The People’s Science Fair, April 28 At UMass
Photo: Science For The People
Source: Science For The People
The People’s Science Fair, organized by Western Mass Science for the People, will take place at UMass, near the campus pond on Friday April 28 from noon to 4 p.m. The event will showcase diverse efforts by Western Massachusetts residents to harness STEM for social, economic, racial, environmental, climate, and cultural justice. Participants will include campus-based researchers with justice-oriented projects, grassroots organizers whose work involves STEM knowledge, and student activists committed to building a just future. Look here for up-to-date information.
Tables will represent a wide range of projects and offer many opportunities for cross-pollination between:
- sustainable agriculture and farmworker justice
- demilitarization and climate action
- community-based medicine and health equity
- science education, the arts, and social justice
- labor unions and anti-racist organizing in STEM
- prison and police abolition, and building systems for community care
- history, anthropology, and science activism
- and much more!
The event coincides with Founders’ Day Cookout and Student Farmers’ Market.
What is Science for the People?
Science for the People is an organization dedicated to building a social movement around progressive and radical perspectives on science and society.
We are STEM workers, educators, and activists who believe that science can be a positive force for humanity and the planet.
History of Science For The People
The original Science for the People arose in 1969 out of the anti-war movement and lasted until 1989. With radical analysis and non-hierarchical governing structure, Science for the People tackled the militarization of scientific research, the corporate control of research agendas, the political implications of sociobiology and other scientific theories, the environmental consequences of energy policy, inequalities in health care, and many other issues.
Its members opposed racism, sexism, and classism in science and above all sought to mobilize people working in scientific fields to become active in agitating for science, technology, and medicine that would serve social needs rather than military and corporate interests. They organized in universities and communities, published a magazine offering sharp political analysis, and sought meaningful scientific exchange internationally in Vietnam, China, Cuba, Nicaragua, and other countries.
Some of the issues we face today have changed in important ways, but fundamental questions of power, ideology, and democracy in science remain. The time is ripe to revitalize Science for the People and to organize scientists, activists, students, and scholars to face these issues head-on in research institutions, universities, and communities. Since 2015, SftP veterans have collaborated with a new generation of SftP members to explore the history of radical science and to rebuild the movement for today. The website for this new, national, “revitalized” movement can be found here.