#politics #anti-antisemitism #germany
"Today the German pro-Zionist („antideutsch“) club ://about blank denied entry to at least three Jewish activists. @about.blank.berlin had announced a panel discussion on antisemitism featuring no Jewish speakers (it seems like they found one Jewish speaker at the last minute). They were worried that Jews in the audience might disrupt their discussion, so they wouldn’t let them in.
#politics #germany #anti-antisemitism #repression #censorship
On 25 March 2024, our account with the Berliner Sparkasse was frozen with immediate effect. In a letter, the Sparkasse informed us that it had taken this step as a precautionary measure and that we should submit numerous internal documents by 5 April to update our customer data. As a public corporation, the bank is bound by public law and may therefore not arbitrarily freeze accounts without providing an explanation, which it did not. It is also highly unusual that the required documents include a list of our members with their full names and addresses.
Why should this information be important to the Berliner Sparkasse? It sounds more like a question that might be asked by an intelligence service or the police, who have been politically persecuting us as a Jewish organisation for some time. Our previous account with the Bank for Social Economy was closed in 2019 because of our support for BDS. This happened after agitation by Israeli journalist Benjamin Weinthal and pressure from the Central Council of Jews in Germany.
This pressure and political persecution are increasing as Israel and its apartheid policies in the state of Israel and the West Bank, and now its genocidal policies in the Gaza Strip, lose support around the world. Germany is one of Israel"s last loyal allies, and the German state is co-operating with Israel"s apartheid and genocide, even though over 80% of the population does not support the German government"s policy.
The Palestine Congress will take place in Berlin in mid-April and will feature a wide range of international speakers, including the former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis. The closer the congress gets, the more intense the persecution becomes; for weeks, there has been shrill defamation from the tabloid media and local politicians, such as describing it as a "hate summit" for which "thousands of anti-Semites" will be coming to Berlin. Because the journalists can"t write anything factual about it, they try to delegitimise the congress through guilt by association.
However, because the organisers are independent of politics, the usual methods such as cancellation or denial of spaces do not work. The congress is financed by ticket sales and donations; we, the Jewish Voice, have made our account available for this purpose – which is why it has now been blocked. We will not be intimidated by this, even if we lose our account: Our position on genocide is derived from our Jewish values and is not dependent on financial resources. Our membership grows with every day and every act of repression. Anyone who is a member of our organisation knows it themselves. It is none of any bank"s business. We are taking legal action against the arbitrary, politically motivated freezing of our account, which is unacceptable in a democracy.
- https://juedische-stimme.de/berliner-sparkasse-sperrt-konto-der-j%C3%BCdischen-stimme
#politics #culture #censorship #antisemitism #anti-antisemitism #germany #white-supremacy-thinking
The debate on anti-Semitism, which has been exacerbated by the war in Gaza, is placing an increasing burden on the local cultural scene. Important institutions see international contacts jeopardised. "I am receiving justified comments from cultural institutions that have contacted me because they are wondering how they should continue to work internationally," Katrin Budde, Chair of the Bundestag's Culture Committee, told dpa in Berlin. "As cultural policy-makers, we will have to address the problems so that international cultural relations do not end up being cancelled for the Goethe-Institut, the Humboldt Forum, the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation or the Federal Cultural Foundation. These are classic institutions that cannot really be suspected of anti-Semitism, but which say: cooperation must be feasible." The SPD politician wants to allow cultural institutions to do this "without placing them under general suspicion if they also collaborate internationally with countries where we would say: they are behaving in an anti-Semitic manner". It is also about conveying and achieving an understanding of Jewish culture through cooperation. "Culture always builds bridges where everything else has broken down," said Budde.
"It is dangerous when the discourse in culture becomes ever narrower," said the dpa, ironically enough, Minister of State for Culture Claudia Roth (Alliance 90/The Greens), who is currently trying to increase the political influence on the Documenta art exhibition: "The Basic Law safeguards the freedom of art. There is a clear limit when human dignity is violated. That includes anti-Semitism, that includes hostility towards Muslims, that includes racism and any form of misanthropy." The outbreak of anti-Semitism that can be observed is alarming. Roth said of the cultural scene: "There is uncertainty: what is still possible? There are concerns that the discourse could be narrowed. (...) We have to be careful what that means for us as an international, attractive cultural centre. If, in the meantime, there are also cancellations from international artists who say that the discourse in Germany is becoming increasingly narrow," said Roth.
The General Director of the Humboldt Forum in Berlin, Hartmut Dorgerloh, emphasised that public discourse is extremely important, "including that on different definitions of anti-Semitism, which reflect the diversity of Jewish voices". Dorgerloh is also concerned about the international reputation of the location: "We have a high international reputation, not least due to the reappraisal of our colonial history, which is perceived as exemplary in large parts of the world," he said: "At the moment, we are observing with a certain amount of astonishment and irritation how these spaces are narrowing here in Germany."
- deepl-translation
https://www.jungewelt.de/artikel/466457.kulturpolitik-es-wird-enger.html
#politics #germany #history #anti-antisemitism #hypocrisy #israel #palestine
#politics #germany #history #anti-antisemitism #hypocrisy #israel #palestine
German support for Israel appears to be unshakable no matter what the Israelis do to Palestinians. The irony of course is that much of this support for Israel is justified as necessary to make up for the German Holocaust against European Jews. It seems Palestinians are paying for Europe’s crimes. To discuss this phenomenon Rania Khalek is joined by Denijal Jegic, German author and post doctoral researcher at the Lebanese American University with a PhD in American studies who wrote about this topic for TRT in a piece titled, “Palestinians must suffer so Germany can feel better about its past.”
Rania and Denijal also discuss Israel’s pinkwashing — the use of LGBTQ+ rights to distract from occupation and war crimes — and how western countries have adopted these practices as a form of cultural imperialism against the Middle East.
