The SBPC (Brazilian Society for the Progress of Science), the main body representing the country’s scientific community, begins its 74th annual meeting on Sunday (24), in Brasília, with a program that will focus on debates on public health, environmental issues and the defense of democracy.
These three elements are crucial to reflect on the general theme of the event, which, in 2022, to mark Brazil’s 200 years of independence, is “Science, independence and national sovereignty”. “Firstly, there is no national sovereignty without popular sovereignty, without democracy”, says philosopher and former Minister of Education Renato Janine Ribeiro, current president of the SBPC.
“One of the essential components for this is the vote, which led us to organize a table on electronic voting machines in Brazil and the launch of a book that tells their history”, explains Janine Ribeiro, who is a professor of political philosophy and ethics at USP. Attacked as unreliable by President Jair Bolsonaro, the devices to date have never revealed evidence of fraud.
The roundtable, which will take place on July 29, will have the participation of Carlos Velloso, retired minister of the STF (Supreme Federal Court). After the debate, the book “Everything You Always Wanted to Know About A Brazilian Electronic Ballot” will be released, written by journalist Fernanda Soares Andrade.
For the president of the SBPC, the country’s scientific community faced serious difficulties during the years of Bolsonaro’s term. With the exception of some state research funding agencies, among which Fapesp from São Paulo stands out, Brazilian science, largely dependent on federal funding, has suffered constant declines in recent years.
“We’ve been trying to maintain dialogue, but it’s very difficult to do that with a government that cuts funding, doesn’t prioritize science and doesn’t give any importance to education. The federal government hasn’t assumed the leadership role it should have, and the situation , in fact, it is very delicate”, he summarizes. “There has not been a single meeting of the National Council of Science and Technology, over the years, in which the President of the Republic was present, for example.”
This lack of interest is reflected in the way the country has dealt with Covid-19. “We are trying to get out of a horrible pandemic, which Brazil unfortunately faced very badly”, says Janine Ribeiro. “Thinking about collective health in this context is also a matter of social inclusion and, therefore, essential for our independence and sovereignty.”
For the president of the SBPC, the same goes for the environmental devastation that Brazil faces. “It is something that perhaps was not clear to many people at the beginning of the 21st century, but which imposes itself as a decisive discussion for Brazil today”, he says.
“And this applies not only to the need to stop the advance of deforestation, but also to protect the rights and citizenship of indigenous peoples, riverside dwellers and other traditional populations whose presence is essential for the defense of these territories”, says Janine Ribeiro. “Science has increasingly shown that these populations have developed sophisticated knowledge about the places where they live, and that there is an immense potential for sustainable economic development from our biodiversity, something that cosmetics manufacturers, for example, have already realized. .”
Participation in SBPC meeting events is free. Lectures, roundtables and exhibitions take place on the Darcy Ribeiro campus of UnB (University of Brasília), starting on Monday (25th) and running until Friday (29th), from 9 am to 6 pm. Organizers recommend the public to use face masks and hand hygiene with gel alcohol. The daily schedule can be accessed at https://eventos.galoa.com.br/sbpc-2022/calendar.
