from us, must come. Especially if this "other" is the Islamic Republic of Iran, a country with a long history and profound culture, which only the most malicious could reduce to a theocracy led by an ayatollah. Is there – I wonder – a better interlocutor than Tehran for the Guido Carli Free International University of Social Studies, owned by Confindustria and dedicated to a great liberal economist and intellectual?

I say this with great sincerity: I am really happy with this agreement, which is also dedicated to sectors that are not at all sensitive such as science and technology. Some naysayers will say that we shouldn't discuss these things with a country that is authoritarian and repressive towards its own people, that imprisons Western citizens on false charges, that finances militias around the Middle East, that is very active in the production of drones and missiles and that it does not allow international surveillance of its nuclear activities. Some ill-thinking people may think so, of course, but certainly not me: on the contrary, I believe that the academy must be a separate thing, a world of ideas.

I tried to interpret the thoughts of the rector of Luiss to motivate the agreement with Iran. But then – I confess it to you – I felt ashamed.

Best regards,

Francis Walsingham

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This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/luiss-iran-accordo-collaborazione/ on Tue, 20 Feb 2024 15:31:38 +0000.