The death of Cambridge professor Jason Arday is a horrible personal tragedy for him and all his family, the cruel outcome of a cruel system.
Whether or not he plagiarised some of his work, or exaggerated some of his achievements, is not the point. Bell Ribeiro-Addy MP read out in parliament just a few names of well-known academics who have been accused of the same but not faced the same onslaught.
His death came after more than a year of relentless public scrutiny, attack, ridicule and humiliation. At first, and continually, by ‘race realists’ – ie right-wing ‘academics’ and others determined to take down a black professor, no matter the personal cost, to prove their racist theories of white superiority.
But not only them. The so-called mainstream capitalist press had a field day. It is reported that there were over 200 articles about Arday in the UK printed press over the last year; 60 in the Times alone.
And what of Cambridge University itself, that ‘bastion of the establishment’, with its centuries’ long history of privilege and prejudice, its almost total absence of leading black academics, deciding to burnish its anti-racism credentials by raising up and displaying its young black prodigy.
The right, of course, blame ‘woke’ ‘Diversity, Equality and Inclusion’ (DEI) for promoting someone who they have decided was not worthy. His death will be exploited by all those who want to argue that DEI and Black Studies etc should be abolished.
The mood that led to the big Black Lives Matter movement still exists, and is coupled with fears about Reform and the far-right. Mass protests could erupt again. If the trade unions were to take a lead – in this instance starting with the unions most directly involved in the media and higher education, such as the UCU, NUJ and Bectu (the University and College Union, the National Union of Journalists, the Broadcasting, Entertainment, Communications and Theatre Union) – a movement could be built with demands that unite the working class to challenge racism and undermine those who champion it.
The elite universities play a vital role in capitalist society in the production and propagation of ideas, and in the creation of the next generation of bosses, top managers, judges, MPs etc. Racism – along with sexism and all other forms of discrimination – are inherent in all capitalist institutions, including the big business media and the top universities. Both these institutions are the creators and purveyors of capitalist ideas and ideology, including the ‘divide and rule’ necessary for an unequal and oppressive system to protect itself.
But they are only able to play that role if there is a level of social support. So it is also inevitable that, while racism and division runs through their veins, universities will also develop ideas and promote areas of study which help capitalist society to cover over that reality. Individual institutions will also feel the need to occasionally demonstrate their alleged liberal face. Cambridge wore Arday like a badge.
And both the billionaire press and the universities are institutions driven by profit.
From the Editors Code of Conduct brought in after Princess Diana’s death in 1997, to the 2011-12 Leveson Inquiry into the ‘culture, practices and ethics’ of the press, the billionaire press has been more or less left to ‘mark its own homework’ – and, not unexpectedly, the brutal pursuit of profit at the expense of human lives has gone on unabated. The only way to deal with the press is for the profit motive to be removed, and for media facilities to be democratically nationalised under workers’ control (with political parties’ coverage being allocated in proportion to the popular vote at elections). That would both enable democratic checks on practices, and allow genuine investigative journalism to develop free from the pressure to compete in the chase for mega-bucks.
Meanwhile the university system, starved as it is of public funding, is more and more driven by the need to make money. While it has always been the case that some ruthless top academics embedded in the establishment have used and abused the work of those under them, the pressure on students and academics alike has only increased as the drive to sell the product increases. It is no wonder that some – perhaps many – succumb to cutting a few corners.
This is why it is essential to fight for full funding for post-16 education; for the eradication of marketisation and the pursuit of profit from our education. Genuine democratic control and management of educational institutions by the staff, trade unions and students is necessary in all aspects of the system – from appointment and support of all staff; access, support and resources for students; and the quality and content of the education and research itself.
It is through full funding and democratic control and oversight of all practices that the pressures on staff and students can be overcome, genuine equality and inclusion can begin to be developed, and the racism and division embedded in the system can be challenged.