The Society for Middle Eastern and Muslim Studies (SEMOMM) has learned of the cancellation of the symposium "Palestine and Europe," organized by the Chair of Contemporary History of the Arab World at the Collège de France and CAREP (Arab Center for Research and Political Studies). The program was to bring together academic specialists from various prestigious institutions in several countries (Switzerland, the Netherlands, England, Italy, the United States, Belgium, etc.). Following a tweet shared by a weekly magazine, which presented an analysis completely at odds with the symposium's scholarly arguments , this campaign led the Minister of Higher Education and Research to pressure the Collège de France to cancel the symposium. He subsequently described this cancellation as "responsible."
This cancellation constitutes an extremely serious attack against a prestigious academic institution . The SEMOMM is deeply concerned by this series of media intimidations and political pressures, dictating to social science and history researchers what they can address, how they should do so, and from what perspectives. At a time when an American administration is systematically engaging in this type of affront to science, we can only condemn the occurrence of similar tactics in France.
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