Far from putting an end to the Pro-Palestinian mobilization, the big debate called “Town Hall” organized on Thursday, May 2, in the presence of 350 people – students, teachers and employees – at Sciences Po, in Paris, led to a tightening of positions. In front of the establishment, Hicham, spokesperson for the Palestine committee of Sciences Po Paris, announced the continuation of the movement by a “peaceful sit-in” in the hall and by the start of a hunger strike by a student, at 2 p.m., “in solidarity with the Palestinian victims”.
“Other students will join her during the day” and they will continue until “holding an official, non-anonymous vote on the board of the Institute for the Investigation of Partnerships with Israeli Universities”warned the master’s student in human rights and humanitarian projects at the school of international affairs.
As Town Hall drew to a close, students trickled out onto the sidewalk of Rue Saint-Guillaume, where clamors and slogans such as “Israel assassin, Sciences Po accomplice”, intoned by around fifty members of the Palestine committee.
Read also | Mobilization for Gaza: a “tough” and “a lot of emotion” internal debate Thursday morning at Sciences Po Paris
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In the street, students greeted exchanges “calm” And ” of good quality “, despite a “skid” final: faced with a Jewish student who claimed to be anti-Zionist, the provisional administrator of Sciences Po would have assured that these remarks were likely to ” chock “ other young people present. A statement which sparked cries of disapproval from the ranks of the students. “The reaction of [Jean] Bassères was very clumsy”judged a journalism student – who did not wish to give his name.
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“The debate was sometimes tough, often moving and strong disagreements were expressed”, Jean Bassères declared to the press after the debate. Showing the “greater caution”He called “everyone with a sense of responsibility” as the end-of-year exam session begins on Monday May 6 for some 15,000 students. “I refused the request for a working group to investigate our relations with Israeli universities and companies, reminding students that there already exists governance at Sciences Po which manages these subjects. I know it will cause a reaction”he added.
The mobilized students are demanding this working group as well as “the publication of a report on academic and economic partnerships vis-à-vis violations of international law and human rights in Palestine”. “We work with universities all over the world: in China, India, Mexico, Burkina Faso, Canada… Partnerships between universities are the last bridges that must be cutjustified Arancha Gonzalez, dean of the school of international affairs and former Spanish foreign minister, to the press. We have 480 partner universities, that’s the wealth of an institution. »
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