Stop the criminalization of support for Palestine!

TRIBUNE. After the summons of Anasse Kazib, SUD Rail union activist and spokesperson for Permanent Revolution, nearly 700 political, union, activist and intellectual figures, in France and internationally, are calling for “stand up”against the criminalization of support for Palestine.

Throughout the world, since October 7, those who denounce the colonial situation in Palestine have faced unprecedented repression. Despite 75 years of oppression, widely documented by academics, NGOs, international institutions and by Palestinians themselves, it has never been more difficult to defend the rights of the Palestinian people.

In France, one of the spearheads of this liberticidal offensive, the anti-terrorist police summoned on April 16 Anasse Kazib, union activist at SUD Rail for 10 years, spokesperson for Permanent Revolution (RP) and former presidential candidate. His fault ? Four tweets of support for Gaza, denouncing the ongoing massacre. As part of an investigation for “apology of terrorism”, the railway worker was subjected to long political interrogation with seven pages of questions about his life, his opinions, his comrades and the organizations in which he militates. Another RP activist was summoned for the same reasons.

This attempted intimidation follows a complaint filed by Jeunesse Française Juive (JFJ). This organization relays the positions of far-right personalities like Donald Trump or Éric Zemmour, does not hesitate to compare the Palestinian flag to a “Nazi flag” and takes part in numerous gag procedures. She was thus a civil party in the trial against the CGT du Nord union leader, Jean-Paul Delescaut, sentenced to one year in prison in the context of a case similar to that brought against Anasse Kazib.

We denounce the attack against Anasse Kazib, carried out by Macron and his government, hand in hand with pro-Israel extremists. They don't intend to stop there. By the police's own admission, the procedure they initiated could soon extend to several dozen activists and organizations, including personalities such as Jean-Luc Mélenchon or Philippe Poutou, while in recent days we We learned of the summons of Rima Hassan and Mathilde Panot.

It is imperative to stand together, beyond the political disagreements that may exist between us.

Around the world these kinds of attacks are increasing. They target personalities from the political, trade union or intellectual world such as Judith Butler or Nancy Fraser, but also simple demonstrators or students at Columbia, Harvard, Sciences Po or EHESS. By conflating support for Palestine with support for terrorism or anti-Semitism, they serve as a pretext for an authoritarian turn of the clock, threatening the right to protest, assembly and opinion, as is further shown. recently the bans on La France insoumise conferences on Palestine.

On the same subject : Tribune in support of EHESS students

The fight against the criminalization of support for Palestine is inseparable from the fight against this trend, on which the far right thrives. This is why it is imperative to stand up, beyond the political disagreements that may exist between us. This is why we support Anasse Kazib, as well as all the activists who are today attacked for having shown solidarity with the Palestinian people.

Source: Politis

First signatories

• Adèle Haenel, actress
• Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, Nobel Peace Prize winner, Argentina
• Alex Callinicos, Emeritus Professor, European Studies, King's College London
• Alexis Antonioli, CGT Total Normandie
• Amira Chebli, actress
• Annie Ernaux, writer, Nobel Prize for Literature
• Assa Traoré, Truth for Adama committee
• Bhaskar Sunkara, editor-in-chief of Jacobin
• Camila Rojas, Chilean national deputy
• Camille Etienne, environmental activist
• Cédric Herrou, Emmaüs Roya
• Cédric Liechti, CGT energy Paris
• Charlie Kimber, editor, Socialist Worker, UK
• Clare Daly, MEP from the Left Group in the European Parliament – ​​GUE/NGL
• Dali Benssalah, actor
• Daniel Catalano, deputy secretary of the Central de Trabajadores de la Argentina (CTA)
• Enzo Traverso, historian
• Eric Vuillard, writer
• Fernande Bagou, elected CFDT, ex-Onet striker
• Françoise Vergès, political scientist and decolonial feminist theorist
• Frédéric Lordon, philosopher
• Jacques Rancière, philosopher
• Joey Starr, artist
• John Bellamy Foster, editor Monthly Review
• José Bodas, secretary general of the Federación Unitaria de Trabajadores Petroleros de Venezuela (FUTPV) and leader of the PSL
• Keeanga Yamahtta Taylor, Princeton University
• Kevin Anderson, professor of sociology, University of California
• Lou Chesné, spokesperson for Attac France
• Luciana Genro, Brazilian MP, PSOL
• Manu Lépine, FNIC-CGT trade unionist
• Manuel Bompard, LFI deputy
• Mariama Sidibé, CSP 75 spokesperson
• Massimo Modonesi, sociologist and historian, UNAM, Mexico
• Mathilde Panot, MP, president of the LFI-NUPES parliamentary group
• Medina, rapper
• Michèle Sibony, UJFP
• Miguel Urban, MEP
• Milton Hatoum, writer, Brazil
• Myriam Bregman, lawyer and Argentine national deputy PTS / FIT-U, former presidential candidate
• Nahuel Perez Biscayart, actor
• Nancy Fraser, philosopher
• Nicolás del Caño, Argentine MP, PTS/FIT-U
• Nicolas Pereira, secretary of the UL CGT Roissy
• Olivier Besancenot, spokesperson for the NPA
• Patrice Thébault, DS CGT Airbus and LFI activist
• Pierre Khalfa, economist Copernic Foundation
• Raquel Varela, historian, Universidade Nova de Lisboa
• Robert Brenner, UCLA
• Rony Brauman, doctor, essayist
• Sandrine Rousseau, EELV MP
• Silvia Federicci, Hofstra University
• Simon Duteil and Muriel Guilbert, co-general delegates of the Solidaires trade union
• Stathis Kouvelakis, philosopher
• Stéfanie Prezioso, former member of the Federal Parliament (Switzerland)
• Swann Arlaud, actor
• Sylvain Chevalier, CGT Paluel nuclear power plant
• Tardi, designer
• Tithi Bhattacharya, Purdue University
• Virginie Despentes, writer
• Warren Montag, Professor of English Western College
• Claudio Dellecarbonara, metro worker, AGTSyP executive secretariat, Buenos Aires
• Ilan Pappé, Israeli historian, director of the European Center for Palestinian Studies, University of Exeter in England
• Pascal Maillard, University of Strasbourg, Snesup-FSU
• Tayeb Khouira, Sud Aérien spokesperson

To consult the list of all signatories.