Human Rights Workshop

Abstract

I applaud James Glanz's in-depth study of the shifting landscape of human rights activism in the physics community (“Human rights fades as a cause for scientists,” News Focus, 9 Oct., p. [216][1]), but I take issue with his assessments concerning the implications of a failed human rights workshop scheduled to be held at the March 1998 meeting of the American Physical Society (APS) in Los Angeles. The APS erred in scheduling the workshop in competition with scientific and technical sessions. It should come as no surprise that even human rights activists come to scientific meetings to discuss and examine scientific issues. Thus, the inappropriate scheduling made it difficult for people to commit to the workshop. In addition, it is highly unusual for the APS to ask participants to pre-register for policy forums, and it was our nervousness about asking distinguished invited speakers to risk facing a meager audience that prompted the cancellation. It is not clear to me that the low registration reflects a lack of interest or concern for human rights within the physics community. Perhaps a better measure of this interest is the number of signers (1970) of a petition expressing strong support of the scientific community for our repressed and harassed colleagues in the People's Republic of China. And it is also noteworthy that the APS Committee on International Freedom of Scientists has no paucity of volunteers clamoring to serve. In addition, as many as 200 volunteers serve on the “small committees” that have organized letter-writing campaigns on behalf of imprisoned colleagues and dissidents around the world. I regret that I did not make these points more forcefully in my discussions with Glanz. Nonetheless, he has provided a great service in his balanced and penetrating report of the stresses within our community—especially among our Chinese colleagues. [1]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.282.5387.216