Palestine first - or: The artistic caravan moves on
It's happening again: While bombs are falling and people are dying in Gaza, the German cultural scene is outraged - but not about rockets hitting Israeli civilians or the tragic fate of both sides. No, the outrage stems from Germany's stance on Israeli politics. It's shocking how the German government still dares to defend Israel's right to exist, as if it were 2025 and not long since the enlightened Twitter age of moral self-realization.
By Serdar Somuncu
By Serdar Somuncu
And so begins the caravan of self-righteous professionals, a fixture at every festival of outrage: the singer with her petition, the theater director with his "solidarity performance" in ruin aesthetics, the filmmaker with his "open letter" (always open, never nuanced). Names like Hengameh Yaghoobifarah, Seyda Kurt, Elfriede Jelinek (in remote mode), Carolin Emcke, Georg Diez--the usual figureheads of the outrage industry--are, of course, part of the show, along with their entourage of explanatory videos, Instagram stories, and the constant threat of staging another reading if necessary.
If a new understanding of what supposedly constitutes our Western values--namely, tolerance, human rights, and the Twitter algorithm--is being demanded, why not just get down to brass tacks? Let's just award the next World Cup to Palestine! It worked so well in Qatar, after all: Human rights? Check. Freedom of speech? Absolutely--as long as everyone shares the same opinion. And the German outrage threshold demonstrated remarkable flexibility there: hardly anyone wanted to avoid being outraged, and yet everyone was there, right on time for kickoff, sporting a One Love tampon and a Fairtrade water bottle.
How about this time, with the opening ceremony in the rebuilt Khan Younis Stadium, powered by Siemens, featuring an opening speech by Roger Waters and a halftime show by the BDS Dance Crew?
Of course, this time too, it's not really about Gaza. It's about us. About our stance, our standing, our likes. And the people in Gaza? They'll surely be thrilled when B- to Z-list celebrities from Berlin-Kreuzberg have themselves photographed in dramatic black and white and caption it: "We hear you." No, they don't. But they do hear themselves--loudly, often, and incessantly.
Speaking of which: Meanwhile, a sailboat is cruising the Mediterranean--a project to save morality in one. On board: the subsidiary of a certain chemical company from Ludwigshafen, which used to be involved in the production of a certain gas. But don't worry, that chapter has been filed under "past" in the "mission statement"--and the deck is now waxed with vegan wax.
Does anyone give any thought to how alienating such signals are to the actual victims? Certainly not. But that's not what this kind of instant engagement is about.
And now, all together: "Free Palestine!" And tomorrow, please don't forget to buy a solidarity olive bread from the organic bakery. With chickpeas from fair concern.
May 19, 2025
©Serdar Somuncu
The new book - "Lies - Cultural History of a Human Weakness"
*Serdar Somuncu is an actor and director
CLICK HERE FOR THE NEW BOOK
If a new understanding of what supposedly constitutes our Western values--namely, tolerance, human rights, and the Twitter algorithm--is being demanded, why not just get down to brass tacks? Let's just award the next World Cup to Palestine! It worked so well in Qatar, after all: Human rights? Check. Freedom of speech? Absolutely--as long as everyone shares the same opinion. And the German outrage threshold demonstrated remarkable flexibility there: hardly anyone wanted to avoid being outraged, and yet everyone was there, right on time for kickoff, sporting a One Love tampon and a Fairtrade water bottle.
How about this time, with the opening ceremony in the rebuilt Khan Younis Stadium, powered by Siemens, featuring an opening speech by Roger Waters and a halftime show by the BDS Dance Crew?
Of course, this time too, it's not really about Gaza. It's about us. About our stance, our standing, our likes. And the people in Gaza? They'll surely be thrilled when B- to Z-list celebrities from Berlin-Kreuzberg have themselves photographed in dramatic black and white and caption it: "We hear you." No, they don't. But they do hear themselves--loudly, often, and incessantly.
Speaking of which: Meanwhile, a sailboat is cruising the Mediterranean--a project to save morality in one. On board: the subsidiary of a certain chemical company from Ludwigshafen, which used to be involved in the production of a certain gas. But don't worry, that chapter has been filed under "past" in the "mission statement"--and the deck is now waxed with vegan wax.
Does anyone give any thought to how alienating such signals are to the actual victims? Certainly not. But that's not what this kind of instant engagement is about.
And now, all together: "Free Palestine!" And tomorrow, please don't forget to buy a solidarity olive bread from the organic bakery. With chickpeas from fair concern.
May 19, 2025
©Serdar Somuncu
The new book - "Lies - Cultural History of a Human Weakness"
*Serdar Somuncu is an actor and director
CLICK HERE FOR THE NEW BOOK
Write a comment