Several thousand people mobilized on Sunday in Paris at the call of the world of culture for a “silent march” and “apolitical” for peace in the Middle East. Among them, the actress Isabelle Adjani, the writer Marek Halter and the former minister of culture Jack Lang, the procession setting off from the Institute of the Arab World (IMA), which he directs.
“People are there to appease. They don’t necessarily think the same thing. I fully support this demonstration of unity,” the former minister told the press. Among the demonstrators, few young people, people wearing white armbands or waving a blue flag with a white dove and the word “peace”, noted an Agence France-Presse (AFP) journalist on site.
With a large white banner and without a slogan, the procession set off around 2:40 p.m. very symbolically from the square in front of the IMA towards the Museum of Art and History of Judaism.
“We opted for absolute neutrality in response to the noise of weapons, to the vociferation of extremism,” actress Lubna Azabal (Incendies, Le Bleu du caftan), president of the collective behind this initiative, declared to Libération. supported by 600 personalities from the world of culture. This demonstration is being held a week after the march against anti-Semitism, followed by 100,000 people in Paris.
“Injunctions to choose sides”
On Saturday, pro-Palestinian mobilizations to demand an immediate ceasefire in Gaza brought together thousands of demonstrators across France. Criticized for their silence in the face of the Israel-Hamas war, cultural figures chose to demonstrate “in silence”, “another way of expressing ourselves because we can’t do it”, summarized on France 5 actress Julie Gayet, member of the collective.
“We have wanted to be able to express our sadness and our astonishment since October 7. The idea is to have another voice, not to choose a side to hate,” she stressed on RTL. Lubna Azabal, who also denounces “the injunctions to choose sides”, admitted having had difficulty attracting young faces in music and cinema, who “are afraid of losing” their subscribers on social networks and “ be labeled, including within the framework of such a unifying initiative”.
“I don’t want to let hatred win, and that’s precisely the meaning” of this march, actress and director Agnès Jaoui, who lost two members of her family in the attacks, told Le Parisien. on October 7 in Israel and who has no news of three relatives taken hostage.
