Letters from Scotland

Several people in the U.K, and from other parts of the world, have supported us .

Two of them have been part of the campaign right from the start, and given us valuable insights into the inner workings of the British Council.

Neil Robertson, Development economist and member of the UNESCO Scotland standing committee, has written to and personally contacted dozens of key officials, writers, the press and others in the U.K, for our cause.

David Blackie, International Education expert and Director, IE Connect, has blogged about our camapign continuously and supported from the very beginning.

In his latest post in his blog 'The Language Business', he says

"They keep the books, they keep the premises, they keep something that they cherished. It clearly didn’t suit the British Council who wanted to close this library like all the others, but this time they ran into passion, commitment, solidarity and a real interest in – and love for - books. And so they folded.

Let this story be a lesson to all those who deal with the appalling British Council. Stand up to them at all times. Any BC manager may try something on, or make a really crass or damaging decision, and he or she will then go on to another place, another job, and try and advance their careers elsewhere, and leave people to live with the consequences of their narrow ambitions and short-term expedience. These people must be resisted, they must be forced into an acceptable degree of transparency, and they must be held to account.

For now, and especially for the doughty campaigners in Thiruvananthapuram, it’s time to celebrate! Congratulations! "

Neil, when informed about the British Council's decision to handover the library, wrote:

That is indeed excellent news ....... I have passed your message on to Joanne Orr of Unesco Scotland and it is excellent that the AJ Cronin omnibus edition mentioned by Yasho in one of the more poignant postings on your campaign website (which touched a chord in Scotland) will now be returning to library shelves in Kerala!

Please pass on warmest congratulations to everyone in the team! And if I ever get to Trivandrum I promise I will call in on the library which sounds indeed like it is a 'cultural landmark', that has now inspired the world!

Please keep in touch and keep us posted on progress.

Yours aye,

Neil

Meanwhile , lets also keep in mind that the Campaign is not over yet. So many issues are yet to be resolved. There are reports that The British Council might backtrack yet. The MoU is still to be signed. Memberships refunds haven't been stopped. The new structure is still to be finalised. There are reports that some of the assets might be sold off... Seems we're far from done.