Moderated byAlain Gresh, Orient XXI
Abstract
The year 2023 marks a turning point in the repression of voices in favor of Palestine. While situating current dynamics within the historical trajectories of several European countries, notably Great Britain and Germany, this panel aims to give meaning to the rupture of October 7 , by analyzing the evolution of the tools of repression on both coercive and semantic levels. How is repression organized, including on a transnational scale ? What targets and arguments are used ? These dynamics will also be examined in relation to other forms of political repression.
Speakers
- Thomas Vescovi, EHESS / Université libre de Bruxelles : Israeli media and public diplomacy, the foundations of a bias illustrated by the treatment of the war in Gaza.
- Hanna Al Taher, TU Dresden / Queen Mary University, London : Resisting the idea of the impossible Palestine.
- Omar Jabary Salamanca, Université libre de Bruxelles : When the masks fall : the European university in the age of monsters.
Thomas Vescovi
Thomas Vescovi is a doctoral student in political studies and sciences, working under the joint supervision of the École des hautes études en sciences sociales and the Université libre de Bruxelles. He is also a member of ULB'sObservatoire des Mondes Arabes et Musulmans (OMAM). He is the author of La mémoire de la nakba en Israël. Le regard de la société israélienne sur la tragédie palestinienne (2015) and L'Échec d'une utopie. A History of the Lefts in Israel (2021). He recently contributed to Gaza, une guerre coloniale (2025). He is also co-founder and member of the editorial board of the Yaani research collective.
Hanna Al-Taher
Hanna Al-Taher is a researcher, writer and lecturer in political theory and the history of ideas at Dresden University of Technology. She is also a Research Associate in the Faculty of Politics and International Relations at Queen Mary University of London.
Omar Jabary Salamanca
Omar Jabary Salamanca is a writer, teacher and lecturer in social sciences at the Université libre de Bruxelles. His research focuses on development in a colonial context and anti-colonial solidarity movements. He is also co-founder of the Eye On Palestine Arts and Film Festival.
Alain Gresh
Alain Gresh is a journalist, former editor-in-chief of Le Monde diplomatique, and founder of the online journals Orient XXI and Afrique XXI. He specializes in the Middle East, with a particular focus on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, to which he has devoted numerous works.
