“I refuse that, in the national political context that everyone knows, our university can become the political instrument of extremist elements or elements driven by hatred of the other and because of a religion, racism, anti-Semitism, or negationist overtones. Our university, which bears the name of Jean Moulin, will make every effort to combat them. The students of the Manufacture des Tabacs received this email on April 14 from Eric Carpano, president of the University of Lyon 3. Its reputation as a right-wing campus is not new, especially because of the courses given in the 2000s by Bruno Gollnisch, then a major figure in the Front National. The demonstration initiated by Unef Lyon will take place this Thursday (12 noon) in front of Jean Moulin University. – Jérémy Laugier / 20 MinutesFaced with numerous reports of far-right acts for a month in his establishment, Eric Carpano undertook to “report to the public prosecutor” the facts and speeches of racism, anti-Semitism, negationism and sexism “which are not opinions but crimes”. He confirmed Tuesday his determination, in front of the students in 2nd year of history license, to prosecute the incriminated students. According to Mathilde Amar Amghari (19), a member of this promotion, the facts began at the start of the school year in September: “Some transferred to a Discord chat from our promotion pornographic photomontages of veiled women and multiple racist comments. A video of a Nazi rally was also sent in the middle of class via AirDrop.” “Many students felt abandoned” The young woman is formal: “As soon as it is a question of Islam, colonization or homosexuality during a lesson, bad taste jokes abound”. An episode will particularly “shock” this promotion on April 4, when a student puts a scarf around his face in the amphitheater to make fun of veiled women. “It was too much humiliation” for Mathilde Amar Amghari, who immediately denounced “this awful behavior” to the professor and then openly pointed to the Lyon Cockade. This far-right student association, which appeared on the campuses Lyonnais in 2020, was systematically mentioned by the twenty interlocutors we interviewed on this subject. Five years after the dissolution of the Union Defense Group (GUD), very established in the university landscape in the 2010s, La Cocarde crystallizes this far-right push observed in Lyon 3. Secretary General of the National Union of Students of France ( Unef) in Lyon, Manon Moret sums up the situation. Many students contacted us because they felt abandoned in the face of the rise of these acts of racist and sexist intimidation and harassment. The administration of Lyon 3 has long insisted on the importance of freedom of expression, and not on the fact that we are faced with activists with nauseating ideas, who have been able to act with complete impunity. “Swastikas and hateful messages found in university toiletsSo that the Lyon student union, which is organizing a rally this Thursday (12 p.m.) in front of the Manufacture des Tabacs (Lyon 8th) to “fight against the far right and its ideas racists, sexists and Islamophobes in our universities”, concludes its press release: “The university must urgently take its responsibilities and no longer let the far right make Lyon 3 its playground”. Between 2,000 and 3,000 people met in Lyon on Saturday to demonstrate against the far right. – Unef LyonA 24-year-old student, Elies shares this fear: “We feel that the far right tends to relax in Lyon 3 in the current context of the presidential election. La Cocarde even recently scuttled a student demonstration against racism to transform it into a demonstration against “anti-white” racism. Beyond the promotion of 2nd year of law, most students at Jean Moulin University have seen swastikas and hate messages in the establishment’s toilets this month, before they be cleaned after one week. “We wonder how far it can go” “It’s amazing and so shameful to come across such messages, sighs Maéva (20), an LLCER license student. We all know the right-wing reputation of Lyon 3, but we had the impression that it had evolved in the right direction. These tags reinforce a feeling of insecurity, and even more so for people who are discriminated against. »the far right pros of lyon 3 you are a shame pic.twitter.com/lDPnAZjvGd— em🦋 (@dontworryemilie) April 15, 2022
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“Frankly, when we see the demonstrations of force of an association like La Cocarde and its attempts at intimidation, we wonder how far it can go”, confides a student in history, who prefers to remain anonymous. La Cocarde points out ” a thought police” and “Bolshevik methods” . Considering themselves “victims of exactions on the part of the extreme left”, its members denounce “slander”, “wokism”, “a thought police” and even “Bolshevik methods”. The association has just written another statement to justify its occupation of an amphitheater of the Manufacture des Tabacs, Wednesday at 6 p.m. She asks the president of the university to “break with the culture of witch-hunting put forward by the Unef”. Press release of 04/20/2022: AG Cocarde Lyon at @UJML pic.twitter.com/fhVDfhhyy1— La Cocarde Lyon (@cocarde_lyon) April 20, 2022
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Finally, is Lyon 3 University such a special example in France? “No, what is happening there is not an isolated case, indicates Imane Ouelhadj, president of the UNEF. Tags and harassment are increasingly recurrent throughout the country, even in faculties known to the left. We worry about the safety of students when we see the emergence of these associations wanting, as they say, “to purify the temples of Islamo-leftism”. Already at the heart of the news since Tuesday due to the cancellation of the law ball, because of blacklisted students, Lyon 3 University is experiencing a spring of controversy.