Jean-Luc Mélenchon was able to speak Monday evening. Doubly banned from conferences last week in Lille, the leader of La France insoumise spoke Monday evening at Sciences-po Paris in front of an audience of students committed to his cause.
In the large, packed Emile Boutmy amphitheater where he was applauded on numerous occasions, notably when he spoke of the situation in Gaza, the three-time presidential candidate praised “the open and respectful attitude of this establishment”, denouncing in contrast those “who gave in to pressure” and “went to their knees”.
Mélenchon denounces “the immense chain of cowardice”
“I was shocked,” he declared, referring in particular to his conference canceled last Thursday in Lille by the university. The Insoumis then wanted to relocate the event to a private room, but it was also canceled, this time by the Northern prefecture. “The enemy is not only the extreme right (…) but it is the immense chain of cowardice of those who give in before having fought,” asserted the tribune calling for “breaking the chain of legality to move on to the chain of legitimacy.
At Science-po, he also developed political science concepts, illustrating them with current issues. Citing in particular the writers Christine de Pizan and Colette Audry, he adopted a more peaceful tone than last week, when he notably drew a parallel between the president of the University of Lille and the Nazi Adolf Eichmann. This comparison made the left cringe. “It’s indefensible, what Jean-Luc Mélenchon said, indefensible,” said Communist boss Fabien Roussel on Monday morning, denouncing “excessive comments that discredit everything else.”
“None of us has the slightest temptation to apologize for terrorism,” declared from Sciences-po the leader of the radical left, in reaction to the summons by the police for “apology of terrorism” of the candidate for European Rima Hassan, seventh on the list of Insoumis. For her part, she announced that she was going to participate in a conference on Wednesday at Sciences po Saint-Germain-en-Laye on “Palestine and Gaza”.
LFI wants to mobilize “student youth”
Long planned, Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s conference at Sciences-po was a new stop on his tour of universities which has already taken him to Nantes, Créteil, Nanterre and Clermont-Ferrand. A conference by the former socialist senator at the University of Bordeaux was canceled in October and another in Rennes was also canceled two weeks ago.
“Mobilizing young students is one of our objectives. We know that if we want to get a good score we have to bring to the election people who generally do not come, like young people or working-class neighborhoods,” recently explained MP Matthias Tavel, director of the head of the party’s campaign. Manon Aubry list for the Europeans.