Since October 7, those who oppose the colonization of Palestine have faced unprecedented repression. Despite 75 years of oppression — widely documented by academics, NGOs, international institutions, and Palestinians themselves — it has never been so difficult to defend the rights of the Palestinian people.
On April 16 in France — a spearhead of this freedom-killing offensive — the anti-terrorist police summoned Anasse Kazib, a union activist with SUD Rail for ten years, an activist organized with Révolution Permanente (RP), and a former presidential candidate. His crime? Four tweets in support of Gaza, denouncing the ongoing massacre. As part of an investigation into “apology for terrorism,” the railway worker was subjected to a lengthy political interrogation with seven pages of questions about his life, his opinions, his comrades, and the organizations in which he is active. Another militant of RP was called in for questioning with the same summons.
This attempt at intimidation follows a complaint lodged by the Jeunesse Française Juive (“French Jewish Youth,” JFJ). This organization parrots the positions of far-right personalities such as Donald Trump and Eric Zemmour, compares the Palestinian flag to a “Nazi flag,” and takes part in numerous censorship proceedings. For example, it was recently a civil party in the case against Jean-Paul Delescaut, a CGT trade union leader from the Nord region of France, who received a one-year suspended prison sentence in a case similar to the one against Anasse Kazib.
We reject the attack against Anasse Kazib, led by Macron and his government, hand-in-hand with pro-Israel extremists. The latter have no intention of stopping here. By the police’s own admission, the proceedings they have initiated could soon be extended to dozens of activists and organizations, including left-wing politicians like Jean-Luc Mélenchon and Philippe Poutou.
Attacks of this kind are multiplying all over the world. They target political, trade union, and intellectual leaders such as Judith Butler and Nancy Fraser, as well as ordinary activists and students at Columbia, Harvard, Sciences Po, and École des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS). By conflating support for Palestine with support for terrorism or antisemitism, such charges serve as a pretext for an authoritarian turn, threatening the freedom of assembly and of speech, as shown again recently by bans placed on meetings of La France Insoumise about Palestine.
The fight against the criminalization of Palestine solidarity is inseparable from the fight against the Far Right. That’s why it’s imperative that we stand united, whatever our political disagreements. This is why we support Anasse Kazib, as well as all the activists who are under attack today for showing solidarity with the Palestinian people.
A Selection of Signatories
Adèle Haenel, actress
Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Argentina
Alex Callinicos, Professor Emeritus of European Studies, King’s College London
Annie Ernaux, writer, Nobel Prize for Literature
Bhaskar Sunkara, founding editor of Jacobin
Camila Rojas, Chilean MP
Clare Daly, MEP, The Left in the European Parliament – GUE/NGL
Enzo Traverso, historian
Frédéric Lordon, philosopher
Gilbert Achcar, academic
Ilan Pappé, Israeli historian, Director of the European Centre for Palestinian Studies, University of Exeter, England
John Bellamy Foster, editor of Monthly Review
Keeanga Yamahtta Taylor, Princeton University
Luciana Genro, Brazilian MP, PSOL
Massimo Modonesi, sociologist and historian, UNAM, Mexico
Matan Kaminer, anthropologist, lecturer at Queen Mary University of London
Michael Goldfield, Wayne State University
Michael Löwy, sociologist
Mick Wallace, MEP, The Left in the European Parliament – GUE/NGL
Miguel Urban, MEP
Myriam Bregman, lawyer and Argentinian MP PTS / FIT-U,
Nancy Fraser, philosopher
Nicolás del Caño, Argentinian MP, PTS / FIT-U
Olivier Besancenot, NPA spokesman
Raquel Varela, historian, Universidade Nova de Lisboa
Richard Boyd Barrett, Irish MP, People Before Profit
Robert Brenner, UCLA
Silvia Federicci, Hofstra University
Stathis Kouvélakis, philosopher
Suzi Weissman, Saint Mary’s College of California
Tithi Bhattacharya, Purdue University
Warren Montag, Professor of English at Occidental College
Originally Published: 2024-04-26 05:39:46
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