Opening my To have to Like every morning for more than four decades, I almost choked on my coffee on Saturday morning, November 5, while reading the “Special Booklet F” on “scientific Francophonie”. On the front page, it boasts of course “the strength of a global network” of French-speaking universities; on page two, we are not surprised to learn that the theme chosen for its “international conferences of the scientific Francophonie” held in Cairo, Egypt, was artificial intelligence, as this area of research has succeeded in making people believe to those who love buzzwords that a “revolution” was underway. On page three, we highlight the essential “connected Francophone youth”. It is on page F4 that I jump when I see that a half-page (paid by whom?) announcing that the next meeting of the Agence universitaire de la Francophonie (AUF) will be in Quebec in 2023, take advantage of it to thank “the high patronage of HE Mr. Abdel Fattah Al-Sissi, President of the Arab Republic of Egypt”.
In addition, the acronym of the “Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research” of Egypt appears at the bottom right in Arabic of course, but also in English… Hello Francophonie!
More serious than the absence of a few words in French is the fact that this ex-marshal who governs Egypt has for years flouted academic freedom, not to mention human rights. Others denounced the holding of COP27 in this country, an activity which, notes The worldwas “a godsend” for an authoritarian power wishing to restore its image.
I understand that the idea of a beautiful trip to the land of the pyramids can make forget many worries for senior university leaders and for the young and still naive “relevant” of the “Leaders’ Club” that the AUF has taken with her. . However, one can wonder how people who are supposed to embody the fundamental mission of universities can blind themselves to the point of remaining silent on the fact that the Egyptian government is today among the countries which most violate the freedoms of teaching and research. , which are the foundation of the university institution.
The Academic Freedom Index 2022, produced by the Institute of Political Science at the Friedrich-Alexander University in Germany, which ranks countries according to the level of freedom enjoyed by universities in all countries of the world, indeed positions the Egypt at the bottom of its ranking, on par with Iran and Saudi Arabia, but — consolation? — above North Korea i.e. 164e out of 177 countries ranked.
If the AUF really wants to be useful and above all to be credible, it should begin by reaffirming that it intends above all to promote academic freedom throughout the world and to admit as members only those countries which respect it — and whose universities are really French-speaking, because I once attended a meeting and noticed that some representatives only spoke English! Of course, it is possible that this will have to be done at the cost of giving up visiting certain sunny countries.