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From Lecture Halls To Online Epicenters Of Hate, The Resurgence Of Anti-Zionism Has Sanitized Antisemitism In German Universities Once Again, Echoing The Spread Of Nazi Propaganda In Academia In Germa
Since October 7, 2023, Germany has witnessed an alarming surge in antisemitic incidents. These are not confined solely to the streets or the far-reaching online spaces but are increasingly entrenched in some of Germany's best-known and most prestigious academic institutions. At the forefront are Berlin institutions of Humboldt University (HU) and Freie University (FU), as well as Technische Universität Berlin (TU). These, critics allege, no longer serve as spaces for intellectual exchange, and ideological diversity, but now function as 'incubators of radical ideology.'' (To be fair, universities have also functioned as centers of social and political resistance to fascist ideologies, as well.) Today, German academic institutions have emerged as epicenters of pro-Palestinian protests that sanitize, rationalize, invert, and overtly disseminate antisemitic ideology. Antisemitism has taken precedence over genuine anti-war sentiment and concern for the people of Gaza, and over criticism of the Israeli government. The resurgence cannot be dismissed or viewed in isolation, as is often the case in U.S. academic discourse. Given German academia's historical complicity in both fostering and proliferating antisemitism, the proliferation of antisemitism in German university is uniquely disturbing. Historical Roots Of Antisemitism Within German Academia And The Persistence Of National Socialist Ideology The antisemitic infiltration of German academia did not begin with the Nazi seizure of power in 1933, but had already been socially accepted within academic circles in the Weimar Republic (1919-1933). Antisemitism was later institutionalized in the early 1930s under the pretext of so-called "overrepresentation" of non-Aryan students – notably Jewish students. This was ideologically framed as simply a bureaucratic concern. German universities were portrayed as "overburdened." This "overabundance" narrative became the central impetus for the 1933 Law Against Overcrowding of German Schools and Universities.[1] The law imposed a legal quota limiting the admission of non-Aryan students to no more than 1.5% of the student body. This serves as a rhetorical and administrative tool to legitimize discriminatory racial policies under the guise of institutional reform. German universities rapidly transformed into vehicles of antisemitic persecution: Jewish students and educators were expelled en masse, barred from libraries, cafeterias, lecture halls, and denied the their degrees. Politicized research further sought to sanitize the demonization of Jews – masking virulent antisemitism with scientific legitimacy. Simultaneously, many students affiliated with the National Socialist German Workers' Party, or the NSDAP, rose to prominence as intellectual architects of Nazi racial policy, lending academic credibility to genocidal agendas. Following the imposition of the 1933 Overcrowding Law, antisemitism was not only codified but deeply woven into the institutional fabric of German higher education, securing academia as an essential pillar of ideological affirmation for the National Socialist regime. Across disciplines, German scholars were conscripted to facilitate pseudo-historical justifications for the mythicization of the so-called "Nordic superior race," to glorify visions of a German-dominated European empire, and to frame Nordic cultural heritage as a product of Aryan supremacy. Academics were tasked with constructing a racially charged ideological framework that traced National Socialist beliefs to their alleged Germanic-Nordic origins, notably facilitated by the Nazi-led "Ahnenerbe" (Ancestral Heritage) institute founded by Heinrich Himmler. This encompassed the fabrication of historical and archeological evidence to legitimize Nazi racial ideology. Pseudo-scientific concepts such as "Rassenhygiene" (racial hygiene) promoted the understanding of Aryan genetic superiority justifying policies of sterilization, euthanasia, and genocide under the umbrella of a predetermined "racial destiny." These concepts were embedded across state institutions and utilized to legitimize the "territorial expansionism" (known as Lebensraum) . Historical narratives were likewise appropriated to reinterpret regional histories to portray Germans as the sole possessors of civilization, reinforcing the myth of the unbroken destiny of the Aryan race. Antisemitism In Germany Today The manifestation of antisemitism unfolding today, most notably through Holocaust inversion, represents a mutation of Nazi ideology, in which Nazi imagery and rhetoric are inverted and projected onto the Jews themselves, particularly Israelis, who are more fashionably labeled "Zionists" or "Zios." In this legitimized role reversal, Jews or Israelis are depicted as Nazis, while Palestinians or other groups are understood as the "new Jews," or victims of genocide. Common examples include equating Gaza with Auschwitz or with the Warsaw Ghetto, or calling Israel a Nazi state, or accusing Jews of "doing to others what was done to them." These analogies trivialize the Holocaust and weaponize its memory, distorting historical truth and facts, and demonizing Jews again by portraying them as perpetrators of the very evil they had endured – all propagated under the guise of anticolonial critique and moral responsibility. Antisemitism On University Campuses After Hamas's October 7, 2023, Attack Today's pro-Palestinian movement on German campuses mirrors this historical pattern through the prevalent intellectual sanitization of antisemitism, rebranded as alleged criticism of Israel – labelled "anti-Zionism." Just as scholars once mythologized the Nordic race to legitimize racial supremacy, the contemporary academic discourse at many German universities, and academic institutions across the West, now mythologizes Palestinian victimhood while simultaneously erasing any Jewish historical connection to Israel. These anti-Israel narratives rely on inversion: presenting Jews as "white colonial oppressors" while omitting their extermination and persecution and framing Israel itself as a "foreign implant." Reframing Jewish people as racially white and socially privileged obscures the distinct nature of antisemitism and the historical magnitude of the Holocaust, reducing it to a generic form of racism. This fosters a rather loose discourse in which antisemitism is relativized, dismissed, or legitimized under the guise of anti-imperialist solidarity. In this context, classical antisemitic tropes, many of which are rooted in the Protocols of the Elders of Zion,[2] re-contextualized through the language of postcolonial theory and identity politics, sanitizes old prejudices within seemingly progressive frameworks. In both cases (past and present), academia is not a neutral space but one in which antisemitic ideologies are washed through scholarly language, legitimizing prejudice. While foreign funding, particularly from entities such the Qatar Foundation, significantly shaping academic discourse in the West, its influence is more limited in Germany than in the United States.[3] American universities, which depend heavily on private and international donations, are more exposed to ideological pressure from foreign donors. The state of Qatar, through the Qatar Foundation and Qatar Foundation International, has heavily funded U.S. universities, significantly promoting its foreign policy and ideological interests – including ties to the Muslim Brotherhood. This funding strikingly aligns with the radicalization of student bodies, and the increase of disruptive activism. In Germany, where universities are predominately publicly funded, such external influence is partial, yet partnerships exist – mainly, but not limited to, language and cultural programs with institutions like the Goethe-Institute. (See Appendix B). In contrast to U.S. universities, where institutional positions are frequently shaped by donor pressure and financial incentives, German universities are more driven by internal historical, cultural, and political dynamics that are unique to their post-WWII context. This entails a deeply rooted post-Holocaust culture that, though initially intended to uphold moral responsibility, has to some extent mutated into historical fatigue or at times into a form of moral inversion. The popular slogan, "Free Palestine from German Guilt" reflects a generational shift, particularly among Gen Z, who seek to liberate themselves from the burdens of historical responsibility by projecting blame onto the Jewish state. This stance is shaped not only by demographic factors, but also by many of Arab or Muslim background who either feel detached from Germany's historical burden, or who possess a distorted understanding of the Holocaust shaped by their own cultural and political context. Moreover, administrative paralysis and political caution greatly contribute to institutional inaction. University leadership in Germany tends to hesitate in intervening to halt antisemitic mobilization due to fear of being perceived as biased, overtly pro-Israel, or repressive. Surge In Antisemitic Incidents Across German Academia The February 2025 "Report on Antisemitism at German Universities"[4] was jointly published by the American Jewish Committee Berlin (AJC Berlin) and the Jüdische Studierendenunion Deutschland (JSUD).[5] The report documents a sharp rise in antisemitic incidents in Germany from 2020 to 2024. National incidents increased by over 40% in 2021. Antisemitic incidents (In May 2021, protests in front of the Gelsenkirchen synagogue escalated during pro-Palestinian protest. Demonstrators shouted antisemitic slurs, including 'shitty Jews' paired with burning of the Israeli flags.[6])surged by nearly 83% in 2023, reaching a record of 4,782 cases. This trend continued into 2024, with over 6,200 reported incidents which demarcates a 30% fold increase from the previous year, despite growing and articulated safety concerns. At German universities specifically, antisemitic cases rose from 16 in 2021 to 151 in 2023, amounting to a 556% increase (with cases of violence and academic suppression through cancelled events due to hostile protests, and the revocation of appointments over protest-related demands). These developments mark a disturbing escalation, shifting from abstract hostility to overt targeting, intimidation, harassment, as well as the exclusion of Jews and Israelis from universities. The Federal Association of Departments for Research and Information on Antisemitism (Bundesverband RIAS), documented a total of 471 reported antisemitic incidents across Germany's educational institutions in 2023, with a staggering 301 cases occuring in the aftermath of October 7. (See Appendix C) Islamist And Nazi Ideological Convergence: Normalization Of Antisemitism Through Progressive And Islamist Narratives German universities, have allowed the re-normalization of antisemitism under the guise of left progressive discourse as well as historical revisionism. The manifestation of antisemitism on German university campuses transcends conventional political and ideological divides. Today's resurgence is primarily fued by two intersecting ideologies: radical left-wing anti-imperialism and Islamism. Although ideologically distinct - one is rooted in secular Marxist discourse and the other in religious-political doctrine –both converge in their vilification of Jews and the Jewish state through ideologically-distorted lenses. Leftist anti-imperialist groups increasingly frame the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a binary colonial narrative in which Israel is understood as a white European oppressor and Palestinian Arabs as colonized indigenous victims. Embedded in this narrative, the October 7, 2023 Hamas atrocities are framed not as terrorism but as "anti-colonial resistance." The slogan, "Free Palestine from German Guilt," frequently chanted at protests and seen on banners, reflects an ideological nexus of anti-Israel hostility with a broader rejection of Germany's post-Holocaust moral responsibility. Behind the seemingly progressive façade, these slogans recycle classical antisemitic tropes framing Jews as manipulators of historical memory for political gain, and echo the fabrications of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Aligned with this leftist antisemitism is the influence of Islamist ideology which, while doctrinally distinct from Nazism, has historically shared its reliance on antisemitism as a mobilizing tool. Nazism portrayed Jews as a racial threat to Aryan purity and to European civilization, while Islamist antisemitism typically depicts Jews as enemies of Islam and Islamic civilization. Thus, violence against Jews is seen as a religious duty under militant Islam, blending religious imagery with anti-Zionist and classic conspirational rhetoric. An ideological synthesis between Nazism and Islamist antisemitism was forged during World War II through the alliance between the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Hajj Amin al-Husseini, and the Nazi regime. Al-Husseini aligned himself with Adolf Hitler and aided in the recruitment of Muslim SS divisions, who broadcast Nazi propaganda across the Arab world. This amalgamation fused antisemitic rhetoric with selective references from the Quran, embedding Nazi ideology into Islamist discourse. The German News Bureau in Cairo was instrumental in channeling Nazi funds to Muslim Brotherhood structures from which Hamas emerged, helping cement an ideological fusion. As Jewish immigration to the British Mandate of Palestine increased, the Grand Mufti incited violence to avert these efforts. In Egypt, antisemitic narratives portrayed Jews as a "universal danger," echoing European fascism more than Islamic tradition. The propaganda tactics reflected strategies employed by the Nazi regime. In partnership with al-Husseini, this alliance cultivated a propaganda apparatus that amplified Nazi rhetoric across the Arab world: a legacy that remains omnipresent today (See Appendix D). Failure Of Denazification In The Arab World And Re-Importing Antisemitic Ideology Into German Academic Discourse In Europe, denazification was swiftly implemented in the aftermath of WWII. The Allies launched systematic efforts involving political trials, institutional reforms, and the dismantling of Nazi ideology. However, no equivalent process occurred in the Arab world. There, Nazi propaganda remained largely intact, recycled by Arab nationalist and Islamist movements. The ideological nexus combining Nazi antisemitism with Islamist radicalism outlived the Third Reich and culminated in violent pogroms against Jews in 1945 in some areas of then-Palestine, and in Libya and Egypt. A wave of hate crimes and persecutions of Jews erupted across the Arab and Muslim world. Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser fueled this trajectory by reviving the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, welcoming Nazi exiles into his country, and integrating them into the network of Arab propaganda. Following the 1967 Arab defeat in the Six-Day War, antisemitic discourse intensified, becoming deeply embedded in the ideological DNA of modern Islamism. Sayyib Qutb, a key thought leader shaping Islamist movements, radicalized this discourse by reframing antisemitism as a religious imperative.[7] In his essay, "Our Struggle with the Jews,"[8] he identified Jews as enemies of Islam and presented Palestine as Dar al-Islam, a sacred Islamic territory from which Jews must be removed. This work became the principal symbolic battleground against the Jews, and the Jewish state became the theological front. Israel's destruction was no longer a political goal, but a theological duty – a doctrine that continues to mobilize Islamist antisemitism today. This neglected front of denazification has now come full circle. Antisemtic narratives, once exported from Germany to the Arab world, have been re-imported into the West, and visibly on German streets and campuses once again. Yet antisemitism in Germany is not merely imported; it is deeply ingrained in the national psyche, circulating subtly through inheritated narratives[9] and cultural codes.[10] The October 7 surge in antisemitic rhetoric and hate marked the violent culmination of the persistent ideological legacy rooted in National Socialism. Within this framework, complex realities collapse into binaries: Israel is vilified, and its destruction is understood as liberation. This normalizes antisemitism in the federal republic. At the center of this development lies the nexus of Islamist thought and selectively appropriated aspects of postcolonial theory: both critique Western modernity as spiritually hollow and culturally imperialist. Some Islamists perceived Western influence as intellectual colonialization. Postcolonial theorists focus on violence and the erasure of indigenous identity. The convergence of both approaches has proliferated into alarming ideological distortions. In this reframed narrative, antisemitic rhetoric is not only relativized and dismissed, but increasingly encouraged and legitmized under the umbrella of the anti-imperialist solidarity and fighting global injustice projected in the form of Zionism. Role Of Radical Student Groups In Campus Antisemitism And Institutional Complicity In The Absence Of Countermeasures At the forefront of this struggle on German campuses – particularly at Freie Universität und Humboldt Universität, as well as at Technische Universtiät Berlin, are radicalized student groups alongside the BDS Movement. Together, they inflame and lead the proliferation of student groups, most notably Young Struggle (YS), Students for Palestine, Palestine Committee FU Berlin, Student Coalition Berlin, Palestinian Students United, Waffen der Kritik (WdK), Decolonize HU Berlin, and International Youth, Students for Social Equality (IYSSE), and Studentcollective for Palestine at TU Berlin. Inspired by the large scale campus protests at U.S. campuses, these respective groups utilize similar tactics, including the occupation of lecture halls, protest encampments, lecture series embedded in the sit-ins, and so on. To strengthen persistence for the cause, some students vandalize campus sites, and they mark targets using the "Hamas Triangle" to mark Jewish, Israeli, or "pro-Zionist" targets. They threaten and defame Jewish students, and in some instances prevent them from entering university spaces. Despite public statements condemning antisemitism, many German university administrations' actions, especially HU and FU, have proven ineffective, symbolic rather than substantive, lenient and dismissive. These countermeasures fail to adequately target the resurgent antisemitism on campus. Palästinakomittee FU Berlin (Palestine Committee FU Berlin (PCFU) The "Palestine Committee FU Berlin" is a student collective at Berlin's Freie University (FU) encompassing a range of independent students and affiliates of several far left and anti-imperialist splinter groups. However, it works closely with the Marxist university group "Waffen der Kritik" (WdK) which is a branch of the political party Klasse Gegen Klasse. PCFU presents itself as a part of a broader movement that opposes repression at universities, stands in solidarity with Palestine, and promotes academic freedom. The committee plays a pivotal role in organizing occupation campaigns at auditoriums, protest camps at the FU campus, as well as vigils and lectures. It also calls for the divestment from Israeli institutions. PCFU enjoys ties with numerous like-minded student groups, with an aim to integrate into a broader pro-Palestinian alliance of students within Germany, Europe, and around the globe.[11] The committee regularly holds gatherings and lecture events at their community center, Rotes Café, near the university campus. A lecture accompanying the viewing of the documentary, "When It stopped Being A War: The Testimony of Dr. Ghassan Abu-Sittah" was held on May 20, 2025. Drawing on his experience in Gaza and interviews with others, he framed the Palestinian healthcare infrastructure as both resistance and self-determination, rooted in the legacy of the First Intifada (1987-1993). He alleged that Israel's targeting of Gaza's hospitals constitutes a systematic campaign of ethnic cleansing and genocide. He further seemed to compare Israeli society with the Khmer Rouge regime, and accuses Western liberalism of "washing its sins by historicism."[12] (See Appendix E) At the viewing of the film, "When It Stopped Being a War: The Testimony of Dr. Ghassan Abu-Sittah" and the accompanying lecture organized by PCFU and the group "Gesundheit4Palestine" held at the Rotes Café.[13] Following the dramatic surge in antisemitism in academia across Germany, and amid the mounting pressure and outcry from the public, the German Bundestag passed a resolution entitled: "Resolutely Countering Anti-Semitism and Hostlity Towards Israel in Schools and Universities and Securing Free Space for Discourse"[14] ("Antisemitismus und Israelfeindlichkeit an Schulen und Hochschulen entschlossen entgegentreten sowie den freien Diskursraum sichern"). In response, PCFU published a statement rejecting the resolution, claiming it did not genuinely address antisemitism but rather instrumentalized it to censor pro-Palestinion opinion and suppress dissidents. Moreover, the group continued, the resolution equated anti-Zionism with antisemitism, conflating legitimate criticism of Israeli state policies with hatred of Jews. PCFU argues that the resolution distorted the meaning of antisemitism while downplaying the threat of right-wing extremism, and channeled state repression of the Palestinian solidarity movement at German universities which is present, the group claimed, through campus surveillance, expulsion of student activists, police intervention, and legal reprisals. These measures, the group asserts, erode academic freedom and transform campuses into agents of German state policy – particularly its unconditional support for Israel which PCFU considers to be driven by German imperial interests. The group further condemns collaboration with Israeli institutions and the criminalization of BDS support as ideological policing. PCFU's Instagram post announces a vigil, "Stop the University Resolution," responding to a Bundestag resolution aimed at universities. The banner at the bottom reads: "Education Instead Of Criminalization: Stop Prosecution Of Universities!"[15] This PCFU Instagram post notes that the "respective resolution does not combat antisemitism but exploits the fight against it for censorship." It is paired with a picture of the vigil organized in response to the resolution, with Palestinian flags and a large banner reading: "For A Free Palestine And A Free University […]"[16] An activist speaking at the FU campus vigil denounces the resolution as a hoax, highlighting the irony of its enforcement by a university that still houses a building named after Henry Ford – known for his deeply antisemitic record. Citing Ford's legacy, the activist uses this to dismiss the resolution's stated intent and argues it caters solely to the suppression of the advocacy of the struggle for Palestine.[17] A PCFU stand promotes "Boycott Apartheid Universities." Flyers were distributed claiming FU was complicit in apartheid and occupation through its collaboration with Israeli universities, allegedly violating international law.[18] PCFU has organized lectures in collaboration with BDS with representatives from the "European Legal Support Center" (ELSC). Topics include how universities act as political entities, and the role of boycotts as a strategic tool for accountability in cases of genocide and military occupation. Panelists include academics, legal experts, and activists with experience in BDS implementation, military embargo campaigns, and student-led advocacy.[19] PCFU organized a lecture and Q&A event with Emilia Roig[20] and a gathering at the Heba Camp in July 2024 which was held under the title: "Is Anti-Zionism Antisemitic? About the Weaponization of Antisemitism in Current Debates."[21] PCFU has actively engaged in dialogue with international student groups, exchanging ideas and tactics of mobilization, and drawing inspiration from campus encampments worldwide. PCFU also established its very own camp, the "Heba Camp" erected in June 2024 as a means to articulate their demands and apply pressure on the FU president. After three weeks of silence from the administration, the protest escalated into a building occupation, aimed at leveraging growing momentum to amplify student demands for justice in Palestine and institutional accountability. Tolerated for some time, the occupation was ultimately dismantled by police intervention. The movement called for an end to what it called genocide, apartheid, and occupation in Palestine, while further demanding comprehensive university reforms that coincided with BDS demands, as well as the rejection of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism.[22] (See Appendix F). It further demanded expanded scholarships and access for Palestinian students, support for resistance efforts, and an arms embargo, a ceasefire in Gaza, protection from police violence, opposition to forced student expulsions, and resistance to social cuts and privatization. [23] A further, symbolic, demand is the renaming of the Henry Ford Building situated on the FU campus to the Esther Béjarano Building. Esther Béjarano was a survivor of Auschwitz and a longtime anti-fascist activist who has become a moral authority in pro-Palestinian circles. Béjarano, who died in 2021, was a vocal critic of Israeli policies and a supporter of the BDS movement, is seen by activists as embodying a understood nexus between Holocaust remembrance and Palestinian solidarity (See Appendix G). PCFU members leave their Heba Camp on the FU campus with a protest displaying banners, flags, and placards with the messages: "For A Free Palestine And A Free University – Join Heba Camp"; "No Pride In Genocide;" "Free Uni – Cut The Ties, Cut The Lies;" "#D Rule: Decolonize Palestine, Defund Apartheid, Defend Human Rights." Two book titles embossed on placards can be seen: Noam Chomsky's "The Fateful Triangle: The United States, Israel, and the Palestinians" and "The Hundred Years' War On Palestine" by Rashid Khalidi.[24] Reba Encampment in an FU auditorum in July 2024. The banner reads: "Reba Camp -Solidarity With The Resistance." PCFU works in close collaboration with the legal advocacy and donation initiative, "Hands Off Students Rights" – an alliance of activists from Berlin's major universities, including FU, HU, and TU Berlin. The campaign opposes what it calls "political expulsions and repression at universities" and urges solidarity with students currently facing legal proceedings from their participation in campus encampments. [25] Amid growing student mobilization at university campuses in the capital, university administrations – often reluctantly – have been forced to take legal and disciplinary measures to try to contain the escalating wave of protests. Legal and disciplinary measures have, thus far, remained largely symbolic. One recent case involved a student from FU Berlin who was sued for trespassing in connection with the Heba Camp occupation. The charges, which were later dismissed, coincide with the Berlin Senate's ongoing efforts to tighten the Higher Education Act, particularly through the introduction of Paragraph 16, which would permit forced expulsion from university without a criminal conviction. For many FU students engaged in the ongoing protests, Paragraph 16 signalizes a significant expansion of university and state authority to suppress political dissident. "Hands Off Student Rights" warns that such measures set a dangerous precedent for criminalizing student activism. While most of the legal cases brought to trial thus far have mostly resulted in acquittals, dismissals, or have been delayed, concerns – the concerns persist, particularly with each escalation in student protests potentially triggering stronger political and instutitonal backlash. In response, Hands Off Student Rights is raising funds through the crowdfunding platform GoFundMe[26] to mobilize funds to help cover legal expenses. The donation campaign also actively advocates against disciplinary measures, against broader repression of campus students, and against expulsions from the university. The last cause particularly concerns those activists without German citizenry. Hands Off Student Rights' Instagram post calls for donations through GoFundMe to raise funds for rising legal costs.[27] Students For Palestine Free University Berlin (SPFU) Students for Palestine FU Berlin (SPFU) is an independent student group that is closely affiliated with the "Student Coalition Berlin." It has played a leading role in organizing protests, lectures, and strategic events, and erected encampments on the Free University (FU) campus. SPFU declares that its duty is to carry on the Palestinian struggle, drawing inspiration beyond the region. Many of the SPFU gatherings are held at the students' community venue Café GalileA, a location on campus which serves as a center for political activism. SPFU identifies as part of a broader anti-colonial and pro-Palestine movement explicitly positioning itself in opposition to all forms of oppression and nationalism. At the core of its activism is the Palestine struggle, which SPFU considers as a framework through which to understand and combat global systems of imperialism and white supremacy, particularly within universities, which SPFU considers to be sites of "colonial knowledge" embedded within an imperial core. Among SPFU's principle demands is an end to the "genocide" in Palestine, a call for a full academic and cultural boycott of Israel, as well as recognition of Germany's colonial legacy as foundational to its current complicity in global oppression.[28] SPFU openly endorses individuals responsibible for vandalizing university property. It is likely that those involved in the demolition of university property are directly linked to SPFU in some form. SPFU is among the leading forces directing the pro-Palestine mobiliation at FU – particularly in collaboration with the Student Coalition Berlin. Together with a group of professors, DiEM25,[29] and the German branch of "European Jews for a Just Peace," SPFU co-organized a lecture on campus on February 15, 2025, titled "Conditions of Life Calculated to Destroy Legal and Forensic Perspetives on the Ongoing Gaza Genocide." The lecture featured Eyal Weizman, professor of spatial and visual cultures and director of Forensic Architecture at Goldsmiths, University of London, and Francesca Albanese, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories.[30] Citing pressure from Berlin Mayor Kai Wegner, FU almost canceled the event, but instead moved it off campus, to the Berlin district of Kreuzberg in a space called bUm – Raum für solidarisches Miteinander (bUm – Space for solidarity and cooperation). The move was no surprise, said SPFU, but rather "yet another reminder that we won't stop resisting the unlawful, blind support of APARTHEID ISRAEL. That's why we ask UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese: Why is cutting ties not just necessary but just, but the bare minimum for any truly free university […]"[31] The event was livestreamed at the Café GalileA. Francesca Albanese speaking at bUm on the topic: "Why German Universities Must Cut All Ties to Israeli Apartheid Institutions."[32] In collaboration with other groups – most notably the Franco-German research center for social sciences, Centre Marc Bloch, and the Institute of History and Cultural Studies of the Near East at FU, SPFU co-organized a lecture series titled, "The Diversity of Palestine – A Cultural Journey Through Time." The series was launched to mark one year since what SPFU understands as the "Hamas-led operation on October 7" and the subsequent "genocide" committed by Israel. While officially promoted as an effort to humanize both sides of the conflict through cultural and literary lenses, the series placed primary emphasis on "debunking whitewashed Zionist narratives"[33] – aimed at reframing the discourse on Palestine within the language of anti-colonialism, cultural resistance, and historical redress. SPFU promoted the lecture series "The Diversity of Palestine – A Cultural Journey Through Time." On April 28, 2025, SPFU held a strategic meetings at Café GalileA, under the slogan: "Raison d'état kills."[34] At the meeting, the organizers planned a campus-wide academic boycott campaign to end cooperation with Israeli universities which, the SPFPU believes, are "complicit in Apartheid and Occupation."[35] SPFU declared a Global Protest Day rally for "Free Palestine" on April 12, 2025, held under the slogan: You Can't Deport A Movement – Against Germany's Racist Deportation Policy and the Crackdown of Palestine Solidarity."[36] SPFU endorsed various incidents of campus vandalism, including one on December 2024 where "autonomous urban specialists" vandalized the FU presidium to "remind us all of its complicity in the ongoing genocide in Palestine."[37] In collaboration with fellow Students for Palestine university branches, SPFU condemned the detention of Mahmoud Khalil from Colombia University.[38] SPFU co-organizes off-campus rallies, including the "Jabalia Camp Will Not Fall" protest in the Berlin district of Kreuzberg on October 13, 20204.[39] On November 28, 2024, SPFU announced a shutdown of the Otto Suhr Institute at FU, declaring an end to normal operations in response to what SPFU describes as "academia's denial of genocide and silent complicity." Classes were cancelled as part of the disruption.[40] A banner bears the inscription: "No Class During Genocide."[41] Waffen der Kritik (WdK) Waffen der Kritik is a Marxist student organization directly affiliated with the Trotskyist Revolutionary Internationalist Organization (RIO),[42] and the online publication Klasse Gegen Klasse[43] (KGK). The WdK operates on various campuses across Germany (Berlin, Munich, Münster, and Bremen). RIO promotes internationalism, revolutionary socialism, anti-corruption while supporting labor rights, climate justice, and anti-racism. In 2023, both KGK and RIO aligned with the Revolutionary Socialist Organization (RSO) to run as independent candidates in the previously February 2025 federal elections. At the forefront was Berlin-based union activist Inés Heider, who promoted her election campaign by emphasizing solidarity with Palestine. Her campaigning focused predominately on grassroots mobilization, as a "revolutionary alternative" to the mainstream left-wing parties. WdK operates mostly within university politics, with a larger presence at FU, where the WdK secured seats in the student parliament. The group has also been elected to various leading positions within autonomous student organs. It states that it seeks to challenge the capitalist and imperialist structures intertwined within academic institutions, as well as within the broader society. Several members within its ranks have been charged on grounds of their participation in the occupation of an FU auditorium under the banner of Camp Heba in summer 2024, including WdK spokesperson Caro Vargas and leading member and writer for KGK Ari Aalto. Aalto was charged with trespassing by the FU's executive committee. The court fined Aalto 15 euros a day; Vargas was acquitted after trial. Following her acquittal, Vargas delivered a speech in front of the court house in the Berlin district of Tiergarten, claiming that Israel was committing genocide in Gaza, citing assessments by international law experts and the U.N. Special Rapoporteur for the Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese. Vargas argued that Israel's actions meet the legal criteria for genocide and noted, incorrectly, that the ICJ had acknowledged this. She emphasized that under Article 1 of the U.N. Genocide Convention, states, including its state universities and public institutions, have a responsibility to prevent and not be complicit in genocide. She concluded her statement by justifying her own actions as a moral obligation in the face of what she calls undeniable injustice. Caro Vargas delivers a speech in front of the courthouse in Berlin-Tiergarten following her acquittal on February 28, 2025.[44] Ari Aalto reported in April 2025 from the camp erected in a Humboldt University auditorium held under the slogan "Free Palestine Means No Borders." The group was protesting Germany's alleged complicity in what the group calls a genocide of the Palestinian people, and against Europe's asylum and border policies, which the group considers racist.[45] WdK posted about their participation in the HU auditorium occupation on April 16, 2025, which included acts of vandalism, including graffiti stating "Gaza" on a lecture hall's lectern. The caption accompanying the post reads: "Those who do not want to talk about genocide, should refrain from discussing property damage."[46] WdK's mother organization, RIO, has maintained close relations with fellow international groups through its membership in the Trotskyst Fraction Fourth International since 2013. RIO and WdK members regularly participate in joint political initiatives and international conferences, including a recent large-scale rally in Paris in May 2025 organized by the French organization Révolution Permanente, attended by approximately 2,000 people. [47] The event was accompanied by a pro-Palestinian march, in which WdK joined French comrades, visiting activists from the Spanish Corriente Revolucionaria de Trabajadoras y Trabajadores, and the U.S.-based socialist network Left Voice. WdK activist Esther Babl reported from the May 24, 2025, pro-Palestinian march in Paris, demanding an immediate end to the alleged genocide in Gaza. She condemned France, the U.S., and Germany for enabling Israel's actions, and called for grassroots mobilization, urging students and workers to organize independently of their governments. Esther emphasized that international solidarity is essential to building a future free from genocide, colonialism, and war. [48] Inés Heider, a leading figure in RIO and contributor to KGK, spoke at the Paris rally, addressing police violence. She cited the case of German Lorenz, a German national, whose father is Togolese, who was shot and killed by police.[49] It is claimed his only "crime" was being a migrant (he was not a migrant) and framed his death as part of a broader pattern of systematic police violence.[50]
Free Malaysia Today
08-06-2025
- Science
- Free Malaysia Today
Play is an instinct that unites species
In the animal kingdom, play has many functions from motor development and social learning to bonding and cognitive stimulation. (Envato Elements pic) PARIS : Imagine a rat hiding under a plastic box while a human searches for it, then erupting with joy when it's been found. This is not a scene from the 'Ratatouille' movie, but the protocol of a study published in 2019 in the journal Science. Neuroscientists at Humboldt University of Berlin succeeded in teaching six young rats to play hide-and-seek. To begin with, the researchers let them explore their playground, a 30-square-metre room dotted with boxes and partitions serving as hiding places. Before the experiment began, researcher Annika Reinhold had accustomed the rodents to her presence by stroking them, tickling them and chasing them with her hands. She then taught them the role of the seeker: to do this, she would lock a rat in a box, go and hide in a corner of the room, then reward it with tickles if it came to join her. When a rat was free from the start, it was up to the animal to play hide-and-seek. It then had to quickly choose a hiding place and stay there quietly until being discovered. The study showed that rats can effectively learn how to play hide-and-seek. Better still, they understand the rules, choose strategic hiding places – the most opaque, the most discreet – and know how to make themselves go unnoticed by remaining silent. And when the moment comes to be discovered, they erupt with joy, leaping with gusto and uttering the little ultrasonic vocalisations typical of pleasure. The rats also tend to prolong the game. As soon as they're discovered, they immediately scurry off to hide elsewhere, as if to restart the game. They even postpone the moment of reward stroking, obviously preferring to keep the game going a little longer. For them, play is a social activity, a voluntary activity and clearly a source of pleasure. Play is much more than just a way of letting off steam; it's a powerful tool for building relationships. (Envato Elements pic) Play as a sign of intelligence In apes, play becomes strategy. Researchers from the University of California Los Angeles, the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behaviour, Indiana University, and the University of California San Diego, identified playful behaviours that are surprisingly similar to those of human children. The young monkeys have fun provoking adults, poking them, waiting for their reaction… then doing it again, as if anticipating the effects of their actions. In a study published in 2024 in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, the scientists suggest that this taste for teasing is anything but trivial. It may be a sign of the existence, in humankind's last common ancestor, of the cognitive prerequisites necessary for playful teasing. After all, playing the clown can be a complex business. It implies understanding the other person, anticipating their reactions, and wanting to maintain a bond. In this respect, play is much more than just a way of letting off steam; it's a powerful tool for building relationships. For primatologist Frans de Waal, these playful jousts reinforce social hierarchies while strengthening group cohesion. In short, apes, like humans, play to help them live better together. The natural history of animals abounds in observations of games. Play is widespread among mammals, but less common among birds, with the exception of corvids, where it is clearly evident. In a study published in 2019 in the journal Current Biology, American and Australian researchers claim that New Caledonian crows derive pleasure from manipulating objects, which improves their mood and optimism – a cognitive experience reminiscent of our own taste for intellectual challenges. Whether it's elephants having a friendly tussle, or crows gliding across snow-covered rooftops, many animals love to play, mostly out of sheer pleasure. (Envato Elements pic) An evolutionary drive for play Rats, great apes, crows… the list of playful animals grows longer as research continues. But why do so many species play? No doubt because play has many functions, from motor development and social learning to bonding and cognitive stimulation. Neuroscience suggests that the brains of mammals and certain birds are 'programmed' to play. Experiments with dolphins and crows have shown that the most playful individuals are also the most curious, the most adaptable, and sometimes even the most innovative. This suggests that play is a gateway to creativity and problem-solving. But play can also be about having fun. Whether it's dolphins surfing the waves for no apparent purpose, elephant calves chasing each other around a tree trunk, or crows gliding across snow-covered rooftops, many animals love to play, mostly out of sheer pleasure. Owners of cats, dogs and even rodents are well aware of this. As are scientists, who have observed this behaviour in fish, frogs, lizards and birds. But what about insects? Are their cognitive capacities sufficiently developed for them to want to have fun? Apparently so, according to a study published in 2022 in the journal Animal Behaviour. It showed that bumblebees enjoy rolling wooden balls for no reason or reward – just for the fun of it. Perhaps play is not a luxury reserved for superior species, but an evolutionary necessity rooted in the biology of living things, whether it's a kitten bouncing around, a dog wagging its tail when it sees a ball, or even a magpie playing with a cork. These innocuous moments speak volumes about the emotional and cognitive richness of the animal world. And they remind humans that pleasure is a universal language.
Free Malaysia Today
08-06-2025
- Health
- Free Malaysia Today
People have a better memory for ‘aha! moments'
Research sheds light on how 'aha!' moments help you remember what you learn. (Envato Elements pic) PARIS : Sometimes it only takes a moment for everything to fall into place. A flash of inspiration, an idea that springs to mind without warning, and suddenly the answer is self-evident. These moments of sudden insight, often illustrated by a light bulb above the head, are not just a cartoon image. They cause a real stir in our brains. So reports a study by researchers at Duke University in the US, and Humboldt and Hamburg Universities in Germany, published in the journal Nature Communications. They discovered that when a solution comes to one suddenly, almost magically, it imprints itself more durably in the memory than if it had been found by dint of reasoning. To demonstrate this, the scientists designed an experiment based on visual puzzles. Participants had to interpret black-and-white images with minimal detail until a familiar object emerged. Once the solution had been identified, they noted their degree of certainty and the way in which they had found it: a sudden flash or more logical deduction. Meanwhile, their brain activity was scanned for signs of that cognitive spark. A memory boost The results are illuminating. Not only are flashes of insight better imprinted on the brain, they are also accompanied by striking physiological responses. fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) scans revealed intense activation of the hippocampus, a key region for memory and learning, as well as changes in the ventral occipito-temporal cortex, involved in visual pattern recognition. According to Roberto Cabeza, professor at Duke University and senior author of the study, these flashes of sudden insight seemed to increase people's ability to remember what they had learned. 'If you have an 'aha! moment' while learning something, it almost doubles your memory. There are few memory effects that are as powerful as this,' the researcher explains in a news release. A strong claim, based on solid data: participants who had experienced this kind of epiphany remembered their answers much better, even five days later, than those who had proceeded in a more considered manner. These breakthrough moments don't just leave an imprint. 'During these moments of insight, the brain reorganises how it sees the image,' says first author, Maxi Becker, a postdoctoral fellow at Humboldt University. Indeed, the more powerful the flash, the more the brain's neuronal networks are activated. And that's not all. These moments of clarity are accompanied by improved communication between the different areas of the brain. It's as if, for a moment, internal connections become more fluid, more efficient. These discoveries could open up promising avenues for rethinking teaching methods. Encouraging environments conducive to the emergence of new ideas could strengthen long-term memory and refine comprehension. This underscores the importance of active learning, in which students themselves construct knowledge.
Boston Globe
01-06-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
How universities die
The University of Berlin, founded a century earlier, was the Harvard of its day. Every serious American university, from Hopkins to Chicago, to Harvard and Berkeley, was made or reformed according to the 'Berlin model.' Why else is the freedom to learn, across multiple disciplines. Although supported entirely by the state, universities themselves would decide who would teach and what would be taught. If university rankings had existed in 1910, eight of the top 10 in the world probably would have been German — with only Oxford and Cambridge joining them in that elite circle. Get The Gavel A weekly SCOTUS explainer newsletter by columnist Kimberly Atkins Stohr. Enter Email Sign Up As late as 1932, the University of Berlin remained the most famous of the world's universities. By 1934, it had been destroyed from without and within. Advertisement Germany's descent from a nation of 'poets and thinkers' ('Dichter und Denker') to one of 'judges and hangmen' ('Richter und Henker') ended its leadership in higher education. Advertisement The impact of the new National Socialist regime that came to power in January 1933 became clear on May 10 of that year, when the members of the German Student Union — among them many students from the University of Berlin — piled and burned books from public libraries on the streets of Berlin's Opernplatz, the square opposite the university's main building. A crowd of 70,000, including students, professors, and members of the SA and SS — the storm troopers for the National Socialist Party — watched as thousands of volumes were torched. Students and Nazi Party members at the book burning on the Opernplatz in Berlin, May 10, 1933. German Federal Archives via Wikimedia Commons The Nazi regime quickly purged universities of non-Aryan students and faculty and political dissidents. Leading scholars left Berlin in large numbers in a historic academic migration to the United States, Britain, and elsewhere. Universities lost any capacity for self-government. The University of Berlin abandoned its own traditions of teaching and research. Scholarship serving truth for truth's sake was jettisoned for scholarship in service of the 'Volk.' The Nazi period would be followed by East German Communist orthodoxy and finally, in 1990, by absorption into the German Federal Republic — with each change accompanied by a new purge of faculty. In 2010, at the celebration for the 200th anniversary of the university — now named Humboldt University — its president welcomed guests by saying: 'Today, nobody anywhere in the world is prepared to take this university as a model.' Indeed. No longer the leading university in the world, Humboldt University today is not the best in Germany — and not even the best in Berlin. Advertisement Beijing In the first half of the 20th century, China developed a remarkable set of colleges and universities: a small system, but pound for pound one of the best and most innovative in the world. Its institutions were Chinese and foreign, public and private. The system was composed of leading state universities — Peking University in Beijing and National Central University (modeled on the University of Berlin) in Nanjing. Its private institutions often had international partners. Peking Union Medical College, with Rockefeller Foundation funding, had a global reputation. Tsinghua University in Beijing began in 1911 as a prep school for students planning to enroll at universities in America. By the 1930s, it was China's leading research university, devoted to free and open inquiry. When the Japanese occupied Beijing in 1937, Tsinghua led the effort to relocate leading Chinese universities to China's southwest. Some of Tsinghua's most famous and innovative alumni, such as physicists C.N. Yang (Yang Zhenning) and C.T. Li (Li Zhengdao), who would become Nobel laureates in 1957, completed their studies during this time. Tsinghua's president and the leader of National Southwest University , Mei Yiqi, is still remembered today for his advocacy of liberal education, institutional autonomy, and academic freedom even in the darkest moments of the war. For that he is known as Tsinghua's 'eternal president.' In short, Tsinghua survived eight years of exile and war, and it stood firm by its academic values. What it could not so easily survive was the Communist conquest of China in 1949. Tsinghua's longstanding ties with the United States were severed, not to be joined again for three decades. Chinese universities were reordered along Stalinist lines and were rapidly Sovietized. A new Tsinghua campus arose next to the original one. Its 13-story main building, a brutal Stalinist complex of three structures, now dominated the campus. In 1952 Tsinghua became a polytechnic university to train engineers according to rigid state plans. The schools of sciences and humanities, agriculture, and law were all abolished, and their faculty members were scattered to other institutions. Faculty who would not or could not work under the new regime either fled abroad or were fired at home. Advertisement While Tsinghua began to train China's Communist technocracy, the relentless politicization of universities under Mao Zedong first weakened and then nearly destroyed the university. During the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s, the university became the site of bloody clashes and eventually shut down completely. The Cultural Revolution even destroyed Tsinghua's iconic gate, replaced for a time by a huge statue of Mao. Tsinghua resumed operations, but on a skeletal basis, only in 1978. It would take until the centenary of the university, in 2011, for Tsinghua to reclaim its position as a leading comprehensive research university. A Chinese politician, Wang Guangmei, was publicly humiliated at a denunciation rally at Tsinghua University in 1967. Wikimedia Commons Boston Harvard University began life in 1636 as a public institution. Its founder was not John Harvard but the General Court of Massachusetts. It was supported in the 17th century by taxes and other 'contributions' from as far south as New Haven, at times levied in corn, and by the revenues of the Charlestown ferry that connected Cambridge to Boston, paid in wampumpeag (the currency of the Massachusetts Bay Colony). Founded 140 years before the United States, Harvard was nonetheless central to the creation of our nation. After the battles of Lexington and Concord in April 1775, the Advertisement Harvard and the United States have been closely connected ever since. During World War II, the university once again devoted itself to the war effort. Soldiers were housed on Harvard's campus. Harvard faculty developed advanced torpedoes for submarine warfare and the napalm used in the firebombing of enemy cities, and they assisted in creating the first atom bomb. They also provided intelligence. Numerous Harvard scholars joined the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the precursor to the Central Intelligence Agency. Their collective work at OSS, organized in regional departments, formed the foundation of postwar 'area studies' at Harvard and across the United States, supported by the Department of Defense. In the aftermath of the war, Harvard created a curriculum focused on 'General Education for a Free Society' to give students 'a common understanding of the society which they will possess in common,' a concept that would be adopted nationwide. The Vietnam War led, in contrast, to a Harvard sharply divided over the justness of that cause. But even so, in its wake, Harvard created the Kennedy School of Government to prepare students for careers in public service — a leading center for the study and practice of government. For nearly four centuries, the decisions and actions of Harvard have set the tone for American higher education. Today Harvard has become the leading research university in the world, with a reputation equal to, if not greater than, that of the University of Berlin in the 19th century. As it rose to national prominence in the 20th century, universities across the United States vied to be the 'Harvard of the South' (Duke, Vanderbilt, Rice), the 'Harvard of the Midwest' (Michigan, Northwestern, Chicago, Washington University), and the 'Harvard of the West' (Stanford). Advertisement Yet today Harvard is an institution that may be more admired abroad than at home, in an era of public (and politicized) critique of American higher education. At least 43 US states have cut back on their investments in higher education since 2008, according to research I gathered for my book 'Empires of Ideas.' Leading public and private universities, including Harvard, have become lightning rods in the political and culture wars of the day. Although the Trump administration's multifront assault on Harvard may be less violent (for now, at least) than the authoritarian takeovers of the University of Berlin and Tsinghua University, it is no less dangerous. It is an attempt to destroy the academic freedoms and institutional autonomy that have been hallmarks of every great modern university. Fortunately, the United States is not (yet) Berlin in 1933 or Beijing in 1950. It retains an independent judiciary and rule of law, and it has, in Harvard, a university with the history, will, and resources to resist. In its resistance, Harvard has reaffirmed its leadership in American higher education as nothing else could. Should it fail, we shall witness the destruction of the one industry, higher education, in which this country is still the global leader. We shall destroy our capacity to recruit talent from all shores. We will decline. For history shows that universities can die, and nations will decay. If American universities remain the envy of the world in 2025, the question must be: for how long?
Al Etihad
25-05-2025
- Al Etihad
10 dead in Colombia university outing bus accident
25 May 2025 09:19 BOGOTA (AFP) A field trip by students and their professors ended in tragedy Saturday when their bus crashed in western Colombia, killing at least 10 people and injuring 11, their university bus driver lost control of the vehicle as it carried 26 passengers from Tolima to Quindio, according to a preliminary people were thrown from the bus when it slammed into the barrier on the side of the Helicoil Bridge in the Quindio region, police commander Luis Fernando Atuesta said."Several passengers were ejected and fell into the abyss," the officer said, adding that investigations were underway to "establish the conditions of this unfortunate accident." Humboldt University in the Colombian city of Armenia said in a statement that it was declaring two days of mourning after "the painful loss of several of our colleagues, students, professors, and administrators" in the bus was carrying "22 students, two teachers and a communications officer," university director Diego Fernando Jaramillo Lopez said in a video. Road accidents are one of the main causes of death in Colombia, which averaged 22 traffic deaths per day in 2024, according to the national highway authority.
