Annie Ernaux supports boycott call “Strike Germany”

2024-01-17 08:01:32

The French Nobel Prize winner for literature Annie Ernaux supports a call for a boycott of state cultural events in Germany. Suhrkamp Verlag confirmed this on Tuesday and announced that the 83-year-old did not want to comment further. Several media outlets had previously reported.

The call called “Strike Germany” is aimed at international cultural workers. The background is the German stance in the Middle East conflict. Among other things, there are calls for a boycott of events organized by German cultural institutions.

The seriousness of the matter was doubted “because the tone was so blatant and the accusations were so exaggerated that one might also assume that it was a strangely twisted parody or satire,” wrote the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung”, which is published by Suhrkamp Verlag had also confirmed Ernaux’s support.

According to a report by the “Rheinische Post”, the German State Ministry for Culture and Media reacted cautiously to “Strike Germany”. “The Minister of State for Culture has repeatedly emphasized that she does not believe in calls for boycotts in culture. She also assesses the situation in German culture completely differently,” the newspaper quoted the ministry as saying.

Ernaux is accused of being close to the BDS movement. BDS stands for “Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions.” This is directed, among other things, once morest goods from Israel and once morest cooperation with Israel in culture and science. In 2018, Ernaux, together with other cultural and artistic professionals, called for a boycott of the “France-Israel” cultural season and in 2019 for a boycott of the Eurovision Song Contest in Tel Aviv.

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