Antizionism and bureaucratic shenanigans in Italy

Italy’s academic institutions once again find themselves starring in a tragicomic drama. This time, it’s the University of Turin (UNITO) hosting the plot, or at least trying to not host it. The controversy swirls around the scheduled presence of Mariam Abu Daqqa, a self-described “leader” of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a group widely recognized—including by the EU—as a terrorist organization. To recap, Abu Daqqa has previously earned expulsion from France for being a potential “public order risk.” Yet in Italy, she enjoys an odd celebrity status among certain student circles.

Act I: Denial, Deflection, and a WhatsApp Whisper

Initially, UNITO administration played dumb. Despite the campus plastered with promotional posters announcing Abu Daqqa’s talk, no one seemed to know anything. A prominent Turin Zionist’s repeated attempts to clarify the situation were met with bureaucratic buck-passing:

• Emails went unanswered.
• Campus officials claimed ignorance.
• An the Dean’s secretary spun a web of confusion.

Finally, after prolonged insistence, the university admitted the event had indeed been authorized—but then, miraculously, decided to revoke the approval once Abu Daqqa’s controversial affiliations were “discovered.” This revelation was followed by a curt WhatsApp confirmation that the Aula Magna was no longer available. Sardonically, one wonders whether Turin’s administrative decisions are now exclusively communicated via emojis.

Act II: Persistence Meets Loopholed Resistance

Not to be deterred, the event organizers—a group tied to Progetto Palestina (itself associated with Askatasuna, Turin’s favorite anarchist breeding ground)—pivoted. Social media posts urged attendees to convene at the original venue anyway. In the end, the event was moved to another lecture hall, Room 1 in the Luigi Einaudi Campus, where a video of Abu Daqqa was played, complete with simultaneous Arabic translation. A technicality? Perhaps. But it apparently violated an agreement reached between UNITO and Jewish organizations in the aftermath of similar debacles, promising to uphold the university’s “democratic character.”

This agreement, dripping with lofty commitments to peace, mutual understanding, and the rejection of discriminatory content, now reads like satire against the backdrop of this farce.

Act III: The Hangover

While UNITO’s legal department presumably scrambles to assess its next move, this incident highlights a deeper issue: Italy’s alarming institutional fragility. Universities, the supposed bastions of intellectual rigor, increasingly resemble rudderless vessels—adrift in a sea of ideological posturing and bureaucratic incompetence.

Curtain Call

If this is what passes for institutional oversight, it’s no wonder Italy is often likened to a battello ubriaco—a drunken boat with its chain of command missing in action. But let’s give credit where it’s due: at least they didn’t cancel the event via TikTok dance.