Ian Parker Back at Work

01 Feb Ian Parker Back at Work

January 31, 2013

For those of you who’ve been following my posts about the suspension of Ian Parker from Manchester Metropolitan University, I have good news!

The suspension is over.

Here is a message from Ian that was posted on Asylum, An International Magazine for Democratic Psychiatry, Psychology and Community Development:

Dear all,

I was notified by letter dated 7 December that I should return to work on 10 December. My suspension is thus over. The petition and letters of support alongside the UCU branch mobilisation made this possible. I would like to give many thanks to all those who supported me during this difficult time. There are some remaining issues concerning the conditions under which I can work, and it is an open question now as to whether this will be in MMU or not. It will not be in the Department of Psychology. Meantime, I continue to work in the Discourse Unit (www.discourseunit.com), and in the international networks of solidarity and scholarship that have sustained me so far.

The incident was and remains a complicated conflict involving the university administration, the union and Ian and other faculty. Apparently, the university has to acknowledge that Ian had the right to question management procedures as a UCU (union) representative. You can read the accounting in Social Resistance.

If you don’t know Ian’s work you can find papers and books from Google and Goolgle Scholar searches. For a more personal view, check out “What is Revolution?” a video of Ian in conversation with Fred Newman.

Congratulations, Ian!