Anne-Marie Brady faces Kangaroo Court
Professor Cheryl de la Rey
Vice-Chancellor
University of Canterbury
New Zealand
COPY TO:
Professor Ian Wright
Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Research
University of Canterbury
New Zealand
Dear Professor de la Rey,
We are international colleagues of Professor Anne-Marie Brady who we know as a distinguished scholar at the University of Canterbury and a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand. Her ground-breaking research on the United Front work of the Chinese Communist Party has had a profound impact internationally based as it is on meticulous research and her analytical insights over 20 years of scholarship in this area.
Professor Anne-Marie Brady’s work has had a far reaching impact on public and policy discussions globally, which is why we were dismayed to read Martin Van Beynen’s report in Stuff entitled “Canterbury Uni orders review into publication by China expert Anne-Marie Brady”. All of us are familiar with Professor Brady’s superb report “Holding a Pen in One Hand, Gripping a Gun in the Other” that was submitted to the New Zealand Parliament’s Justice Select Committee this past July. We are shocked to read that your Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Professor Ian Wright, gave a statement to the press confirming that the University was entertaining the complaints, and giving them currency by explaining that they allege that the paper contains “manifest errors of fact and misleading inferences.”
We, who know this area, can see no manifest errors or misleading inferences based on the evidenced material provided in the report. The paper does not make “inferences.” People who study it may draw some, but that does not mean the paper made them, misleading or otherwise. Since Professor Wright publicly voiced the allegations a group of us peers again went through Professor Brady’s Parliamentary submission. We find in it no basis for the allegations. Some of the links in its comprehensive sourcing have gone stale since she submitted it but those URLs all still work if put into Wayback or archive.today.
We are disappointed to see no prompt follow-up, explanation or clarification of the University’s position concerning the allegations. The impression left by that published report should have been corrected to show that the University did not intend any endorsement of the complaints, nor an approval or acceptance of complaints to the University as the appropriate way to criticise academic work. The silence has been interpreted as collaboration in slander against a very distinguished scholar whose work has been consistently based on sound social scientific methodology.
We would have expected you to stand up for your university, the right of any of its members to publish their research freely, however contentious, and for Professor Brady as a brave colleague. She has been the target of a harassment campaign and threatening menace because of the serious implications of her important research.
We ask that you issue a prompt and full apology to Professor Brady on behalf of the University of Canterbury for not rejecting the complaints against Professor Brady and instead referring the complainants to the normal way of disagreeing with a paper – publishing their criticism. Professor Wright should publicly apologise for allowing his statement to give credence to the complaints, whether or not he intended that.
We know of no valid basis for any “review” of Professor Brady’s work other than by her peers and other researchers and commentators, as is normal for academic research and publication. That will and should include informed criticism as and if grounds emerge. Her publications are subject to peer review. They have brought great international credit to your University. You risk destroying that credit, to leave it with her alone.
SIGNED:
Aaron L. Friedberg, Professor of Politics and International Affairs, Princeton University, USA
Adrian Zenz, Senior Fellow in China Studies, Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, USA
Aki Tonami, Associate Professor, University of Tsukuba, Japan
Alexander Maxwell, Senior Lecturer in History, Victoria University of Wellington New Zealand
Amanda Black, Associate Professor, Lincoln University, NZ
Anders Corr, Principal, Corr Analytics, USA
Andre Laliberté, Professor, University of Ottawa, Canada
Andréa Worden, Non-resident research fellow, Sinopsis, U.S.
Andreas Fulda, Associate Professor, University of Nottingham, UK
Andrew Nathan, Professor, Columbia University, USA
Anita Chan, Visiting retired professor, Australian National University, Australia
Anna Zádrapová, Analyst at Red Watch Program, European Values Centre for Security Policy, CZ
Arthur Waldron, Lauder Professor of International Relations, University of Pennsylvania
Barbara Hartley, Independent Researcher, Australia
Barrett L. McCormick, Marquette University, USA
Benedict Rogers, Chief executive And Founder of Hong Kong Watch and Deputy Chair UK Conservative Party Human Rights Commission, UK
Bradley Thayer, Professor, University of Texas San Antonio, USA
Casper Wits, University Lecturer East Asia Studies, Leiden University, The Netherlands
Catherine Churchman, Lecturer, Victoria University of Wellington, NZ
Clive Hamilton, Professor of Public Ethics, Charles Sturt University, Canberra, Australia
Consiglio Di Nino, former Senate of Canada senator, CA
Daisy Lee, Correspondent, Epoch Times, NZ and HK
David Schak, Nathan campus, Griffith University, AU
Dean Baxendale, President and Publisher of Optimum Publishing International, CA
Demetrius Cox, Lieutenant Commander, US Navy (Retired), USA
Didi Kirsten Tatlow, Senior Fellow at Asia Program at DGAP, Senior Fellow at Sinopsis, DE
Ding Qiang, NZ Values Alliance, NZ
Donald Clarke, Professor, George Washington University, USA
Dong Luobin, NZ Values Alliance, NZ
Dorothy J. Solinger, Professor, Emerita, UC Irvine, USA
Edward Friedman, Emeritus Professor, University of Wisconsin, USA
Edward Lucas, Senior Vice President, Center for European Policy Analaysis, UK
Elizabeth Economy, Senior fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University and Senior fellow for China studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, USA
Eske Møllgaard, Department of Philosophy, University of Rhode Island, USA
Feng Chongyi, Associate Professor. University of Technology Sydney, Australia
Freeman Yu, Secretary General, NZ Values Alliance, NZ
Gary Chisholm, NZ
Geremie R. Barmé, Professor Emeritus, Australian National University, Australia
Gerrit van der Wees, Adjunct Faculty, George Washington University, Elliott School of International Affairs, United States
Gerry Groot, Senior Lecturer in Chinese Studies, Department of Asian Studies, School of Social Sciences, University of Adelaide, Australia
Gill H. Boehringer, Hon. Senior Research Fellow, Macquarie University Law School, Sydney, Australia
Greg Newbold, Professor Emeritus, University of Canterbury, New Zealand
Gregor Benton, Emeritus Professor, Cardiff University, Wales, UK
Harlan W. Jencks, University of California/Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (Retired), USA
Harold Bockman, Emeritus Professor, University of Oslo, Norway
Charles Burton, Senior Fellow at Macdonald-Laurier Institute & European Values Center for Security Policy, CA
Charles Parton, Senior Associate Fellow, Royal United Services Institute, UK
Chen Weijian, Editor and Correspondent, Beijing Spring, NZ
Clare Curran, MP for Dunedin South, NZ
Christopher Balding, Independent Scholar, USA
Christopher R Hughes, Professor, London School of Economics, UK
Christopher Walker, Vice President for Studies and Analysis, National Endowment for Democracy, USA
J. Michael Cole, Senior Fellow, Macdonald-Laurier Institute & Senior Fellow, Global Taiwan Institute, CA
James D. Seymour, Chinese University of Hong Kong
James Leibold, Associate Professor and Head of Department, La Trobe University, Australia
Jamil Anderlini, Asia Editor, Financial Times, Hong Kong
Jane Verbitsky, Associate Professor, AUT, New Zealand
Jenny Chan, Assistant Professor of Sociology, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong
Jeremy Goldkorn, Editor, USA
Jerome A. Cohen, Faculty Director Emeritus, US-Asia Law Institute, NYU Law School, USA
Jiang Chaoyang, NZ Values Alliance, NZ
Joanne Smith Finley, Reader in Chinese Studies, Newcastle University, UK
Joey Siu, External Vice President, City University of Hong Kong Students Union, Hong Kong
John Dotson, Editor, China Brief, Jamestown Foundation, USA
John Fitzgerald, Swinburne University of Technology, Australia
John Hemmings, Associate Professor, Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies, USA
John Minford, Emeritus Professor, Australian National University, Australia
Jonathan Hassid, Iowa State University, USA
Jonathan Mirsky, former editor, Times of London, UK
Joseph Bosco, Former China Country Director, Office of the Secretary of Defense, USA
Josephine Chiu-Duke, Professor, University of British Columbia, CA
Julian Snelder, Director, Amiya Capital, NZ
June Teufel Dreyer, Professor, University of Miami, USA
Karin Kinzelbach, Professor, FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany
Katerina Procházková, Sinopsis, CZ
Kerry Gershaneck, Professor, National Chengchi University, Taiwan
Kevin Carrico, Senior Lecturer, Monash University, Australia
Kevin McCready, Translator, former Australian Government Economist, New Zealand
Kimberley Kitching, Senator for Victoria, Australian Senate, Australia
Kingsley Edney, Lecturer in Politics and International Relations of China, University of Leeds, United Kingdom
Larry Diamond, Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution, USA
Lesley Seebeck, CEO Cyber Institute, ANU, Australia
Louisa Greve, Director of Global Advocacy, Uyghur Human Rights Project, United States
Louisa Wall, MP, NZ Parliament, NZ
Lukáš Zádrapa, Head of Department of Sinology, Charles University, Czech Republic
Luke de Pulford, Coordinator of Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, UK
Magnus Fiskesjö, Associate Professor of Anthropology, Cornell University, USA
Mareike Ohlberg, Senior Fellow, German Marshall Fund, DE
Margaret McCuaig-Johnston, Senior Fellow, China Institute, University of Alberta, CA
Mark Selden, Senior Research Associate, East Asia Program, Cornell University, Managing Editor, The Asia-Pacific Journal, USA
Martin Flaherty, Visiting Professor, School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University
Martin Hála, Director, Sinopsis, CZ
Mary Farquhar, Professor Emeritus, Griffith University, Australia
Michael Barr, FAHA; Associate Professor in International Relations (Academic Status), Flinders University, Australia
Michael Dillon, China specialist, Formerly Director, Centre for Contemporary Chinese Studies, University of Durham
Michael Yahuda, Professor Emeritus of the London School of Economics and Political Science, currently Visiting Scholar the George Washington University, Washington DC, USA
Michelle Mood, Assistant Professor, Kenyon College, USA
Nicky Hager, Independent Journalist and Author, NZ
Olga Lomova, Director of the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation International Sinological Center at Charles University, Prague
Ondřej Klimeš, Czech Academy of Sciences, CZ
Peter Dahlin, Director, Safeguard Defenders, Spain/China
Peter Hartcher, Political and International Editor, The Sydney Morning Herald, Australia
Peter Humphrey, External Research Affiliate, Harvard University Fairbank Center, United States. External Research Affiliate, King’s College London, Lau Institute, United Kingdom
Richard Kraemer, Board President, US-Europe Alliance, USA
Richard Louis Edmonds, Former editor, The China Quarterly, FR
Robert Horvath, Senior Lecturer, La Trobe University, Australia
Robert Porter, Cyber-Security Fellow, CRS, Tama University, Japan
Roger Garside, Former British diplomat, United Kingdom
Ruan Ji, Lecturer, AUT, NZ
Sam Armstrong, Director of Communications, Henry Jackson Society, UK
Sandrine Emmanuelle Catris, Assistant Professor of History, Augusta University, United States
Shaun O’Dwyer, Associate Professor, Faculty of Languages and Cultures, Kyushu University, Japan
Shelley Rigger, Brown Professor of Political Science, Davidson College
Simon Chapple, Director, Institute for Governance and Policy Studies, Victoria University of Wellington, NZ
Stephanie Hemelryk Donald, Professor, Lincoln University, UK
Stephen Blank, Senior Fellow. Foreign Policy Research Institute
Steven I. Levine, Faculty Research Associate, University of Montana, USA
Steven W. Mosher, President, Population Research Institute, USA
Stuart Russell, Professor, Macquarie University School of Law, Australia (retired)
Teng Biao, Grove Human Rights Scholar, Hunter College, USA
Terence Russell, Senior Scholar, University of Manitoba, Canada
Thierry Kellner, Professor, Université libre de Bruxelles, Belgium
Thomas G. Mahnken, Senior Research Professor, Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, USA
Thomas Chase, Lecturer, Monash University, Australia
Toby Dalley, Independent Scholar, NZ
Tom Grunfeld, Emeritus Distinguished Teaching Professor, SUNY, USA
Tom Sear, Industry Fellow, University of New South Wales, Australia
Valerie Niquet, Senior Research Fellow, Fondation pour le RéchercheStratégique, France
Vanessa Frangville, Professor, Université libre de Bruxelles, Belgium
Victor H. Mair, Professor, Chinese Language and Literature, University of Pennsylvania School of Arts & Sciences
Victoria Tin-bor Hui, Associate Professor, University of Notre Dame, USA
William A. Callahan, London School of Economics, UK
Yaxue Cao, Founder and Editor, China Change, United States