Resistance

If you’re ever unsure what to write a column about, no worries. At any time, Donald Trump is willing to ‘flood’ the proverbial ‘zone’ with stupendous measures, including in science.

For instance, he drily announced that he would dismantle a long-term programme for measuring ocean currents. The Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) monitors, among other things, the warm Gulf Stream AMOC (Atlantic meridional overturning circulation). Less than a month before that, climate scientists had determined that the so-called ‘Cold Blob’ in the North Atlantic Ocean unmistakably indicates that the AMOC is weakening. Further weakening would have disastrous consequences for the food supply and safety of millions of people here in Western Europe. Terrible PR, of course, for Trump’s cronies in the oil and gas industry. But as long as you don’t measure the Gulf Stream, Donald must have reasoned, just like Schrödinger’s cat, it may well remain in a kind of undetermined state of being stopped and not stopped at the same time. For those who are familiar with the reference: Don’t look up.

Fascists love technology, they always have

Sadly enough, this was just Trump’s second-biggest attack on science this month. In a much discussed proposal, the White House suggested that grant proposals should henceforth be reviewed by political officials. To prevent money from being spent on research that goes against the ‘national interest’, you see? Sure. In reality, it is nothing but a blatant strike to silence critical intellectuals. The White House could hardly have adopted the instructions from the handbook ‘Fascism for beginners’ more openly.

Here in the Netherlands too, politicians who would prefer to have control over what is researched and published are on the rise. Experience shows that we are never very far behind the US. Here at TU Delft, we don’t need to worry too much though. Fascists love technology, they always have. Just look at the marriage between Trump and Big Tech. And if you are really out of ideas, you can always give your research a military twist – they adore that too. No, we engineers will be fine when the thugs are going through the streets. Let those suckers in the humanities worry, with their woke ideas.

I strongly hope that most of us will know better and realise what is at stake. Fellow columnist Birgit van Driel recently argued that political debate has no place at a university. She is right – in an ideal world where politics and science respect each other and leave each other be. But what if autocratic politicians openly attack science and do not shy away from using the dirtiest tricks? Will we then still remain politically neutral, neatly within the boundaries of our expertise? That’s exactly where they want us to be.

If we want to resist, we as scientists must step out of our familiar role. That is uncomfortable and takes practice. But it is worth the effort. Last week it turned out that, after fierce protests from scientist and others, the OOI will not be stopped after all. There really is only one remedy against fascism: speak out, as loudly as you can.