Goals of the boycott: Protect artistic freedom, focus on the fight against anti-Semitism, and combat structural racism.
The call for a boycott against German cultural institutions recently emerged under the name “Strike Germany”. The trigger for this is that Germany is behaving too Israel-friendly and is thereby discriminating against the Palestinian people. But what exactly does the campaign demand and how should it work?
Call to name the suppression of opinion and solidarity
Created a few days ago the “Strike Germany” website, which calls on artists worldwide to take a stand against German cultural institutions and thus against the country’s suppression of opinion and solidarity. It explicitly states: “It is a call to reject the McCarthy policy of German cultural institutions, which suppresses the right to freedom of expression, especially solidarity with Palestine. STRIKE GERMANY denies German cultural institutions work and presence. As long as the requirements below are not met, participation in festivals, panels and exhibitions will be withdrawn.”
It is not known exactly who is behind the campaign – but it is suspected that it is a group from the BDS movement – the boycott movement against Israel. However, all signatories can be seen. There are also some well-known personalities in a list that now includes over 1,000 names. Among them is Nobel Prize winner for literature Annie Ernaux, who recently had to defend herself against accusations of anti-Semitism because of her stance towards Israel. The list also includes the Parisian musician Yasmine Hamdan and the actress Indya Moore.
What does “Strike Germany” specifically demand?
The campaign basically states three goals: protecting artistic freedom, focusing on the fight against anti-Semitism and combating structural racism. They have defined detailed requirements for each of these values.
1. Protect artistic freedom
Criticism:
The Culture Strike website notes that “cultural workers would be targeted for their stance on Palestine/Israel” and “cultural institutions would monitor social media, petitions, open letters and public statements for expressions of solidarity with Palestine” to exclude those who do not clearly commit to Germany and Israel.
Financial support:
“STRIKE GERMANY demands that cultural institutions refuse to control the politics of their artists and instead insist on their autonomy from state politics, invite critical discourse and allow dissent. They must protect the fundamental right of artistic freedom, including the rights to freedom of expression, freedom of association and participation in cultural life.”
2. Focus on the fight against anti-Semitism
Criticism:
“Strike Germany” criticizes the fact that the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of anti-Semitism would be used to automatically equate criticism of the State of Israel with anti-Semitism and thus censor any critical expression.
Financial support:
“STRIKE GERMANY demands that cultural institutions adopt the more precise guidelines of the Jerusalem Declaration of Antisemitism (JDA), which was written in response to the IHRA. Cultural institutions must rely on the JDA to counter the repressive climate sanctioned by the ambiguity of the IHRA and to focus the fight against anti-Semitism.”
3. Combat structural racism
Criticism:
On this point, the website is clearly directed against the anti-BDS laws passed in 2019, which ruled out a boycott of Israel for Germany. They explain that these rights would now be used to and automatically result in the oppression of marginalized groups. This has now contributed to an increase in anti-Palestinian repression, anti-Arab racism and Islamophobia.
Financial support:
“STRIKE GERMANY demands that German cultural institutions commit to overturning the anti-BDS resolution and combating all forms of racism and bigotry equally.”
Effects of the culture strike so far
Some public figures and politicians like him have already spoken out Historian Uffa Jensen, Wolfgang Benz, the former head of the Center for Anti-Semitism Research and Claudia Roth from the Greens about “Strike Germany”, the strike has had few actual consequences so far. The Berlin techno scene, or rather Berghain, is currently the most affected. The club works closely with cultural workers from the USA, England, Latin America and France, some of whom have now received rejections. The reason for the rejection of the internationally known location is that it disinvited DJ Arabian Panther because of his “pro-Palestinian stance”.
The British artist Ghostpoet has published a detailed statement on why he considers the strike to be “misguided”, even though he is clearly committed to Gaza. In this he explains Instagramthat he also does not support “Germany’s unforgivable support of Israel’s genocidal campaign against the Palestinians,” but that “Strike Germany” will not achieve the desired results.
Ghostpoet’s Instagram post:
In his opinion, the wrong people would end up paying for the German government’s crimes, which cannot be the aim of a strike. The strikers will also not be supported financially, politically, legally and logistically, but will have to bear all costs themselves, which would contradict the purpose of a strike. He concludes: “Ultimately this will be a strike against the workers, not against the German government; a performance of individual moral purity designed for social media that produces no concrete results.”