Asked by Pascal Praud about his determination to continue the repression against four students mobilized at Sciences Po for Palestine, the Minister of Higher Education explained that he was “ in favor of their exclusion “. These students had been the subject of disciplinary measures prohibiting them from setting foot in the establishment after having filmed an action denouncing the genocide and the complicity of several large companies present at Sciences Po. But while the presidency of the establishment had ended up resolving to lift the disciplinary measures this Thursday, the new Minister of Higher Education and Research reminds us that “ you have to stay firm » and that the repressive offensive against supporters of Palestine is not negotiable and must continue.
An offensive which is not really a surprise on the part of Patrick Hetzel. The new Minister of ESR is in fact the architect of the university counter-reforms of the last 20 years and is not his first attempt at attacking democratic freedoms in the academic environment. This speech is part of the continuity of the repressive offensive that he has led in universities since his appointment in the Barnier government. Upon his arrival at the head of the ministry, he notably published a circular calling on university presidencies to intensify repression against mobilized students, particularly for Palestine. An instruction immediately applied on campuses, as evidenced by the ban on political meetings, notably those of the Raised Fist. It was in the wake of this repressive wave that the four Sciences Po Paris students targeted by Hetzel were summoned and sanctioned by the management of the establishment.
This new declaration also constitutes a signal that the Barnier government intends, despite the political crisis, to continue and intensify the repressive offensive against support for Palestine. She continues her recent positions against the decision taken by the administration of Sciences Po Strasbourg to break its partnerships with an Israeli university, or her personal intervention to prevent the holding of a single-sex meeting on the premises of Sciences Po Paris. Through this policy, Patrick Hetzel intends to seek to preventively muzzle any dispute within universities, particularly those which train students destined for the French high administration. This is all the more so since Sciences Po was at the forefront in France of mobilizations in solidarity with the Palestinian people, which last year shook universities around the world.
Faced with the real decline in mobilizations against the genocide, the Barnier government intends to tighten the reins and continue in universities the implementation of what constitutes a real “crime of opinion”. At a time when the government and Patrick Hetzel are also planning ever more austerity policies against the university, the Barnier government wants to reinstate authority and establish a climate of terror against all those who dare to raise their heads and question the policy of the government.
Faced with this desire to eradicate any expression of support for the Palestinian people in the universities, which is coupled with an offensive against all union and political activity, we must demand the abandonment of all proceedings against the mobilized students and build an arc force as widely as possible in order to defend our right to organize and prepare a counter-offensive to push Barnier back.
France
