SOAS eulogises late Imperialist

On July 23 2008 SOAS (School of Orientali-ist and African Studies) pays homage to deceased academic who helped West steal Iranian oil.

Ann Katherine Swynford Lambton, OBE FBA, first came to SOAS as a student and later as a teacher.

Lambton’s interest in the Arab world was sparked in her teens – according to a friend, when she read T. E. Lawrence’s Revolt in the Desert!!!

She enrolled at SOAS in 1932 after meeting Denison Ross, the orientalist and director of the then still called School of Oriental Studies.

When Ross then persuaded her to concentrate on the Persian world, she registered for an honours degree course in Persian with subsidiary Arabic.

Historian Prof. Ervand Abrahamian in his book Khomeinism: Essays on the Islamic Republic records that:

"The British, determined to undermine Mossadeq from the day he was elected premier, refused to negotiate seriously with him ... Professor Lambton, serving As a Foreign Office consultant, advised as early as November 1951 that the British government should persevere in 'undermining' Mossadeq, refuse to reach agreement with him, and reject American attempts to find a compromise solution. 'The Americans,' she insisted, 'do not have the experience or the psychological insight to understand Persia.'" - Ann Lambton

So, whilst manangement claim that rumours that SOAS was set up as a training ground for miltary and colonial oppressors are false (fascist Enoch Powel did a degree in Urdu on the premise of becoming embassador in India/Palistan), they do not rule out the fact that they taught and trained generations of imperialists/orientalists. Some things never change.