2024-05-09 21:48:37
The controversy broke out in the last few hours after the student union Lista 21, of the Faculty of Humanities of the University of the Republic, rejected the participation of Albert Spektorowski, in a course on secularism. For students, Spektorowski is a “Zionist” and “apologist” for the war in Gaza, which is described as genocide by much of the international community.
Faced with these qualifiers, Spektorowski decided to respond by reaffirming that, indeed, his position is Zionist. “They classified me as a Zionist and yes, I am, I am proud of that, if they wanted to take it as an insult, I don’t see it that way,” said the professor this Thursday after being consulted by the newspaper El País.
Regarding Udelar‘s decision to suspend the course in which he was going to teach two classes, he responded: “I don’t want to get involved with institutional decisions, I accept any decision they make, because I was going to participate as a guest teacher. The people from the Faculty who contacted me were very kind and I have no complaints whatsoever.”
Udelar student union denounced guest professor as a “Zionist” and “apologist” for Israel’s invasion of Gaza
The Uruguayan-Israeli academic, Alberto Spektorowski, rejects calling the murder a genocide…
The controversy over Spektorowski’s participation in a course on secularism
The course at the University of the Republic is called “Secularism as a problem: its history and its foundations”, and is dedicated in memoram to Dr. Luis Delio.
The idea of this course is to analyze “the concept of secularism from a historical and comparative point of view with other countries”, as well as “its relationship with culture and politics”, and “the close link between secularism and culture, secularism and politics, secularism and education.”
In the last unit, “secularism in the world” is analyzed, in which there would be dissertations on “secularism in Europe and the Middle East,” and its relationship with identities, types of secularism, and the position of Jews and Muslims against the concept of secularism.
Criticism of Jewish organizations
After the course was suspended by the higher education institution, reactions arose from the organizations that represent the Jewish community in Uruguay, that is, the Israelite Central Committee of Uruguay and B’nai B’rith Uruguay.
For the Committee, Udelar “puts its historical democratic, plural and secular identity at stake” by “giving in to these pressures.” “It is no longer about defending the State of Israel and its right to self-defense, it is about our country, Uruguay, importing a conflict that is foreign to it, a single conflict regarding the many and so painful ones that exist in the world. , making clear a discriminatory intention,” the organization said in a statement.
“We will not remain silent when circumstances warrant our voice, loud and clear, in rejection of anti-Semitism and all hate speech that is intended to be spread,” they added.
From B’nai B’rith Uruguay they stated that Spektorowski has an “outstanding career and credentials, he was invited as a guest to teach two classes within a course in Humanities, which has nothing to do with Israel, nor with Judaism, nor with the Zionism, but with secularism, a historical principle in our country of which we Uruguayans are proud.”
“We reject and condemn that the student union has based its opposition on the Zionist status of the aforementioned teacher. Zionism, as a national movement of the Jewish people, defends the right of the Jewish people to have their own State. “Using the term as a disqualification or accusation directly implies denying Israel’s right to exist, and the right of the Jewish people to self-determination,” added the statement from the Jewish organization.
Udelar student union denounced guest professor as a “Zionist” and “apologist” for Israel’s invasion of Gaza
The Uruguayan-Israeli academic, Alberto Spektorowski, rejects calling the murder a genocide…
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