{"id":12100,"date":"2024-04-22T16:29:21","date_gmt":"2024-04-22T14:29:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/?p=12100"},"modified":"2024-04-22T17:54:56","modified_gmt":"2024-04-22T15:54:56","slug":"germany-silences-pro-palestinian-artists-in-the-name-of-antisemitism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/12100\/germany-silences-pro-palestinian-artists-in-the-name-of-antisemitism\/","title":{"rendered":"Germany silences pro-Palestinian artists in the name of antisemitism"},"content":{"rendered":"

Several Israel-critical artists have been cancelled in Germany since the 7th of October, due to a strong pro-Israel consensus, related to historic Holocaust guilt. Now, in reaction to the restriction of free speech, the art scene in Berlin is changing.\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n

When Hamas attacked Israel on the 7th of October, Germany was quick to publicly declare their unwavering support for Israel. Ever since, the public discourse has been overwhelmingly pro-Israel in the country, leading to criticism and silencing of pro-Palestinian narratives.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n

\u201cPeople are very cautious about what they say in public on the topic, because it has happened too often that people were socially ostracised when they were seen as too critical of Israel\u201d, says Sandra Kostner<\/a>, historian and sociologist with a specialisation in immigration.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n

\"\"

Sandra Kostner is a historian and sociologist at the University of Education Schw\u00e4bisch Gm\u00fcnd. Photo: Private.<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

Cancellations of pro-Palestinian voices have been particularly evident in the art and entertainment industry. In October, the German literature association LitProm postponed a literature award ceremony<\/a> for the Palestinian author Adania Shibli. They stated that the war in Israel was the reason. Later on, the Berlin senate cut the funding for the Berlin cultural centre \u2018Oyoun\u2019<\/a>, after they held an event with the Jewish anti-Zionist organisation \u2018Jewish voice for just peace in the Middle East\u2019 (J\u00fcdische stimme). In December, the Berlin senate even adopted an \u2018anti-discrimination clause\u2019<\/a> that would force state-funded artists to reject antisemitism as per a pro-Israel definition. After receiving a lot of backlash nonetheless, they later scrapped it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n

Yet, these are just a few cases out of many. According to the crowdfunded archive \u2018Archive of silence\u2019<\/a>, more than 130 people have been subjected to silencing by authorities and cultural and academic institutions in Germany.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

\u201cTo me it appears as if there are two war scenes. There is a physical one, which brings indescribable tragedy to the affected victims in Palestine and Israel, and then there is an intellectual war scene\u201d, says \u2018Sarah\u2019, a German-Palestinian artist based in Berlin, who prefers not to use her real name in the article due to fear of economic and social repercussions in her field of work. In the last couple of months, she has witnessed many cultural venues take on a one sided pro-Israel stance.<\/span><\/p>\n[aesop_gallery id=”12121″ revealfx=”off” overlay_revealfx=”off”]\n

The root of Germany\u2019s resolute support of Israel stems from a collective sense of special responsibility after the Holocaust, when the Nazi regime systematically killed six million Jews, explains Richard Traunm\u00fcller<\/a>, professor of political science at the University of Mannheim. He points out that due to the country\u2019s history, the German model of democracy additionally allows free speech to be restricted to a certain extent. The concept is called \u2018wehrhafte Demokratie\u2019, with the idea being that democratic values sometimes need to be defended by restricting certain rights and freedoms. \u201cAfter the experience of the Nazi time, the model is that Germany actively wants to combat extremism\u201d, Richard Traunm\u00fcller says.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n[aesop_image img=”https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/378\/2024\/04\/wdbpNxbI.jpeg” panorama=”off” align=”center” lightbox=”on” captionsrc=”custom” caption=”Richard Traunm\u00fcller is a professor of political science and empirical democracy research at the University of Mannheim. Photo: Anna Logue. ” captionposition=”left” revealfx=”off” overlay_revealfx=”off”]\n

But ironically enough, several of those who have been silenced since the Hamas attack are actually Jewish. \u201cA highly disproportionate number of Jewish people have been labelled as antisemitic, because they are critical of what the Israeli government is doing with regards to the Palestinian cause\u201d, Kostner says.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n

However, neither Jewish people nor supporters of Palestine seem to gain anything from the stifled German public debate. \u201cAntisemitism and anti-Palestinian racism should never be put in competition\u201d, Sarah stresses, pointing out that solidarity and empathy are universal values that should apply to all people. \u201cYou can\u2019t make one group feel safe at the cost of another group. This will never work\u201d.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n

Kostner also fears that this strategy will end up being counterproductive. \u201cYou do not quail antisemitism in that way. It might actually over time give rise to a new form of antisemitism\u201d, she analyses.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n[aesop_gallery id=”12112″ revealfx=”off” overlay_revealfx=”off”]\n\n

But in the wake of Germany\u2019s suppression of Israel-critical voices, a countermovement has been emerging in the art world. This has been particularly evident in Berlin. \u201cI think you see a lot of alternative cultural events happening at the moment in small caf\u00e9s, bars or outdoors\u201d, Sarah points out. \u201cIt\u2019s like there is an alternative field emerging, because many of the events in the normal cultural places that we used to go to are not happening anymore\u201d. Moving forward, she thinks that the institutions and organisers of cultural events need to sensitise and educate themselves. \u201cIf people are still not ready to position themselves \u2013 then at least give space to different narratives\u201d, she says.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Several Israel-critical artists have been cancelled in Germany since the 7th of October, due to a strong pro-Israel consensus, related to historic Holocaust guilt. Now, in reaction to the restriction of free speech, the art scene in Berlin is changing.\u00a0 When Hamas attacked Israel on the 7th of October, Germany was quick to publicly declare […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3276,"featured_media":12101,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12100","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cbj","category-acls","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nGermany silences pro-Palestinian artists in the name of antisemitism - International Journalism<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Germany silences pro-Palestinian artists in the name of antisemitism - International Journalism\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Several Israel-critical artists have been cancelled in Germany since the 7th of October, due to a strong pro-Israel consensus, related to historic Holocaust guilt. 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