On February 8, 2024, several pro-Palestinian activists disrupted a joint panel discussion held at Humboldt University because of Israeli Supreme Court Judge Daphne Barak-Erez’s participation in the panel.
The panel, “Constitutional Challenges – Judging in a Constitutional Democracy,” was the opening event of a two-day conference on legal constitutionalism, hosted by the Centre for Fundamental Rights and the University of Münster, in cooperation with the Integrative Research Institute Law & Society at Humboldt University Berlin. Participants in the panel included Barak-Erez, along with European Court of Human Rights Judge Ivana Jelić, Former Justice of the German Federal Constitutional Court Prof. Andreas L. Paulus, Ecuador Constitutional Court Justice Daniela Salazar Marín. It was intended to be a conversation between panelists and audience members.
At the outset of the event, around 15-20 pro-Palestinian activists asked to read a statement. Event organizers agreed. At the end of the statement, panelists tried to respond, but several individuals interrupted, shouting them down. Moderators attempted to continue the event, but the shouting continued.
Eventually, event organizers decided to end the discussion. The conversation resumed later that evening in another, smaller, location, with around 100 participants.
Scholars at Risk is concerned about efforts to shut down a campus discussion by members of the higher education community. While students have the right to freedom of expression and freedom of assembly, including the right to protest content and events with which they disagree, they must exercise those rights responsibly and with respect for the free expression rights and academic freedom of other members of the higher education community and society at large. Attempts to shut down campus events and discourse undermine academic freedom, institutional autonomy, and democratic society generally.
Sources:
https://www.tagesspiegel.de/berlin/veranstaltung-mit-israelischer-richterin-unterbrochen-pro-palastinensische-aktivisten-storen-podiumsdiskussion-an-der-humboldt-uni-in-berlin-11185258.html
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20240211-humboldt-university-students-confront-judge-erez-on-gaza-genocide/
https://www.hu-berlin.de/en/press-portal/nachrichten-en/february-2024/nr-2429
https://www.hertie-school.org/en/news/detail/content/constitutional-challenges-judging-under-pressure
https://www.20years.hertie-school.org/judging-under-pressure