EDITORIAL. LFI cries for censorship after the cancellation of a conference on Palestine where Jean-Luc Mélenchon was to speak

In a press release published Wednesday, the University of Lille estimated that “the conditions were no longer met to guarantee the serenity of the debates”.

Tension had been rising for several days around the conference on “Palestinian news” planned at the University of Lille. Elected officials such as the Renaissance MP for Lille, Violette Spillebout, the LR president of the Hauts de-France region, Xavier Bertrand and the RN MP for the North Sébastien Chenu had requested a ban on this meeting where Jean-Luc Mélenchon was to speak. and the Franco-Palestinian activist Rima Hassan, candidate on the European list of LFI, who accuses Israel of imposing a “apartheid policy”. Others, like the PS deputy Jérôme Guedj, were alarmed by the logo of the poster, the slogan “Free Palestine” covering a map of the entire territory of Israel.

The Insoumis, for their part, say they are victims of “censorship”.

Does this mean that the situation in Gaza threatens to ignite campuses? Maybe, but not necessarily. Of course, it is always regrettable and worrying that a political meeting cannot be held for security reasons. And it is true that incidents have multiplied since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas. An investigation is, for example, underway into a pro-Palestinian meeting, organized a month ago at Sciences Po, from which a student was allegedly turned away because she was Jewish. Since the Hamas attack on October 7, anti-Semitic incidents have increased in universities, as in the rest of the country. But the authorities are vigilant and we are far from the atmosphere of quasi-ideological civil war which reigns on certain American campuses.

An electoral strategy that seems ineffective

Moreover, the electoral strategy of the Insoumis does not seem very effective. Jean-Luc Mélenchon has decided to put the situation in Gaza at the heart of the European campaign. He wants to try to mobilize young people, the Muslim electorate, and beyond the suburbs. He continues to increase his views, denouncing his adversaries, and firstly on the left, Raphaël Glucksmann, as accomplices of what he calls “the ongoing genocide in Gaza”. The Insoumis are touring campuses across France. And yet, for the moment, the list led by Manon Aubry is stagnating at the back of the left. Proof that even on a subject as explosive as the war in the Middle East, it is not always those who speak the loudest who are the most convincing.