“Science, Not Silence”: March for Science in Washington, DC, and Around the Country and World on Earth Day, April 22
February 15, 2017 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us
Immediately after getting into the White House, Trump and Pence launched a fascist blitzkrieg on federal agencies dealing with the environment—and on science in general. Media blackouts were imposed on the Environmental Protection Agency and on the Interior, Agriculture, and Health and Human Services Departments. Climate change information was scrubbed from the White House website on Day One, and Trump has said he will halt all research on climate change at NASA. The National Park Service was banned from tweeting after their Twitter account retweeted images comparing Trump’s and Obama’s inauguration crowds. Even before the inauguration, Trump officials started a witch hunt in the Department of Energy, demanding the names of officials who had participated in climate change talks. The Trump/Pence regime have made clear they aim to curtail and suppress scientific work and inquiry from being done, and from reaching the public.
At the same time, Trump and those around him are engaging in a daily drumbeat to obliterate scientific reality itself and impose on society a phony Trumpworld universe of “alternative facts.” Trump and others in his regime simply deny assessment of scientists around the world based on decades of research that climate change poses an unprecedented danger to life on the planet. Trump and Pence are moving to, at the very least, eliminate major aspects of scientific work from being done, and to remake science into little more than a tool in the service of a vicious, fascist regime. Scientists who fear the Trump regime will go after crucial research data on climate change are racing to archive that work as quickly as possible in order to protect it.
In response to Trump’s attacks on science and inspired by the Women’s March, scientists have come forward to organize a March for Science on Washington, DC, and across the country on Earth Day, April 22. In less than a week after the initial announcement, over a half million people joined the march’s Facebook page, and its Twitter account @ScienceMarchDC has 325,000 followers so far.
The March for Science webpage says:
SCIENCE, NOT SILENCE
The March for Science is a celebration of our passion for science and a call to support and safeguard the scientific community. Recent policy changes have caused heightened worry among scientists, and the incredible and immediate outpouring of support has made clear that these concerns are also shared by hundreds of thousands of people around the world. The mischaracterization of science as a partisan issue, which has given policymakers permission to reject overwhelming evidence, is a critical and urgent matter. It is time for people who support scientific research and evidence-based policies to take a public stand and be counted.
ON APRIL 22, 2017, WE WALK OUT OF THE LAB AND INTO THE STREETS.
We are scientists and science enthusiasts. We come from all races, all religions, all gender identities, all sexual orientations, all abilities, all socioeconomic backgrounds, all political perspectives, and all nationalities. Our diversity is our greatest strength: a wealth of opinions, perspectives, and ideas is critical for the scientific process. What unites us is a love of science, and an insatiable curiosity. We all recognize that science is everywhere and affects everyone.
Science is often an arduous process, but it is also thrilling. A universal human curiosity and dogged persistence is the greatest hope for the future. This movement cannot and will not end with a march. Our plans for policy change and community outreach will start with marches worldwide and a teach-in at the National Mall, but it is imperative that we continue to celebrate and defend science at all levels - from local schools to federal agencies - throughout the world.
This march for science and other resistance by scientists and people upholding science is very important, timely, and welcome, and revcom.us will be reporting on these development further.
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