March for Science

The recent political climate in the USA is going to affect science and research in a big way (bigly, if you prefer). In fact, Trump’s recent ban is already affecting the lives of scientists who live and work there.

“Samira Asgari, a 30-year-old Iranian woman, was stopped in Switzerland just before boarding a flight to Boston for a post-doctoral fellowship in genomics at the Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women’s Hospital.”

I was pretty excited to join @soumya_boston‘s lab but denied boarding due to my Iranian nationality. Feeling safer?

— Samira Asgari (@samsam_86) January 28, 2017

There is a huge wave of unrest not only in America, but worldwide, in protest to Trump’s presidency and his anti-science actions in particular. We’ve all seen the Women’s March that happened on 21st Jan, with participants estimated to be close to 4.8 million worldwide.

Now, scientists are planning to hold a Science March on Washington in protest of Trump’s policies. The Twitter handle ScienceMarchDC, which has amassed over 220,000 followers urges people to ‘Take a stand for science in politics’. The Facebook page, with a similar number of followers, also offers tips on organizing a similar march in different cities all over the USA.

Trump recently (two days after the Women’s March) signed an order that prevents federal money going to international groups that advice on or perform abortions. This has been much cause for alarm worldwide, as it prevents access to HIV/AIDS treatment, safe abortion procedures, nutrition, and maternal and child heathcare, among others.

Shortly after Trump’s inauguration, information on climate change on the White House website was removed. Trump has also repeatedly called climate change a hoax, and may now pull the US out of the Paris Agreement, a move that will lead to unrestricted carbon emissions which in turn will have a drastic effect on the planet we live in.

The March for Science website says,

“An American government that ignores science to pursue ideological agendas endangers the world.”

 

We strongly support the March for Science and encourage all of you to make your voices heard!