The historic association fighting AIDS has not escaped the tensions present in society since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas in October 2023.
For several months, Act Up-Paris has been torn apart over the conflict in the Middle East: activists want to publicly support the Palestinians, while other members, Jews, no longer feel welcome and denounce “anti-Semitic comments”.
A press release to denounce “manifestations of anti-Semitism”
If this crisis is far from being the first in the organization, certain members or supporters of Act Up-Paris interviewed by AFP (ten in total) describe a “testing” situation and a collective which “is not doing well at all “.
On March 16, the board of directors, made up of four volunteers, even published a press release denouncing “manifestations of anti-Semitism” at Act Up-Paris. “Even in the associations in quotation marks of ‘gauchos’, there is still a background of anti-Semitism that must be denounced,” assures AFP a member of the CA, on condition of anonymity.
One of the episodes took place on November 6 when an activist proposed a draft text of support for the Palestinians, caught under fire from Israeli bombings in the Gaza Strip, a month after the October 7 massacres in Israel perpetrated by Hamas .
“Anti-Semitic comments”
“We are not rid of the unnecessary guilt in the face of the Vichy regime,” we read in particular in this document, consulted by AFP. When Eva Vocz, a 31-year-old Jewish woman and one of the association’s four employees, opened this email, “I cried,” she says. She says she is “deeply shocked” to read “anti-Semitic comments” in an association “fighting discrimination”. This draft will not be discussed or published.
She then collects the testimony of an Act Up-Paris activist, the target of death threats accompanied by swastikas at the door of his apartment. “Anti-Semitism affects everyone. We will not let this happen,” she denounces on social networks, on the Act Up-Paris account, in a context of a sharp increase in the number of anti-Semitic acts in France.
“As a Jew, we are not welcome”
But some activists, including Françoise Gil, denounce “instrumentalization”. “He is not Jewish, it was not at all an anti-Semitic act,” this socioanthropologist told AFP. During a meeting on February 5 to which Eva Vocz attended by video, several activists attacked her and her publication.
“I said to myself: but in fact, as a Jew, we are not welcome”, as “in many struggles on the left at the moment”, says a sympathizer of Act Up, of Jewish faith, who wished to remain anonymous.
“We are accused of anti-Semitism”
In February, Françoise Gil was removed from Act Up-Paris. He is notably accused of having called Eva Vocz, behind his back, a “Zionist”. A self-proclaimed “anti-Zionist”, Françoise Gil refutes all anti-Semitism.
“In this case, it was Zionist, not to say Jewish,” says Eva Vocz. “As soon as we have a sensitivity to the genocide clearly taking place in Gaza, we are accused of anti-Semitism,” deplores Françoise Gil while more than 32,900 people have been killed in the Gaza Strip since October 7, according to the Hamas.
Public meetings suspended
Within Act Up-Paris, renowned for its punchy actions, we are worried about the future of an association which has difficulty recruiting and has around forty activists including around ten active ones. Its general meeting is scheduled for Saturday.
In this context of tensions, weekly public meetings have been suspended “to avoid verbal or even physical excesses”, recognizes Cecil Lhuiller, of the CA, and certain memberships are pending. Comments on social networks are multiplying and two publications from a sympathizer specifically target Eva Vocz. “I will no longer leave room for harassment,” warns the thirty-year-old.