Nancy Fraser, Jacques Rancière, Silvia Federicci and many others say: Stop the Criminalization of Palestine Solidarity in France!

Since October 7, those who have spoken out against the genocide in Gaza have faced unprecedented repression around the world. Despite 75 years of oppression — widely documented by academics, human rights organizations, and Palestinians themselves — it has never been so difficult to defend the rights of the Palestinian people.

On April 16 in France — a spearhead of this freedom-killing offensive — the anti-terrorist police summoned Anasse Kazib, a railworker, union activist, and former presidential candidate of Révolution Permanante. His crime? Four tweets in support of Gaza, denouncing the ongoing massacre. As part of an investigation into “apology for terrorism,” Kazib was subjected to a lengthy political interrogation with seven pages of questions about his life, his opinions, his comrades, and the organizations in which he is active. Another militant of Révolution Permanente, was called in for questioning with the same summons.

This attempt at intimidation follows a complaint lodged by the Jeunesse Française Juive (“French Jewish Youth,” JFJ). This organization parrots the positions of far-right personalities such as Donald Trump and Eric Zemmour, compares the Palestinian flag to a “Nazi flag,” and takes part in numerous censorship proceedings. For example, it was recently a civil party in the case against Jean-Paul Delescaut, a CGT trade union leader from the Nord region of France, who received a one-year suspended prison sentence in a case similar to the one against Anasse Kazib.

We reject the attack against Anasse Kazib, led by Macron and his government, hand-in-hand with pro-Israel extremists. The latter have no intention of stopping here. By the police’s own admission, the proceedings they have initiated could soon be extended to dozens of activists and organizations, including left-wing politicians like Jean-Luc Mélenchon and Philippe Poutou.

Attacks of this kind are multiplying all over the world. They target political, trade union, and intellectual leaders such as Judith Butler and Nancy Fraser, as well as ordinary activists and students at universities like Columbia, Harvard, Sciences Po, and École des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS). By conflating support for Palestine with support for terrorism or antisemitism, such charges serve as a pretext for an authoritarian turn, threatening the freedom of assembly and of speech, as shown again recently by bans placed on meetings of La France Insoumise about Palestine.

The fight against the criminalization of Palestine solidarity is inseparable from the fight against the Far Right. That’s why it’s imperative that we stand united, whatever our political disagreements. This is why we support Anasse Kazib, as well as all the activists who are under attack today for showing solidarity with the Palestinian people.

A Selection of Signatories

Adèle Haenel, comedian and actor
Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, Nobel Peace Prize laureate
Alex Callinicos, Professor Emeritus of European Studies, King’s College London
Annie Ernaux, writer, Nobel Prize for Literature
Bhaskar Sunkara, founding editor of Jacobin
Camila Rojas, member of the Chilean Chamber of Deputies
Clare Daly, MEP, The Left in the European Parliament – GUE/NGL
Enzo Traverso, historian
Frédéric Lordon, philosopher
Gilbert Achcar, professor of Development Studies and International Relations, SOAS
Ilan Pappé, Israeli historian, Director of the European Centre for Palestinian Studies, University of Exeter
John Bellamy Foster, editor of Monthly Review
Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, Princeton University
Luciana Genro, Brazilian state deputy, PSOL
Massimo Modonesi, sociologist and historian, UNAM, Mexico
Matan Kaminer, anthropologist, lecturer at Queen Mary University of London
Michael Goldfield, Wayne State University
Michael Löwy, sociologist
Mick Wallace, MEP, The Left in the European Parliament – GUE/NGL
Miguel Urban, MEP
Myriam Bregman, lawyer and Argentinian national deputy PTS / FIT-U,
Nancy Fraser, philosopher
Nicolás del Caño, Argentinian national deputy, PTS / FIT-U
Olivier Besancenot, NPA spokesman
Raquel Varela, historian, Universidade Nova de Lisboa
Richard Boyd Barrett, Irish TD, People Before Profit
Robert Brenner, UCLA
Silvia Federicci, Hofstra University
Stathis Kouvélakis, philosopher
Suzi Weissman, Saint Mary’s College of California
Tithi Bhattacharya, Purdue University
Warren Montag, professor of English at Occidental College
Sebastian Budgen, editorial director, Verso books
Charlie Post, City University of New York
Cédric Durand, economist
Jacques Rancière, philospher
Daniel Gaido, professor, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Argentina
Daniel Tanuro, author and ecosocialist
David McNally, professor of History, University of Houston
Eric Toussaint, historian and social scientist
Isabelle Garo, philosopher
Jodi Dean, professor, Hobart and William Smith Colleges
Joseph Daher, visiting professor, Lausanne University, Switzerland
Marcello Musto, professor, York University
Phil Gasper, professor emeritus, Notre Dame de Namur University
Raju Das, professor, York University
Ricardo Antunes, professor, Université de Campinas (Unicamp), Brazil
Robin D.G. Kelley, historian, UCLA
Samuel Farber, Professional Staff Congress (AFT)
Lars Lih, author and scholar
Aaron Jaffe, the Julliard School
Alejandro Vilca, Argentinian national deputy, PTS / FIT-U
Kevin B. Anderson, professor, University of California
Romina del Plá, Argentinian national deputy, PO / FIT-U