Alexis Delafontaine with AFP // Photo credit: Laetitia Notarianni / Hans Lucas / Hans Lucas via AFP
“I was shocked” by these cancellations: doubly banned from conferences last week in Lille, the leader of La France insoumise Jean-Luc Mélenchon spoke Monday evening at Sciences Po Paris in front of an audience of students committed to his cause. In the large, packed Emile Boutmy amphitheater where he was applauded on numerous occasions, notably when he spoke of the situation in Gaza, the three-time presidential candidate praised “the open and respectful attitude of this establishment”, denouncing in contrast those “who gave in to pressure” and “went to their knees”.
A reference to his conference canceled last Thursday in Lille by the university. The Insoumis then wanted to relocate the event to a private room, but it was also canceled, this time by the Northern prefecture. “The enemy is not only the extreme right (…) but it is the immense chain of cowardice of those who give in before having fought,” asserted the 72-year-old tribune, calling for “ break the chain of the legal to move on to the chain of the legitimate.
Students from right-wing groups demonstrate against the arrival of Mélenchon
At Science Po, the founder of LFI also developed political science concepts, illustrating them with current issues. Citing in particular the writers Christine de Pizan and Colette Audry, he in any case adopted a more peaceful tone than last week – when he attacked “whistlers, those who like to whisper in the master’s ear” and had drawn a parallel between the president of the University of Lille and the Nazi leader Adolf Eichmann.
While his political opponents castigate the “provocations” of the former socialist senator, the comparison also made the left cringe. “It’s indefensible, what Jean-Luc Mélenchon said, indefensible,” said Communist boss Fabien Roussel on Monday morning, denouncing “excessive comments that discredit everything else.”
In front of the premises, dozens of students from right-wing groups also spoke out to oppose the arrival of the leader of La France insoumise. “La France insoumise remains the party which has had ambiguities regarding anti-Semitism. It is the party which refuses to clearly condemn Hamas, it is the party which has made anti-France remarks several times “, alarms Yvain, head of the Uni association, at the microphone of Europe 1.
“Apologia for terrorism”
“None of us has the slightest temptation to apologize for terrorism”, also declared from Sciences Po the head of the radical left, in reaction to the summons by the police for “apology of terrorism” of the candidate for Rima Hassan, seventh on the list of rebels for the June 9 election. “It seems that there is a whole list of people who would be prosecuted for advocating terrorism. Now here is an incrimination which does not have the beginning of the slightest demonstration,” he assured.
Rima Hassan, for her part, announced that she would participate in a conference on Wednesday at Sciences Po Saint-Germain en Laye on “Palestine and Gaza”.
“Youth Mobilization”
Long planned, Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s conference at Sciences Po was a new stop in his university tour, which began several weeks ago and which has already taken him to Nantes, Créteil, Nanterre and Clermont-Ferrand. A conference by the former socialist senator at the University of Bordeaux was canceled in October and another in Rennes was also canceled two weeks ago.
“The mobilization of student youth is one of our objectives. We know that if we want to get a good score we have to bring to the election people who generally do not come, like young people or working-class neighborhoods,” explained recently the deputy Matthias Tavel, campaign director of the head of the list Manon Aubry for the European elections.