1y ago

‘Free speech is a facade’: how Gaza war has deepened divisions in German arts world

www.theguardian.com

Less than 10 years ago, Germany, and especially Berlin, was held up as a beacon of openness and inclusivity in a western world rocked by Brexit and Donald Trump. Angela Merkel’s decision to take in thousands of refugees displaced by the war in Syria boosted her country’s reputation in progressive circles, with many international artists and academics choosing to make the German capital their new home.

Yet the conflict in the Middle East is showing Germany in a new light, highlighting fissures in society and the arts world that until now had been easier to ignore.

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1y ago

‘Free speech is a facade’: how Gaza war has deepened divisions in German arts world

www.theguardian.com /world/2024/mar/25/free-speech-is-a-facade-how-gaza-war-has-deepened-divisions-in-german-arts-world

79 comments

As someone living in Germany, the level of state repression I've seen towards artists and activists who speak against Israel's war on Gaza is terrifying. I never thought I'd see such a level of repression in Germany. Artists' funds are getting slashed left and right. The government is pushing venues to cancel appointments with artists that criticize Israel (including jewish artists/activists). Cultural venues have been closed down by the government for hosting some of these activists (Oyoun Berlin was closed down after renting a space for an evening to the local charter of Jewish Voice for Peace). Activists have been arrested/fined for chants like "From the river to the sea we demand equality" or "Jews against genocide". There have been countless non-violent activists raided by armed police in the early hours of the morning for their pro Palestine activism. Berlin police has enacted checkpoints in immigrant neighbourhoods. Journalists getting fired for asking the wrong questions. The state of Berlin is now trying to pass a law to allow universities to exmatriculate students on "behavioural" grounds (aka political stances). Politicians actively singling out activists on social media and redirecting insane amounts of hate their way. This place is getting very, very scary.
- Activists have been arrested/fined for chants like “From the river to the sea we demand equality” or “Jews against genocide”.
  I don't doubt that they don't know any nuance in anything that contains “From the river to the sea" but who was arrested for “Jews against genocide” and on what grounds?
  Do you have a source for that?
  
  For repression in Berlin in general:
  https://jewishcurrents.org/an-anti-palestinian-crackdown-across-europe
  Open letter of Jewish people condemning the supression by the German government, German and English Version:
  https://taz.de/Offener-Brief-juedischer-Intellektueller/!5965154/
  https://www.nplusonemag.com/online-only/online-only/freedom-for-the-one-who-thinks-differently/
  Recent arrest of jewish activists for peace, German and English version:
  https://www.juedische-stimme.de/stellungnahme-einer-j%C3%BCdischen-stimme-aktivistin-nach-ihrer-verhaftung-bei-einer-demo
  https://www.theleftberlin.com/police-brutality-at-palestine-solidarity-sit-in/
- You really should recheck your sources. F.e. this case here
  The state of Berlin is now trying to pass a law to allow universities to exmatriculate students on “behavioural” grounds (aka political stances).
  is not "behavioural grounds", but because some students beat up a jewish student for political reasons and the university wasn't allowed to expell them due to legal reasons.
  
  If they beat up someone, they should be charged with the crime they did. Why do new crimes need to be invented?
  
  Yeah, it will definitely not get used against activists. Beating people up is illegal. The persons involved in such things should be handled by the authorities. With that being said, trading your rights for """security""" has always proven to be a stupid idea. Giving universities this power, especially given their track record of shooting down any kind of political dissent, will only end up in power hungry individuals abusing it.
  
  The victim in that assault case has been shoving and grabbing students at the university before. That is of course much less severe than how he was beaten up, but in that discussion about throwing out students for violent behaviour that was conveniently ignored.
  The whole discussion only started when he was attacked and it was about denying education to pro Palestinian and in particular Arab and other migrant sudents. It was headed among others by the racist major of Berlin (major in this case is also the head of the state government) who just a year ago won an election on the grounds of demanding police to release the names of suspect teenagers. This demand was made so the public could decide based on the names, if those suspects were "real Germans" instead of maybe "foreigners with a German passport". This is far-right nationalist ideology and primitive racism.
  So it is clear what goals are aimed at with the demand to throw students out of universities if they are suspect of a crime. If it would be put in place it would be used to remove "foreigners" from universities, not to remove "good kids who have made a mistake".
  
  some students beat up a jewish student for political reasons and the university wasn't allowed to expell them due to legal reasons
  You mean they can't expel students for bigotry-related violence? I call bullshit.
- I would say that's because that society has found some degree of ideological security, an indulgence paper even, in supporting some dogmatic formalized single face of the Jewish people. Since that imagined document sort of shields them from necessity to look honestly at crimes much worse, I'd say quite a lot of things may happen to people who try to dismantle it, especially if they are Jewish. It's much more inconvenient to be accused of supporting fascism from that direction, after all.
  
  Why would they support the Jewish? Aren't they supposed to be a bunch of people who murdered and hated others in the name of their god during the ancient times and beyond? /S
- We are already at war. Not with our bodies, but the victims are our money and minds for now.
Crime against jewish people is on the rise in Germany, as are neonazis. Hate crimes against jews were also rising before the Gaza war, by the way.
If Germany didn't try to protect jewish people it would mean they learnt nothing from the past.
The chancellor has said the safety and security of Israel is Germany's raison d'êtat.
Before I get downvoted to hell by Gaza sympathisers, let me add that Israel is currently committing massive war crimes against the Palestinian people and those responsible must be tried and punished in an international court of law.
All of these things can be true at the same time:
a) Israel is committing war crimes and crimes against humanity
b) Hamas has committed crimes against humanity
c) Israel has a right to existence and to security
d) Palestine has a right to existence and to security
I don't get how some people feel they have to pick only two out of these four.
- They're not protecting 'Jewish people'. They're protecting Israel. There's a massive difference.
  
  They're protecting Israel by persecuting hate crimes committed inside of Germany?
  
  They do both and there's a lot of overlap between those. Israel was founded and untortunately continues to be needed as a save haven for a group that is persecuted in a lot of places in the world.
  
  there is not a massive difference. jewish and israeli identity are intertwined. Many jewish people sought refuge in israel because they had nowhere else to go. European jews after WW2 or arab jews in the late 40s/50s who were expelled out of muslim countries, for example. And again, defending israel's right to exist is not the same as defending the israeli government or the war crimes the idf commits.
- Israel has no right to exist though. The existence of Israel is dependent on settler colonialism, apartheid, and genocide.
  Before you say “if Israel has no right to exist then neither does the United States, Canada, Australia, etc.” then I have to agree.
- c) Israel has a right to existence and to security
  This has no right to be true. First, a state does not have an intrinsic right to exist. A state is a social tool, crafted to help humans survive and thrive, in coexistence as how it came to be. If tools turn out to be primarily used for war and suffering, they are no longer tools for the betterment of humanity. You can argue Israel stealing more land is a betterment for their people, but the animosity caused during the process is eventually reflecting on the people benefiting from the betterment, both as outside perception and as shifting the thinking of the Israeli people about what is better for humanity, and it is not a good way to go forward.
  The State of Israel is a malfunctioning machine that is spewing out more poison than it is manufacturing goodness. Malfunctioning machines need to be repaired, and if they can't be, disabled and discarded/recycled, not kept active and doing harm saying they have a right to exist.
  
  If we reject the UN and international law, as you appear to be doing by denying Israel's right to exist as defined in the two state solution, we basically go back to the right of the strongest. Putin would agree with you.
  
  Ok, now do Palestine
- They don't, but you are making it seem as if Israel's right to exist and security is not endangered much less than that of Gazans, and as if Hamas' crimes are in any way comparable.
  That is, your are lying without actually saying a direct lie, which is a valid combination, really not unusual for Germans I might add.
  
  You are putting words into my mouth in order to be able to disagree. Also, I'm not German. You might want try to keep the racist stereotyping in check.
Free speech should not include inciting violence or hatred. Germany is well aware of the negative impacts that unchecked incitement leads too. It's interesting to see how they're walking this line in the face of the competing political forces in the country but it's good to see people standing up against hate in general.
- This you?
  
  Yup. Free speech should be free. Ai monitoring known terrorists is how one remains a free society. Looks like the US needs to invest in the technology and deploy it on campuses ATM.
Alright. Time to make AI art without boundaries then. /S
- Perhaps you shouldn't speak for >80 million people and rather refer to the government. But even then you're full of shit. The weapons industry? Yeah, they're a sick bunch of assholes. Loving genocides? Fuck off. Germany is one of the few countries owning up to their past mistakes.
  
  Being complicit Genocide isn't owning up to any mistake.
  A German saying Germany is owning up to their Genocide by committing another one really goes to show what time it is in Germany right now.

79 comments