While sitting on an outdoor bench at Bard College on Thursday, I witnessed a procession of students making their way across the campus. Led by a young white man with a bullhorn and a kaffiyeh around his neck, the group chanted slogans like “Long live the intifada” and “No peace on stolen land.” They carried Palestinian flags and provocative banners that read from the river to the sea. Some onlookers may have disagreed with the message, but others applauded as they passed. The whole event unfolded peacefully, albeit obnoxiously, and after five minutes, everything returned to silence.
Like many Americans, I am dismayed by the student and political organizations that have defended or celebrated the Hamas attack on Jewish civilians that took place on October 7. It was the deadliest single-day assault on Jews in Israel’s history. However, I am also grateful to live in a country where such rallies are allowed, and where freedom of expression still prevails, despite the illiberal criticism of open debate that became popular in 2020.
On the same day, as I witnessed American liberal-arts students missing the point, French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin declared that “Pro-Palestinian demonstrations must be prohibited because they are likely to generate disturbances to the public order.” He stated that organizing protests would result in arrest, and foreigners committing anti-Semitic acts would be “immediately expelled.”
This statement may surprise Americans who believe that the French protest at every opportunity. In Paris, where I have lived for years, near the Place de la République, protests are a daily occurrence. The French demonstrate for various domestic and foreign causes, including women’s rights in Iran and justice for George Floyd. In recent years, demonstrations against fuel-tax increases, retirement reform, and the shooting of a young motorist have turned violent and led to looting. Despite this, the government has not completely prohibited public protests.
According to Sebastian Roché, a sociologist at the National Center for Scientific Research and Sciences Po Grenoble, “the right to protest is not a fundamental right in France.” He explained that the Ministry of the Interior has the authority to limit this right in the interest of public order, and local prefects enforce these restrictions. This administrative control system has been in place since 1935, and the political messages conveyed by the President are often interpreted as instructions by the prefects. If the President expresses unwavering support for the Israeli government, any criticism is seen as unlawful.
Freedom of speech also has its limits in France. French Muslims argue that the ban on public display of the veil violates their freedom of expression, and hate speech is a punishable crime. Holocaust denial carries various penalties, including imprisonment. Even offensive speech can be against the law, as demonstrated by the arrest of fashion designer John Galliano in 2011 for making anti-Semitic comments. Far-right presidential candidate Éric Zemmour has faced multiple convictions for violating hate speech laws, including a 2022 case for describing unaccompanied migrant children as “thieves,” “rapists,” and “murderers.”
France is home to both the largest Muslim and Jewish populations in Europe. In recent years, Islamist terrorists have launched repeated attacks in Paris and other regions, specifically targeting Jews. In 2012, a French-born Muslim of Algerian descent pledging allegiance to al-Qaeda killed a rabbi and three children outside the Ozar Hatorah Jewish school in Toulouse. The following year, the Charlie Hebdo killings, the attack on a kosher supermarket, and the assault on the Bataclan occurred. Consequently, a record number of French-born Jews immigrated to Israel in 2015.
In light of these events and a call by a former Hamas leader for a global “day of rage,” the French government banned pro-Palestinian protests. Despite this, demonstrators gathered in the Place de la République and other cities, openly defying the ban. Police, dressed in riot gear, used tear gas and water cannons against the crowds as they chanted “Palestine will prevail.”
Similarly, Germany also prohibited public protests in support of Palestinian causes last week. However, the demonstrations still took place, creating tensions and raising concerns about the effectiveness and bias of the governments.
Finding a balance between freedom of expression and assembly and legitimate security concerns is not an easy task. Protests can escalate into violence, as demonstrated by the tiki-torch march in Charlottesville and the storming of the U.S. Capitol by the Proud Boys on January 6, 2021. The ongoing conflict in Israel has highlighted the presence of opinions and arguments that many of us find repugnant and potentially threatening.
Abigail Shrier captured a common sentiment when she wrote on X, “The fact that college students welcomed news of Hamas’s mass murder, rape, torture, and kidnapping of Jewish innocents with on-campus rallies for Hamas is unimaginably dark. Americans have only just begun to comprehend this.”
While I am angered by the sight of activists and students applauding distant actors involved in murder, I am proud to be on this side of the Atlantic Ocean. Despite the discomfort I felt watching those students march past, imposing themselves on strangers who may have been grieving, I still appreciate America’s remarkably strong norms of free speech and its commitment to personal liberty. This culture of open exchange is a privilege we should not take for granted. The leaders of the ACLU understood this when they defended the right of neo-Nazis to march through Skokie, Illinois, which has a predominantly Jewish population, in the late 1970s. Unfortunately, this commitment is being sacrificed in the current debates surrounding cancel culture and the prioritization of feelings over freedom.
As I sat on that bench last week, witnessing those students march by and feeling uneasy about the casualness of their words and actions, as they imposed themselves on strangers who might have been grieving, I was still proud to be on this side of the Atlantic Ocean. In Paris, those same words might have been drowned out by clouds of tear gas.
Denial of responsibility! Vigour Times is an automatic aggregator of Global media. In each content, the hyperlink to the primary source is specified. All trademarks belong to their rightful owners, and all materials to their authors. For any complaint, please reach us at – [email protected]. We will take necessary action within 24 hours.
