students called to debate the war in Gaza

While the pro-Palestinian mobilization has spread to most political studies institutes in France, at Sciences-Po Paris the management has proposed a debate during which students will be able to present their arguments.

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The management of Sciences-Po Paris called this a “town hall”, named after this exercise in local democracy in the United States which sees elected officials respond directly to those administered. Thursday, May 2 at the IEP in Paris, students are called to debate after pro-Palestinian mobilizations which triggered controversy well beyond the walls of the school. In particular, Sciences-Po’s partnerships with four Israeli universities are in question.

Lara is a student at Sciences-Po, Canadian on her father’s side and Palestinian on her mother’s side. Even though she has no family in Gaza, she speaks of a difficult year and says she feels less alone since the latest mobilizations. She wants Sciences-Po’s partnerships with Israeli universities to be put an end to. “These are universities that have developed certain military technologies, these are universities where soldiers openly carry weapons at the moment. I am paying tuition fees to an institution like Sciences-Po, which remains silent by relation to that and for whom it is not even a reflection”, the young woman advances.

Others denounce amalgamations between Jews, Zionists and supporters of Netanyahu and anti-Semitic excesses during the demonstrations. For Sarah, one of the spokespersons for the UEJF, politics should not interfere with partnerships between universities. “It’s not just Jewish students who go on exchange to Israel, I know a lot of French students who decide to go to Tel Aviv because it’s also the city of high-tech. The question policy should not enter into the question of partnerships between two universities”, she believes.

Opinions that management proposes to hear peacefully mid-morning in one of the institute’s lecture halls, without slogans or banners. However, the school management has already made it known that it does not wish to end partnerships with Israeli universities.