Melbourne Says No to Medical Research Funding Cuts

The day didn't start off too great here in Melbourne. It was raining and cold this morning. And with the Rally for Research only hours away, it wasn't looking too good. But typical of Melbourne, the weather changed 180 degrees within hours. The sky cleared and sunshine joined the party early-two hours before the rally started at around one in the afternoon.

By that time, an estimated 4,000 demonstrators had regrouped in front of Melbourne's State Library to protest against impending cutbacks to medical research funding envisioned by the naïve Australian government. Simultaneously, thousands of other demonstrators were manifesting in other major cities around Australia, including Sydney, Canberra, and Adelaide, with other cities to join in later this week. And thousands more were tweeting to get #protectresearch trending in Australia. (They succeeded.)

It is perhaps not surprising that a large fraction of the demonstrators were students. Melbourne is the educational capital of Australia with several major research universities. But more importantly, youngsters have the determination, urge, and belief to fight for a cause they think is worthy. Fighting against cuts to medical research funding is a worthy cause as the banners being heralded clearly stated.

Banners were everywhere, raised high up by outstretched arms, or rulers, meter rules, or pipettes. Yes, scientists are an innovative bunch. "Medical research keeps my blood pumping"; "SOS: Save Our Science"; "Cut the nonsense, not the funding!"; or "Gillard [the Australian prime minister], we'll cure your dementia (no seriously... we will)!" were flung around.

For me, the highlight of the rally was when Nerissa Mapes, a 34-yead-old woman who has been inflicted with Parkinson's disease and living with the condition since she was 28, spoke out to the assembled crowd:

"There is no cure for Parkinson's disease. But there is hope. And hope gives us courage. Don't let them take this hope away from us."

Medical research saves life. Cutting its funding is like handling death sentences at will.

For more information visit the Discoveries Need Dollars' website, twitter or facebook page.

Image Credit: strangehours (both from Flickr)