Protests in Pisa

During the past couple of weeks, Pisa has been pretty crazy. There have been major student protests through the streets because of the Italian Decree Law 112/08. This decree law was passed by the Italian executive branch and must be approved by the legislative branch by the end of the year in order for it to go into permanent effect. The law will cut back on already severely limited research funding, dismiss many untenured faculty, and restrict many elementary education programs. I could go on: the law has many bad implications for a country that is already seeing a mass exodus of intellectuals as there are not enough positions for researchers in the country. An editorial about this was just published in Nature this week: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v455/n7215/full/455835b.html#top

Sheets painted in statements of protest against the decree law decorate the whole city of Pisa. In fact, as I'm writing, Claudia and Danilo are busy in our apartment painting another sign to hang up. Students have been staging all-night sit-ins in university buildings; I went to one last Thursday. Parents have been bringing their elementary-age children out to the protests. Thousands of people have been filling piazzas in Pisa, and this is just one Italian city.

Interestingly, many of these images of student protest are not reaching the media because the Italian President, Silvio Berlusconi, is a major media tycoon in Italy. In an effort to get the word out, Danilo and his friends are setting up a website. I’ve offered to help edit the English translation, so in some small way I’m showing my solidarity with the students of Pisa. It’s an exciting time to be here, but it makes me really sad for my Italian friends. I’ve chosen to research outside of my home country; this certainly was not forced upon me. Many Italians find themselves forced to choose between their home and their research. I never imagined that in a country in western Europe, a part of the world considered to be so modern and “civilized," citizens would be facing troubles like this.