Colleagues and friends of the Wirth Institute at the University of Alberta strongly support the Hungarian Academy of Sciences! To show their solidarity, members of the Institute in western Canada join the live chain demonstration at the Academy building in Budapest with books published by “Akadémiai Kiadó” from the University of Alberta Libraries.
Students, teachers, researchers and people of all backgrounds are protesting in Budapest today (February 12th) against plans by the Junior Minister responsible for education, László Palkovics, to completely restructure research institutes affiliated with the Academy. The restructuring would lead to the elimination of some research units, would further curtail academic freedom in Hungary and would result in an end to their relative independence from direct interference in research projects by the ruling party. Participants at today’s protests in Budapest’s Széchényi István tér were asked by the organizers, Emese Szilágyi and Viktor Lőrincz of the Forum of Academic Workers, to bring with them books that have been meaningful to them and that represent aspects of Hungarian research and academia.
