Bulletin No 51 octobre 2024 The philosopher Paul Nizan published this pamphlet, " the watchdogs " [1] in 1932 to stigmatize those philosophers of his time who only stated truths about man in general, and therefore took no account of the reality that each man in particular is confronted with: material misery, illness, unemployment, wars... Paul Nizan based his argument by showing that these philosophers have no other goal, deep down, than to justify and perpetuate the values of the bourgeoisie and its interests. In short, Paul Nizan told us that in the class struggle, the bourgeoisie constantly gives voice and forces that allow it to crush popular speech, all more or less skillfully under the mask of democracy and even human rights. Has that changed? Obviously not, and the way in which the dominant ideology gives voice and strength to those who contest the discourse of imperialist France with regard to Palestine clearly shows this.
Let's take a recent example. At Sciences-Po, a movement supporting the struggle of the Palestinian people for their legitimate and recognized rights, including in UN resolutions, was the subject of intense media coverage in which this struggle was simply equated with anti-Semitism on the basis of the principle that anyone who criticizes Israel is inherently anti-Semitic. It is also in the name of this same principle that many union, political and community activists have been summoned by the police and dragged before the courts, sometimes receiving harsh, unjustified sanctions in light of facts that are only related to the political struggle and freedom of expression. We have defended them all, in our columns, because we believe that their actions to support the Palestinian people's struggle for national liberation are fundamentally just.
The new director of Sciences-Po Paris, who upon his arrival took legal action against 4 pro-Palestinian students, in an interview [2] with the newspaper Les Echos , provides a perfect example of the conventional language used to silence any substantive debate on the question of Palestine, which we will agree is indeed the real issue! He states that the Sciences-Po institution: " is first guided by academic freedom and freedom of expression " to add later what is the doxa [3] by nature indisputable, in a way a table of the law : " I described October 7 as anti-Semitic attacks committed by a terrorist group - it is important to name things. " Perhaps it would have been more accurate to write standardize instead of name ! And there you have it, academic freedom stops where the dominant thought intends to stop it.
Well no! We do not accept this law of silence and lies.
Another example, recently, the head of German diplomacy, Annalena Baerbock, on a visit to Israel, denounced " the perfidious calculation" of the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas which uses the population of Gaza, bombed by Israel, as a " human shield ".
and added: " In its perfidious calculation, Hamas is now hiding behind other innocent people and using them as shields in Gaza. Hamas has taken the entire population of Gaza hostage ." Logical conclusion, all Palestinians are terrorist fighters, killing them? what business, fighters die in war. In fact, this Minister therefore justifies the ongoing genocide and meanwhile the continuing massacre in Palestine and Lebanon. All this encouragement to go further in the physical destruction of the Palestinian people requires firm and resolute responses. There is nothing to expect from the imperialist countries that support the colonial state of Israel, including France. The only attitude is not only to denounce the colonial reality that the Palestinian people are experiencing but also and above all to provide them with unwavering support in their struggle for national liberation. So, one year after the start of the genocide, the Revolutionary Communist Party supports more than ever the anti-colonialist fight of the Palestinian Resistance and that of the Lebanese Resistance against the occupying army which wants to invade its country and which Netanyahu threatens with the same fate as Gaza.
The Revolutionary Communist Party intends to continue to bring together all those who want an immediate ceasefire, an end to the massacre of Palestinians and who speak out for peace. For us, this means supporting the fundamental demands of the Palestinian Resistance: an immediate end to the Zionist military occupation, the dismantling of settlements, the return of all refugees and the formation of a Palestinian state on the territory of Mandatory Palestine (4) .
(4) Political status proposed by the League of Nations in 1920, mandate established from 1923, for the territory of Palestine
[1] Paul Nizan, The Watchdogs , Rieder, Paris, 1932. Reissued by Maspero in 1969. Reissued by Agone in 2012.
[2] Les Echos, Wednesday October 16
[3] Doxa: Set of opinions received without discussion, as obvious.