Protect Academic Freedom & The Right to Protest: Anti-Zionism ≠ Anti-Semitism!

“Toscana Aperta – Demands Symposium Against Scholasticide in Gaza and Palestine” is a follow-up to the Florence Encampment for Palestine, organised by students, researchers and workers from University of Florence, Scuola Normale Superiore and the European University Institute.

Protect Academic Freedom & The Right to Protest: Anti-Zionism ≠ Anti-Semitism!

This event is the first in a series of events organized by students and researchers from EUI, SNS, and UniFi with the goal of opening up a constructive space to address the collective demands formulated in Piazza Shireen Abu Akleh. 

11.06.2024, we will explore how certain definitions of antisemitism are used to shut down dissent and create an environment that is hostile to the critique of Israel and of Zionism. This represents a real danger to academic freedom and freedom of expression, which needs to be addressed by Universities that have to guarantee a space for critical discussions.  

The goals of the initiative are:

Present to the communities of SNS, EUI, and Unifi the Encampment initiative and its core 4 shared demands and create a dialogue on the military-industrial-academic complex in Israeli and its impact on the daily life of the Palestinian people, during this war in Gaza and in Palestine in general

Hold the 3 universities accountable for the written commitments they approved during the 10 days of the encampment

Create an opportunity of dialogue within the different academic communities both to gain the support of those faculty members that are still reluctant to support the 4-demands and to create a meaningful dialogue on the role of scholars, students and researchers in the Israeli system of occupation and war.

Increase the mobilization within the different universities and create a more favourable environment for other “academic activists” who want to come out and join the broader mobilization

Ultimately the initiative is another “instrument” of the shared political strategy developed between Unifi, SNS and EUI students and researchers and it is part of the “transparency” and “truth” efforts aiming at putting pressure on the academic institutions to act quickly.

You can join us in Person, or online under the following link:

https://zoom.us/j/95341245239?pwd=Ya1aiUPCcOKNU9DLqEBh19Y6zxZcQV.1

Meeting ID: 953 4124 5239

Passcode: 410242

PRELIMINARY READINGS ON THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ANTIZIONISM AND ANTISEMITISM AND ACADEMIC FREEDOM

You can download here the booklet “Florence Students Encampent: demands and political materials” (v1 – 7th June 2024)

Studente ebreo all’Occupazione per la Palestina: “Antisemita? No. Giusto condannare i crimini israeliani”. (FirenzeToday)
The Palestine exception to Academic Freedom (Decolonial Thought and Praxis)
The Jerusalem Declaration on Anti-Semitism is an Orientalist text (Al Jazeera)
Summary of the webinar “The anti-semitism label: Fighting Discrimination v. Silencing Critical Voices” (Law4Palestine)
Why are America’s elite uWhy are America’s elite universities so afraid of this scholar’s paper?niversities so afraid of this scholar’s paper? (The Guardian)
Whatever happend to anti-semitism? (Plutopress)
Presumptively Antisemitic: Islamophobic tropes in the Palestine Israel Discourse (Rutgers University Law School)
Younes, Anna-Esther. “Fighting Anti-Semitism in Contemporary Germany.” Islamophobia Studies Journal, vol. 5, no. 2, 2020, pp. 249–66. JSTOR,

A lot of Palestinians here have the feeling of being invisible (The Left Berlin)
Invention of the Mizrahim (Al Jazeera)
A victory for anti-zionists in the UK (Al Jazeera)

DETAILS ON THE FORMAT – SUBMIT YOUR QUESTION

The first session of our three-part symposium series for a toscana aperta will not be structured according to the traditional format of academic presentations followed by a q and a. Instead, our roundtable will follow a more participatory format, wherein we shall engage in an egalitarian exchange of questions. This will permit all participants, regardless of their level of expertise, to exchange stories, gain insight into each others points of view, and collectively answer questions that will help us think about how to protect academic freedom and the right to protest for palestine.

We ask you to choose from among the following guiding questions or come up with questions of your own that you would like to address collectively tomorrow. You can also submit your questions anonymously if you wish to do so.

GUIDING QUESTIONS – SUBMIT YOUR QUESTION ANONYMOUSLY

why should we distinguish between anti-zionism and anti-semitism?

1) How would investigation into the official definition of these concepts promote academic freedom?

2) When and how can the weaponisation of antisemitism become a way to silence protest, critical thinking and dissent?

3) How does the confusion between these two concepts, as well as the lack of research on palestine and the occupation, contribute to the invisibilisation of palestinian people and their points of view?

How can universities integrate the demand for academic freedom and the right to protest into their initiatives for equality, diversity and inclusivity?

1) How can a demand for academic freedom be formulated, that would protect the rights of palestinian, arab, muslim, jewish, pro-palestinian students and other concerned identities to research palestine and the occupation?

2) How can an edi programme be reformulated to protect these freedoms, in the context of sns, unifi, the eui and other universities?

What do you need, as a researcher and scholar, to feel empowered to take a stand and act in support of palestine and against the occupation, genocide and apartheid engaged in by the israeli state?

1)In terms of logistical, legal and psychological support, as well as academic resources, what would help you take action for palestine?

2) What do you need in terms of communication channels with administration and practical support from unions and other representative collectives, in order to feel safe and supported while acting for palestine?