Zeit zu reden: Absent, paralyzed, silenced – the cultural sector and Gaza

For a year and a half, the German cultural sector seems to have been operating under a glass dome. While cultural figures around the world are organizing benefit concerts for Gaza or setting up a Gaza Biennale with Palestinian artists, their colleagues in Germany are remarkably cautious. The fear of being denounced as “anti-Israel” or “anti-Semitic” is too great. Until today, theater performances, concerts, and exhibitions are being canceled—anyone planning something critical avoids attracting attention. What are the social and political consequences of this silence? Isn’t it the duty of artists to stand up against oppression and for human rights and to show solidarity with persecuted colleagues – also in order to defend their own artistic freedom? And how can theater directors, filmmakers, visual artists, and musicians reclaim a language that addresses the suffering and rights of all people?