Can a rescue package be put in place for young scientists?
Students from Dortmund's twin city Novi Sad in Serbia recently cycled around 1,300 km to Strasbourg as part of a protest tour to draw attention to the situation in their home country at the European Parliament and the Council of Europe. In addition to corruption, they also criticize the restriction of elementary democratic rights and the disregard for the principles of the rule of law.
Autocratic regimes fear the truth and courageous citizens. Their system of rule is based on the manipulation of the masses, violence, deliberate lies and the systematic spread of fear. In the transitions to autocracy, the institutions that still know how to separate truth from lies must therefore be put under immediate pressure. In Hungary at the beginning of Orban's rule, these were free journalism, parts of civil society and universities. The same picture can be seen in the USA after the transfer of power to Trump. Manipulation is taking place via social media and by excluding critical media. Civil society is being threatened and universities are being put under massive pressure under a ridiculous pretext. It is all the more threatening for any form of freedom when the political opposition fails and the judicial system is disregarded in case of doubt or is quickly filled with supporters of autocratic rule. What seemed like a gloomy dystopia just a few years ago has already become reality in several Western countries and has also become one of several realistic variants of the future in Germany.
Recognizable recurring patterns
If we now look at the concrete consequences of universities under such pressure fields, some recurring patterns emerge. University management reacts on a scale ranging from submission and adaptation to resistance. Prominent researchers receive calls from safe countries and leave their universities. Others are dismissed and have nowhere to go. What is usually less noticed are the silent consequences of the adaptation of research and teaching to the new circumstances. Even in autocracies, knowledge is produced in universities - but in case of doubt, only knowledge that conforms to the rule, sometimes in accordance with and sometimes in contradiction to the truth. It is not facts and evidence that decide on their derivation and dissemination, but political officials.
Ignored young scientists
However, those young academics - regardless of their level of qualification - who do not behave in accordance with the ruling class, but instead feel committed to scientific ethics, for example, are repressed and ignored. Their careers end before they have begun. They disappear under the radar of the public and yet would be the next generation of a scientific, but also a democratic and constitutional renewal that is absolutely worth protecting.
This could now also happen to the courageous students in Novi Sad. Many are threatened with the fate of their former Polish and Hungarian fellow students. Their subjects will not be admitted, they will be expelled from universities or will have no supervision for further qualification positions after graduation. When in doubt, no one dares to supervise their doctorates or offer them positions. The fear of the vague or concrete consequences of such actions is too great.
Network of solidarity and support needed
These young academics in particular need a network of solidarity and support. Couldn't this be achieved with a little courage? Science only exists internationally and solidarity knows no national borders. In my imagination, committed universities and researchers from different faculties, countries and nations join together in a network. They offer uncomplicated, online, free and accessible counseling and support for all those who, due to their academic principles, no longer see a future in their countries and home universities. Instead of universities competing for the supposedly "best minds", experienced colleagues offer their knowledge and access to those who no longer see any prospects in their home countries. Perhaps European Graduate Centers and scholarships could also be financed? A recognition office could help those who were unable to complete their study programs for political reasons. My idea is a European network of academic solidarity in favor of a free and therefore almost always power-critical and uncomfortable science and its future leaders. The students in Novi Sad could be the students in Paris or Berkeley the day after tomorrow, and at some point even the students in Dortmund. The attacks on science are obvious - but the concrete defense still shows serious gaps, and European solidarity should be a building block of such a defense strategy.