On April 24, the French consulate in New York will present a Night of Philosophy: 62 lectures in 12 hours. Kicking off the marathon in the ballroom on the second floor is a prestigious public figure, philosopher Monique Canto-Sperbe, writes Philip Weiss on Mondoweiss.
The President of a Parisian university, Canto-Sperber for many years hosted a weekly radio program on France Culture called “Questions d’éthique” (and has a great sense of style).
Her subject on April 24th is 'Freedom of Speech'. It seems clear from the summary that follows that she will be talking about the Charlie Hebdo caricatures. And I bet she will endorse Charlie Hebdo’s right to publish cartoons of the prophet but also urge that publications show restraint.
Hold on a second, though. In 2011, Canto-Sperber, a former Director of the École normale supérieure from 2005 to 2012, she has been notoriously cancelled two meetings at the Ecole Normale Supérieure, of which she was then director, because they were sponsored by a Collectif Palestine, which favors the boycott, divestment sanctions campaign (BDS) against Israel. One of those gatherings was to feature Stéphane Hessel, the late and glorious writer who inspired the occupy movement (and who died two years after the cancellation).
Academics were outraged by the cancellation and organized this excellent petition citing the school’s long history of activism.
Read more of this article on Mondoweiss.