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To:  Argentine Presidency-Buenos Aires
February 14th, 2006

To the President of the Argentine Republic
Dr. Néstor Kirchner

Dear Mr. President

 The undersigned, artists, professors, researchers and scholars, from
 different corners of the world, thanks to our Argentine colleagues, have
 become acquainted with the critical situation which cultural institutions
 in Argentina are going through.

 For this reason, and based on four main documents deeply committed
 with world culture and with a transparent and credible international
 scientific community, we would like to ask you to consider a new
 hierarchical organization of the Argentine cultural institutions (the
World  Music Charter, Zone Franche, 2001,
 www.zonefranche.com/pdf/CharteAnglais.pdf;
 the Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences
 and Humanities, Max Planck Society, 2003,
 www.zim.mpg.de/openaccess-berlin/berlindeclaration.html; the
 Declaration of Bucharest about values and ethical principles,
 UNESCO-CEPES, 2004;
 www.cepes.ro/September/French/declaration.htm; and The
 International Researcher´s Charter for Knowledge Societies,
 IAMCR, 2005, www.petitiononline.com/iamcr/).

 The facts and arguments leading us to this presentation, in solidarity
 with our Argentine colleagues, are motivated on a series of shortfalls,
 vice and symbolic violence which are publicly and globally known by
 simply checking several sources of information, herein quoted through
 multiple links, making it difficult for professionals to denounce them
 within the country, and are listed as follows:

 Degradation of Scientific and Cultural institutions

 The increasing degradation of the artistic and scientific institutions
 arises in part from these agencies not being hierarchically honored. This
 sad situation could be reverted if the artistic and scientific
 institutions are ennobled by giving them ministry status (like in Brazil,
 http://www.cultura.gov.br), submitting the appointment of its authorities
 to public competition with standing and independent judges, observing
 the periodicity of their positions, and raising the nominations to
 parliamentary hearings and control. Moreover, these appointments
 should be supervised and evaluated by continental and international
 auditors, without compromising national sovereignty.

 Brain Drain

 The anti-democratic mechanisms of appointment, evaluation, and
 qualification of the national artistic and scientific bodies currently in
 effect in Argentina and many other countries of Latin America, are
 feeding illegitimate situations that lead to a state of deterioration and
 obsolescence, detrimental to what should be modern, autonomous,
 competitive and meritocratic institutions.

 This regrettable circumstance happens when the idea flourishes that
 people consume only goods and that the spiritual well being belongs
 exclusively to elitist minorities. It also happens when the institutions
 that accommodate the cultural patrimony do not invest in patterns of
 excellence, capability and quality; or in the search, discovery and
 dialogue between cultures and disciplines that could lead to true
 advances or innovations, and not mere imitations.

 This increasing deterioration, which also disseminates into higher
 educational levels, causes profound uneasiness, and a cultural
 backwardness that encourages unrestrained brain drain. This drain
 does not only respond to economic motives, but essentially to
 cultural and symbolic ones
 (http://www.alternet.org/globalaffairs/13148).

 Subordination to Geopolitics of Knowledge

 This deterioration has nourished a cultural provincialism and an
 ideological subordination to a geopolitics of knowledge and culture,
 which undermines the incorporation of strategic fields from art,
 science and humanities
 (http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/world/argentina/falda-del-carmen.htm),
 banning research and creativity as well as producing a digital regression
 of modern methods and techniques; all of which has further deepened the
 technological, scientific and humanistic prevailing gap with regard to
 institutions of developed countries.

 Lack of Electronic Transparency

 The Argentine artistic and scientific system, which survives isolated and
 fragmented, and whose actions have been assimilated to public
 administrative routines, is used to surrendering to ritual simulations of
 periodical artistic and scientific reports, which are neither published
 nor otherwise made public.

 The fact that these reports remain unpublished for years might have been
 violating not only the principles about the publicity of official
 documents but also the free access paradigm of information and
 knowledge exchange, by preventing the local and foreign colleagues the
 right -assigned by the Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge
 in the Sciences and Humanities (Max Planck Society, 2003)-- to
 ascertain electronically their intellectual quality, as well as their
 honesty and seriousness
 (http://www.zim.mpg.de/openaccess-berlin/berlindeclaration.html). Thus,
 it would be reasonable to assume the existence of numerous violations of
 ethical codes.

 Obstacles to Verify Scientific Frauds

 Because of lack of electronic transparency of unpublished academic
 production, abuse of confidential procedures and lack of appropriate
 mechanisms to denounce fraud --which anybody can check visiting
 Argentine official websites
 (http://www.secyt.gov.ar; http://www.cultura.gov.ar;
 and http://www.conicet.gov.ar/)-- evidences of scientific fakes or
 uncontrolled results are very difficult to detect and reveal, and
 therefore an external verification of Argentine public academic
 institutions is full of obstacles extremely hard to overcome
 (http://www.lafogata.org/04arg/arg8/art6.htm).

 Besides the lack of electronic transparency, reports lack also linguistic
 or semantic transparency because they happened to be extremely
 hermetic ".to purposefully encrypt morally suspect information", often
 lacking abstracts written for non-specialists, as a support to the
 technical report, that only very few experts can follow.
 Potential Artistic and Scientific Hoax

 Thus, hidden behind the lack of electronic transparency and covered
 by an hermetic jargon and an abuse of confidentiality in administrative
 procedures, in an uncertain number of reports, its sources or data might
 have been distorted, adulterated or falsified, and its methods and
 conclusions do not fulfill a scientific truth or an artistic excellence.

 It is also suspected that some reports might have been plagiarized,
 produced through evil acts and/or simply constructed out of thin air. As
 no system-wide control or checks and balances of these values exist,
 violations are prone to multiply, with even cases of fraud occurring,
 without its authors ever being investigated, or judicially prosecuted.

 Low Ethical and Electronic Standards

 Individual researchers and artists are not only morally responsible to
 the research and representation process -selection of topics and
 methods, and the integrity of creativity or research-but also to its final
 results. According to the Declaration of Bucharest (2004) all scholars,
 artists and scientists alike, should ".commit themselves to high ethical
 standards and a code of ethics based on relevant norms enshrined in
 international human rights instruments should be established for
 scientific professions". The social responsibility of artists and
 scientists requires that ".they maintain high standards of integrity and
 quality control, share their knowledge, communicate with the public and
 educate the younger generation"
 (http://www.cepes.ro/September/French/declaration.htm.).

 In that same ethical line, The International Researcher´s Charter for
 Knowledge Societies (IAMCR, 2005) established that authorities should
 promote ".open, collaborative and self-organizing publishing models and
 software development methods that are accessible to researchers and
 available in not-for-profit databases, libraries and archives; thereby
 supporting researchers as content producers and as active participants in
 the open access paradigm of knowledge creation and exchange"
 (http://www.petitiononline.com/iamcr).

 Decline in Quality in the Artistic and Scientific Competitiveness and
 Productivity

 The jurisdictional decline in quality, the geopolitical censorship and
 curtailment, and the ethical and bureaucratic corrosion and decomposition
 create a situation in which Argentine competitiveness in the
 international ranks radically diminishes; local artistic creativity and
 scientific productivity erodes; patented innovation abroad decreases; and
 royalties which should accrue to national institutions simply disappears
 (http://hipforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=52579).

 Hidden Authoritarian Factionalism

 All these anomalies, anachronisms and obstacles such as the institutional
 decline in quality, the geopolitical censorship or curtailment and the
 academic corruption made possible a situation in which artistic,
 scientific and higher educational institutions have become overwhelmed
 by a hidden authoritarian factionalism totally devoid of any sign of
 meritocracy, transparency and fair competition
 (http://epaa.asu.edu/epaa/v12n6/).

 In its place a policy of "pulling strings" and of awards, punishments and
 personal vendettas; a hidden discourse of discrimination, destined to
 silence critical opinions and supress dissidents; and obscurantist habits
 inherited from different authoritarian regimes, that have cost the
 Argentine people, in its recent past, numerous losses of their more
 precious artists and scientists who disappeared in the fog of torture and
 extermination
 (http://www.pagina12.com.ar/diario/universidad/index-2003-11-26.html)

 In this regard, the artistic, scientific and higher educational agencies
 should promote a creative work environment free of all kind of political,
 ideological, regional, racial, sexual, religious or moral harassment.
 According to the above mentioned international documents, these agencies
 should form a community where mutual trust prevail, based on the values
 of an open, pluralistic and democratic society.

 Illegitimate Symbolic Violence

 The perversions of the cultural system (devaluations, censorships and
 covering ups) have uncovered the phantom of an illegitimate symbolic
 violence, that is to say. an ideological control and the mechanisms of
 exclusion (discrimination, proscription, postponement and reprisal), that
 without producing physical death continues castrating the soul and the
 mind of what should be an independent intellectual community
 (http://quebec.indymedia.org/en/node/23503).

 Feeding of Violence and the Following Institutional Devaluation

 This illegitimate apparatus of symbolic violence --which hinders the
 dispersion of its captive clientele-- generating misconduct of different
 kinds (cover-ups, censorships, malfeasance and ideological falsehoods),
 abets the silence and consent to anachronistic superposition by state
 institutions; ignores the decline in quality production and the
 fragmentation of artistic and scientific common spaces; censors or
 curtails the editorial information and production; and silences the
 abandonment, desolation and decomposition of institutions dear to
 Argentine culture, such as CONICET, National Library, Colon Theatre,
 National Archive, National Academies, National Museums (Natural
 Science Bernardino Rivadavia, Miguel Lillo, Bellas Artes, etc), and
 National Universities
 (http://www.simon-bolivar.org/bolivar/un_barrio_para_ba.html).

 Conclusion

 The purpose of our document is to kindly request from you, as President
 of the Argentine people, the creation of a new and more relevant hierarchy
 to the Art and Science areas, incorporating and centralizing them under a
 presidential jurisdiction or giving them a Ministry status.

 Finally, we wish to confirm that no constructive or lasting policy could
 be successfully implemented if in the agencies of art, science, research
 and higher education, practices and habits do not have their organization
 chart restructured in a way that would eliminate the corruption,
 falsifying, genuflective behavior, opportunism, moral indifference and,
 what is more serious and lethal, the self-censorship or fear to express
 oneself freely.

 We remain with due respect

 Yours truly,

 Sincerely,

 The Undersigned

 Name Comments area of expertise institutional affiliation

82.  Sonia Viviana Corvalán    Docente y Bibliotecaria   
Instituto Superior Juan B. Justo   
Buenos Aires-Argentina

81.    Federico Martin Maglio    Docente E.E.M.9   
San Nicolas-Buenos Aires-Argentina

80. Ezequiel Romero        Mechanical Engineer    
Universidad Tecnológica Nacional FRBA
Capital-Argentina

79.  Maria Lourdes Coloma        Recursos Humanos   
UCES-Buenos Aires

78.  Joaquin E. Meabe    philosophy of law   
Universidad Nacional del Nordeste (UNNE)   
Corrientes-Argentina

77. Margarita Hernandez Rivera    artist painter    Independent

76. Marcelo Flores Ch.    Profesor universitario   
    

75.  R. Enrique Viturro    Ph.D.     Chemical Phisics   
Xerox Corporation/XIG/
Wilson Center for Research and Technology   
Rochester, NY-USA

74.    Dr. Koen Van Waerebeek    Global Marine Living
Resources    CEPEC/Museo de Delfines   
Lima-20    PERU

73.    Ernesto González    Limnology   
Universidad Central de Venezuela   
Instituto de Biología Experimental

72. Carlos David Rodríguez Flores    Biological and Dental
Anthropologist    Observatorio de Reconocimiento
Biologico Humano ORBIH    Tulúa-Colombia

71.  Jonathan Dostrovsky    Neuroscience   
University of Toronto    Canada

70.  Fernando Felix    Mamiferos Marinos   
Fundacion Ecuatoriana para el Estudio de
Mamiferos Marinos (FEMM)   
Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Quito

69.  Juan J. Botero    Philosophy    Universidad Nacional
de Colombia    Departamento de Filosofia

68. Marco Ruffino    Philosophy    Universidade
Federal de Rio de Janeiro    Brazil

67. Kirll Degtyarenko    Bioinformatics, Cheminformatics   
European Bioinformatics Institute   
Cambridge, UK

66. Lino Pizzolon    Limnologia-Ecologia Acuatica   
Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia SIB   
Esquel-Argentina

65.  Guillermo Chalar Marquisá    Limnology   
Professor Assistant    University of the Republic (Uruguay)

64.   Captain Alfred S. McLaren USN (Ret.) Ph.D. President Emeritus,
The Explorers Club    Artic and Antartic Oceanography,
Deep Sea Oceanography    The Explorers Club,
former professor at University of Colorado and
Columbia University        Peterhouse, Cambridge University

63.   Régis Pinto de Lima     Oceanografía e mamiferos aquaticos    
IBAMA/MMA    sim

62.    Iryna Kuchma        Social Sciences, academia publications,
open access    International Renaissance Foundation   
Ukraine

61.  Cristiano Leite Parente    Marine Environment   
Petroleo Brasileiro SA

60.  Daniel M. Palacios    Marine Sciences   
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
(NOAA)    Environmental Research Division,
Pacific Grove, California, USA

59.  Carolina Tosi     Marine Conservation   
Projeto Cetaceos do Maranhao    
Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte

58.  Fagner Magalhaes        Marine Conservation   
Projeto Cetaceos do Maranhao Universidade
Federal do Rio Grande do Norte

57. Jordi Berenguer    Periodista    Oceana   
Oficina para América del Sur y Antártica

56. Carlos Tapia        Anthropology    Centro de Investigación
y Desarrollo    Estado de Michoacán-México

55.  Andre Silva Barreto    Zoology    CTTMar    UNIVALI

54.  Palmira Vélez Jiménez    Profesora Ayudante    Historia de América   
    

53.  Susan Milward    Conservation Research Associate   
Animal Welfare Institute    United States

52.    Thomas M. Millington      Professor of Political Science Emeritus    
Hobart and William Smith Colleges-New York

51.  Laura Rojas    Marine Conservation    Conservación de
Mamíferos Marinos de México    COMARINO

50.  Yolanda Alaniz Pasini    Conservation    Conservación de
Mamíferos Marinos de México    COMARINO

49.    Richard O´Barry    Marine mammal specialist   
One Voice-France    Dolphin Project

48.  Peter W. Michor    Mathematics    Fakultaet fuer Mathematik   
Universitaet Wien-Austria

47.  line voided

46.  Thomas D. Wilson    Information science   
    

45.  Joachim Funke    Psychology    Heidelberg University   
       Director of the Department of Psychology

44.  Sergio Della Sala    Human Cognitive Neuroscience   
University of Edimburgh-UK

43.  Frederic Amblard        Computer Sciences   
Universite des Sciences Sociales-Toulouse-
Institut de Recherche en Informatique de
Toulouse-France

42.  Peter Suber    Philosophy, open access to research   
Research Professor of Philosophy at Earlham College   
Open Access Project-Director at Public Knowledge

41. Giovanni Cercignani    Biochemistry    Pisa University-
Biology Department-Italian CNR-Institute of biophysics

40. John M. Bryden-Prof.Emeritus    Human Geography
and Rural Development   
UHI Millenium Institue and Policy Web   
University of Aberdeen

39. Aant Elzinga    History & Philosophy of Science
      Department of History of Ideas    University of
      Goteborg-Sweden

38.    Mark Berman  Conservationist            Assistant
Director Internat. Marine Mammal Project       Herat
Island Institute  San Francisco

 37.    Gabriel Kreiman    Computational Neuroscience    MIT    MIT

 36.    Julio Reyes Robles    Biología, Zoología, Cetáceos
        Areas Costeras y Recursos Marinos    Peru

 35.  Alberto Enrique D´Ottavio    Docente-Investigador Médico
       Consejo de Investigaciones    Rosario-Argentina

 34    Peter McLaren    Political Sociology and philosophy of education
        Graduate School of Education and Information Studies
        University of California-Los Angeles

 33.    Gary Orfield    Civil Rights, Education & Social Policy
        Harvard University    Civil Rights Project

 32.  Pilar Barbosa    Linguistics    Instituto de Letras e Ciencias
        Humanas Universidade de Minho

 31.  Miriam Marmontel    Wildlife Conservation    Instituto de
        Desenvolvimento Sustentavel Mamiraua Brazil

 30.    J.W. de Wekker Vegas    Director    Organizacion
        Simón Bolívar    Venezuela

 29. Fairlamb, Alan H.    Biochemistry and drug discovery for
      tropical diseases University of Dundee Scotland

 28. Diniz, Alai García        Literatura Hispanoamericana Universidade
      Federale de Santa Catarina

 27. Philippe Marliére        Senior Lecturer in Politics
       University College-London    United Kingdom

 26. José Martins da Silva Júnior   Conservação Centro Golfinho Rotador
       Fernando de Noronha - Brasil

 25. Domenico Losurdo   Philosophy University Urbino Italy

 24. Jules M. R. Soto Cultural Renaissance of Argentina now! Museology
      Universidade do    Vale do Itajaí and International Council of Museums
      Brasil

23.    line voided

 22. Stephen D, Morris   Political Science University of South Alabama USA

 21. José Yáñez   Zoology Museo Nacional de Historia Natural Chile

 20. Perez Rivera Graciela   Education Centro de Estudios sobre la
       Universidad de la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM)

 19. Karina Groch   Biology Projeto Baleia Franca - IWC/Brasil Coordinator

 18. Maria Emilia Yamamoto   Animal behavior Universidade Federal do Rio
       Grande do Norte Brazil

 17. Naomi A. Rose, Ph.D.   Biology Humane Society International
      Washington, DC, USA

 16. François Houtart prof. em à l'UCL (Belgique) developpement Centre
       Tricontinental Ave Ste Gertrude 5, 1348 Louvain la Neuve

 15. Paul Spong   Cetacean science OrcaLab/Pacific Orca Society Canada

 14. Luciano Nunes de Almeida   Historia da America Latina Care

 13. Simon Ashworth Wood  Politics and Japanese studies graduate of the
       University of Sydney Industrial Workers of the World

 12. Rodrigo Fabián Muñoz Cerón   Veterinary Sciences, Wildlife, Welfcare,
       Parasitology Universidad de Concepción Chile

 11. Ricardo Palma   Entomology Museum of New Zealand Wellington, New
       Zealand

 10. Hugo Patricio Castello   Marine Biology Academia del Mar Argentina

 9. Eduardo Montero   Natural Sciences University of Tucuman Argentina

 8. Prof. Dr. Alexander Fedorov   media education, media literacy Russian
     Association for Film and Media Education President of Association

 7. William W. Rossiter   aquatic mammal science, conservation and
     education Cetacean Society International P.O. Box 953, Georgetown,

    CT 06829 USA; www.csiwhalesalive.org

 6. Marcelo Mendieta   Journalist National Association of Hispanic
     Journalist (NAHJ)

 5. Mara Rogers   Language Faculty of Arts - French, Italian and Spanish
     Studies University of Melbourne - Australia

 4. Nils Jacobsen   Latin American History University of Illinois at
     Urbana-Champaign 910 S. Fifth St, Champaign, IL 61820 USA

 3. Lewis Pyenson   History of Science University of Louisiana at
     Lafayette Lafayette, LA 70504-0831

 2. Rolando Quiros   Chemist, Ph.D. Buenos Aires University CONICET

 1. Eduardo R. Saguier   Historian Museo Roca-CONICET-Buenos Aires
     Researcher

 All those who wish to give us their support, we will appreciate to apply
 to http://www.PetitionOnline.com/3954edus/ indicating your complete name,
 area of expertise, institutional affiliation, and email.

 The Open Letter to Argentine President Nestor Kirchner Petition to
 Argentine Presidency-Buenos Aires was created by and written by Eduardo
 R. Saguier (saguiere@ssdnet.com.ar).  This petition is hosted here at
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