Academics Decry French Attacks on “Islamo-Leftists”

 

France’s Minister of Higher Education and Research, Frédérique Vidal, a molecular geneticist at the University of Nice-Sophia-Antipolis, has been one of the most outspoken government figures decrying so-called “Islamo-gauchistes.” In response, more than 600 French academics have demanded that Vidal step down. She has said that “Islamo-leftism” is eroding French society and has proposed to study its effects on universities. Her academic adversaries argue that the proposed inquiry is designed to “defame” the teaching community and will have a “devastating” effect. “Just like in Orban’s Hungary, Bolsonaro’s Brazil or Duda’s Poland, postcolonial and decolonial studies, the work on racial discrimination, gender studies and intersectionality are specifically targeted.”

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France’s Fake “Islamo-Leftist” Crisis • by Raphaël Liogier

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In an open letter published in Le Monde in February, they wrote, “We can only deplore the indigence of Frédérique Vidal, who is using the repertoire of the far right about imaginary ‘Islamo-leftism.’” They refer to “Islamo-leftism” as a “conspiracy theory,” and call for Vidal’s resignation. 

Vidal’s proclamations have also alarmed Pınar Selek, a Turkish sociologist, feminist anti-militarist activist and writer, who lives in exile in France where she obtained French citizenship in 2017.

Pinar Selek’s open letter to Minister Vidal appeared in Mediapart on the 21st of February, 2021, as follows: 

 

Mrs. Vidal,

You remember me, the exiled teacher-researcher that you welcomed, as part of the PAUSE Program, at the Université Côte d’Azur, when you were its president. But we met for the first time, on September 30, 2019, in the framework of the press conference of the PAUSE Program (National Program for the Emergency Reception of Scientists in Exile). As Minister of Higher Education and Research, you supported this program. I think you still support it. So much the better: you support teacher-researchers who have fled political repression in their country and who need a space of freedom to continue to ask questions and conduct their research.

Since your recent statements on “Islamo-leftism”, I am in a terrible nightmare. Your speech awakens everything that I have experienced and everything that my colleagues in Turkey are experiencing, under Islamo-fascism. I think that all the exiled scientists who are now hosted by the PAUSE Program have entered the same nightmare, because they also know very well how academic freedom is narrowed when political powers intervene in the scientific field with the justification of the fight against terrorism. In general, this is how it happens. In Turkey, in China, in Iran. And today in France.

I want to tell you that if you don’t publicly retract what you said or if you don’t resign, the cancer will spread and French scientists will go into exile. Don’t tell me that in France this is not possible. Yes, Madame Vidal, it is. You know it better than I do: Petainism is not that old. Remember in the 1940s, there were many French academics in exile, refusing to submit to fascism.

You may remember that in the PAUSE press conference, I began my speech by saying: “To spare you a victimizing story and to distance myself from an integrationist vision impregnated with colonialism, I thought I would first remind you that every country needs people to pass on scientific theories. Especially France which has great difficulties of translation. It needs scientists who have been trained in other countries; moreover, welcoming scientists who are not subject to authority can only be an asset for those who welcome them.” I ask you to pay attention to my words, which have been forged through a very tough experience of defending the freedom of research and the autonomy of scientific production. 

Mrs Vidal, try to write scientific articles, with your academic hat on, to question scientific notions and join the collective debate of researchers, but above all stop intervening by putting on your political hat! Otherwise you will start the infernal machine. And the machine of power can go further than you can imagine.

–Pinar Selek

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Meanwhile, on the 4th of March, 2021, more than 200 Anglophone academics published an open letter in Le Monde, denouncing the “witch hunt” led by Minister Frédérique Vidal. warning that with Islamo-leftism, “We cannot fail to underline the resonance with the darkest moments of French history.”

Dear Colleagues,

We are writing to express our profound dismay at the recent request by the French Minister of Higher Education and Research, Frédérique Vidal, for the CNRS (The French National Centre for Scientific Research) to investigate allegations of “Islamo-gauchisme” (Islamo-leftism) in French universities. We regret that after proposed laws regarding the alleged threat of “separatism” have further stigmatized France’s Muslim community, academics are being blamed for the increasingly polarized atmosphere. The proposal to monitor university professors accused of “weaponizing academic research for political motives” effectively amounts to a threat of censorship and is worrying for a number of reasons: 

First, the state has no right to censor research by academics who draw on their expertise to advance the production of knowledge. This is a dangerous precedent that cannot be tolerated in democratic societies. The notion that certain academics are trying to “divide” society due to their “Islamo-leftist” ideas in effect demonizes our colleagues for their alleged ideological complicity with a religious group in the name of protecting the Republic. This immediately reminds one of some of the darkest moments of French history when a discourse against “Judeo-Bolsheviks” created an amalgam between political and religious commitments.  

Second, the approaches now under attack were inspired by some of the most brilliant minds of the French philosophical, literary, and sociological traditions. As scholars working in the United States and elsewhere, we carry a great intellectual debt to France for training thinkers such as Frantz Fanon, Albert Memmi, Hélène Cixous, Aimé Césaire, Paulette Nardal, Jean-Paul Sartre, Pierre Bourdieu, Louis Althusser, Jacques Derrida and Michel Foucault. Many of these figures were not only towering thinkers but were also engaged in prolonged political struggles for the betterment of our societies. These committed intellectuals are pillars of the diverse approaches that are now being attacked under the rubric of “post-colonialism.” That a country which has advanced critical thought should now turn its back on this national patrimony is short-sighted and distressing. We ask not that everyone agree on the merits of these approaches, only that French scholars have the right to debate them with their colleagues and students should they so desire. 

Third, those responsible for higher education should address the pressing need to find concrete solutions to the problem of racial discrimination in France, rather than carry out a witch hunt against researchers. In lieu of inviting scholars to help advance a common struggle for equality, the Minister of Higher Education and Research is threatening them with censorship. Instead of addressing the dire situation of students during a global pandemic, or the real economic challenges facing public education, Vidal and her colleagues have depicted professors as the main threat to French universities.

Many signatories of this letter have benefited from prolonged academic exchanges with French universities in institutional as well as individual capacities. Eager that these collaborations with our French colleagues can continue in the spirit of open debate, we again draw your attention to the chilling effects that these threats of censorship would have on academic freedom. 

The following individuals and organizations endorse the letter in support of academic freedom in France: 

Organizations:

• California Scholars for Academic Freedoms (a group of over 200 academics working in higher education in California)

• The Society for French Studies (UK)

• The Western Society for French History (US)

• The French Colonial Historical Society (International)

• The Society for the Study of French History (UK)

• Council for European Studies (International)

Individuals:

1. Muriam Haleh Davis, Assistant Professor of History, University of California, Santa Cruz

2. Sang Hea Kil, Associate Professor, Justice Studies, San Jose State University

3. Kevin B Anderson, Professor of Sociology, University of California, Santa Barbara

4. Lisa Rofel, Emerita Faculty, Anthropology Department, University of California, Santa Cruz

5. Fatima El-Tayeb, Professor of Literature, University of California, San Diego

6. Elizabeth Bishop, Associate Professor, Department of History, Texas State University San Marcos TX

7. Sherene Seikaly, Associate Professor, Department of History, University of California, Santa Barbara

8. Benjamin Brower, Associate Professor, Department of History, The University of Texas at Austin

9. Elizabeth M. Perego, Assistant Professor, Department of History, Appalachian State University

10. Patrick Crowley, Senior Lecturer, Department of French, University College Cork

11. Paul A. Silverstein, Professor of Anthropology, Reed College

12. J. P. Daughton, Associate Professor, Department of History, Stanford University

13. Darcie Fontaine, Associate Professor, Department of History, University of South Florida

14. Zachary Lockman, Professor, Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies/History, New York University

15. Benoit Challand, Associate Professor, Sociology, New School for Social Research, New York

16. Devra Weber, Emerita Professor, History, University of California, Riverside

17. Ivan Huber, Prof. Emeritus, Biology, Fairleigh Dickinson Univ., Madison, NJ, USA

18. Carole Browner, Research Professor, Anthropology, Gender Studies, Semel Institute, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)

19. Dennis Kortheuer, Emeritus, History, California State University, Long Beach

20. Judith Butler, Prof. Emer., Comparative Literature, University of California, Berkeley

21. Aslı Bâli, Professor of Law, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA

22. Alma Rachel Heckman, Assistant Professor of History, University of California Santa Cruz

23. Paola Bacchetta, Professor, University of California, Berkeley

24. Judith Surkis, Professor of History, Rutgers University

25. Jill Jarvis, Assistant Professor of French, Yale University

26. Fernando Leiva, Professor, Latin American and Latino Studies, University of California, Santa Cruz

27. Jennifer Kelly, Assistant Professor of Feminist Studies and Critical Race and Ethnic Studies, Univerisity of California, Santa Cruz

28. Noëmie Duhaut, Associate Researcher, Department of History, Leibniz Institute of European History (IEG), Mainz, Germany

29. Thomas Bedorf, Professor, Philosophy, FernUniversitaet in Hagen, Germany

30. Nat Godley, Assistant Professor, Department of History, Alverno College

31. Nidhi Mahajan, Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of California, Santa Cruz

32. Dónal Hassett, Lecturer in French, University College Cork

33. Itay Lotem, Lecturer in French Studies, University of Westminster, London

34. Frederick Cooper, Professor Emeritus of History, New York University

35. Phi-Van, Assistant Professor, Department of Humanities and Social Science, Université de Saint-Boniface

36. Ann Laura Stoler, Professor of Anthropology, The New School for Social Research

37. Pascal Menoret, Associate Professor, anthropology, Brandeis University

38. Allison Korinek, Postdoctoral Fellow, Interdisciplinary Project in the Humanities, Washington University in St. Louis

39. Aslı Iğsız, Associate Professor, Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies, New York University

40. David Palumbo-Liu, Louise Hewlett Nixon Professor, Stanford University

41. Helga Tawil-Souri, Associate Professor, Media, Culture and Communication, New York University

42. Sandrine Sanos, Professor of Modern European History, Texas A & M – University – Corpus Christi

43. Arjun Appadurai, New York University and Bard Graduate Center

44. Sinan Antoon, Associate Professor, New York University

45. Atacan Atakan, PhD Candidate, School of Middle Eastern and North African Studies, University of Arizona

46. Esra Akcan, Professor, Department of Architecture; Director, Institute for European Studies at Einaudi Center for International Studies, Cornell University

47. Ismail Fajrie Alatas, Assistant Professor, Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies, New York University.

48. Pınar Kemerli, Global Liberal Studies, NYU

49. Deborah Gould, Associate Professor of Sociology, UC Santa Cruz

50. SA Smythe, Assistant Professor of Gender Studies and African American Studies, UCLA

51. Terrence G. Peterson, Assistant Professor of History, Florida International University

52. Lily Chumley, Associate Professor, Media, Culture, and Communication, NYU

53. Simten Cosar, Professor, Visiting Instructor, Global Studies Center, University of Pittsburgh

54. Ayça Alemdaroğlu, Research Scholar, Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Stanford University

55. Zeynep Korkman, Assistant Professor, Gender Studies, University of California Los Angeles

56. Joel Beinin, Donald J. McLachlan Professor of History, Emeritus, Stanford University

57. Dina Al-Kassim, Associate Professor, Institute for Social Justice, University of British Columbia

58. Daniel Katz, Professor of English and Comparative Literary Studies, University of Warwick

59. James Petterson, Professor of French, Wellesley College

60. Mayanthi Fernando, Associate Professor, Anthropology, University of California, Santa Cruz

61. Megan Brown, Assistant Professor of History, Swarthmore College

62. David G. Troyansky, Professor of History, Brooklyn College and the Graduate Center, City University of New York

63. Emily Marker, Assistant Professor of History, Rutgers University

64. Jean-Michel Rabate, Professor of English and Comparative Literature, University of Pennsylvania

65. Timothy Scott Johnson, Professional Assistant Professor of History, Texas A & M University – Corpus Christi

66. Osman Balkan, Visiting Assistant Professor of Political Science, Swarthmore College

67. Burleigh Hendrickson, Assistant Professor of French & Francophone Studies, Pennsylvania State University

68. Alexandra Gueydan-Turek, Associate Professor of French and Francophone Studies, Swarthmore College

69. Margaret Ferguson, Distinguished Professor of English Emerita, University of California at Davis

70. Howard Winant, Distinguished Professor of Sociology, University of California, Santa Barbara

71. Anne Norton, Professor of Political Science, University of Pennsylvania

72. Kory Olson, Associate Professor of French, Stockton University

73. Robert S. DuPlessis, Clothier Professor of History Emeritus, Swarthmore College

74. Hunter Bivens, Associate Professor of Literature, UC Santa Cruz

75. Micheline Rice-Maximin, Associate Professor of French and Francophone Studies, Swarthmore College, PA

76. Miriam Ticktin, Associate Professor, Anthropology, The New School for Social Research, New York

77. Nancy Gallagher, Professor Emerita of History, University of California, Santa Barbara

78. Andrew Denning, Associate Professor of History, University of Kansas

79. Olivia Sabee, Assistant Professor of Dance, Swarthmore College

80. Ayşe Baltacıoğlu-Brammer, Assistant Professor of History, NYU

81. Sarah J. Zimmerman, Associate Professor of History, Western Washington University

82. Judith DeGroat, Associate Professor of History, St. Lawrence University, USA

83. Sarah Davies Cordova, Professor of French and Francophone Studies, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

84. Jennifer A. Boittin, Associate Professor of French, Francophone Studies, and History, Penn State University

85. Chris Rominger, Assistant Professor of History, University of North Florida

86. Melissa K. Byrnes, Associate Professor of History, Southwestern University

87. Ariella Aïsha Azoulay, Professor of Modern Culture and Media, Brown University

88. Mara Mills, Associate Professor of Media, Culture, and Communication, New York University

89. Marie-Claire Vallois, Department of Romance Studies, Cornell University

90. Enzo Traverso, Professor in the Humanities, Cornell University

91. Julie Livingston, Silver Professor of Social and Cultural Analysis and History, New York University

92. Halil Yenigun, Lecturer, San Jose State University

93. Anthony Alessandrini, Professor of English & Middle Eastern Studies, City University of New York

94. Ahlam Muhtaseb, Professor of Media Studies, California State University

95. H. Nese Ozgen, PhD, Visiting Scholar, Department of Cultural Anthropology, Duke University

96. Siraj Ahmed, Professor of English, CUNY Graduate Center and Lehman College

97. Carol Ferrara, Assistant Professor, Emerson College

98. Nouzha Guessous, Professor of Women’s Rights and Bioethics in Islamic Contexts, Hassan II University of Casablanca, Morocco

99. Venus Bivar, Lecturer (Assistant Professor), Department of History, University of York

100. Joan W Scott, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton NJ

101. Kemal Moula, French Professor, Communications and Humanities, Collin College

102. Linsey Ly, Ph.D. candidate, Department of Anthropology The Graduate Center, CUNY

103. Brock Cutler, Associate Professor of History, Radford University, USA

104. Claire Bishop, Professor of Art History, CUNY Graduate Center

105. Ayça Çubukçu, Associate Professor in Human Rights, London School of Economics and Political Science

106. Ian Coller, Professor of History, University of California, Irvine

107. Andrew M. Daily, Associate Professor of History, University of Memphis

108. Tracy L. Rutler, Assistant Professor of French and Francophone Studies, and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Penn State University

109. Alice L. Conklin, Professor of History, Ohio State University

110. Lisa Wedeen, Mary R. Morton Professor of Political Science and the College, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL

111. Danielle Beaujon, PhD Candidate in History and French Studies, New York University

112. Daniel J. Sherman, Lineberger Distinguished Professor of Art History and History, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

113. Jane Burbank, Professor emerita, New York University

114. Christina Carroll, Assistant Professor of History, Kalamazoo College, MI

115. Arang Keshavarzian, Associate Professor, New York University

116. Chiara Bottici, Associate Professor, The New School

117. Norma Claire Moruzzi, Associate Professor, University of Illinois at Chicago

118. Stacey Philbrick Yadav, Associate Professor, Hobart & William Smith Colleges

119. Eloïse Brezault, Associate Professor, Saint Lawrence University, NY

120. Julia Waters, Professor of French, University of Reading; President of the Society for Francophone Postcolonial Studies, UK

121. Fraser McQueen, Ph.D. Candidate, University of Stirling, Scotland

122. Veronika Zablotsky, Postdoctoral Fellow,University of California, Los Angeles, USA

123. Tom Hamilton, Assistant Professor, Durham University, UK

124. Orane Onyekpe-Touzet, PhD student, University of Warwick and Université Paris-Sorbonne, UK/France

125. Jules O’Dwyer, Research Fellow, St John’s College, Cambridge

126. Thomas Serres, Lecturer, UC Santa Cruz

127. John Chalcraft, Professor, LSE

128. Máire Cross, emerita Professor of French Studies, Newcastle University, UK

129. Sinan Richards, Enseignant vacataire, École normale supérieure de Paris, France

130. Annabel Kim, Associate Professor, Romance Languages and Literatures, Harvard University

131. Hannah Frydman, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Pembroke Center, Brown University

132. Serene Richards, Lecturer in Law, New York University London, UK

133. Claire Eldridge, Associate Professor, University of Leeds, UK

134. Fabrice Roger, Teaching Associate, University of Bristol, UK.

135. Sara Barker, Associate Professor, University of Leeds, UK

136. Beatrice Ivey, Research Associate, University of Sheffield, UK.

137. Samia Henni, Cornell University, USA.

138. Adi Saleem Bharat, Research Fellow, University of Michigan, USA

139. Michelle Bumatay, Assistant Professor of French, Florida State University, USA

140. Tyson Herberger,PhD Candidate, Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences, Norway

141. Paula Chakravartty, Associate Professor, New York University

142. Jennifer Sessions, Associate Professor, University of Virginia, USA

143. John McCormack, Assistant Professor of Religion, Aurora University, USA

144. Joseph Ford, Lecturer in French Studies, Institute of Modern Languages Research, University of London, UK

145. Rebecca Sugden, College Lecturer in French, Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge

146. Saadia Toor, Associate Professor, Sociology/Women & Gender Studies, City University of New York

147. Christy Pichichero, Associate Professor of History and French, George Mason University

148. Lillian Specker, PhD Candidate, University of Oxford, UK

149. Shefali Chandra, Associate Professor of History; Women, Gender & Sexuality Studies; Asian American Studies, Washington University in St. Louis

150. Renato Rodriguez-Lefebvre, PhD Candidate, Université de Montréal, Canada

151. Maria Scott, Associate Professor of French Literature and Thought, University of Exeter, UK

152. Saladdin Ahmed, Visiting Asst. Prof. of Political Science, Union College, Schenectady, NY

153. Erik Thomson, Associate Professor of History, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.

154. Rebecca P. Scales, Associate Professor of History, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY

155. Theo Mantion, Ph.D. Student, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA

156. Dmitri Nikulin, Professor of Philosophy, The New School for Social Research

157. Giorgos Noussis, PhD Candidate, University of Athens, Greece

158. Jessica Lynne Pearson, Assistant Professor of History, Macalester College, Saint Paul, Minnesota

159. Mabruk Derbesh, University of Bremen, Germany.

160. Roxanne Panchasi, Associate Professor of History and Associate Dean of Graduate Studies, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, Canada

161. Daniel Baker, Ph.D. Candidate, Cardiff University, UK

162. Ananya Roy, Professor of Urban Planning, Social Welfare, and Geography; The Meyer and Renee Luskin Chair in Inequality and Democracy; Founding Director, Institute on Inequality and Democracy, University of California, Los Angeles.

163. Dr. Philipp Krämer, Acting Professor of Linguistics, Europa-Universität Viadrina, Frankfurt (Oder)

164. Vasuki Nesiah, Professor of Human Rights and International Law, The Gallatin School, NYU

165. Patrick Luiz Sullivan De Oliveira, Assistant Professor of Science, Technology and Society, Singapore Management University

166. Arthur Asseraf, Lecturer, History Faculty, University of Cambridge, UK.

167. Sarah Griswold, Assistant Professor of History, Oklahoma State University

168. Rashmi Viswanathan, Assistant Professor of Modern and Contemporary Art History, University of Hartford

169. Kandice Chuh, Professor of English and American Studies, CUNY Graduate Center

170. Chitralekha, Assistant Professor, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi

171. Jean Halley, Professor of Sociology, CUNY Graduate Center and College of Staten Island

172. Hamzah Saif, Graduate Student, George Washington University

173. Dr Grietje Baars, Reader in Law and Social Change, The City Law School, City. University of London, UK.

174. Nicola Pratt, Reader of the International Politics of the Middle East, University of Warwick, UK

175. Svati P. Shah, Associate Professor of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, US

176. Katie Kilroy-Marac, Associate Professor of Anthropology, University of Toronto, Canada

177. Jennifer L. Palmer, Associate Professor of History, University of Georgia

178. Amelia H. Lyons, Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Programs, University of Central Florida

179. Alyssa Goldstein Sepinwall, Professor of History, California State University San Marcos

180. Richard S. Fogarty, Associate Professor of History, University at Albany, State University of New York

181. Carolyn J. Eichner, Associate Professor of History and Women’s & Gender Studies, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee.

182. Johann Le Guelte, Assistant Professor of French and Francophone studies, Xavier University, Cincinnati

183. Ann Ostendorf, Professor of History, Gonzaga University

184. Ashley R. Sanders, Vice Chair of Digital Humanities, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)

185. Sue Peabody, Meyer Distinguished Professor of History, Washington State University, Vancouver

186. Philip Minehan, Lecturer in Honors and Liberal Studies, California State University at Fullerton

187. Jean Beaman, Associate Professor of Sociology, University of California, Santa Barbara

188. Hannah Leffingwell, PhD Candidate, New York University, New York

189. Spencer Segalla, Associate Professor of History, University of Tampa

190. Catherine Desbarats,Associate Professor of History, McGill University, Canada

191. Jakob Burnham, PhD Candidate, Georgetown University, Washington, DC

192. Kathryn Edwards, Assistant Professor of History, Tulane University, New Orleans

193. Michael P. Breen, Professor of History & Humanities, Reed College, Portland OR

194. Timothée Valentin, PhD Candidate in French and Francophone Studies, Penn State University.

195. Gregory Valdespino, PhD Candidate, in History, University of Chicago

196. Dina M Siddiqi, Clinical Associate Professor, New York University

197. Melanie Bavaria, PhD Candidate in History and French Studies, New York University

198. Kelly Wood, PhD candidate in History and French Studies, New York University

199. Duncan Hardy, Assistant Professor of History, University of Central Florida

200. Philippe-Richard Marius, Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, CUNY College of Staten Island

201. Leslie Choquette, Côté Professor of French Studies, Assumption University

202. Jean-Francois Briere, Professor Emeritus of French Studies, SUNY Albany

203. Peter Limbrick, Professor of Film and Digital Media, University of California, Santa Cruz

204. Nagesh Rao, Lecturer, Colgate University