American researchers live with the fear that the light is exhausted from them. The obscurantist wave that has won the United States since Donald Trump’s return to the White House threatens the work of dozens of scientists across the country, with censorship and budgetary restrictions. Fortunately, some will be able to count on unexpected support, including a French initiative.
The American investigation site 404 Media reveals that the University of Aix-Marseille (Bouches-du-Rhône) is preparing to unlock 15 million euros to finance around fifteen researchers over a period of three years. This program, entitled “Safe Place for Science”, has already supported scientists from Ukraine, Yemen, Afghanistan and Palestine in the past as part of a campaign to support academics forced to exile.
In a press release published on March 5, the management of the University of Aix-Marseille stresses that this program is intended for American scientists who “May feel threatened or hampered in their research”. Its mission is to offer a framework where they can continue their work in an environment promoting innovation, excellence and academic freedom.
A safe place for science
At no time is the name of US President Donald Trump explicitly mentioned by the “Safe Place for Science” program. However, it is in this context that this declaration must be read and understand the initiative. Since his return to the White House, the American president has undertaken a methodical dismantling of the American federal state and several of his agencies, starting with the American ocean and atmospheric observation agency (NOAA), essential for its role in observing the effects of climate change on the oceans.
Even more worrying, the republican administration has announced its decision not to finance the studies containing the word “climate”, as soon as it was used in the context of research on global warming. The same goes for work incorporating the terms “races”, “equity” or even “gender”. Unprecedented attacks against the so-called “wokism” and which do not lead anything good for research in the years to come.
This new reality places the United States in a paradoxical position on the international scene, they who were previously considered as a reception land, receiving persecuted scientists from around the world to allow them to continue their work in key areas of research. It is even partly thanks to this policy that American universities have become pioneers in major scientific sectors. But that was before.
