Every week, Bor Beekman, Robert van Gijssel, Merlijn Kerkhof, Anna van Leeuwen or Herien Wensink take a stand in the world of film, music, theater or visual arts.
It is completely understandable that the magnifying glass of the world hovers over Russian athletes, filmmakers, writers, conductors and all other musicians. Even if they themselves have nothing to do with the war in Ukraine: they have to think something about it. Because they are Russians and they have a stage outside the national borders, where their own army units have been so brutally rolled over.
The internationally acclaimed and beloved DJ Nina Kraviz had a hard time with it. Three days after the Russian invasion in February, Kraviz understood that she needed to let her nearly two million followers on Instagram hear. She picked up a pen, a piece of paper and wrote, “Peace.” meh.
The techno world understandably didn’t stop breathing. And as the war progressed, and the atrocities grew more horrific, Kraviz asked for a slightly clearer stance. That didn’t come. To the American magazine time an article devoted to Kraviz and the discomfort in the global techno community. The club culture, noted time, struggled with Kraviz’s silence, which could also be interpreted as Putin sympathy. Why did she not distance herself from the aggression of her country, as an exponent of a techno culture that was born out of idealism and solidarity, and in which origin and therefore nationality, color or orientation should not play any role. Ukrainian DJs also stirred, and asked Kraviz whether they could sometimes be shot by Kraviz’s compatriots.
Kraviz took to her Instagram stage again last week. And she wrote a long and muddled speech that was about as powerful as a statement as her earlier “Peace.” Kraviz talked about lies and hatred, which had inevitably led to war. Whose lies and hate? The neighbors’? And was the war perhaps justified in Kraviz’s view, because of those lies and hatred?
Under her message and on forums such as Reddit, a lengthy polemic arose, which made the Kraviz file even more explosive. Kraviz itself eventually became like the war in Ukraine: you had to think something about it and if you had nothing to say about it, that was also an opinion.
The Russian DJ was also able to draw up a damage statement after her last post. The Dutch distributor of the music on her label dumped the Russian one. And festivals canceled Kraviz’s performances. In short, the DJ was cancelled, and that also led to commotion.
The ‘whataboutisms’ flew back and forth on social media. Or maybe we could also cancel all artists who had not spoken out in recent years about the war crimes that had been committed in Syria. Etcetera.
It’s the dark edge that makes things so painful, so difficult and unpleasant. Should we boycott all Russian artists, regardless of their opinion, but simply because they are Russian? You see US Senator McCarthy nod in approval, from his own place in hell. It doesn’t feel right. But pretending nothing is wrong and dancing happily to a Nina Kraviz set either.
We know one thing for sure. It’s a lot easier for anyone who doesn’t currently live in Russia to hang a Ukrainian flag on their balcony than for a Russian, self-proclaimed apolitical DJ. And in addition to all the fuss, we can also dwell on that.