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News from France: after Orban, Erdogan and a couple of other not-so-democratic heads government, Macron and his crowd are taking aim at academic freedom. 1/7
Today's focus is "islamo-leftism": a term that is supposed to mean - I believe - that there is some kind of collusion between leftist politicians (and academics?) and radical Islam. It is often quoted in the same sentence as "intersectionality", "postcolonialism" etc. 2/7
The minister of education originally targeted leftist politicians and student unions last year, eventually supported by conservative academics. 3/7
https://www.lefigaro.fr/politique/pour-jean-michel-blanquer-l-islamo-gauchisme-fait-des-ravages-et-mene-evidemment-au-pire-20201022 https://www.lemonde.fr/idees/article/2020/10/31/une-centaine-d-universitaires-alertent-sur-l-islamisme-ce-qui-nous-menace-c-est-la-persistance-du-deni_6057989_3232.html
https://www.lefigaro.fr/politique/pour-jean-michel-blanquer-l-islamo-gauchisme-fait-des-ravages-et-mene-evidemment-au-pire-20201022 https://www.lemonde.fr/idees/article/2020/10/31/une-centaine-d-universitaires-alertent-sur-l-islamisme-ce-qui-nous-menace-c-est-la-persistance-du-deni_6057989_3232.html
In a new step, the minister of Higher Education, hierachically subordinate to the minister of Education, has now called for a study of "islamo-leftism" by the CNRS, the national research council, to distinguish "scientific knowledge" from "activism". 4/7 https://www.lemonde.fr/societe/article/2021/02/16/frederique-vidal-lance-une-enquete-sur-l-islamo-gauchisme-a-l-universite_6070195_3224.html
It looks like a classical attempt to take on far-right arguments to attract far right voters. Academic research shows that such "accomodation" strategies do not work. 5/7 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13501763.2019.1701530?casa_token=KRcmy3zrPrkAAAAA%3Azo7Di2bUCkMFKEX4FPND2s6qAil4zsIePfToJJa4BEiN68RpgbwcvC4L_sKCqfXgoxzlGecJ6Gx0 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1369183X.2020.1853903?casa_token=xG1kbLOoEQgAAAAA%3Alq5H2WjXN0_hnQSBE0z3G7O6egVpwbJkYHywRrie_Z-27IfqyprWK-CpcuIjyyLnXWqhaHAJv25I
A salutary reaction by the conference of university presidents - not usually considered to be a radical leftist institution - wonders how the term "islamo-leftism" made it from the far-right to the ministry of Education and calls for some common sense 6/7 http://www.cpu.fr/actualite/islamo-gauchisme-stopper-la-confusion-et-les-polemiques-steriles/
In the meantime, this puts stress on underfunded universities in the already very difficult context of the pandemic. It moreover puts at risk fundamental values and civic liberties for the sake of an upcoming reelection bid. 7/7
And just to add a little juice to it: CNRS - yep, the ones who are supposed to investigate "islamo-leftism" - just published a press statement arguing that it does not exist. http://www.cnrs.fr/fr/l-islamogauchisme-nest-pas-une-realite-scientifique
