Statement of Solidarity with François Burgat

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Jul 13, 2024 Maghreb
Statement of Solidarity with François Burgat

Statement of Solidarity with François Burgat

By : Maghreb Page Editors

[If you would like to sign this statement, please fill out this Google form.]

We, the undersigned, express our solidarity with our colleague François Burgat, a prominent academic who stands trial for apology for terrorism in France. His first court date was on April 24, 2025, a few days after French president Emmanuel Macron, in reaction to the Trump administration’s war on academic freedom, called international researchers to “choose France.”  

François Burgat, an internationally acclaimed specialist of the Middle East, is accused by the French police of praising Hamas in a series of tweets, some of which are literal reprints of results he published years ago in an academic volume. On April 24, 2025, the French prosecutor requested an eight months suspended sentence, a 4,000 euros fine, a two year ineligibility, and a ban from social media. The court will render its decision on May 28, 2025. We express our support to François Burgat and others who have similarly been targeted by unprecedented levels of repression against pro-Palestine speech in France. We also note that putting a social scientist on trial for speaking out on his expertise does not bode well for those researchers who might “choose France” to escape the U.S. administration’s wrath. 

The source of the White House’s ire toward universities is a wave of pro-Palestine student protest against Israel’s current war on Gaza. Through his Task Force to Combat Antisemitism, the U.S. president has accused Harvard, Columbia, and other institutions of higher education of violating the civil rights of Jewish students. This move opened the floodgates for a punitive campaign on science and scientists, accused of being too liberal or too “woke” by the current U.S. leadership. Coupled with unlawful detentions of pro-Palestine foreign students, large cuts — or threats of cuts — in federal research funding have caused turmoil in U.S. academia and beyond. Middle Eastern studies, and those studying Palestine-Israel, were the canary in the U.S. academic coal mine. 

“France is committed to standing up to attacks on academic freedom across the globe,” the French National Agency for Research (ANR) said a few days ago. Yet the French territory, where the executive has repeatedly attacked academic freedom and the freedom of expression, seems to be an exception to this principled stance. On October 9, 2023, the French higher education minister pressed university presidents to signal any apology for terrorism to prosecutors. The next day, the justice minister asked all prosecutors to “firmly and swiftly” bring charges against “public statements praising the [October 7, 2023] attacks, presenting them as legitimate resistance to Israel, or the public dissemination of messages leading to a favorable opinion of Hamas or the Islamic Jihad because of the attacks they organized”. As a result, hundreds of apology for terrorism charges were filed against students, activists, academics, and other citizens, including 626 between October 7, 2023 and January 30, 2024 alone.

Before 2014, apology for terrorism was seen as a freedom of expression abuse and was included in the press law, which made it procedurally harder to prosecute or repress it. A November 13, 2014 antiterrorism law made prosecution faster and easier, extended the statute of limitations from three months to three years, allowed police forces to keep suspects in custody, and punished apology for terrorism — along with incitement to terrorism — with long prison terms (up to seven years) and hefty fines (up to 100,000 euros, or about $115,000). That the 2014 law is now used to repress political opinions, and in particular those favorable to the Palestinians, reportedly shocked even its author, the former French interior minister.

We find it deeply concerning that a social scientist who spent most of his career studying the mechanisms of Islamist radicalization be prosecuted for apology for terrorism. We believe that this dangerous curtailment of basic academic freedoms threatens French academia as a whole. Beside discouraging foreign researchers who may “choose France,” it could also scare away those scientists who, currently working in France, might find other academic environments less punishing. Above all we fear that, if the hard right wins the next French presidential elections, the absurd shift from fighting antisemitism to defunding science, which in the United States started with a full on attack on Middle Eastern studies, might also happen here. If this is the case, more than presidential wooing will be needed to lure foreign academics to a place where “a single tag in support for Palestine may land you in jail.”


The list below reflects signatures collected before July 11th. If you would like to see an updated list of signatories, please see this document. 

  1. Ammar Abboud, Lebanese Association for Democratic Elections

  2. Ayman Abdelkader, University of Granada 

  3. Malek Abisaab, McGill University

  4. Amira Abou-Taleb, University of Helsinki

  5. Leon Adriaensen, Ghent University

  6. Gregory Afinogenov, Georgetown University

  7. Irfan Ahmad, Ibn Haldun University Istanbul

  8. Denise Aigle, EPHE (Emerita)

  9. Ayça Alemdaroğlu, Stanford University

  10. Abdulla Alhasso, NHS 

  11. Irada Aljubori, University of Baghdad

  12. Abdul-Hameed Al-Kayyali, IFPO

  13. Stefano Allievi, University of Padova

  14. Bruno Alonso, CNRS

  15. Mustapha Kamel Al-Sayyid, Cairo University 

  16. Nabil Al-Tikriti, University of Mary Washington

  17. Ignacio Álvarez Ossorio, Complutense University of Madrid

  18. Anahi Alviso-Marino, CEFREPA 

  19. Elena Arigita, University of Granada

  20. Talal Asad, City University of New York Graduate Center (Emeritus)

  21. Arthur Asseraf, University of Cambridge

  22. Hala Awada, Lebanese University

  23. Omer Awass, American Islamic College

  24. Latifa Bakiri, ENS Alum

  25. Andrea Balduzzi, University of Genoa (Emeritus)

  26. Mohammed Bamyeh, University of Pittsburgh 

  27. Sindre Bangstad, KIFO, Norway

  28. Fadi Bardawil, Duke University

  29. Isaías Barreñada, Complutense University of Madrid

  30. Peri Bearman, Journal of the American Oriental Society

  31. Willy Beauvallet, Lyon 2 Lumière University

  32. Ibrahim Bechrouri, City University of New York

  33. Aya Bejermi, Sciences Po Bordeaux

  34. Brahim Benarfa, University of Batna

  35. Jamal Benbouziyane, EHTP Casablanca

  36. Mounia Bennani-Chraïbi, University of Lausanne

  37. Elizabeth Berger, George Washington University School of Medicine

  38. Khalid Blankinship, Temple University 

  39. Koen Bogaert, Ghent University

  40. Laurent Bonnefoy, CNRS

  41. Jean-Pierre Bouché, CNRS (Emeritus)

  42. Marianne Blume, Université Libre de Bruxelles 

  43. Véronique Bontemps, CNRS

  44. Ziad Bou Akl, EPHE

  45. Mabrouk Boutagouga, University of Batna

  46. Jonathan Brown, Georgetown University

  47. Charles Butterworth, University of Maryland (Emeritus)

  48. Chiara Calabrese, CNRS

  49. Marina Calculli, Columbia University, Sciences Po Paris

  50. Delphine Cavallo, Aix-Marseille University

  51. Dominique Caubet, INALCO (Emerita)

  52. Khalid Chahbar, Ibn Tofail University, Kenitra

  53. Ararou Chakib, IREMAM, Aix-Marseille University

  54. Sébastien Chauvin, University of Lausanne 

  55. Anis Chérif-Alami, Paris 1 University

  56. Luisa Chiodi, Osservatorio Balcani Caucaso Transeuropa

  57. Joëlle Conrotte, Le Questionnement Psychanalyste, Bruxelles

  58. Emilio Dabed, Al-Quds University

  59. Joseph Daher, University of Lausanne

  60. Rochelle Davis, Georgetown University

  61. Sonia Dayan-Herzbrun, Paris 7 University (Emerita)

  62. Islam Dayeh, Ghent University

  63. Muriam Haleh Davis, University of California, Santa Cruz

  64. Marc Deballon, French foreign office (retired)

  65. Serkan Demirel, University of Fribourg

  66. Sixtine Deroure, Sciences Po Paris

  67. Jean-Paul Descoeudres, University of Geneva (Emeritus)

  68. Faisal Devji, University of Oxford

  69. Karima Dirèche, CNRS

  70. Philippe Dollfus, CNRS

  71. Simon Dubois, IFPO

  72. Juliette Duclos-Valois, EHESS

  73. Baudouin Dupret, CNRS

  74. Anne-Marie Eddé, Paris 1 University (Emerita)

  75. Adnan ElAmine, Lebanese University

  76. Eman El-Bahnassawy, Edinburgh Dental Institute

  77. Kamilia El-Eriani, University of Melbourne

  78. Dina El-Khawaga, Cairo University

  79. Christo El Morr, York University

  80. Hoda Elsadda, Cairo University

  81. John Esposito, Georgetown University

  82. Annouk Essyad, University of Fribourg

  83. Abdelfattah Ezzine, Espace Mediation (EsMed) 

  84. Mohammad Fadel, University of Toronto

  85. Nadia Fadil, Leuven University

  86. Khaled Fahmy, Tufts University

  87. Iman Farag, CEDEJ

  88. Michael Farquhar, King’s College London

  89. Laura Feliu, Autonomous University of Barcelona

  90. Carol Ferrara, Emerson College

  91. Jean-Noël Ferrié, CNRS

  92. Nenad Filipovic, Oriental Institute University of Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina 

  93. Olivier Fillieule, University of Lausanne

  94. Raphaëlle Fourlinnie, EHESS

  95. Jess Fournier, University of California, Santa Cruz

  96. Julie Franck, University of Geneva

  97. Véronique Ginouvès, CNRS

  98. Flora Gonseth Yousef, Paris 8 University

  99. Burhan Ghalioun, Paris 3 University (Emeritus)

  100. Paul Grassin, Paris 1 University

  101. Luz Gómez, Autonomous University of Madrid 

  102. Jeroen Gunning, King’s College London

  103. Ricardo Gutierrez, Université Libre de Bruxelles

  104. Bassam Haddad, George Mason University

  105. Yvonne Haddad, Georgetown University (Emerita)

  106. Ratiba Hadj-Moussa, York University

  107. Farid Hafez, William College

  108. Bassel Haidar, CNRS (Emeritus)

  109. Lisa Hajjar, University of California, Santa Barbara

  110. Sadek Hamid, University of Wales

  111. Sari Hanafi, American University of Beirut

  112. Maya Hannun, University of Exeter

  113. Egbert Harmsen, Independent Researcher

  114. Dónal Hasset, Maynooth University

  115. Samuel Hayat, CNRS

  116. Mélanie Henry, CEDEJ

  117. Choukri Hmed, Paris Cité University

  118. Adel Iskandar, Simon Fraser University

  119. Raihan Ismail, University of Oxford

  120. Shamil Jeppie, University of Cape Town

  121. Eric Jeunot, Victoria University of Wellington

  122. Timothy Scott Johnson, Texas A&M University, Corpus Christi

  123. Jonathan Jonsson, University of Oslo

  124. Augustin Jomier, INALCO

  125. Christine Jungen, CNRS

  126. Aissa Kadri, Paris 8 University (Emeritus)

  127. Aurelia Kalisky, Centre Marc Bloch

  128. Neil Ketchley, University of Oxford

  129. Amal Khaleefa, Paris 3 University

  130. Lamia Khalidi, CNRS

  131. Mona Khalidi, Columbia University (Emerita)

  132. Rashid Khalidi, Columbia University (Emeritus)

  133. Laleh Khalili, University of Exeter

  134. Nicole Khouri, Institut des mondes africains (IMAF)

  135. Eberhard Kienle, CERI

  136. Samuel Kigar, University of Puget Sound

  137. Said Kirhlani, King Juan Carlos University

  138. Mimi Kirk, Georgetown University

  139. David Klein, California State University Northridge (Emeritus)

  140. Hilary Klonin, NHS

  141. Fayrouz Kraish, NHS

  142. Medhi Labzaé, CNRS

  143. Helene Lackner, Independent Researcher

  144. Nadège Lahmar, Independent Researcher

  145. Mark Lance, Georgetown University (Emeritus)

  146. Nordine Latreche, Paris 12 University

  147. Stéphanie Latte Abdallah, CNRS 

  148. Robert Launay, Northwestern University 

  149. Johanna Lems, Complutense University of Madrid

  150. Sarah Leperché, Paris 1 University

  151. Sarah Lewis Cappellari, Independent Researcher

  152. Brynjar Lia, University of Oslo

  153. Irene Lizzola, Sciences Po Bordeaux

  154. Ali Lmrabet, Journalist

  155. Françoise Lorcerie, CNRS

  156. Noëmie Lucas, University of Edinburgh 

  157. Charlotte Lysa, University of Oslo

  158. Brooke Maddux, University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne 

  159. Emir Mahieddin, CNRS, EHESS

  160. Shaimaa Magued, Cairo University

  161. Amna Mahmood, University of Oslo

  162. Rima Majed, American University of Beirut

  163. Mohammed Masbah, Moroccan Institute for Policy Analysis

  164. Raffaele Mauriello, Allameh Tabataba’i University

  165. James McDougall, University of Oxford

  166. Anne Meneley, Trent University

  167. Pascal Menoret, University of Oxford

  168. Nadine Méouchy, Independent Researcher

  169. Mourad Mhenni, University of Sousse

  170. Jean-Louis Mignot, former ambassador

  171. Laura Mijares, Complutense University of Madrid

  172. Noureddine Miladi, Sultan Qaboos University

  173. Thomas Miles, Independent Researcher

  174. Catherine Miller, Aix-Marseille University (Emerita)

  175. Tariq Modood, University of Bristol

  176. Mohammed Mohammed, NHS

  177. Ahmed Mohsin, Istanbul Sabahattin Zaim University

  178. Yasmin Moll, University of Michigan

  179. Ebrahim Moosa, University of Notre Dame

  180. Anne Marie Moulin, CNRS (Emerita)

  181. Yasser Munif, Emerson College

  182. Katie Natanel, University of Exeter

  183. Marwa Neji, University of Ghent

  184. Alicia Olmo, Autonomous University of Madrid

  185. Jennifer Olmsted, Drew University

  186. Rafael Ortega, University of Granada

  187. M’hamed Oualdi, Sciences Po Paris

  188. Abdelmalek Ouard, University Moulay Ismail, Meknès 

  189. Flávia Paniz, Federal University of São Paulo

  190. Christopher Parker, University of Ghent

  191. Marie-Anne Paveau, Paris 13 University 

  192. Elizabeth Perego, Appalachian State University

  193. Glenn Perry, Indiana State University (Emeritus)

  194. Jean-Christophe Peyssard, MMSH, Aix-Marseille University

  195. Thomas Pierret, CNRS

  196. Edie Pistolesi, California State University Northridge (Emerita)

  197. Ana Planet Contreras, Autonomous University of Madrid

  198. Marine Poirier, CNRS

  199. Nicolas Puig, CNRS

  200. Saadia Radi, Centre Jacques Berque

  201. Omar Ramahi, University of Waterloo

  202. Eugénie Rébillard, IFPO

  203. Matthieu Rey, CNRS

  204. Nils Riecken, Ruhr University Bochum

  205. André Rousseau, CNRS (Emeritus)

  206. Kathryn Russell, SUNY Cortland (Emerita)

  207. Adam Sabra, University of California, Santa Barbara

  208. Haider Saeed, Doha Institute

  209. Sbeih Sbeih, IREMAM

  210. Trish Scanlan, Children's Health Ireland

  211. Amir-Moazami Schirin, Free University of Berlin

  212. Gabriëlle Schleijpen, Dutch Art Institute

  213. Soraya Seedat, Stellenbosch University, South Africa

  214. Geneviève Sellier, Bordeaux Montaigne University

  215. Sami Sener, Istanbul Medipol University

  216. Thomas Serres, University of California, Santa Cruz

  217. Jihane Sfeir, Université libre de Bruxelles

  218. Auday Shabeeb, University of Thi-Qar

  219. Majid Sharifi, Eastern Washington University 

  220. Marc Siegel, Johannes Gutenberg University

  221. Paul Silverstein, Reed College

  222. Erik Skare, University of Oslo 

  223. Joanne Smith Finley, Newcastle University 

  224. Erling Sogge, University of Oslo

  225. Vivian Solana, Carleton University 

  226. Abdallah Souabni, IARC Alumnus

  227. Jaber Suleiman, Independent Researcher

  228. Justin Stearns, NYUAD

  229. Helga Tawil-Souri, NYU

  230. Ana Teixeria Pinto, Dutch Art Institute 

  231. Laurence Thieux, Complutense University of Madrid

  232. Ingvild Tomren, University of Oslo

  233. Hanne Trangerud, University of Oslo

  234. Massimiliano Trentin, University of Bologna

  235. Judith Tucker, Georgetown University (Emerita)

  236. Bjørn Olav Utvik, University of Oslo

  237. Dona Van Bloemen, UNDP

  238. Pauline Van Mourik Broekman, UCL

  239. Marie Vannetzel, CNRS

  240. An Van Raemdonck, Ghent University

  241. Vanessa Van Renterghem, INALCO

  242. Jean-Pierre Van Staëvel, Paris 1 University

  243. Eric Verdeil, Sciences Po Paris

  244. Francisco Vidal Castro, University of Jaén 

  245. Ruth M. Grego Vieira, SOAS

  246. Knut Vikør, University of Bergen

  247. Alice Von Bieberstein, Humboldt University 

  248. Dror Warschawski, CNRS

  249. Max Weiss, Princeton University

  250. Kirsten Wesselhoeft, Vassar College

  251. Héla Yousfi, Paris Dauphine University

  252. Ahmed Zalaf, Independent Researcher

  253. Jerry Zee, Princeton University

  254. Sami Zemni, Ghent University

  255. Sherifa Zuhur, Institute of Middle Eastern, Islamic, and Strategic Studies

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Feb 16, 2011 Lebanon
Jadaliyya Reports By :
Jadaliyya Reports

Past is Present: Settler Colonialism Matters!

On 5-6 March 2011, the Palestine Society at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London will hold its seventh annual conference, "Past is Present: Settler Colonialism in Palestine." This year`s conference aims to understand Zionism as a settler colonial project which has, for more than a century, subjected Palestine and Palestinians to a structural and violent form of destruction, dispossession, land appropriation and erasure in the pursuit of a new Jewish Israeli society. By organizing this conference, we hope to reclaim and revive the settler colonial paradigm and to outline its potential to inform and guide political strategy and mobilization.

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is often described as unique and exceptional with little resemblance to other historical or ongoing colonial conflicts. Yet, for Zionism, like other settler colonial projects such as the British colonization of Ireland or European settlement of North America, South Africa or Australia, the imperative is to control the land and its resources -- and to displace the original inhabitants. Indeed, as conference keynote speaker Patrick Wolfe, one of the foremost scholars on settler colonialism and professor at La Trobe University in Victoria, Australia, argues, "the logic of this project, a sustained institutional tendency to eliminate the Indigenous population, informs a range of historical practices that might otherwise appear distinct--invasion is a structure not an event."[i]

Therefore, the classification of the Zionist movement as a settler colonial project, and the Israeli state as its manifestation, is not merely intended as a statement on the historical origins of Israel, nor as a rhetorical or polemical device. Rather, the aim is to highlight Zionism`s structural continuities and the ideology which informs Israeli policies and practices in Palestine and toward Palestinians everywhere. Thus, the Nakba -- whether viewed as a spontaneous, violent episode in war, or the implementation of a preconceived master plan -- should be understood as both the precondition for the creation of Israel and the logical outcome of Zionist settlement in Palestine.

Moreover, it is this same logic that sustains the continuation of the Nakba today. As remarked by Benny Morris, “had he [David Ben Gurion] carried out full expulsion--rather than partial--he would have stabilised the State of Israel for generations.”[ii] Yet, plagued by an “instability”--defined by the very existence of the Palestinian nation--Israel continues its daily state practices in its quest to fulfill Zionism’s logic to maximize the amount of land under its control with the minimum number of Palestinians on it. These practices take a painful array of manifestations: aerial and maritime bombardment, massacre and invasion, house demolitions, land theft, identity card confiscation, racist laws and loyalty tests, the wall, the siege on Gaza, cultural appropriation, and the dependence on willing (or unwilling) native collaboration and security arrangements, all with the continued support and backing of imperial power. 

Despite these enduring practices however, the settler colonial paradigm has largely fallen into disuse. As a paradigm, it once served as a primary ideological and political framework for all Palestinian political factions and trends, and informed the intellectual work of committed academics and revolutionary scholars, both Palestinians and Jews.

The conference thus asks where and why the settler colonial paradigm was lost, both in scholarship on Palestine and in politics; how do current analyses and theoretical trends that have arisen in its place address present and historical realities? While acknowledging the creativity of these new interpretations, we must nonetheless ask: when exactly did Palestinian natives find themselves in a "post-colonial" condition? When did the ongoing struggle over land become a "post-conflict" situation? When did Israel become a "post-Zionist" society? And when did the fortification of Palestinian ghettos and reservations become "state-building"?

In outlining settler colonialism as a central paradigm from which to understand Palestine, this conference re-invigorates it as a tool by which to analyze the present situation. In doing so, it contests solutions which accommodate Zionism, and more significantly, builds settler colonialism as a political analysis that can embolden and inform a strategy of active, mutual, and principled Palestinian alignment with the Arab struggle for self-determination, and indigenous struggles in the US, Latin America, Oceania, and elsewhere.

Such an alignment would expand the tools available to Palestinians and their solidarity movement, and reconnect the struggle to its own history of anti-colonial internationalism. At its core, this internationalism asserts that the Palestinian struggle against Zionist settler colonialism can only be won when it is embedded within, and empowered by, the broader Arab movement for emancipation and the indigenous, anti-racist and anti-colonial movement--from Arizona to Auckland.

SOAS Palestine Society invites everyone to join us at what promises to be a significant intervention in Palestine activism and scholarship.

For over 30 years, SOAS Palestine Society has heightened awareness and understanding of the Palestinian people, their rights, culture, and struggle for self-determination, amongst students, faculty, staff, and the broader public. SOAS Palestine society aims to continuously push the frontiers of discourse in an effort to make provocative arguments and to stimulate debate and organizing for justice in Palestine through relevant conferences, and events ranging from the intellectual and political impact of Edward Said`s life and work (2004), international law and the Palestine question (2005), the economy of Palestine and its occupation (2006), the one state (2007), 60 Years of Nakba, 60 Years of Resistance (2009), and most recently, the Left in Palestine (2010).

For more information on the SOAS Palestine Society 7th annual conference, Past is Present: Settler Colonialism in Palestine: www.soaspalsoc.org

SOAS Palestine Society Organizing Collective is a group of committed students that has undertaken to organize annual academic conferences on Palestine since 2003.

 

[i] Patrick Wolfe, Settler Colonialism and the Transformation of Anthropology: The Politics and Poetics of an Ethnographic Event, Cassell, London, p. 163

[ii] Interview with Benny Morris, Survival of the Fittest, Haaretz, 9. January 2004, http://cosmos.ucc.ie/cs1064/jabowen/IPSC/php/art.php?aid=5412