The organization Causa México summoned university students, scientists and academics to a 24-hour national strike for next Tuesday, May 2, in protest against the approval in fast track of the “Science Law” in the Chamber of Deputies, with which the National Council of Science and Technology (Conacyt) disappears to make way for another body.
The call became a trend this Thursday afternoon and the objective is to make public the discontent of these sectors with the controversial project of the government of the self-called “Fourth Transformation” (4T).
“Breaking commitments to dialogue with the country’s academic and scientific community, the Chamber of Deputies approved the initiative for a General Law on Humanities, Sciences, Technologies and Innovation, proposed by the Conacyt administration”
“In addition to errors in legal technique, its implementation implies setbacks to scientific development, restrictions on the freedom of research, authoritarianism, discrimination, budget reductions, and an infringement of labor rights and academic standards,” adds the call from Causa México.
‼️NATIONAL STOP IN FAVOR OF CONACYT‼️
Public and private universities are summoned to carry out a 24-hour national strike on May 2.
Let’s sue the @senadomexicano Not approving the General Law on Humanities, Sciences, Technologies and Innovation.SHARE? pic.twitter.com/UbQmIsQ2Ji
— Cause in Common (@causaencomun) April 27, 2023
Therefore, the Senate of the Republic was sued “not to approve a Law contrary to the scientific and technological development of Mexico.”
The Government’s proposal to replace the current Science and Technology Law has been questioned because of the way it was endorsed: with 257 votes in favor and 210 against and without considering the warnings that members of the scientific union had made to what they consider a centralist, authoritarian and unconstitutional proposal.
In addition, they maintain, the previous agreement to first carry out seven sessions of Open Parliament is being breached.
And it is that the legislators of Morena, the Green Party and the Labor Party in the lower house, in their capacity as a majority, began to endorse various opinions by fast track without going to commissions, including the Science Law that counted with 257 votes in favor, 208 against and two abstentions, so it will go to the Senate of the Republic for analysis and discussion in the coming days.
Among some of the negative points that the scientific community finds in the opinion approved by the Chamber of Deputies is the granting of scholarships, because although it is “expected to be universal”, the resource will give priority to collaborators who come from public universities.
Another is that the initiative provides that the secretariats of National Defense (Sedena) and Navy (Semar) will have a say in science and technology policy.
However, Conacyt, in charge of the controversial María Elena Álvarez-Buylla, assured in a statement that the institution will not be reduced or disappear, on the contrary, it indicated that it contains multiple mechanisms that strengthen it and the 26 Public Research Centers (CPI ) that coordinates in the country.
“Furthermore, this initiative does not foresee in any section the disappearance of the Conacyt, as some voices adverse to the human right to science have wanted to distort in an alarmist way in order to instill fear, both in the members of the humanistic, scientific, technology, to the beneficiaries with some type of support from Conacyt, as well as to the workers of this council and the CPIs”, read a statement.
Despite this, the Morenista senator and aspiring presidential candidate in 2024, Ricardo Monreal, warned that there will be no fast-track approval and that all opinions will be analyzed in commissions.
