Remembering Robin
I heard of the passing away of our truly beloved Robin Murray from my long-time friend, Gwen Sullivan, to whom Gordon White had introduced me when I was a DPhil student in 1984. I was unable to speak upon hearing the tragic news, several days after Robin had passed away. Upon hearing the pain in my silence, Gwen gently asked: “Mammo, you didnʼt know?” How I wish I had known about his illness and kept in touch with him. His spirit has always been with me, though I have not seen him physically for a long time. The sadness in my heart and soul still remains deep. Why had no one told me?
How I wish I had seen him one last time: It would surely have helped me to learn how to cope with my continued feeling of hurt about the loss of this vigilant, unique, critical, organic intellectual, who stood fearlessly for the wellbeing of humanity, with justice for those who continue to be exploited by the unjust capitalist system that still dominates the global economy today.
Robin Murray has always stood for the un-served, for those at the bottom of the pyramid. He has always found thoughts and ways to enable, entitle, empower and anchor them in an economic system that multiplies their wellbeing, rather than subtracts from it.
Robin stood firmly and unequivocally for social justice and humanity throughout his life. To take one illustrative example: the amount of resources Africa has can make all Africans millionaires, but a huge amount of Africaʼs resources continues to be stolen. Robin Murray was a towering intellectual, who stood for arranging social-economic, value, and knowledge systems to stop such massive theft of Africaʼs natural resource wealth.
I have been truly lucky to have found him to be my mentor. I learned a lot when I not only read Marxʼs Das Capital, but also had the opportunity to teach IDS Masters students who were studying this classic work. Robin was my MPhil supervisor, and with his creative guidance, I was able to write a thesis that earned a triple first. The main argument, both theoretical and empirical, was to do transactions without making money a tyranny over the entire trade and market value chain. Later, Robin joined the Municipality of the City of London as the Chief Economic Director under Mayor Ken Livingstone. At that time, he informed me of creative ways that he had applied some of my ideas. That was Robin: He would listen to your ideas and see possibilities for transforming policies, systems and our world.
Robin was to be my DPhil supervisor, but when he went to work at the City of London, he asked Chris Freeman from SPRU to be my supervisor and Raphie Kaplinsky to be my co-supervisor. It is Robin who introduced me to Chris Freeman. That was the best gift, as Chris Freeman was truly unusual in the way he supported and cared for me. Raphie Kaplinsky has been also very supportive and I sincerely appreciate all his positive encouragement all along throughout.Through Robin, I was also able to access Ken Livingstone, who then gave the keynote address in the Science, Technology and Society Programme I led at Middlesex University.
Robin facilitated my entry into IDS in 1979. When Worku Gebeyehu was in Khartoum, Robin helped the radical students, who were fleeing from the military regime in Ethiopia, to find support. When we started the Committee to Help Ethiopian Exiles and Refugees (CHEER) in Brighton, Robin, Gordon, and over 50 IDS staff and students became members. We raised funds, books, clothes and all sorts of resources to support young people who faced red terror and therefore fled from Ethiopia. We facilitated ways for them to move out of the danger zone from the Horn of Africa area. This would not have happened without the great and committed support of our beloved Robin. We started with CHEER to found the Ethiopian Community in Britain with Getachew Alemayehu, who continued to help Ethiopians who were forced to migrate and settle in Britain.
By Professor Mammo Muchie, his former MPhil student
Friday, 28 July 2017