Le Figaro Nice
The relocated campus of Sciences Po in Menton, on the Côte d'Azur, is once again in the news for an initiative by some of its students who are slayers of the Palestinian cause.
After calls to “boycott Israel” on social networks, then a temporary blockade of the establishment, this time it is the organization of a “Palestine week”, with conferences, which is the subject of 'a controversy.
Especially since this event comes two weeks after the incidents that occurred in the Parisian premises on rue Saint-Guillaume.
Since the October 7 attacks perpetrated by Hamas in Israel, the Israeli-Palestinian subject remains flammable in these popular schools, where many students are politicized and engaged.
The group nicknamed “Sciences Palestine” and that of the students of the New Popular Ecological and Social Union (Nupes) of the Menton institute have planned exchanges for Wednesday and Thursday evening around
“alternative narratives”
on the Palestinian question but also with the will to
“point out injustice”
, we can read on their poster.
Elected officials Manuel Bompard (LFI) and Aurélien Taché are expected, as is the rebellious pro-Palestinian candidate on the list for the European elections, Rima Hassan.
MP Ersilia Soudais (LFI) canceled her visit at the last moment.
Pierre Stambul, president of the “Palestine en Résistances” collective, must also be present with lawyer Narriman Katineh.
“Sciences Palestine”, which brings together around ten students, was renamed “Palestine UTS” after reminders from the management.
These conferences must take place in the main amphitheater and other activities on the square in front of the university college are also scheduled, such as the creation of a
“collaborative fresco”
and film screenings.
“Hate propaganda”
For the Union of Jewish Students of France (UEJF), this is not a simple political and activist meeting.
On their X account, the association denounced
“hateful propaganda”
while asking for the cancellation of the conferences and criticizing the guests.
“Defending freedom of expression means preventing it from being used for purposes of hatred
,” she adds, judging that
“these conferences advocate intolerance on a campus which is emptying itself of its Jewish students. »
.
Two Jewish students recently saw an individual roaming around their home with threatening behavior and speaking in Arabic, we learned from a police source, while a man was arrested in this regard.
Contacted, the management of Sciences Po indicates that these conferences will be maintained but that it has imposed certain conditions on the organizers.
“It’s a student event
,” she reminds us above all.
The presence of individuals from outside the establishment, in other words of a public, was prohibited and it imposed the presence of academics in political science and history to ensure a form of moderation.
“If certain untruths are told, the speakers are there to correct them
,” explains a member of Sciences Po management.
Registration
These conferences will be recorded because
“this has a tendency to moderate certain positions
,” he explains.
“We will not hesitate to take legal action if unacceptable comments are made, and we will have the trace
,” he adds.
The request for police reinforcements to ensure surveillance around the Menton site was also requested from the Maralpine prefecture, which took note.
This campus in the Alpes-Maritimes, in the Italian border town, brings together two-year undergraduate students, 60% of whom are foreigners.
It offers a specialized course on the Mediterranean and the Middle East.
Sciences Po has six other campuses of this type in the region, such as in Dijon or Le Havre.
And even if this university college is one of the smallest in terms of number of students and professors, it is one of the most vocal about the Palestinian cause since the start of the conflict.