Why did Boaventura de Sousa Santos resign from the CES?

The 26th of November 2024 will go down in the history of the Academy as the day when the founder of what had been one of the world's leading centres of thought and the first of its kind in his country (Portugal) decided to step down as Associate Director and Emeritus of the Centre for Social Studies.

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After a year and a half of accusations that he considers unfounded and politically motivated, he points out that the process was handled in a hasty and opaque manner by the CES leadership, denying him the right to defend himself with guarantees and taking serious decisions without a prior hearing or conclusive evidence.

 

His resignation, rather than a withdrawal, represents an act of personal consistency in the face of an institutional environment that, in his opinion, has violated basic principles of justice and academic ethics.