Conference by Enzo Traverso. Centre Cultural La Nau

Escola Europea de Pensament Lluís Vives
 
Gaza and History: Zionism, antisemitism and colonialism 
 
Conference by Enzo Traverso
Historian, incumbent in the Chair of Humanities in the University of Cornell, Ithaca, New York
 
Complementary activity in the HALT! exhibition Images that think. Artur Heras
 
Enzo Traverso
Born in Italy in 1957. He studied in the University of Genova and got a doctorate in la Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales at Paris. For many years he taught politic sciences in France and from 2013 he is Susan and Barton Winokur Professor in the Humanities de Cornell University (Ithaca, NY). He’s been inviting professor in many countries from Europe and Latin America. All his books have been translated to Spanish, among which there is La violencia nazi. Una genealogía europea (2002); A sangre y fuego. De la guerra civil europea (2010); El final de la modernidad judía. Historia de un giro conservador (2013); Melancolía de la izquierda. Después de las utopías (2019); Pasado singular: el “yo” en la escritura de la historia (2022); Revolución: una historia intelectual (2022); La cuestión judía: historia de un debate marxista (2023).  

Summary:
There is a lexis from the Gaza War that questions history: pogrom, terrorism, antisemitism, Zionism, genocide, colonialism... The concepts used to interpret this conflict deserve a critical reflection about their belonging and, in many cases, their abuse. Words aren’t neutral. Invoking the memory of the Holocaust to justify a genocide in the present is an intellectual operation that surprises and questions the historian. The attack from the 7 October was ferocious, but the Israeli War in the following months has taken genocide characteristics. The story appears to go back to the 19th century, when Occident made colonial genocides in the name of their “civilizing mission”. Which were the consequences of this war for the historic consequence and collective memory? Are we confronting an Orwellian “Newspeak” that deforms the sense of words?
 
Free entry, limited capacity