Lorenz S. Beckhardt's text about PEN Berlin is grossly incorrect. Neither did a “group of BDS-affiliated authors” almost “hijack” the writers’ association, nor did “the majority of the initiators” of a Middle East resolution quit as a result, only about half.
Beckhardt's distorted representation – here wewho we are for Israel, there diethe alleged enemies of Israel – only reinforces the clamor for scandal surrounding a human rights organization that has set itself the goal of enabling those difficult debates that are intended to be stifled by such defamations (they are all just enemies of Israel!).
Here are the facts: A group of PEN Berlin members consisting of Israelis, Jews and people with Jewish family backgrounds (Sivan Ben-Yishai, Tomer Dotan-Dreyfus, Deborah Feldman, Tomer Gardi, Daniel Kehlmann, Susan Neiman, Omri Boehm and me itself), together with Arab and other members, has submitted a motion for a resolution on the killing of journalists and authors in the current Middle East conflict.
The resolution, which was instead passed by a single majority in PEN Berlin, essentially says nothing else. Only the contextualization was different. The suffering and death in Gaza, in which the deaths of journalists and writers make up only a fraction, is, it is said, a result of the Hamas terrorist attack on October 7th.
One can argue that way. One could also consider this note to be for unnecessary purposes, without to justify or relativize the terrible massacre in any way: Because the Russian army must now and in the future abide by international rules to protect reporters and the civilian population, regardless of why it entered a war. And unfortunately there are well-founded doubts about this – about the protection of the press and civilians and about the proportionality of the entire conduct of the war.
The reference to the trigger for the war could also be superfluous if one considers that the negotiators cannot stick with it when it is hopefully very soon about a sustainable peace for both peoples in Israel/Palestine, i.e. about the future instead a pointless tally of when this started and who exactly is to blame for it: 1929, 1948, 1967 (…) 2023, or when? But that's just my opinion, the general meeting decided differently.
Since I was co-spokesperson for PEN Berlin until November 1st, I also strongly object to the repeated insinuation of BDS proximity. We, Deniz Yücel and I, have not spoken out against cultural boycotts over and over again in a “prayer-wheel-like” manner, but rather out of full conviction in what we at PEN Berlin mean by freedom of expression and freedom of art: namely, that they must apply at all times and to everyone.
That's why the Russian world star Etgar Keret gave the keynote speech at our last congress in Hamburg. But for the same reason – the belief that artists everywhere must speak freely and unhindered, no matter what worldview they adhere to – we did not disinvite the renowned writer and BDS supporter AL Kennedy last year, as some people publicly demanded.
Since October 7th, a shocking number of Jewish artists and intellectuals in Germany have been disinvited or massively publicly denigrated for such reasons (proximity to BDS, criticism of Israel's conduct of the war): Masha Gessen, Candice Breitz, Nancy Fraser, Laurie Anderson. And a large part of the Anglo-American art and cultural scene does not view the Middle East conflict from the perspective of the German “reason of state” – in this respect these artists are often very close to Israelis critical of the government. Some of them believe they have a differentiated view, others can be accused of simplification and one-sided partisanship. But does that mean none of them should perform in Germany anymore?
If one is fundamentally able to boycott culture, this must mean, in the spirit of Voltaire, not to boycott those artists who themselves support boycotts. Lorenz S. Beckhardt doesn't seem to have understood this, as he significantly concealed the Jewish part of his opponents in the current PEN Berlin dispute. In Beckhardt's logic, critics of Israel should be boycotted and defamed, even if they are Jews. But he laments “the phalanx of cultural boycotts against Israel.” This is measuring with double standards. Anyone who thinks like that no longer wants to discuss things, but only wants to invite or prevent them as they see fit.
The still young PEN Berlin, on the other hand, stands up for true artistic freedom (Keret as well as Kennedy!), against BDS, against “Strike Germany”, against all blanket calls for a cultural boycott – despite all the headwind that this is currently bringing.
The »Jüdische Allgemeine« would do well not only to publish articles like Beckhardt's, but also to do justice to the diversity of Jewish life and Jewish opinions in Germany. This diversity is of course part of the political plurality that PEN Berlin always wanted to reflect – and only those who cannot cope with this idea have now left the association because it is said to have been “hijacked” by this or the opposite side. But by leaving they, like Beckhardt with his article, involuntarily admit what they themselves would like to have: a community of meaning.
