Abstract
Not since the 1930s has the world witnessed such severe oppression of scientists and curtailment of their rights: this assertion was made at the session on 'Scholarly freedom and human rights' at the BAAS meeting in Salford. In his introductory remarks Professor John Ziman (Bristol) criticised the British scientific community for being 'so extraordinarily coy in public about the rights and responsibilities of scientists elsewhere', and in particular our learned societies for refusing to give a positive lead in such matters.