The German culture festival Ruhrtriennale is not taking place this year due to the corona virus, and yet it is not short of publicity.
The Central Council of Jews in Germany demanded the dismissal of the festival director. Felix Klein, the Federal Government's Anti-Semitism Commissioner almost ordered that the invitation of a renowned African historian and philosopher, who was to open the festival, be cancelled. In response, Israeli and Jewish scientists countered with a petition calling for the dismissal of the German government official, Klein.
So what is going on here?
Why can an award-winning intellectual such as the Ruhrtriennale speaker be silenced in a country where freedom of expression is enshrined in the Constitution?
The enabling mechanism behind it is called "accusation of anti-Semitism".
It is with this instrument, that censorship is very effectively exercised. What exactly anti-Semitism is, and thus what is considered "anti-Semitic", is something experts disagree on. That has not disturbed one country after another to succumb to pressure and adopt the so-called IHRA “working definition” which in fact is no definition at all. The point to understand is that the IHRA construct was created by interest groups, by a lobby dominated team.
Intensive lobbying by Israel and some Jewish organisations ensured that, with the help of this “working definition”, certain criticism of Israeli politics could be classified as anti-Semitic.
The next step for Israel and its helpers in German politics and media was to use the anti-Semitism contention to take action against the so-called "BDS initiative". Many are uncomfortable with the notion of boycotts in general, some are only uncomfortable with the boycott of Israel, but like it or not, we should bear in mind that BDS is a non-violent Palestinian movement that aims to put pressure on Israel by isolating it economically and culturally.
Last year, under pressure of lobby activists, Bundestag, the German parliament passed a notion stating that BDS was antisemitic. An open letter to the German government, signed by hundreds of Jewish and Israeli scientists, clearly expressing their opinion – whether BDS supporters or not – that BDS was not anti-Semitic, did not dissuade that group of German parliamentarians. They evidently know better... for which they were applauded by Israel. The Bundestag resolution further requires that no organisation, that directly or indirectly benefits from public funding, give a stage to speakers promoting BDS.
Back to the Ruhrtriennale festival: the subject of the lecture, that triggered this excitement, was neither BDS, nor Israel or Palestine. Alleging that he was a BDS sympathiser sufficed. That made him unacceptable to his accusers. So, the question arises whether the Bundestag resolution should mean that any person outing himself or outed as a BDS supporter should be subject to an across-the-board boycott in Germany? Should lectures that are not attempts to proselytize for BDS be prohibited? How far does Germany want to go with this? Will the next step be the burning of the man’s books?
If so, what about Daniel Barenboim, who in 2015, said that BDS was right - adding that he found a general ban on contact with Israelis to be counterproductive. In a different context, Barenboim said in 2018, that he was ashamed of being an Israeli.
Does this German censorship squad have the guts to demand the dismissal of Barenboim as director of the State Opera? Or do they only show courage when it comes to an African professor or a festival director in North Rhine-Westphalia?
Let's take it even further: Should Germany’s current media star, corona expert and virologist Professor Christian Drosten, turn out to be a BDS supporter, will he still be permitted to weekly brief us on TV, or would he also be banned from the public?
An anti-Semitism accusation is one of the most potent weapons of defamation these days - and criticism of Israel's politics quickly makes one suspect in Germany of being anti-Semitic.
In fact, this strategy is working. Because very few Germans express themselves publicly in any way that could be perceived by anyone as critical of Israel. One should not underestimate this self-censorship. Because the price is high.
The German escape into silence when it comes to Israel is dishonest. And in the long term, this abuse of the concept of anti-Semitism will not serve Israel or the Jewish people well.
Mbembe:
ReplyDeleteIt is not necessary to quibble about what constitutes an antisemite and what doesn't. Mbembe can easily be proven from his writings to have a deep disdain of Jews and Jewish Israelis.
It is a central theme in his publications.
He is also a strong sympathizer and collaborator of the BDS activists, acknowledged to be antisemites - not merely by "a group of parlametarians" as you put it - but by the whole German parliament with exception of the communists.
Those Israeli and Jewish "scientists" you mention - all 37 of them - are the usual suspects. Democratically they are hardly relevant and I am not sure what special competence a virologist or a piano player, say, would have in judging the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Mbembe should never have been invited to speak.