#art #culture #censorship #racism #neocolonialism #documenta15 #kassel #germany

"A dialogue about global justice is underway in Germany. Museums are returning illegitimately obtained artefacts. However incipient and halting, this dialogue will be throttled if authorities enforce a tribunalised “self-cleansing process” and “cleaning”-actions in the cultural sector. In May 2022, Russian president Putin spoke about a “self-cleansing of society” in the war with Ukraine and the West. As Western countries rightly criticized such language, it is an irony that the efforts to quash “postcolonialism” by demonizing it as antisemitic increasingly resemble the object that it is fantasized to be: as Manichean and illiberal. Universes are being closed rather than opened. Instead of self-cleansing we need self-enlightenment. That is more complex, as one has to learn something."

• A. Dirk Moses is Anne and Bernard Spitzer Professor of Political Science at the City College of New York https://newfascismsyllabus.com/opinions/documenta/the-documenta-indonesia-and-the-problem-of-closed-universes/