The March for Science in France: a great success
One might have feared a massive abstention for the ‘March for Science’ because this event occurred the day before the first round of the presidential election in France. This was not the case.
In more than 20 cities in France, on Saturday, April 22 2017, thousands of participants attended this worldwide movement launched in the United States, which spread to Europe, Asia, Australia and Africa.
As in several hundreds of cities around the world, the defenders of Science marched in Marseille, Paris, Montpellier and Bordeaux (to name a few), preceding the major event planned in Washington on the same day. Young and old, experts and lay people, professors and students marched for science to recall the following fundamentals:
- Science, by the progress it brings to the mankind, plays a vital role for our health, our security, our economy and our governments,
- Science is based on facts, only facts. There can be no alternative facts against those evidenced by rigorous and independent scientific research,
- There is no future without science, no progress in our democracies without scientific progress. Rationality must prevail over opinion and research must remain non-partisan for fair decision-making by politicians.
Under the auspices of the French Society of Physics (SFP), the University of Paris-Saclay and many scientific institutions and associations, more than 5,000 people gathered to walk from the Jardin des Plantes to the Place Saint-Michel. In an enthusiastic and joyful atmosphere, the marchers defended the independence of research and promoted a better dialogue between science and society.
More than 70 organisations, institutions and associations, including the European Physical Society, have supported the March for Science.
A great initiative, which the times ahead will undoubtedly invite us to repeat as already proposed by the March for Science Movement:
“The march is over, but the movement has begun.”
