We cannot only complain when they are imposing a law on us: Instituto Mora

On the afternoon of Thursday, January 25, the College of Researchers of the Dr. José María Luis Mora Research Institute, a public research center attached to the National Council of Science and Technology (Conacyt), agreed to position itself against the bill General on Humanities, Science, Technology and Innovation that the head of the federal Executive sent to the Chamber of Deputies. “We allow ourselves to point out our disagreement in general because what was exposed in our participations in the open consultation and discussion spaces was not taken into account in the new proposal,” he read in his statement.

Then they describe very specific concerns that correspond to the life of the Public Research Centers (CPI) such as the freedom for the development of science, the employment situation, the collegiate bodies, the budget and the consolidation of the Centers. It is the first Institute attached to the Council that raises its voice to demand to be heard.

By the way, El Economista spoke with Verónica Zárate Toscano, doctor of history, researcher at the Institute and member of the National System of Researchers, who assures that unfortunately in this initiative they do not find positive things, on the contrary, there is a feeling of null representation.

He also denounces that there have been several versions of this law, since it has been under discussion for several years. “The collegiate bodies and unions have tried to approach forums, open parliaments, Conacyt itself, then they give us a version, they ask us for our opinion, we issue it, and in the next version of the Law it still does not appear.”

He explains that the fact of not having the chance to propose makes them very restless and worried. “A discussion with an open parliament is required, since that would really allow us to present our points of view in the Legislature”, they do not feel represented and even with the risk of not being heard, “we cannot remain with our arms crossed, because the that silence grants and we cannot assume that we fully agree with this proposed law”.

He adds that each institution has its own way of working and they cannot speak on behalf of all the CPIs, but they can speak on behalf of all the CPIs, but what this law would imply for the Mora Institute.

An ambiguous bill

From the position of Dr. Zárate, who represents the voice of this college of researchers, the problem is that the Law proposal is ambiguous in many aspects, since it gives implicit indications and that allows us to assume many things that can happen, it is not a tool that ensures criteria.

“Until now we have not had any problem for freedom of expression and research, however, the Law implies that investigations be carried out in accordance with the national agenda, the consequences may be that the Institute and the researchers have to dedicate ourselves to what the State interests him, the rest would be with our own resources and in our free time.

He explains that it is not directly an indication that in the future it would be done in such a way, but the wording of the Law is drafted in an authoritarian tone that allows envisioning consequences. He recalled that in advance the scientific community is interested in the advancement of science and the contributions that can be made in all fields, “if now any of our fields do not seem important to the national agenda, we are lost.”

The investment in CTI is also worrying, he said that the budget for these centers has been increasingly reduced, not only for Conacyt, in general terms for culture. “Now the 1% of the GDP established by the Law is in danger, when even with this our budgets do not even achieve .5%.”

Could the Conacyt Centers be in danger?

The initiative of the General Law on Humanities, Sciences, Technologies and Innovation proposed by the Conacyt and sent to the Legislature in December by the President of the Republic talks about the creation of a great national center that would group the 27 CPIs that are dedicated to issues that cross all areas, from optics to history, passing through biology, and so on. “By grouping together, we lose our own identity and assume a general identity.”

Dr. Zárate explains that, according to the proposal, the publications would also be subject to an instance of the new body, “we imagine that whoever is going to publish a book on the environment is evaluated by a physicist, this person would issue an opinion and would stop the publication of that book. We would lose not only our own identity but many faculties for the daily development of our research”.

Something very valuable that the Conacyt Centers have are their collegiate bodies and the various ruling bodies, “our peers give us rulings, colleagues who understand what we are talking about, if a new ruling body arrives we run the risk of devaluing our work ”. In the Mora Institute, the collegiate bodies have in most cases an equal representation between researchers and authorities, “that allows dialogue.”

In addition, he explains that the initiative disrupts the employment situation of the workers of the Conacyt Centers, but it seems that not in a positive sense or with greater guarantees. Many of the Public Research Centers are section A, that is, they have a collective contract, union rights, but when they go to section B they become bureaucrats, according to the interviewee this is unnecessary, because if they already have a guaranteed collective contract by the Ministry of Labor, which guarantees benefits and advances in the ranks, would mean “a setback and an attack against the labor rights that we have acquired for years and that have allowed the development of these institutions that we have maintained generating knowledge, trying to maintain a transparent and appropriate use of resources, without generalizing. If they put us in section B, they take away our acquired rights”.

Next steps

The researchers are now seeking to be taken into consideration, for this reason the document is addressed to the Science and Technology, and Education commissions, in the Chamber of Deputies, so that the space for dialogue is opened, they are allowed to comment and suggest better shapes.

They also want to inform the head of the sector and the Institute, María Elena Álvarez-Buylla Roces, general director of Conacyt, and Gabriela Sánchez Gutiérrez, general director of the Mora Institute, “that the community of the Mora Institute does not agree with this proposal of Law”.

He concludes that “he who is silent grants and we cannot only complain when they are imposing a law on us. Each Center would have to demonstrate. We hope to be the advance guard and that they follow us, because we need different opinions”.

What is a Conacyt center?

The System of Public Research Centers (CPI) of the National Council of Science and Technology (Conacyt) is a group of 27 Mexican public scientific and technological institutions dedicated to research and higher-level teaching in various disciplines of knowledge.