After American universities, the pro-Palestinian movement is spreading to French universities. At Sciences Po Paris last week, several dozen demonstrators blocked the university, in support of the Gazans. Since the deadly Hamas attack on October 7, 2023 in Israel, the Hebrew state has been fighting against the terrorist organization that rules the Gaza Strip. But in this area of two million inhabitants, living conditions have become particularly difficult, with a large part of the population having had to take refuge in the far south of the territory, while water and food are lacking. According to a latest report from Hamas, more than 34,000 Gazans have died since the start of the Israeli response.
Sciences Po “let things stand”
In the United States, but also in France, several dozen demonstrators on university campuses are calling for a ceasefire, but also to “liberate Palestine”, a slogan often associated with the destruction of Israel. After several hours of blockage at Sciences Po, an agreement was reached between management and the demonstrators. The establishment thus ensures that it will not pursue students who have blocked the university and will organize a debate around the subject. In exchange, activists undertake not to block courses and exams until the end of the year.
Invited this Tuesday on the set of La Grande Interview Europe 1-CNews, Sébastien Chenu harshly criticizes the agreement reached. “When you see what the doormat management of Sciences-Po did, that is to say no punishment for the blockers, it shows that they finally let things stand.”
A school that has lost “its soul”
“The management of Sciences Po and the Ministry of Higher Education and Research are people who are afraid. They are afraid of La France insoumise, of the violence of the extreme left. So they prefer to let it happen” , he believes.
Faced with the demonstrations, the president of the Ile-de-France region announced suspending its funding to Sciences Po. “I support it in the sense that I think it allows pressure. I think it actually allows, and it obliges the management of Sciences Po, to move, to react So, I am in favor of it But what is dramatic in all of this is that it is 200 extreme left activists, wokists, who are preventing 13. or 15,000 other students to follow their course”, concludes Sébastien Chenu, believing that the school “has completely lost its soul”.