Has anyone instead of me?

On Thursday, a protest of Russian scientists will take place in Moscow. Employees of academic institutes, teachers and scientists of leading universities will enter the rally - all who are tired of the indifference of government officials to the problems of Russian science.

Nevertheless, I am sure that many of those who are seriously concerned about these problems, will still not be on October 13 on Pushkinskaya Square. People will sit in their laboratories and quietly indignant at the actions of the authorities, discussing the next absurd decisions that affect the sphere of science and education over tea with colleagues from the neighboring department.

It is understandable: scientists are not used to going to rallies. Most of us “vote with our feet”: each new “successful” bill or “thoughtful” decision on the next “super -efficient” way of financing science adds new hundreds of dissatisfied by tens of thousands of scientists who have recently left for scientific workers. Nevertheless, I believe that the reluctance of scientists to defend their rights in open protests - this is evidence of our passivity, apathy and even - we will call a spade a spade - some cowardice.

Below I will consider several typical conclusions of the “scientist-priest” and try to show their erroneity-at least in relation to this event.

“This is not our action - we do not know who organized it. What if these are people who pursue some of their personal goals, and I will become a pawn in their game? "

The list of organizers of the action is on the official website of the event www.dayte-uchenym-rabotat.narod.ru . Believe me that we are all as scientists as you. Yes, we pursue our goals by conducting this action - and these are the same goals that you would like to achieve, because we are also Russian scientists and our problems are the same: the inadequate policy of the state in the organization of science and methods of its financing.

"I'm too lazy to drag into such a distance."

Tentatively, the rally will take place on Pushkinskaya Square (metro Pushkinskaya, Chekhovskaya), this is the center of Moscow. If you are too lazy once again to drive several stops at the subway, how will you go for distant lands to work in a more prosperous country, when it will become impossible to engage in science in Russia in a couple of years in a couple of years after making “innovative” decisions? Are you too lazy to come to the rally to support the requirements of your colleagues about the exemption of grant costs from the valid 94-FZ science? - And you are not lazy for several months in a row instead of setting up experiments to fill in the terms of holding for conducting competitions for the purchase of salts and acids, pipes and test tubes, dozens of consumables and elementary, even the cheapest devices? How do you declare auctions for each of the acquired reagents, how do you write justifications in the accounting of your organization, why do you need to buy this particular device, and not the other? You are lazy to demand an increase in the budget of the RFFFI-and you like to write post-building applications and three-consumer reports on the Ministry of Education and Science of the Ministry of Education and Science, which no one will ever read and the scientific significance of which you themselves evaluate as zero?

"I do not participate in political actions."

The rally of scientists will not be a political action. The organizers intentionally do not pursue a political goals, this is directly stated on the official website of the event.

“I am afraid to predict my bosses with a visit to the rally. They will not approve of my act, and they can even fire me. ”

Yes, it’s no secret that stay at a high administrative post sometimes makes a typical manager, more like an official than a researcher. In addition, the bosses do not run with pieces of paper, does not write the terms of fact and does not communicate with the tender committees - therefore, often far from our problems. The action was initiated by ordinary researchers. Nevertheless, the leaders of scientific organizations suffer from ill -conceived government decisions no less than yours - therefore, the one -time participation of their subordinates in a rally, which received an official permission, will not become a crime. In addition, if you show passivity, then in the coming years you yourself will have to quit the domestic scientific organization, since it will become impossible to engage in science in Russia.

"I am just a student (graduate student)."

If you want to stay in your home country after graduation and not trade in imported office equipment, but to engage in world -class research - this action applies to you not to a lesser extent. Moreover, students and graduate students are often co -executors of grants and state contracts projects - which means that you are not indifferent to both the issue of financing and the problems of the bureaucraticization of this area.

“In principle, I support, but the requirements are poorly written, I would have done better.”

Perhaps you are right - although more than two dozen people of different specialties working in different organizations participate in the development of requirements. However, the fact of the speech is already important - a demonstration of the consolidated opinion of scientists about the problems of the organization of domestic science.

“All these actions are useless. The opinion of scientists is not interested in anyone. Our appeal will not be heard, and in vain I will lose three hours of my time. ”

This is not true. An open letter of young scientists to the President of the Russian Federation, which gathered 3,000 signatures in April this year, caused a fairly wide public outcry to listen to the government in the government. The result was the adoption of amendments to 94-ФЗ, which are now used for many scientific organizations when purchasing reagents and materials for money money. Unfortunately, due to the unsuccessful formulation of those amendments of the accounting of some organizations, they have not yet decided to work for them-that is why scientists achieve, in particular, the adoption of a new, more successful version.

“All this is stupid. Science is scared consciously, by order of the Americans (options: green men, members of the cooperative "Swamp", the transnational corporation "DNA-Pipi", the secret organization "Mystical Lord of the Universe", etc.) ""

It is possible that this is so. However, all these forces (including green men) are very afraid of scandals and hype in the press. The hasty adoption of the extremely unsuccessful law on education at the beginning of this year was stopped precisely due to the large -scale manifestation of public disagreement. And we believe that scientists can also achieve their own, consistently defending their rights.

"Before that we somehow lived, and now we will live."

You may live - if you learn to call scientific work what is actually not. But thousands of talented ambitious graduates of universities who could compose the color of Russian science, but leave immediately after graduation (or in extreme cases after the completion of graduate school), they don’t think so. They do not want to run with pieces of paper, collecting signatures and printing on hundreds of meaningless documents, instead of doing their favorite business - to put scientific experiments. For the sake of science, you can go for a lot - we have never been indulged in generous financing, but if we are talking about the fact that we have no more than a quarter of working time left for this very science, and we have to spend the rest, comprehending the profession of a bureaucrat, in the end all this loses all meaning.

“I'll think about it tomorrow” - no! "Tomorrow" may be too late. On October 21, the State Duma in the first reading will consider the budget of the Russian Federation for 2012. In addition, right now, on the eve of the impending elections, we, ordinary citizens, have a true chance to be heard by the authorities.

And the last. If you are worried that when you come to the rally, you may be in a bad company - do not be lazy, go to the website www.science94.narod.ru , at which in April this year, signatures were collected under the appeal of young scientists to the President of the Russian Federation. Download the file with the names of those who subscribed under this letter, and make sure that there are a lot of real scientists among them, laureates of various bonuses and just good people!

Sergey Dmitriev,
From the initiative group of young scientists