Scientists under pressure: threats to murder and hostility!
Scientists under pressure: threats to murder and hostility!
In Germany, scientists are increasingly exposed to violence and hostility, especially those that work in controversial areas such as climate change or vaccination. Jan Claas Behrends from the Viadrina in Frankfurt (Oder) received a threatening letter that depicted a pistol and contained the sentence "goes in the ear, stays in the head". Despite the serious threat, Behrends reacted with irony via social media when he described the letter as a "fan post". According to Behrends, who is researching the subject of dictatorship and democracy, this is a new low in aggression, which, as a critic of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine href = "https://www.rbbb24.de/panorama/biebtrag/2024/drohung-get-mord-anfeingungen- against- Scientist-scikomm-support.html"> rbb24 reported.growing threats to science
The aid organization Scicomm-Support, which was founded in 2023, has requested help over 2,300 times in cases of hostility since its foundation. The focus of the threats is mainly in Berlin and North Rhine-Westphalia, with 63 percent of the cases affecting women. Particular attention is paid to the preventive workshops in which almost 500 science communicators have participated. Julia Wandt from Scicomm-Support said that women often experience more personal attacks that question their competence and aim at their appearance. This was also confirmed by Claudia Kemfert, an energy economist, which, in addition to murder threats, also experienced sexist attacks. The concern about these tendencies is underlined by the increasing visibility of conspiracy theories and extreme opinions, as Wolfgang Schröder from the Berlin Science Center found.
Support for those affected
scicomm-support offers not only legal and psychological support, but also training courses for scientists in order to deal with threats better. It becomes clear that the aggressions not only affect prominent scientists, but also extend across all disciplines, as the organization reports. The goal of Scicomm support is to protect the scientific discourse from unobjectionable criticism and acts of violence and to encourage scientists to use help. The commitment to non -violent scientific communication is crucial to break through the climate of fear in which many researchers are moving today. The organization has positioned itself as an important starting point to support the scientists concerned, so that despite the threats, they can continue to raise their voice, such as "https://scicomm-support.de/en/about-scicomm-support/"> scicomm-support
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