It is a new assault led by the United States against science. According to the French government, on March 9, a researcher from the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), was allegedly repressed on the grounds of the presence in his phone of private messages considered hostile to the policy of President Donald Trump. His professional and personal equipment would also have been confiscated and the researcher was reportedly sent to Europe on March 10.
After its repression, the Academy of French Sciences called in a press release international scientific institutions to “denounce an authoritarian drift that is harmful to science”.
For the Academy, which rises “vigorously against this practice”, this repression decision challenges “seriously the fundamental freedoms of the academic world: freedom of thought, expression and travel”. The spatial researcher was prevented from entering the American territory where he was to participate in a scientific congress.
France “deplores this situation”
This Friday, March 21, the Minister of Research and Higher Education Philippe Baptiste described the incident as “concern”, on Sud Radio, by evoking an “extraordinarily atypical” event.
For its part, the Quai d’Orsay recalls that the United States is “sovereign” in terms of entry and stay of foreign nationals on their territory and specifies that the French consular services were “informed of this situation”. However, he “deplores this situation” and recalls his “desire to promote freedom of expression”, as well as the commitment of the French government “for university and scientific cooperation”.
This incident occurs while since his return to the White House, Donald Trump has multiplied shock announcements targeting the scientific community (brutal budget cuts, censorship of certain subjects in subsidized research, etc.). In France, leading scientists have mobilized in support.