Secretariat Activity Report 2004-2005
by Jean-Luc De Paepe
Deputy Secretary General of the iua
It is true that it was not easy for professor Yinanç to convince the Bureau and the Secretariat to have this Session in Turkey. But finally we have been persuaded and thanks to two successive missions and in-depth discussions here we built up the basis for what we may call a well-prepared session. By the end of this week you also will decide if we were right or not in saying this! A last word about the Türk Tarih Kurumu. You will discover in walking in this modern seat that the word "Tarih" (the Turkish name for "History") must in fact be understood in a quite wider approach. Our host Academy indeed is largely dealing with all humanistic and social studies, in a comprehensive way from the philosophy to the sociology, from the law studies to the economic studies. Do not hesitate in that sense to consult and to handle, and why not to buy their publications which cross your own fields of research.
This preamble has already made it clear to you, we hope, that your Secretariat was highly involved in the preparation of this 79th Session during last year. We will report, as it is our duty to be honest and frank with you, what we had already said in Barcelona, i.e. , the iua Secretariat owes a lot to the Belgium Royal Academy that accepts many members among its staff invest time for the running of the Union affairs, not only during the ephemeral period of a session but over the entire and far longer interval between two successive sessions. In Brussels, it happens more and more often that we may be six, even seven persons, requested to carry out tasks linked to the iua at the same time.
We have to say it openly : Brussels is only Brussels ! A vast majority of the tasks should be lead by the members themselves who have to devote time and pay attention to the projects they want to co-operate with or to run – they are supposed to run –, even if they just have patronised them. More active consideration from the different responsible members to the progress of the projects is a need, a requirement, a necessity.
It is worthy to be noticed that precisely new projects are still proposed. At this session, ad hoc committees have to analyse at last half a dozen of proposals, proof that the seal of the iua has a real value. Otherwise, why would exist such a search for value? On the contrary, one could say that each annual session would consider at least many more projects.
So, as the dead’s eyes are gently shut, it is also as much important as to gently open the living’s eyes and to state that we must not give up looking into the means that we have to give to the Bureau and the Secretariat to allow them to fulfil and develop their missions and the additional ones that you want to entrust them with the best of intentions.
On this point there is another reflection that we have to stimulate. De facto how can we deeply improve our income without imposing difficulties and financial constraints to all our members? Any good suggestion will be welcome, but it must then take into account the limited number of people who in Brussels contribute to manage the organisation. To give you another clear example of the rapid limits of our possibilities, let us speak about the iua web site, which has now made big progresses. A lot of our projects are already on show and immediate references to the concerned editing companies are possible. And the system is on the tracks to be enlarged and improved. But such a visibility has a price and a cost. The Secretariat pays a half time salary for that technical work. We cannot afford to do it, we cannot afford to pay for it. And we and you, you and we will continue to pay, at least for the maintenance and for the updating of the database.
There is another field in which Bureau and Secretariat have to remain vigilant. If the iua counts Academies in 57 countries to date, you feel concerned when you notice that about fifteen countries are not represented in this session. But out of these fifteen countries, hardly five participate to either project. Even if it is obvious that many national Academies cannot participate to the annual session for financial reasons- it would be advisable to examine whether, on that point, some assistance could be proposed or initiated by well off Academies towards their impecunious colleagues in the frame of twinning or partnerships- it is just as obvious that many of these Academies are missing because they are inactive as far as co-operation is concerned or not strongly integrated into the iua projects. Maybe we can add that, in some mentioned cases, some Academies are completely ignorant of the functioning of the iua and the undeniable opening that an international co-operation could provide to their institution. On that precise point, we must greet the Sciences Academy of Albania membership application, which we hope, will meet a favourable answer by the end of this week. This request, due to the joint effort of the Secretariat and the Bureau, is also the outcome of a joint reflection of the executives of this Academy who decided to put an end to its isolation at all levels. In the same register, let us be also delighted at the trust showed to the Union by the History Academy of Paraguay that submitted its request for being recognised as an effective member, without waiting for the possible end of term. And being effective member means a fee payment too…
Subscription is synonymous with finance. And here is again the damned word of "finance" surreptitiously coming into our speech. The iua finance has been unbalanced during this financial year merely due to the actions agreed and carried out. In 2004, in Barcelona we did agree to these expenses, certainly duly justified and in accordance with our objectives (a three-day seminar on the Dictionary of Medieval Latin, workshops on the Human Dignity and on the project China and Mediterranean World), yet our accounting suit becomes very tight soon, and it has to be patched without using either wrap hiding shabby appearance for that. As a matter of fact, and you know it, with an annual budget of around hardly 100 000 €, miracle becomes a permanent modus operandi method, if we get into doing some "extra". Here too, the Secretariat and the Bureau must be then constantly vigilant. And it is not much the 1% subscription increase, just mentioned by the President, added to the 5% inflationary increase reached in Belgium over three years that would allow to be smart and forward-looking.
And such an example can be found in the urgent request that the Beazley Archive submits to your judgement. The work carried out by Professor Donna Kurtz’s team is remarkable. From now on the cva.org is on line and constitutes an exceptional reference and working tool that counts up to more than three thousand hits per day. A proposal for calling on a maximum of Academies that would assume these points has been put forth. Could a balanced and shared solidarity be the answer ?
And let us not count on the icphs and unesco for their help. The iua is supporting the icphs that is facing a serious financial crisis and is incapable to help those enterprises that call for its assistance, over two years at least. In Beijing, the General Assembly we attended recently, revealed once more the lack of control over the events endured first and foremost by the organisations dealing with human and social sciences whose points of convergence, as needs meet when the devil drives, are more and more underlined. Bureau and Secretariat are very supportive of bringing the icphs and the issc together by having their General Assembly held in common. It is in this perspective that we threw out the idea of having the icphs and the issc meeting together in 2006 in Alexandria, the mythical city, sin of pride of the ancient science, whose name is the symbol of the violation of the wisdom acquired from books, but also of the renaissance of the phoenix of the knowledge, of the crossing of the worlds, of the Levant and the West, that we have to develop, no matter what. Alexandria must allow to explore those tracks that make them closer.
But time has come now to conclude. 2004-2005 has shown once more we deeply knew the quantity of work to be done. It has shown also how multiple were the targets to be reached. It has not shown how we could reach them all together. But, once upon a time, this was a story you still may write if you wish so. The uai is an Union, rich of the variety of the Academies which compose it, rich of the international significance of its work. Union, Academies, International : three words that can sublimate our and your daily work.
I thank you for your attention.
Jean-Luc De Paepe, reporter