AURDIP pays tribute to Steven Rose, who passed away on July 9.
A renowned scientist and brain specialist, he was also, together with his wife Hilary, one of the founders of the British Society for Social Responsibility in Science in 1969 and of the British Committee for Universities in Palestine (BRICUP) in 2004, which served as a model for AURDIP when it was created in 2009.
For Steven Rose, research and political and social commitment were inseparable. As a scientist, he fought against deterministic conceptions of human behavior and defended the idea that the interplay of genetic, economic, and social factors still leaves room for individual freedom and responsibility. As a citizen, he was a staunch defender of democratic socialism and of the Palestinian cause, guided by a deep sense of justice.
It is largely thanks to him that the British University and College Union (UCU) adopted a motion to boycott Israeli universities, declaring that “boycotts initiated by civil society have an honorable tradition, from the anti-slavery campaigns to the isolation of apartheid South Africa, as well as the boycotts of Nazi trade.”
He offers the rare example of a figure who succeeded in placing the human at the heart of scientific life and in seeking the universal beyond borders.
We are saddened to report the death of Steven Rose on 9 July. A pioneering neuroscientist, brilliant communicator, and lifelong socialist, he challenged the misuse of science to legitimise racism, sexism, and inequality. Steven played a decisive role in establishing BRICUP in 2004. His passing is a great loss to both science and activism. This tribute is by Tom Hickey, a longstanding member of BRICUP who worked on Palestine solidarity with Steven from the early years of the Committee’s operation. He is a former member of the UCU National Executive Committee and played a significant role in winning the union’s formal support for the BDS movement, after a protracted debate over a five-year period, including support for the academic boycott of Israeli institutions.