Nobel winner joins push to boycott German cultural institutions over Gaza
Poet and activist Mohammed El-Kurd from Palestine, actress Indya Moore, and author Annie Ernaux have all called for artists to go on strike against German institutions.
More than 500 international artists, authors, filmmakers, and cultural workers have declared their opposition to Germany’s position on Israel’s Gaza War and their desire for artists to cease working with German state-funded organizations.
The campaign which was started this week claims that Germany has embraced “McCarthyist policies that suppress freedom of expression, specifically expressions of solidarity with Palestine.” It is supported by Palestinian poet and activist Mohammed El-Kurd as well as French author and Nobel Prize winner Annie Ernaux.
American actress Indya Moore, British Turner Prize winner Tai Shani, and Lebanese alternative rock musician Hamed Sinno of the well-known band Mashrou’ Leila are among the other artists engaged.
The signatories claim that the acts of the German government during the last 97 days of the war have had a chilling impact on society as a whole, particularly in the arts.
“At a time when Palestinians are being slaughtered by a Germany-backed army at an unprecedented rate and at a time of rising totalitarianism in German institutions. It is more important now than ever that good people reject anti-Palestinian racism assertively and publicly and boycott the organisations that spread or give cover to that racism.” El-Kurd said.
During genocide, there can be no business as usual, and there cannot be cooperation with those who support, condone, or participate in the ongoing Israeli genocide against the Palestinian people in the besieged Gaza Strip. We have a moral obligation to do so.
The Strike Germany demonstration is in response to Israel’s ongoing cruel assault on Gaza, which has killed over 23,000 Palestinians since October 7, about 10,000 of them are children. It seeks to draw attention to the purported suppression of pro-Palestinian activism in Germany, which has been extensively documented in the wake of the most recent escalation in the Israel-Palestine conflict.
Authorities in Berlin have outlawed pro-Palestine symbols, marches and the president of Germany has called on Arabs to break their relations with Hamas. A decision that has been widely denounced as discriminatory.
The group founded by artists urges that creative freedom be safeguarded by German authorities.
Organisers stated that cultural workers who do not align with Germany’s unwavering support of Israel are being weeded out by cultural organizations searching social media, petitions, open letters and public remarks for displays of sympathy with Palestine.
