Ghostpoet has described the new German culture strike as “misdirected”, while also declaring his support for Gaza.
In recent weeks figures from the arts and entertainment industry have voiced their support for the Strike Germany movement in response to the government’s “use of McCarthyist policies that suppress freedom of expression” related to showing solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.
An open letter from the movement claims that Palestine solidarity protests have been “mislabeled as anti-Semitic and banned” while activist spaces are “raided by police, and violent arrests are frequent”.
It adds that Strike Germany is a “call for international cultural workers to strike from German cultural institutions”.
However, British artist Ghostpoet – real name Obaro Ejimiwe – has expressed scepticism over the strike’s “wave of blanket cancellations”.
In an Instagram post shared last week, the Mercury Prize-nominated singer-songwriter wrote that while he shares the anger over “Germany’s unforgivable support of Israel’s genocidal campaign against Palestinians”, it will not “achieve the desired results”.
He added that the strike is “misdirected”, because many of the affected institutions are “spaces for dissent against these genocidal policies” but are the ones “paying the price for the government’s position”.
Other shortcomings he claimed to be hindering the strike included that there was “no mutual aid plan” that would help provide financial, political, legal and logistical support to strikers, while also noting that arts and culture workers in Germany were “not a cohesive category”.
He said most were freelancers whose income depended on exhibitions, gigs and events.
“Ultimately, instead of bearing the legal, financial, and political costs of this action collectively, we are being asked to do so individually, for an undisclosed amount of time, with no contingency plan,” he continued.
“This utter lack of care and sense of collective responsibility goes against the very principle of a strike. Ultimately, this becomes a strike against workers, not the German government; a performance of individual moral purity designed for social media with no concrete results.”
The artist concluded that he “cannot in good conscience keep supporting the strike”, adding: “I welcome exchange and conversation with those who have chosen to join, and hope we can develop more effective strategies. I continue to support the Palestinian struggle, as I always have. Palestine will be free!”
This month, artists like Jyoty and Manuka Honey withdrew from Berlin’s upcoming CTM Festival in solidarity with the Strike Germany movement.
Earlier this month Berlin city council said recipients of government arts funding would have to renounce “any form of anti-Semitism”.
It would bring the city’s definition of anti-Semitism in line with the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, which includes “drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis” and “denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor”.
Back in October, Drake and Jennifer Lopez were among artists to sign an open letter calling for a ceasefire in the Israel-Palestine conflict.
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