Award-winning author Sally Rooney, Deborah Levy, Nobel Prize winner Annie Ernaux, and Pulitzer winner Viet Thanh Nguyen form part of 20 authors urging French president Emmanuel Macron to resume a critical evacuation initiative for Gazan authors, academics and artists in Gaza.
Initiative Halt Due to Alleged Remarks
An emergency support scheme for writers and artists facing crises, as well as a academic rescue effort, were suddenly halted by the authorities in France at the beginning of August following a Palestinian student’s reportedly hateful online remarks—a decision that the petitioning writers said amounted to a “group penalty”.
“In our capacity as authors, we urge you to restore this lifeline without delay, and to call on global leaders to establish comparable initiatives”, states the appeal, delivered to the Élysée Palace on Friday.
Prominent Supporters
Additional supporters comprise Nobel winners Abdulrazak Gurnah and JMG Le Clézio, along with Anne Enright, Leïla Slimani, Madeleine Thien, Édouard Louis, Isabella Hammad, Didier Eribon, Naomi Klein, Max Porter, Alain Damasio, Mathias Énard, Kapka Kassabova, Karim Kattan plus Rashid Khalidi.
Background of the Programme
This assistance effort was set up by the national authorities and the Collège de France in 2017 to help international scholars, scientists, intellectuals and artists who find themselves in dangerous conditions. The program has provided French talent visas and practical support for people from Ukraine, Syria, Afghanistan and other countries.
Impact on Gaza
Following the outbreak of conflict in Gaza in late 2023, a total of 31 Gazan creatives, authors and scholars along with relatives have been sheltered in France via these evacuation initiatives.
Government Response
Yet, on August 1st, top diplomat Jean-Noël Barrot declared that “all rescue operations” would continue while officials examined allegedly antisemitic statements shared by a woman scholar who had entered the country from Gaza in July and was due to start attending classes at a French institute in the autumn.
“The halting of evacuation programmes on the basis of one case involving offensive online content is a type of collective punishment at a time when all signatories to the Genocide Conventions should be doing their utmost to save Palestinians from annihilation and should refuse to be complicit in crimes against humanity”, the appeal to the president says.
