Ce que nous faisons, et ce que l'on nous fait. Les luttes politiques universitaires

Abstract

In France, successive Ministers of the Interior systematically come to the defense of the police. By contrast, their colleagues in Higher Education and Research don't hesitate to join in attacks on academics. This is how Frédérique Vidal ended up in 2021 echoing the polemics launched the year before by the President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron, and then by the Minister of National Education, Jean-Michel Blanquer. However, the campaign against “Islamo-leftism” was preceded by other offensives against higher education and research: university autonomy was thus challenged … in the name of autonomy. As the reforms have progressed, higher education and research have been subjected to an authoritarian neoliberal regime, under the leadership of managers rather than colleagues, in a logic of competition that is supposed to guarantee excellence at the service of the economy. Just like a company, isn't the CNRS run by a CEO? Today, the takeover of ESR is inseparably ideological and economic. Thus, the increase in university fees for non-Europeans has used xenophobia to promote a neoliberal conception of studies. The threats to the academic world cannot be understood without articulating these distinct but intertwined logics. How can we tell the story of the attacks we are suffering, without erasing the struggles we are waging? For there is a great risk, in taking power as the object, of underestimating the role of counterpower that academics can still play in a country that is heir to a tradition of the “intellectual” as a figure of commitment. On the one hand, the multiple offensives of successive governments, whether directed at university policy or academics, have met with considerable resistance. Far from being reduced to inaction, the academic world is mobilizing strongly. But it's not just a question of reaction. On the other hand, the governmental campaigns themselves must be understood as forms of reaction against the politicization of academics: far from being passive victims, they play an active role. This is precisely the reason why ministers try to bring them into line: in France, the university is not isolated from society, as a campus can be. Critical knowledge circulates with social movements. In other words, campaigns targeting the academic world are proof that it is not without political importance. It's a form of recognition of the role it plays and can play. Anti-university politics today can be understood as a game of action and dreaction.