RIGHT-WING POLITICS AGAINST SCIENCE
Intensifying attacks on Scientists and Scientific Freedom
Science and scientists are facing unprecedented attacks in new or reinforced forms. In recent years, the work of researchers and public research institutions has been increasingly undermined by political and economic pressures. Personnel management and funding structures are now heavily influenced by market interests, prioritizing short-term profitability over the pursuit of knowledge. The social precariousness of young researchers has deepened, while resources for basic research have weakened across many fields.
In Argentina, for example, research budgets have been drastically reduced, and the staff of the main scientific institution has been cut by half. In several countries, academic freedom is under direct threat: certain debates within universities and public laboratories are sanctioned, and scientific decision-making has become more authoritarian. Governments are increasingly silencing researchers, even within their own fields, under the pretext of “national security” or “knowledge protection.”
In France and the United Kingdom, expressions of solidarity with Palestine face censorship and repression — through cancellations, pressure, bans, prosecution of student activists, and even the refusal to debate motions of support. Words such as “colonization” or “ethnic cleansing” have become taboo. Simultaneously, political forces have encouraged the denial of well-established scientific principles — from climate change and biological evolution to gender studies and vaccine science. In France, the government even attempted, though unsuccessfully, to compel the CNRS to endorse the fabricated notion of Islamo-gauchisme. The recent reauthorization of a pesticide deemed hazardous by scientific agencies is another symptom of this trend.
In the United States, since the Trump administration, there have been nearly 500 documented attacks on science: dismissal of federal scientists, suppression of data, cuts to research budgets, and the dismantling of key agencies. Climate, health, and social research have been particularly targeted. Meanwhile, obscurantism and misinformation are flourishing across traditional and digital media.
Religious fundamentalism, pseudo-scientific ideas, and deliberate distortion of language have eroded public trust in verifiable facts. The privatization of higher education has further reinforced this dangerous drift, commodifying knowledge and weakening critical thinking.
Science as a Common Good
Despite these challenges, science remains one of humanity’s greatest collective achievements. Nearly every human activity has been transformed by scientific knowledge, and the global community of researchers, educators, engineers, and technicians continues to grow. Scientific knowledge constitutes an essential part of humanity’s intangible and cultural heritage.
International cooperation in science has led to extraordinary advances — from space exploration and medicine to communications and climate understanding. It has also provided the tools to peacefully address global conflicts, by rationally analyzing material and cultural realities. Recognizing this, UNESCO has adopted two landmark recommendations: the Recommendation on Science and Scientific Researchers (2017) and the Recommendation on Open Science (2021) — affirming the role of science as a public good that must serve peace, human rights, and sustainable development.
The Drift Toward Militarization and Authoritarianism
However, the intensification of attacks on science parallels a worrying rise in authoritarianism and militarization. Science is increasingly mobilized by the most powerful nations to secure dominance, fueling geopolitical tensions and economic inequalities. Research sectors in nuclear technology, computing, artificial intelligence, and genetics are generously funded — often for military or surveillance purposes — while basic research and social sciences are neglected. Democratic principles and international law are being replaced by the logic of confrontation, colonial expansion, and the monopolization of resources.
Across Europe and the Americas, far-right political movements — in alliance with corporate elites — are driving this regression, supporting both the erosion of scientific integrity and the dismantling of democracy.
In response, scientific defense and resistance movements are emerging worldwide. These initiatives affirm the inseparable link between science, democracy, solidarity, and the protection of our biosphere. They remind us that scientific progress depends on open debate, peer discussion, and respect for all perspectives.
The social responsibility of scientists, a founding principle of the World Federation of Scientific Workers (WFSW), is now more relevant than ever. To defend science today is to defend democracy itself.
Adopted by the International Secretariat of the WFSW – November 3, 2025
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Article on the FMTS-WFSW website:
EN: https://fmts-wfsw.org/2025/11/right-wing-politics-against-science/?lang=en
FR : https://fmts-wfsw.org/2025/11/les-politiques-de-droite-contre-la-science/
