There is much important and positive happening in the global fight to mitigate the ongoing environmental collapse. In addition to the Fridays for Future movement, which remains active, the week was marked by Extinction Rebellion's non-violent civil disobedience action in the United Kingdom. The movement was launched in October 2018 as part of the Rising Up! and it is growing, it has managed to organize high-impact demonstrations in recent days in London and is an example of the strengthening of anti-capitalist environmentalism. Among the 100 eminent signatories of his second manifesto are Noam Chomsky, Naomi Klein, Bill McKibben, William Ripple and Vandana Shiva. Its central idea goes to the heart of the agenda of our time: [1] “If global corporate capitalism continues to drive the international economy, a global catastrophe is inevitable. (...) We must collectively do whatever is necessary, non-violently, to persuade politicians and business leaders to renounce their complacency and denial.”
Another important example of the strengthening of political environmentalism is the humiliation inflicted by the scientific community, also last week, on Bolsonaro and the wealthy people who elected him. The Brazilian-American Chamber of Commerce (nothing to do with the Brazil-United States Chamber of Commerce, as it highlights on its website) [2] named Jair Messias Bolsonaro “Personality of the Year”, in “recognition for his emphatic intention to strengthen commercial and diplomatic ties between Brazil and the USA”. Traditionally, the space that houses the approximately one thousand guests (at a cost of US$30 thousand per capita) for the gala dinner that marks this ceremony, scheduled for May 14th, is the famous Hall of Ocean Life, from the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) in New York. By providing the space, the Museum generally receives a substantial contribution, which is important for managing its budget.
But... not him! On April 15, AMNH announced on its official website that it preferred to give up this resource. It decided that its headquarters “is not the ideal location for the gala dinner of the Brazilian-American Chamber of Commerce”. [3] In principle, its management postulates a certain exemption in relation to the ideological profile of its donors and contractors. In 2017, for example, she included on her Board none other than Rebekah Mercer, a benefactor of the Museum, but also an important lever of the Trump campaign and of think tanks such as the Heartland Institute and the Heritage Foundation, notorious for their militancy in the crowd. of climate denialism. The inconsistency is obvious, but there is an obvious mitigating factor here: if the Natural History Museum and Museums in general only accepted money from corporations and millionaires with a minimally enlightened profile, they would die starving.
That said, everything has limits and welcoming Bolsonaro, an emblematic figure of ignorance and contempt for science, exceeds all limits of the dignity of a scientific institution. When the Museum provided its space for the event, it still didn't know who would be honored. As soon as he found out, he expressed his dismay: “We want to make it clear that the Museum did not invite President Bolsonaro. He was invited as part of an external event. However, we are deeply concerned about the stated objectives of the current Brazilian administration.” In response to a question from Folha de São Paulo, the AMNH press office stated that the tribute paid by the Chamber of Commerce does not reflect the museum's positions in relation to the protection of the Amazon Forest. [4] Certainly, the Museum did not take the decision to close its doors to Bolsonaro and his millionaires without hearing the widespread outcry against this infamous gala, starting with a web petition, whose very well-crafted text cites excerpts from the Museum's own website. Museum:
“The AMNH is 'one of the world's preeminent scientific and cultural institutions (...) [which] since its founding in 1869, (...) has advanced its global mission to discover, interpret, and disseminate information about human cultures, about the natural world, and the universe through a vast program of scientific research, education and exhibition'. In direct opposition to these values, Jair Bolsonaro and his government are adopting a strong anti-science agenda in Brazil, reducing research funding, threatening public education and reducing environmental regulation to a level unprecedented in Brazilian history. By agreeing to host the event, the AMNH contradicts its principles and its role as one of the main scientific institutions in the world.”
Jair Bolsonaro's political campaign was driven, among other issues, by an openly anti-scientific discourse. During the 2018 political campaign and during the first hundred days of his government, professors, universities and research institutions were systematically threatened and harassed by the president and his allies. The Bolsonaro government reduced the federal budget for Science and Technology by 42,27%. His government also publicly praised fascism and expressed nostalgia for the former Military Regime in Brazil: a worrying trend that represents a great danger to freedom of expression, one of the main pillars of society's scientific development.
The anti-scientific nature of Bolsonaro's government is well represented in the views of his Foreign Minister, Ernesto Araújo, who claims that climate change is an invention based on "Marxist" and "globalist" ideas and threatens to abandon the Paris Agreement. Furthermore, Bolsonaro's Ministry of Agriculture authorized the use of 152 new pesticides, many of which are banned in other parts of the world as they are considered carcinogenic. The government also transferred responsibility for regulating demarcations of indigenous reserves, environmental and climate policies, environmental education and water resources management to the Ministry of Agriculture, which works in the interests of agribusiness. This change represents a threat to the protection of Brazil's already endangered environment, human rights and biodiversity, including the Amazon Rainforest.
We believe that science, technology and education are fundamental elements for the creation of a free and democratic society. We believe that the discovery, interpretation and dissemination of information about human cultures and the natural world depend on protecting our natural resources and respecting indigenous populations. We hope that the AMNH does not let its reputation be tarnished by associating itself with a figure like Jair Bolsonaro, famous for his obscurantism and his attacks on science, human rights and nature.”
Furthermore, researchers from the AMNH scientific staff threatened to resign if the Museum did not cancel the event. Paige West, director of the Ecology and Culture University Seminar at Columbia University and former President of the Anthropology and Environment section of the American Anthropological Association, sent the following message on her Twitter to the Museum's management: “If this happens, I will resign from the position as a researcher affiliated with the Museum and I will organize a boycott of this institution with everyone I know in anthropology. You should be ashamed.”
Museum employees also wrote an open letter to the institution's president, Ellen V. Futter, stating that washing your hands in this case would be “in direct conflict with the museum's values”. And they stated: [5]
“We intend to protest as loudly and as long as it takes for the Museum to cancel this event. We ask the people of New York City to rise up in defense of our fight to put Bolsonaro OUT of the American Museum of Natural History!”
The mayor of New York, Bill de Blasio, said he found it “really troubling” that an institution receiving funds from City Hall would host this event. [6]
Persona non grata
The case had, as expected, an international repercussion and was the subject of articles in practically all major newspapers in Europe. [7] That, due to his open hostility to scientific consensus, Bolsonaro is considered persona non grata by scientists and scientific institutions in the world, this is something that strengthens the spirit of all Brazilians willing to defend the values most dear to science and democracy: the will to deepen and share knowledge of the world, respect for the idea of truth and the ideal of social justice. Nature dedicated several articles and editorials to the President of Brazil. On December 5 (n. 564, 39), the great British magazine published an article by Maria Demaria Venâncio, from the Federal University of Santa Catarina, Kamila Pope and Stephen Siebe, both from the Leibniz-Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research in Müncheberg (Germany ), with a title that needs no comment: “Brazil’s new government threatens food security and biodiversity”. The October 30th editorial is titled: “Brazil's new president adds global threat to science”: Brazil elected “a right-wing demagogue with an anti-environmentalist agenda” ( a right-wing demagogue with an anti-environmental agenda). This agenda, the editorial continues, “will face intense domestic and international opposition. (...) Scientists everywhere should add their voices to the protests.” Yes, Nature calls on scientists from all over the world to unite against Bolsonaro.
On October 16, 2018, it was the turn of Science, the equally prestigious magazine of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, to publish an article by Herton Escobar that well captures the concern of the scientific community, expressed, for example, in the statement by Paulo Artaxo , professor at the Institute of Physics at USP and renowned researcher in the area of global climate change and the environment in the Amazon, as well as a member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences (ABC) and the World Academy of Sciences (TWAS): “I think we are path of a very dark period in the history of Brazil. There is no reason to sugarcoat the pill. Bolsonaro is the worst thing that could happen to the environment.” [8]
New Scientist and Scientific American magazines, the most prestigious scientific publications in English, have dedicated many articles denouncing Bolsonaro. On October 29, New Scientist published an article by its regular columnist, Michael Le Page, titled: “Brazil's new president will make it harder to limit climate change.” He cites the statement of Christopher Dick, Harvard PhD and Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Michigan, as well as director of the University's Herbarium: “This is a nightmare scenario.” Scientific American shared an article published in Climatewire by science journalist Jean Chemnick, which begins with this warning: “Brazil's new president could spell disaster for the Amazon rainforest.” [9]
The “Letter from Sobral” and “Science occupies Brasília”
On March 30th, the reaction of Brazilian science against the militant ignorance of the Bolsonaro government began. At the Regional Meeting of the Brazilian Society for the Progress of Science (SBPC), in Sobral, held on March 27th – 30th, with more than 3 thousand people, the “Letter from Sobral” was born, the text of which, a vital historical sign of the science in Brazil, must be reflected here in full:
Letter from Sobral
Under the Sun of Sobral: for quality basic education, science and democracy“The problem imagined by my mind was solved by the bright sky of Brazil” [Albert Einstein, 1925]
The SBPC and the participants of its Regional Meeting, held in Sobral between the 27th and 30th of March, express themselves firmly and decisively in defense of quality public education, science and democracy in the country.
This year we celebrate the centenary of the 1919 solar eclipse, whose observations, made in Sobral, were decisive in confirming Albert Einstein's Theory of General Relativity, which profoundly altered science and our view of the Universe. From this municipality in Ceará, Terra da Luz – the first Brazilian state to abolish slavery –, there is also a notable example of significant improvement in the performance of students in basic schools, a process that was built on continued public policies that prioritized the education. Other similar and successful examples come from several Brazilian municipalities. A big challenge is to extend them to cover the entire country.
The effective appreciation of teachers and their adequate training are essential factors for improving basic education. Other important factors are adequate working conditions, good school management, careful assessments and mobilization of the local community in favor of education. Science teaching is fundamental for the formation of a citizen in the contemporary world. At a time when obscurantist ideas and anti-scientific currents are gaining prominence, it is essential to highlight the decisive importance of scientific knowledge for individual and collective decision-making, for public management and for the social and economic development of the country.
The role of the State is essential to guarantee the social rights of Brazilians. The budgetary linkage of resources for education and health was an important achievement of the 1988 Constitution, and the decoupling of this budget, as recently announced, is a very serious threat and will have catastrophic consequences for education, health and quality of life in the vast majority of Brazilians. We call on all Brazilians to join a broad movement in defense of quality, secular public education that respects diversity and ensures equal rights and opportunities for all children and young people. The destiny of the Brazilian people must be above the financial interests or privileged sectors of society.
On the other hand, the drastic cuts recently made to the Science, Technology and Innovation budget (around 40%), which was already at a very low level, place Brazil against the grain of history. Developed countries invest even more heavily in ST&I in times of economic crisis. Research shows that investment in science has significant social repercussions and a large economic return. It is unacceptable that further cuts are made to an already reduced budget. The consequences will affect the entire research structure in the country and also the business sectors that seek to promote innovation. They compromise the functioning of the national ST&I system, built over decades, hinder economic recovery and will certainly seriously affect the quality of life of the Brazilian population and the country's sovereignty.
Resources for education and science and technology are not spent, they are present investments in a better future for the country!
SBPC, throughout its history, together with many other academic and civil society scientific entities, stood out for its fight for education, science and democracy in Brazil. We act against the authoritarian practices of a dictatorial regime, in defense of democratic freedoms, for the redemocratization of the country and for the construction of the 1988 Constitution that incorporated the rights of citizenship.
At this critical moment in national life, we reaffirm the importance of free thinking and democracy in its entirety. We will not accept the return of the curtailment of democratic freedoms, censorship, political persecution, the absence of freedom of expression, which are rights enshrined in the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
We want all citizens, especially children and young people, to have their educational and social rights guaranteed. Fair reasons for intense celebrations by all Brazilians, in the coming years and decades, will be the overcoming of illiteracy and poverty, significant advances in education, science and technology, a better quality of life for all, the reduction of inequalities, the preservation of the environment and our natural resources, which are at stake at the moment, and the sustainable development of the country.
Vigorous and permanent action by the scientific, academic and educational community as a whole, through its entities and research institutions, is essential at this time. A more intense mobilization of researchers, teachers and students, scientific entities and Brazilian teaching and research institutions is necessary, together with other sectors of civil society, political leaders and parliamentarians, to exert legitimate social pressure, which could be decisive to reverse the current situation of setbacks in support for education and science and technology and threats to democracy in the country.
May the bright sun of Brazil inspire and motivate us all in solving the country's problems.
Sobral, March 30, 2019
Science occupies Brasilia
As a first act resulting from the Sobral Charter, the SBPC and the national network of scientific and academic entities call on all those who do not disregard the value of knowledge for a national mobilization to take place on the 8th and 9th of May in Brasília and throughout the country. In words, the national movement #cienciaocupabrasilia:
“On May 8, an act in the National Congress marks the launch of the “S&T Initiative in Parliament – ICTP.br”, in defense of Brazilian science, with the presence of scientific entities, research institutions and researchers from across the country ICTP.br is coordinated by SBPC, the Brazilian Academy of Sciences (ABC), the National Confederation of Research Support Foundations (Confap), the National Association of Directors of Federal Institutes of Higher Education (Andifes), the National Council of Secretaries of State for Science & Technology (Consecti), the National Forum of Secretaries and Municipal Directors of Science, Technology and Innovation (FSMCT), the National Council of Foundations to Support Institutions of Higher Education and Scientific and Technological Research (Confies ) and the National Council of Institutions of the Federal Network of Professional, Scientific and Technological Education (Conif).
All scientific societies are invited to join and participate in this initiative. It will be very important to have representatives of all scientific and academic entities in Congress, as well as research institutions, universities, federal institutes, business entities linked to ST&I, research groups, INCTs, etc.
A meeting of these representatives with Minister Marcos Pontes is scheduled on May 9th. The meeting was organized by SBPC and ABC. In the session, the essential issues of this moment, raised at the Forum of Scientific Societies Associated with the SBPC, held in March, in São Paulo, will be discussed.
The SBPC calls on affiliated scientific societies to mobilize the members of their entities to discuss action strategies and to prepare and carry out actions that oppose the drastic cuts in resources for S&T in the country and other setbacks”. [10]
Bolsonaro against science
“Few universities have research, and of those few, the majority is in the private sector, like Mackenzie in São Paulo.” Where could such a comment come from, if not from Bolsonaro's learned mind? Delivered in an interview with Jovem Pan, on April 8, he summarizes his understanding of science in Brazil. I limit myself to referring to Reinaldo José de Azevedo's comment in Folha de São Paulo. He reminds us that, in the national survey ranking, the top 10 are all public and that among the top 20, there are only two private ones (PUC-RS and PUC-RJ, 18th and 19th, respectively). The valiant Mackenzie is in 62nd position in this ranking, which, in fact, is not bad for a private University. [11] Why does Bolsonaro say this, asks Reinaldo José de Azevedo, to conclude that either the president is terribly misinformed or is deliberately misinforming the population on the topic. The two reasons are not mutually exclusive. But there is a third reason: Bolsonaro's instinctive hostility to the universe of knowledge, which he does not understand and will never be able to understand. This stands out as evidence for 39% of the Brazilian population, who consider him “not very intelligent”, according to Datafolha. [12]
[1] See Extinction Rebellion, Wikipedia: “Political leaders worldwide are failing to address the environmental crisis. If global corporate capitalism continues to drive the international economy, global catastrophe is inevitable. (…) We must collectively do whatever's necessary non-violently, to persuade politicians and business leaders to relinquish their complacency and denial”.
[3] See Graham Bowley, “Natural History Museum Will Not Host Gala for Brazil's President”. The New York Times, 15/IV/2019.
[4] “NY Museum of Natural History cancels event in honor of Bolsonaro”. Folha de São Paulo, 15/IV/2019.
[5] “Workers at the American Museum of Natural History Protest Gala for Bolsonaro”, Left Voice, 12/IV/2019.
[6] See Jake Offenhartz, “AMNH Employees Revolt Over 'Appalling' Decision To Host Bolsonaro At Museum”. Gothamist, 12/IV/2019.
[7] “New York: le Muséum d'histoire naturelle refuse d'accueillir un hommage à Bolsonaro”. Le Monde, 16/IV/2019; “Le maire de New York ne veut pas que Bolsonaro vienne à un musée de sa ville”. The Associated Press, 14/IV/2019; “US museum of natural history will not host Bolsonaro gala event after outrage”. The Guardian, 16/IV/2019; “Museum cancels event honoring Brazil's Jair Bolsonaro”. BBC, 16/IV/2019.
[8] Cf. Herton Escobar, “We are headed for a very dark period.' Brazil's researchers fear election of far-right presidential candidate”. Science, 16/X/2018.
[9] Cf. “Conservationists Worry about Amazon's Fate after Bolsonaro's Victory in Brazil”. Scientific American, 30/X/2019.
[10] “SBPC calls for national mobilization against Bolsonaro’s cuts in Science”. People's Hour, 17/IV/2019.
[11] See Reinaldo José de Azevedo, “Public universities produce more than 90% of the country's research; It remains to be seen until when.” Folha de São Paulo, 21/IV/2019.
[12] “'I'm not going to waste time commenting on the Datafolha research', says Bolsonaro”. Folha de São Paulo, 7/IV/2019.
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