Once the folk dances were over, much more radical speeches were given during the “university meeting with Palestine”Saturday, in Paris. We went to listen.
Paris, Censier district, Saturday evening. When many students from the Latin Quarter spend their weekend in bars, others get together to “ a meeting of universities with Palestine » at the Césure building (former Sorbonne-Nouvelle site, now left fallow, it normally hosts recycling centers and bohemian exhibitions, Emmaüs stands or overpriced brunches). Reduced by a few euros, searched at the entrance by young people who were a little scrawny but hooded and dressed all in black, we found in the reception hall the usual pro-Palestinian militant folklore: comics with the evocative title “ From the river to the sea », leaflets for the liberation of the “ political prisoner “Georges Abdallah, a corner” Palestinian cuisine »…
The stove manager refreshes our desire for beer: “ I don’t think there’s any alcohol here.” We’ll settle for a Coca-Cola Palestine, ” produced outside Palestinian zones of occupation ».
Politics is there too, of course, with the stands of radical left student associations such as FSU or the Trotskyist magazine Permanent revolution. As for the dress code, the boys came with their keffiyeh. And we don’t count the young veiled girls.
Bearded woman, keffiyehs and denunciation of “pinkwashing”
At the bottom, an amphitheater has been converted into a platform for speeches. anti-imperialists “. On the program: student testimonials “ returning under military occupation ”, speakers calling for “ academic boycott”, and a dabké class, a “ traditional Palestinian dance “. As an Auvergne-style soufflé, young people reproduce the choreography from a YouTube video where Gazans dance “ at the front of Israeli snipers “. At the microphone, the speakers follow one another. The titles of the conferences are sometimes enigmatic.
Three students, Hamza from the collective « Queers for Palestine“Mukit, a French actor, and Riyadh, a medical student, dissect” the Israeli government’s strategy of using LGBT rights “. The Israeli government is accused of presenting its adversary Hamas as a homophobic organization. Hamza, a Palestinian actor born in Jordan and arrived in France at the age of 18, displays his transgender and queer identity: he/she wears a beard. Not very well awake (“ I needed a coffee ), the actor takes great care never to finish a single one of his sentences; he surely offers us a demonstration of his mastery of the professional art of dramatic suspension… These declarations are a mixture of enthusiasm, lament and fatigue (” It’s part of the character.”, mixed with lucubrations (“ There are idiots and angels in every country » (…) I am looking for an abstract vision of the human being where identity is not everything “). Because, he is convinced: all humans love each other. The proof: homophobia is not reserved for the Muslim world alone, as these nasty Israelis say: “ I also received jokes in France… which were not always constructive humor.” Ryadh, the medical student, theorizes: “We are in the presence of a new dichotomy between a West which manages to think about diversity but only in the face of an essentialist East “. However, a concession arrives: “ There is certainly a problem of homophobia in Palestine “, where homosexuals are regularly lynched or beheaded. A young man in earrings and a keffiyeh asks how in battle one can “putting that (Hamza’s queer and Palestinian identity, editor’s note) forward » among the masses.
Also read, Jean-Michel Blanquer: Thinking about October 7 as an exorcist
Our eccentric speakers remind us that “ identity is not everything », yet it abounds everywhere else during this militant gathering: on the stands, in everyone’s clothing or religious outfits. And, above all, in the speeches, which all celebrate this Orient which should not be essentialized, while we never struggle to refer the West to its supposed essence “ colonialist, imperialist and patriarchal ».
The best for last
The conference ends with a round table bringing together a select audience: Rachele Borghi, lecturer in geography, researcher and activist for the Palestinian cause, a certain Janah, student at Sorbonne-Université, and Omar Alsoumi, born to a father Palestinian, graduate of Sciences-Po, spokesperson for PYM (Palestian Youth Movement), representative of the association Palestine compass. The student rants against the “reactions » who reprimand the French pro-Palestinian youth in the media, namely Michel Onfray, Elisabeth Badinter and Anne Sinclair – the age of the last of whom she boos: “ 76 years and 80 years » ! The teacher, Rachele Borghi, questions the silence of fellow teacher-researchers and directly attacks the institution that pays her, “ a focus of production of ignorance ».
Among the last to take the microphone, finally, Omar Alsoumi says “tried to get out of the box “. He will keep his word. After denouncing the “ clear genocidal intentions » of the Israeli government, he attacks journalists (“ bastards ” which present civilian victims as collateral damage), and addresses encouragement to ” those who take up arms to assume the supreme risk of their lives »… Above all, he develops a whole argument around the “ legitimate violence » :
« We must not separate, we must articulate as precisely as possible support for legitimate resistance, including armed resistance, of the Palestinian people, and concrete material support for the Palestinians. (…) Palestinians have long been presented in the West and including in the Muslim world as poor victims and potentially as beggars.. » No more pacifism, no more humanitarian victimization, long live resistance. Including terrorist? The statement is a little ambiguous… but that doesn’t stop the audience from applauding wildly. At this moment, near us, a muscular and bearded young man comes to ask to be shown the prayer room, set up for the most pious visitors. Houellebecquian prescience: is the University of the Sorbonne not the setting of the famous novel Submission ?
