问答：难民校长针对种族主义

人权lawyer Debora Kayembe had been settled in Scotland for a decade after fleeing insecurity in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) when her life took an unexpected turn.

凯耶（Kayembe）居住在爱丁堡（Edinburgh），她经常是种族主义行为的受害者，直到破坏她的汽车。但是，当这些延伸到她的九岁女儿时，被要求在同学面前表演奴隶舞时，那是最后一根稻草。

Kayembe将事情掌握在自己手中，向苏格兰议会提出了请愿书，要求将反种族主义标准引入教育体系– a petition well received by parliamentarians. She got involved in activism against racism, organising an event last year to denounce attacks on local ethnic minority communities.

“我作为校长的愿望将是典范，因此，在下一步的机会下，他们会毫不犹豫地选举另一个非洲人担任这一职位。”

爱丁堡大学校长Debora Kayembe

The campaign’s message clearly resonated and, to her surprise, Kayembe was subsequently proposed and elected rector of the University of Edinburgh where she took office in March, becoming the first African and the third woman in post.scidev.net向她讲述了她对这个角色的看法。

Why did you decide to apply to be rector of the University of Edinburgh?

I live 20 minutes by car from the university and always walk past it, but it had never occurred to me to become rector. Then I got involved in racism issues here in Scotland and last year we hosted an event against attacks on non-Scottish communities. I believe that this is what interested staff and students at the university, because it was the student union and university workers union who contacted me to tell me that they appreciated the work I was doing.

因为of the university’s involvement in the life of Scotland in general, they felt it was important that I could have this strategic position to drive the plans I had for fighting racism. So, this is not something that I had been looking for – it was brought to me and I’m so glad to have it.

What are the key developments that have marked your first months in this position?

There are public complaints against certain people connected to the university and against well-established teachers at the university who are said to be promoting the superiority of the white race. People are now opening up and coming to me to denounce it. I know that’s not the university. As an institution, we do not encourage or accept racism. The problem is, you really feel like it’s real. Some individuals are using the superpower of the university to achieve their ends.

另一件事是，我们从锁定中出来，您有一些青年对我们被限制了一年的事实做出了很大的反应，我们在这座城市看到了很多野蛮行为。这些是我需要紧急处理的事情。

In light of this, what will be the priorities of your three years in office?

我想确保大学内部的工作人员和学生在大学内的工作得到重视和尊重。我还想帮助减少巨大的不平等现象，而Covid-19向我们展示了这一点。我想看看大学如何与思想领袖一起实现这一目标。我还希望能够通过创建一个特殊的改编计划来为想要进入爱丁堡大学的聪明孩子提供机会。

我还打算建立一个志愿者计划，以便大学生学会为他人尽力而为。它可以帮助他们离开爱丁堡去世界其他地区，发现他人的生活，并打破这种无知，这是种族主义的基础。但是，最重要的是，我想继续与大学内的种族主义作斗争。

COVID-19是否会损害这些项目的风险？

我制定了这些计划，考虑了大流行。我研究了大流行将我们作为一个社会所在的地方，这些计划将帮助我们应对大流行作为人类。因为这个大流行正在使我们与日常生活方式分离。您无法想象今天的亚洲学生正在受苦多少。他们无缘无故地被指控将这种疾病带到苏格兰。我们将不得不解决此类问题。

从科学上讲，非洲如何从您的立场中受益？

爱丁堡大学内部有与非洲合作的愿望。问题在于非洲的能力和手段水平。因为COVID-19在这里,不会很快消失,我们will have to promote digital working. The DRC, for example, has a serious problem with basic education. Forty per cent of Congolese women are illiterate.

一些非洲国家已经取得了进步，但也存在基础设施和培训的现实。这些是需要缓慢但肯定需要看的东西。也许在我任职的三年中，我将设法为合作而设立基础，希望我追随我的人将继续下一阶段。我作为校长的愿望将是典范，因此，在下一步的机会下，他们将毫不犹豫地选举另一个非洲人担任这一职位。

在研究和教学方面，这所大学具有巨大的丰富性，非洲可以从中汲取灵感。我在这里与学生经理进行了交谈，并鼓励他为想要加入爱丁堡大学的非洲学生建立一个特别计划。这将于2021年9月实施。非洲有一个巨大的未开发研究场。我们知道这一点。现在，我们必须找到合适的时间和手段以及实施此协作的平台。

您将向非洲人提供什么信息？

那个非洲人在各个层面上衡量了世界上最富有的大陆的价值。非洲人必须保护非洲并停止不必要的战斗，并为和平而努力。政府必须在教育上工作，因为没有教育，您将无法建立任何东西。

This article was produced by SciDev.Net’s Sub-Saharan Africa French edition and edited for brevity and clarity.