University of Münster Cancels Room for a Lecture on the Struggle for Liberation in the West Bank Organized by Palästina Antikolonial

On October 11, 2023, the University of Münster withdrew permission from the group Palästina Antikolonial to use its room for the lecture “Travelogue Palestine – Why a Left-wing Perspective Is Important”. This lecture about the leftist struggle for liberation in the West Bank was planned for October 17 as part of the “critical orientation week“ at the university which was organized by several groups including SDS, Waffen der Kritik and Palästina Antikolonial with the aim to offer left-wing perspectives through a series of events on campus.

On October 10, the General Students’ Committee (AstA) and the Student Parliament (StuPa) of the University of Münster posted a statement on Instagram with the title “No room for anti-Semites” in which they denounced Palästina Antikolonial for supporting the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement and allegedly justifying the Hamas attack on October 7 as an act of Palestinian resistance. In reference to the StuPa resolution “against all anti-Semitism” from August 21, 2023, they demanded the university cancel the room booking for Palästina Antikolonial and, furthermore, not provide space on campus to any group that supported BDS.

On the following day, the university confirmed its cancellation of the room for the group in the newspaper Westfälische Nachrichten, claiming that the university was postponing any events organized by student groups on the topic of Israel-Palestine, including pro-Israeli groups. University spokesperson Norbert Robers added: “We cannot guarantee the safety of the participants in this tense situation, nor can we guarantee that there will be no anti-Semitic or racist remarks.” According to an article by Waffen der Kritik, one of the university groups that organized the “critical orientation week”, the organizers were only officially informed by the university about the cancellation four days after the public announcement in Westfälische Nachrichten, and just three days before the planned event.

The other co-organizing groups of the “critical orientation week” canceled their bookings on campus in solidarity with Palästina Antikolonial and moved all the events last minute to an alternative space at Linkes Zentrum, where the lecture could also take place as planned on October 17. Palästina Antikolonial published a statement on Instagram the day after the lecture criticizing the university’s decision to cancel the booking as a limitation on freedom of speech. They also called out the AstA as they “neither sought contact with the group nor addressed the content of the lecture. Instead, they not only banned Palästina Antikolonial, a group of BIPOCs and the children of refugees from speaking, but also called them ‘anti-Semitic and glorifying terrorism’.” They further wrote: “The psychological violence that the AstA of the University of Münster has inflicted on Palestinian students in Münster through its behavior has had devastating consequences.”