ESHS Official Declaration

Dear members of the European Society for the History of Science, friends and colleagues,

Tragic events are taking place in and around Europe and are shaking our democratic and cosmopolitan values: terrorist attacks in France, Belgium, Germany and beyond, suspension of human (and academic) rights in Turkey, failure of a policy for the asylum seekers escaping war, war in Ukraine, assassination by the Egyptian state intelligence of a Cambridge University (Italian) doctoral student, Brexit and other anti-UE movements, visa difficulties that limit the right of many East Asian colleagues to participate in our conferences. Certainly we all know people who have been seriously affected. The general outlook is not positive. Academic freedom and international cooperation are at risk.

As an international society aiming to foster cooperation between, and integration of, scholarly communities across Europe and beyond, the ESHS is deeply concerned by those threatening political developments. The ESHS feels therefore the need to publicly denounce political violence, authoritarianism, xenophobia and chauvinism while reaffirming its commitment to our basic, shared values of democracy, openness to the world, and European integration. We solemnly proclaim the need to preserve freedom of research and teaching, international cooperation and transcultural understanding.

Our Society is open to and reaches not only all the European countries (not just the EU) but also researchers from all over the world. Our best answer to the current dramatic situation is to make the Prague Conference another outstanding example of international cooperation and professional research.

We welcome your support to this declaration through the following petition.