The Brazilian Society for the Progress of Science (SBPC), the main body of the country’s scientific community, started the 74th annual meeting this Sunday (24), in Brasília, with the “Manifesto for elections and electronic voting machines”.
In the document, released at the opening of the event, held at the Darcy Ribeiro campus of UnB (University of Brasília), the members of the SBPC board and council, its regional secretaries, partners and friends of science emphasize that “they repudiate any attempt to violate democracy or disrupt the electoral process, which must continue with absolute respect for the Constitution, laws and democracy, which cost the Brazilian people so much in lives and efforts to be instituted”.
The manifesto refers to the statements of the President of the Republic, Jair Bolsonaro (PL), who again repeated lies about ballot boxes and made new coup threats in speech to ambassadors, on the 18th, in Brasília. The online petition is available here.
The general theme of the SBPC event in 2022, to mark Brazil’s 200 years of independence, is “Science, independence and national sovereignty”.
The meetings will be held until Friday (29), from 9 am to 6 pm, with a program that will focus on debates on public health, environmental issues and the defense of democracy in lectures, round tables and exhibitions. The “SBPC Vai à Escola” program will be held on the UnB campuses in Ceilândia, Planaltina and Gama. The “SBPC Jovem” workshops will be held at the IFB (Instituto Federal de Brasília).
This Monday (25) 35 activities will be carried out throughout the day, between face-to-face sessions, at the Darcy Ribeiro campus of UnB, and virtual (broadcast through the channels of SBPC, UnB and other entities).
Read the full text of the manifest below:
MANIFEST BY THE ELECTIONS AND ELECTRONIC VOTES
The undersigned, members of the Board and Council of the Brazilian Society for the Progress of Science, its regional secretaries, partners and friends of science, hereby express their SUPPORT FOR DEMOCRACY, FOR THE ELECTORAL SYSTEM FOR RENEWAL OF GOVERNORS AND REPRESENTATIVES, and your ENDORSEMENT OF THE ELECTRONIC VOTING CALL THAT HAS WORKED VERY WELL for decades.
Without democracy and without the participation of all, social life is impoverished.
For this very reason, we reject any attempt to violate democracy or disrupt the electoral process, which must continue with absolute respect for the Constitution, laws and democracy, which has cost the Brazilian people so much in lives and efforts, to be instituted.
Brasilia, July 24, 2022.
