As part of the Politik event, a debate was planned for this Thursday. Entitled “Geopolitics of Democracy”, it intended to address the subject of geopolitical tensions, European governments led by far-right ideology and also talk about the war in Gaza and Israel.
But this debate, moderated by Julie Morelle, RTBF journalist, was ultimately canceled. “Since the official announcement of the participants, the organizers of PolitiK and the host venue (the Mirror City) have received threats to cancel this debate. Faced with the growing pressure of these threats, calls for demonstrations and the degradation of the Mirror City building, the organizers of PolitiK – in consultation with the local authorities – took the decision this Wednesday to cancel this debate. And this, for the safety of all and out of respect for the registered public, the participants present and the opponents.“, indicates the press release. For the organizers, it is inconceivable to envisage this meeting in a deleterious climate where the courage of analysis and nuance are excluded.
Activists in fact wanted to hinder the presence of two political scientists from the University of Liège (Jérôme Jamin and Hassan Bousetta) making the link between ULiège and Israeli universities. Between May and June of this year, students occupied the university’s lobby to protest the institution’s ties to Israel.
The presence of Elie Barnavi, historian, essayist, former Israeli ambassador to France, also posed a problem for some. The Liège Occupation Free collective called for a boycott of the event
“Far too large police deployments would have been required and the serenity of the debate would not have been ensured.“, regrets Paul-Émile Mottard, one of the organizers.
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