Hermann Bellinghausen: The Margo Affair and Responsible Opinion

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the discussion about the misfortune of Gaza (2023-2025) witnessed a resounding episode on social media and in the media, illustrating the extent to which the debate veers off on tangents when it comes to defending, justifying, and rationally explaining Israel's genocidal actions in the Palestinian territories, now obliterated by the brutal invasion. The beloved and admired Jewish writer and university dean Margo Glantz faced a student protest while giving a lecture on April 8 at Ciudad Universitaria.

The anecdote has already been told. And it sparked a reaction from a group of academics and intellectuals defending Glantz as a victim of an attack on freedom of expression and the emeritus status of the writer, an openly Zionist. They claimed to be defending her right to speak her mind (in other words, academic freedom), without considering the number of times when, by speaking her mind , Glantz offended humanist decency and spread lies on social media, where she has had a considerable impact, both with her own opinions and in retweets (or whatever sharing via X is called).

Many of these signatories had previously protested the split between El Colegio de México and the Jewish University of Jerusalem in response to overwhelming student demands. The terms of that protest are similar to their defense of Glantz, without delving into the reasons for the student protests, which they considered odious. They forget, among other things, that at least some of them, in their younger years, carried out similar protests at the same institution. From 1968 to the 1970s, as a unionist and leftist party in the 1980s, similar and even more forceful actions were part of their political development.

In an article about Augusto Monterroso for Casa del Tiempo (UAM, November-December 2021), Michelle Monterroso wrote: At a time when it seems essential for writers to display an engaging personality on social media, I dare say that Monterroso would hold the top spot on the Twitter podium, alongside Margo Glantz . In other words, the nonagenarian Glantz's presence in public debate was already far from minor five years ago. What did she expect now, in an issue as heated as the invasion of Gaza? He who takes it, endures it, is an elementary rule of controversy, even now when sensibilities are crystal clear in the ruthless and superficial arena of social media.

There was much discussion about the Margo affair. Among the comments (more sensible and elaborate on the critical side than on the writer's behalf), I was struck by a comment by actor and writer Gabino Rodríguez, from the collective Lagartijas Tiradas al Sol. He recalls that Glantz was giving a lecture on travel and migration; 40 minutes in, while speaking about massacres, wars, and extermination camps in Vietnam and Colombia, she was interrupted by protesters condemning the genocide Israel is committing against the population of Gaza. The writer was exposed because she has been spreading lies about Palestinians for many months from her X account and justifying the violence they have been subjected to .

He immediately deplores the letter from the intellectuals who accuse the students of being fundamentalists and intolerant . Rodríguez confesses: “It saddened me. It angered me. It made me blush .” He explains: “Many of the undersigned have been close to my life; I owe several of them an immense debt as a reader, as an artist, and as a person.” However, “they put the spotlight in the wrong place… it’s one thing to interrupt the lecture of a person who advocates genocide, and another thing to do with the genocide itself.” He adds: “They write that the issue of the protest is unavoidable, but what they do with their text is precisely that: ignore it .” He considers it erroneous to condemn a protest so categorically, avoiding taking a clear position on what gave rise to it. The failure to enter into that conversation renders the defense they seek to make meaningless .

The letter constructs a victim where there is none , Rodríguez opines. (Isn't that what Zionist propaganda has been doing?) “Deep down, I think the undersigned don't care about Margo Glantz. Because if they cared, they would have advised her to stop sharing fake news. If they cared, they would have engaged in dialogue with her in her genocide-apologizing stray; if they cared, they would be with her beyond the announcement. But that wasn't the case, and it won't be the case. What seems to be their interest is elsewhere, in maintaining a status quo, in allowing certain people to say whatever they want without facing consequences. In ensuring that no one ever dares to interrupt them.”

In Mexico, sympathy for Palestine, with a class-based tone if you will, is widespread despite reactionary television networks and academia.

In the United States, the undersigned would fit in with Trump's and universities' intolerant rhetoric against antisemites who advocate for peace in Palestine. But we are here, not there.