Former Presidents Fernando Henrique Cardoso (PSDB), Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) and Dilma Rousseff (PT) defend science in video broadcast during the inauguration of Renato Janine Ribeiro as the new president of the SBPC (Brazilian Society for Progress) of Science ).
The professor of political philosophy and ethics at the USP and former education minister of the Dilma administration will lead the institution for the biennium 2021-2023. The sociologist Fernanda Sobral, a retired professor at the UnB, and the physicist Paulo Artaxo of the USP were elected as vice-presidents.
In the video, Dilma criticizes the Jair Bolsonaro government (no party) and says that Brazil has immensely declined in education policy by promoting science and technological development. “Resources became scarce as the spending cap on scientific research was an insurmountable barrier,” he says.
It lists issues the field has faced in recent years, such as interrupted studies, blocked projects, closed university laboratories, and reduced resources for researchers.
In the video, the former president names the problems of Science Without Borders, a program that she launched in 2011. According to Dilma, the project was interrupted and despised as it was seen as an unnecessary expense.
Finally, the PT member says earthworks and denial of science have become the norm, even in the face of the pandemic. “Brazil will certainly have to mobilize all the resources it has to rebuild itself. This is the way to reverse the setback that the Bolsonaro government has put us in. “
Janine Ribeiro told Folha that the resistance of scientists to denial is a question of ethics.
In his statement, FHC reminds of the importance of the institution during the dictatorship. “At that time there was a lack of freedom, there was a lack of people to talk to. SBPC spoke for all of us, professors, students, researchers and for the Brazilian people. Now we have to speak for science. “
Finally, the former president reiterated the importance of understanding that you cannot get very far without knowledge.
In the sequence, Lula confirms the toucan’s speech by saying that a country cannot move forward without major investments in science and technology, and recalls how he contributed to the region during his reign.
“When I became president, I insisted on creating a PAC [Programa de Aceleração do Crescimento] of science and technology with an investment of R $ 41 billion to ensure that the scientists themselves coordinated the execution of the use of that money. “
After congratulating Janine Ribeiro on her election victory, the PT member hopes that Brazil will again have a government that has science and technology as one of the pillars of the country’s development.