The Times - UK (2021-12-22)

42 Wednesday December 22 2021 | the times

Wo r l d

The suspension of a university lectur-

er has led to a new battle in the

French cultural war over academic

freedom, Islam and cancel culture.

Conservative and far-right politi-

cians have deplored the four-month

punishment of Klaus Kinzler, a Ger-

man professor, by Sciences-Po Gre-

noble, one of a chain of prestigious

Institutes of Political Studies (IEPs),

after he accused its management of

surrendering to “Islamo-leftist”

students and academics.

In reply, Laurent Wauquiez, presi-

dent of the Rhone Alps region and

former leader of the conservative Re-

publicans party, halted a €100,000

subsidy, saying “a minority has con-

fiscated the debate in Grenoble uni-

versity, imposing sometimes through

terror, radical points of view contrary

to the values of our republic”.

The row has attracted attention

since March, when a left-wing stu-

dents’ union put up banners and

Professor suspended in ‘wokeism’ battle

mounted a social media campaign

accusing Kinzler of “fascism”.

The students were upset by Kinz-

ler’s opposition to a conference on

“Racism, antisemitism and Islamo-

phobia” on the grounds that the

theme was politically loaded and not

academic. The case led to condemna-

tion from President Macron’s govern-

ment. Kinzler said the Sciences-Po

management was failing to defend

him against a “reign of terror” led by

a minority of students and young fac-

ulty members obsessed with “decolo-

nialism, identity politics and anti-

capitalism”.

The university acted against Kinz-

ler last week after he criticised a fail-

ure to discipline more than one of 17

student leaders identified as respon-

sible for hounding him. One student

was given a “suspended” exclusion.

Kinzler was held by the university to

have defamed it by saying it was

“encouraging students to abuse and

defame teachers who have the audac-

ity not to share their opinions”.

Sabine Saurugger, the university’s

director, defended herself yesterday.

“I am stunned to discover the image

of the IEP in the media. It is not the

establishment that I am head of,” she

said. “It is an establishment that re-

spects secularism, freedom of expres-

sion and academic freedom.” She also

criticised the students and pointed

out that the tribunal they had faced

was independent of her college.

François Jolivet, an MP for

Macron’s République en Marche

party, called for the university to be

placed under state supervision

because it “has fallen prey to a sectar-

ianism” and said a parliamentary in-

quiry should look into “the situation

in French universities”.

Unhappiness over intolerant left-

wing creeds at universities is playing

into April’s presidential election. Éric

Zemmour and Marine Le Pen, the

far-right candidates, have vowed to

fight what they depict as academic

“wokeism”. Macron has warned that

identity politics risked “fracturing”

society. Academics have claimed

“wokeism” is an invention of the right.

France

Charles Bremner

Swiss drive for

solar power

on motorways

Switzerland

David Crossland Berlin

Stretches of Swiss motorways are to

be turned into “solar power high-

ways” to supply energy for tens of

thousands of homes.

A company called Energypier

wants to install 47,000 solar panels on

a metal roof over 1.6km of the A9 mo-

torway through the Rhône Valley to

produce electricity for 12,000 house-

holds a year. It has a similar scheme

for 2.5km of motorway near Zurich

for 20,000 households.

Laurent Jospin, head of Energypi-

er, said the solar highways could be

expanded to help Switzerland meet

its goal of zero emissions by 2050 as

nuclear reactors are phased out.

Switzerland lags behind most Euro-

pean countries in solar power, which

accounts for only 4.7 per cent of its

energy consumption. The govern-

ment wants to boost solar power gen-

eration to 34 terawatt hours a year by

2050 from 2.6TWh in 2020.

Jospin secured the approval of

Switzerland’s federal roads office in

2018, the website swissinfo reported,

and building could start next autumn

with the first project due for comple-

tion by the end of 2023.

PRESIDENT BIDEN/TWITTER

A

German

shepherd

aged three

months has

been

welcomed to the

White House as “the

newest Biden” (Joshua

Thurston writes).

Offering President

Biden respite from his

troubles on Capitol

Hill, the puppy,

Commander, arrived

yesterday as a gift from

his brother and sister-

in-law.

Commander will be

the only dog roaming

the grounds after

Major, the family’s

other German

shepherd, was put in

the doghouse. The

rescue dog has been

sent to live “in a

quieter environment”

with friends of the

Bidens after a series of

biting incidents, the

White House

announced.

Biden shared a

photo and video of the

new arrival. One clip

shows the president

playing fetch with

Commander and

walking the dog on a

lead into the White

House. “Hey, pal! How

you doing?” Biden said

when greeting the pup,

who wagged his tail

with excitement.

The name is thought

to be a reference to

Biden’s status as

commander-in-chief of

the US armed forces.

But Commander’s

good behaviour will

soon be put to the test,

as the first lady’s office

announced that Jill

Biden will be getting a

cat next month.

The Bidens have had

two other German

shepherds, Champ and

Major, with them at

the White House.

Champ died in June

aged 13. A spokesman

said of Major: “After

consulting with dog

trainers, animal

behaviourists and

veterinarians, the first

family has decided to

follow the experts’ ...

recommendation that

it would be safest for

Major to live in a

quieter environment.”

Young pup

joins top

dog in the

West Wing

Commander

was introduced

by President

Biden and the

first lady

Police in Rome are closer to unravel-
ling a secret world linking drugs,
mafia clans, neo-fascism and football
after the arrest of a suspected hitman
accused of murdering Italy’s most
notorious football fan.
Raul Esteban Calderon, 52, an
Argentine national, allegedly dressed
as a jogger and shot Fabrizio Piscitelli,
53, in the back of the head with a small
calibre pistol in a Rome park in 2019.
Police want Calderon to reveal who
paid him amid suspicions that the
city’s rival underworld bosses united
to murder Piscitelli for his arrogance.
Nicknamed “Diabolik” after an

The football fan Fabrizio Piscitelli

was believed to have angered the

Rome mafia before he was killed

Hooligan murder exposes Italian underworld

Italy
Tom Kington Rome

Rome gypsy mafia, and a gangster

nicknamed “Little Poodle”, who was

kneecapping Spada foot soldiers. He

also clashed with a clan allied with

Senese that ran drug-dealing in the

Tor Bella Monaca district, leading in-

vestigators to believe he may have in-

curred the wrath of Senese.

Piscitelli’s overconfidence was evi-

dent in August 2019 when he sat in

the Rome park without bodyguards,

allowing his killer to shoot him.

After months of speculation, a jail-

ed Rome gangster, Enrico Bennato,

was heard this spring by a hidden

police microphone claiming Piscitelli

was killed by Calderon, a small-time

crook. Police tapped Calderon’s

former wife and heard her accuse him

of stealing her pistol to shoot Piscitel-

li, a claim she repeated when ques-

tioned by police.

Investigators then followed Calde-

ron, filmed him and handed the video

to an expert who studied his gait and

claimed he was the same man who

can be glimpsed approaching Pis-

citelli on CCTV at the murder scene.

Now in custody, he is denying in-

volvement although police hope he

may crack. Investigators suspect the

involvement of any of the gangs that

vie for Rome’s drug, extortion and

loansharking market, from the Sen-

ese clan and the Bennatos to the Spa-

da and Casamonica gypsy mafias as

well as the Gambacurta clan and the

gangs running Tor Bella Monaca.

Italian cartoon criminal, Pis-

citelli was a founder of the

“Irriducibili” ultra fans at

Lazio football club, who

are often accused of

neo-Nazi sympathies.

A terrace hero, Pis-

citelli was found guilty

in 2015 of working with

the Neapolitan Cam-

orra mafia on a failed

take-over of the club. He

also moved into drugs as a

protégé of Michele “The

crazy one” Senese, a Neapoli-

tan crime boss based in

Rome, and set up HQ

near Rome’s Milvian

bridge using Albanian

thugs and Lazio

ultras as muscle.

“In four years he

has risen in a way

you wouldn’t be-

lieve,” one crook

said in a wiretapped

conversation in 2012.

“The Neapolitans and

the Albanians are

united — they are shitty

people.”

Police believe Piscitelli went

too far in 2017, when he tried to broker

a peace deal between the Spadas, a

Piscitelli

gered the

al, Pis-

the

at

o

a

The

apoli-

tan crim

Rome,

near

brid

thu

ul

h

y

li

sa

con

“Th

tthe

united —

people.”

Police believ

too far in 2017 when