Mélenchon too harsh after his conference was banned? A “Nazi” comparison is controversial

After establishing a highly criticized parallel between the president of the University of Lille and the Nazis Adolf Eichmann, Jean-Luc Mélenchon returned to his remarks on Friday.

The cancellation of the “Palestine News” conference with Jean-Luc Mélenchon and Rima Hassan, who was to be held at the University of Lille on Thursday April 18, will have aroused the ire of the rebels. While the president of the university argued that “the conditions [n’étaient] more united to guarantee the serenity of the debates”, the founder of the movement himself, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, did not hide his anger. Evoking the president of the University of Lille and his decision in front of an audience of activists finally united at an outdoor meeting on Thursday, the rebel allowed himself to draw a parallel between the teacher and the Nazi criminal Adolf Eichmann.

“‘I did nothing,’ said Eichmann, ‘I only obeyed the law as it was in my country. So they say that they obey the law and they implement measures immoral measures which are not justified by anything or anyone”, began Jean-Luc Mélenchon, before mentioning “the one who gave in, president of the university, of whom we [lui] also says that he is a good man, but at the moment when he had to decide, he was no longer a singular good man.

An “odious comparison” for the Minister of Higher Education and Research, Sylvie Retailleau. For her part, the Minister of Gender Equality, Aurore Bergé, judged Friday morning on the set of CNews that “every day LFI takes a new step in indecency and excess”, also considering that “comparing a university president to Eichmann is unbearable”.

Invited to explain himself at the microphone of BFMTV this Friday, Jean-Luc Mélenchon was moved by “the ignorance of our time”. For him, there was no question of drawing a “parallel of exact similarity between Nazism and today”. Evoking The Origins of Totalitarianism by Hannah Arendt, the rebel indicated that “in her book, she explains how absolute evil always tries to dilute itself by compartmentalizing tasks. Each of those who have accomplished a task says to themselves: ‘I am not a criminal ‘, that’s what Eichmann said. In any case, Jean-Luc Mélenchon took advantage of the opportunity to demand sanctions against the prefect of the North, who also banned the conference, and denounced “an abuse of power”.