Unicamp at the moment of truth

Image: Mona Hatoum
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By FRANCISCO FOOT HARDMAN*

On August 6th, the Unicamp University Council will have to decide whether to suspend current relations with one of the institutions involved in the massacre in Gaza

1.

There are moments in life and history that are decisive. On August 6th, the Unicamp University Council will have to deliberate on a matter whose gravity and urgency demand a lot of attention and commitment in reaffirming the pedagogical, moral and humanitarian values ​​that justify our work and vocation as a public university. Such values, contrary to what those who believe in illusory crystal domes might imagine, are inseparable. Life demands us here and now. History will judge us tomorrow based on what we are worthy of building and sharing today, as pacifying and, only then, civilizing cultural agents.

Yes, without a doubt: there is a lot of mission in our work as public educators. And only institutions that adopt these values ​​as praxis, without fuss or fuss, will be worthy of the name: university. As an undergraduate student at Unicamp during the military dictatorship for over 50 years and as a professor in this same house for almost 40 years, I am convinced in saying: we have built a university worthy of the name, in Brazil and outside Brazil, where I write now.

It turns out that, in an ill-fated moment, Unicamp signed an academic cooperation agreement with the Israel Institute of Technology (TECHNION), based in Haifa, in August 2023. Despite the supposed good scientific intentions of both parties when signing of the agreement, the fact is that, until now, our academic community is unaware of its terms.

And, from October last year until today, unfortunately, the scenario of the State of Israel's war of extermination over the Palestinian people of Gaza, disregarding all demands for an immediate ceasefire, including from agencies such as the UN, makes us appeal , once again here, as in the Open Letter sent to CONSU last May, for the immediate suspension of said agreement, due to its more than evident dangerous links.

Since TECHNION, unfortunately, according to several studies and articles of wide public knowledge, actively and strategically participates, by producing cutting-edge military technology, in the endless attacks perpetrated by the current Israeli government against the Palestinian civilian population. No technological-scientific pretext can justify Unicamp being a partner, real or symbolic, of such contemporary barbarity. Hence our insistence that, as far as our University's express will depends, we say no to war, which is equivalent to saying, within the limits of our functions: no to TECHNION!

2.

Let's not talk any more about the images that afflict us, every day, every night. For those who want to better understand and situate themselves in this world so devastated by the war of extermination in Palestine, we recommend, after all, the serene, tireless and herculean work of this remarkable woman who deserves our greatest respect and consideration.

Psychiatrist Samah Jabr, director of the Mental Health Unit of the Palestinian Ministry of Health, born in East Jerusalem in 1976, never left her people and her country. He continues to work – in conditions of permanent risk – there, practicing resistance every day, without weapons, only with his extensive medical and psychiatric knowledge, and with a strong feeling of solidarity and affirmation, difficult to translate, which in his language is just called Go ahead, and that, thanks to the competent work of Editora Tabla, Brazilian readers can now have access, despite its first edition being sold out.[I]

The Regional Psychology Council – Minas Gerais (CRP-MG) had the happy idea of ​​inviting Dr. Samah Jabr to its 1st. Brazilian Congress of Psychology and Migration (CBPM): For a Society without Borders, held in Belo Horizonte, at the end of June. And thanks to journalist Lucas Wilker, we can read the luminous interview carried out with this entirely dedicated doctor.[ii]

This is not an ideological choice, nor a religious one. Here, the sense of human civilization must prevail over everything else. I allow myself to address Professor Antonio José de Almeida Meirelles and Professor Maria Luiza Moretti, respectively, Rector and Vice-Rector of Unicamp, as I know that they are always in tune with fair humanism, so that they consider, with special attention, the that the current tragedy in Palestine demands.

And I am also convinced that the valuable and valuable current members of the University Council will not lack discernment so that, at its next meeting, on August 6, we stop lending the name of our University, even if inadvertently, to an industry of death which, under any circumstances, does not concern us.

But how can we end this appeal, when it comes to Unicamp, without the memory of what this brilliant, charismatic and humanitarian colleague, Professor Emeritus Mohamed Habib, Egyptian by birth and Brazilian by adoption, a great unit director and pro- dean that many of us, like me, have had the privilege of living with for decades? How can we forget his lessons of unconditional solidarity and pacifism, which is why he was devoted, like Father Julio Lancelotti today, to refugees from all walks of life, especially Palestinians?

And just as we were finishing this text, another piece of very sad news comes to us, brought by his son, Nader Ezz El Din Habib: our colleague, Professor Hazem Adel Ashmawi, from the Dept. of Anesthesiology, Oncology and Radiology at the Faculty of Medical Sciences at Unicamp, his maternal family's home in Gaza was attacked by Israel in the early hours of July 10, with two of his three aunts, women aged 75 and 80 years old, in addition to fracturing the arm of the third woman, an elderly woman in a wheelchair. To Professor Hazem and his family, our deepest condolences and solidarity.

How many more Palestinian civilians, including women and children, will need to be decimated for our humanitarian conscience to awaken? Death and extermination surround our destinies, including those of colleagues in our university community.

We are not calling for any war. Just asking CONSU to stop Unicamp's current dangerous relations with one of the institutions involved in this massacre. It's the least we can do in the midst of so much pain. So let's do it!

*Francisco Foot Hardman He is a professor at the Institute of Language Studies at Unicamp. Author, among other books, of São Paulo ideology and the eternal modernists (Unesp). [https://amzn.to/45Qwcvu].

Notes


[I] JABR, Samah. Sumud in times of genocide. Rio de Janeiro: Tabla, 2024 (Org. and trans. by Rima Awada Zahra).

[ii] WILKER, Lucas. 'The mental health of Palestinians is being deliberately targeted,' says Palestinian psychiatrist. Brazil of Fact, Belo Horizonte, June 29, 2024, 16:44. A moment and a voice that, needless to say, the mainstream media erases and silences.


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