Again about the emergency in the Italian Scientific Research

I enclose the following articles from the USI Rdb Ricerca Newsletter

• Universities and Research are not for sale

After having wasted during the last years a huge public real estate fortune, making richer and richer the "friends of...", now it is the turn of other State "pieces": university, research, health system it means critical structures of our community. The reasons at the base of such a foolish governmental policy are weak and confused based on non existent budget needs. The real goal is in the link between politics and management: the italian industry association, which has never been so powerful, is among the main supporter of this operation which should have the merit to save public money to be immediately directed to recover the dramatic losses of banks and firms involved in the recent financial crisis. Thus citizens, in addition to the damage caused by the further demolition of primary public goods, have to bear the duty to help subjects who have always criticized the need of an increased State presence in vital social sectors. Now the hope is to see a positive concretization of the extraordinary mobilization which is taking place in Italy above all thanks to students who seem not yet hypnotized by italian mass media always controlled by political power. And maybe, not coincidentally, students in the streets have screamed "University, Health and Reserach are not for sale!".
(Rocco Tritto)

• Bologna: in the streets 1800 faces of temporary workers making research alive

After the meeting in Bologna in the Research Area held last oct. 3rd, many initiatives have been decided. Many of them have been proposed by young temporary workers who, with the recent governmental decrees, are risking to lose their jobs next june. From this meeting all the personnel (permanent and temporary) mobilized thorugh for example a permanent assembly and tables within the Research Area in Bologna, press communiques, open lessons in the streets and debates to denounce the situation in which italian research has been thrown after the governmental decrees. Italian Research has been killed in the space of a season and, exploiting summertime, italian government launched decrees capable to adversely change the Research and National future. These decrees imply, among others, a severe reduction in the human resources' number thus clearly showing the italian government goal directed to dis-invest in young researchers and in the future of Italy. A young temporary researcher has launched the project "The treaded research" which has in program to completely cover the main square in Bologna with the images of 1800 research (temporary and permanent) workers. You can contribute and obtain more info at: www.laricercacalpestata.it.
(Biancamaria Gentili)

• An email to the Ministry of Public Administration and Innovation

The temporary workers in the research institutes are protesting to defend public research and their jobs which the present government are putting in danger. You can send an email to the Ministry of Public Administration and Innovation (r.brunetta@governo.it) with the following message: “I defend public research: hiring workers for research is an investment for the Nation and for the community's wealth".