EM DEFESA DA UNIVERSIDADE PÚBLICA BRAZILIA
AGAINST THE FEROZ CUTTING ORÇAMENTÁRIO EO ATTACK ÀS CIÊNCIAS HUMANAS E SOCIAIS
The Brazilian government's intention to cut one third of the awards assigned to Public Universities places an alert and calls for repudiation and solidarity in the scientific, academic, intellectual and cultural fields. Public Universities are responsible for 90% of the research carried out in Brazil and are an instrument for the development of both the country and the region.
This adjustment, aligned with the neoliberal dictums of international financial power, falls with special gravity on social and human sciences. With the allegation that they are supposedly unproductive from an economistic point of view, the ruling party makes explicit an evident intention to eliminate any space of critical thought that could offer alternatives to the neofascism that it claims to matter.
Faced with this attack, we assailed you – unions, researchers, teachers, artists, intellectuals, leaders of Latin American universities and international networks – we express our concern and repudiation, as well as our solidarity with our colleagues and as the Brazilian people in their entirety, since only they are the most prejudiced by a government that encourages ignorance and the reduction of freedoms as state policies.
There is no democracy without a university. A public, free and quality university is necessary for the construction of citizenship, for sovereignty, good living and for the construction of emancipated, more just, humane, democratic, free and egalitarian societies. In the current situation, in which knowledge is the great driver of the economy, its importance is strategic. Only as a contribution from sciences, arts and technologies will it be possible to think and transform a global geopolitics of knowledge, which aims to re-primary the productive matrix of accumulation in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The destiny of democracy in Brazil passes today, also, with the destiny of Public Universities.
IN DEFENSE OF BRAZILIAN PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES: AGAINST THE FEROCIOUS BUDGET CUTS AND THE ATTACK ON THE HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES
The Brazilian government's intention to cut the budget allocated to public universities by a third has sparked alarm and compels the scientific, academic, intellectual, and cultural communities to express their condemnation and solidarity. Public universities are responsible for 90% of the research conducted in Brazil and are a driving force for development both for the country and the region.
This adjustment, in line with the neoliberal dictates of international financial power, is being unleashed with particular aggression on the social sciences and humanities. Under the pretext that they are supposedly unproductive from an economic standpoint, the ruling elite reveals a clear intention to eliminate any space for critical thought that could offer alternatives to the neofascism it seeks to impose.
In the face of this attack, the undersigned – unions, researchers, teachers, artists, intellectuals, directors of Latin American universities and international networks – express our concern and condemnation, as well as our solidarity with our colleagues and with the Brazilian people as a whole, since it will be the latter who will be most harmed by a government that promotes ignorance and the curtailment of freedoms as a state policy.
There is no democracy without universities. Public, free, and high-quality universities are essential for building citizenship, sovereignty, well-being, and for constructing emancipated, more just, humane, democratic, free, and egalitarian societies. In a world where knowledge is the driving force of the economy, its importance is strategic. Only through the contributions of science, the arts, and technology can we envision and transform a global geopolitics of knowledge that seeks to re-primarize the accumulation matrix of Latin America and the Caribbean.
The fate of democracy in Brazil today also depends on the fate of public universities.
SIGNED:
Marco Antonio Rodrigues Dias (former Director of the Higher Education Division of UNESCO) – René Ramírez Gallegos (former Secretary of Higher Education, Science, Technology and Innovation of Ecuador) – Hugo Yasky (National Deputy and General Secretary of the CTA Workers' Union) – Axel Didriksson (UNAM – GUNI ALC) – Carlos De Feo (General Secretary of CONADU and Coordinator of the Higher Education Sector of Education International for Latin America) – Pablo Gentilli (Professor, State University of Rio de Janeiro, UERJ) – Yamile Socolovsky (Secretary of International Relations and Director of IEC CONADU) – Federico Montero (Secretary of Organization of CONADU and General Secretary of FEDUBA) – Verónica Bethencourt (Union Secretary of CONADU) – Sandra Torlucci (Rector of the National University of the Arts, Argentina) – Gabriela Diker (Rector of the National University of General Sarmiento, Argentina) – Fabián Calderón (Rector of the National University of La Rioja, Argentina) – Alicia Bohern (Rector of the National University of Misiones, Argentina) – Ana Jaramillo (Rector of the National University of Lanús, Argentina) – Carlos de Marziani (Rector of the National University of Patagonia San Juan Bosco, Argentina) – Adrián Canelotto (Rector of the National Pedagogical University) – Gustavo Crisafulli (Rector of the National University of Comahue) – Alejandro Villar (Rector of the National University of Quilmes) – Roberto Rovere (Rector of the National University of Río Cuarto) – Federico Thea (Rector of the National University of José C. Paz) – Juan José Castelucci (Rector of the National University of Tierra del Fuego) – Luis Negretti (Rector of the National University of Villa María) – Ernesto Villanueva (Rector of the National University Arturo Jauretche) – Jorge Calzoni (Rector of the National University of Avellaneda) – Damian Del Valle (Secretary of Liaison for the National University of Asunción and Coordinator of the PRIU-IEC/CONADU Program) – Ramiro Noriega (Rector of the University of the Arts of Ecuador) – Freddy Alvarez (Rector of the Pedagogical University of Ecuador) – Elvin Calcagno (UNAE – Ecuador) – Graciela Morgade (Dean of the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters, UBA) – María Inés Peralta (Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences, UNC) – Karina Batthyány (Executive Secretary of the Latin American Council of Social Sciences) – Pablo Vommaro (Director of Research, Latin American Council of Social Sciences) – Gustavo Lema (Director of Communication, Latin American Council of Social Sciences) – Nicolás Arata (Director of Training and Editorial Production, Latin American Council of Social Sciences) – Carol Murillo Ruiz (UCE – Ecuador) – Claudio Suasnabar (Research Professor, UNLP – UNA, Argentina) – Silvina Elias (Vice-Dean of the Department of Economics, UNS) – Sebastián Nader (Argentina) – Antonio Malo Larrea (University Researcher and Professor) – Ecuador) – Carlos Fidel (Professor and Researcher, National University of Quilmes and CLACSO) – Matías Causa (Academic Pro-Secretary of the Faculty of Social Work of the UNLP) – Cecilia Schneider (UNDAV/UNPAZ) – Pablo Daniel Vain (Teacher-Researcher, UNaM/CONICET) – Martín R. Legarralde (Director of the Department of Educational Sciences of the Faculty of Humanities and Educational Sciences of the UNLP) – Nora Z. Lanfri (Vice-Director of the School of Educational Sciences of the Faculty of Philosophy and Humanities of the UNC) – Lionel Korsunsky (UNCo) – Regina Laisner (Professor, UNESP Franca, Brazil) – Maria Julieta Abba (Unisinos, Brazil) – Lucía García (Researcher of the Center for Educational and Social Studies of the Faculty of Human Sciences of the UNICEN) – Fernanda Beigel (CONICET – UNCuyo)
Education International for Latin America (EI-AL) – National Federation of University Teachers (CONADU – Argentina) – Federation of Unions of Professors of Federal Institutions of Higher Education and Basic Technical and Technological Education (PROIFES – Brazil) – Federation of Academics of State Universities of Chile (FAUECH) – Confederation of Education Workers of the Argentine Republic (CTERA) – CTA of Workers (Argentina)
Steering Committee of the Latin American Council of Social Sciences (CLACSO) – Faculty of Social Sciences of the National University of Córdoba – Regional Platform for University Integration (PRIU / IEC- CONADU) – Open Chair «Simón Rodríguez» (UNaM) – Research Project «Inclusion of indigenous people, people with disabilities, immigrants and popular sectors in the university (PIUNI /Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences of UNaM)
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