WFSW supports the May 4, 2019 March for science

WFSW supports the March for Science-190502 La FMTS soutient la Marche pour la science-190502

The World Federation of Scientific Workers (WFSW) fully supports the third edition of the March for Science on May 4, 2019. As the initiators of this March, it calls for respect for the freedom of research. Today, this freedom is directly violated by the political power of countries such as Brazil. Moreover, this freedom is being undermined, in an insidious but almost general way in the world, by neoliberal policies that organize job insecurity, financing by calls for projects and the end of university democracy.

In contrast to these neoliberal policies focused on the demands of transnational corporations and the competitiveness needs of national economies, the WFSW affirms that science is a common good of humanity, at the service of all, of all common goods and of democracy. Hence the need to develop a dialogue between science and society, and to put an end to all forms of economic, political, ideological or religious influence on research that can sterilize or distort.

This requirement is all the more important as humanity faces major challenges such as climate change, environmental urgency and the satisfaction of the basic needs of all women and men. Research has an indispensable and essential contribution to meet these challenges, to which humanity can no longer waste time.

International secretariat

Paris, May 2, 2019