<nettime> the silence on the rising fascism

[podinski via nettime-l <nettime-l@lists.nettime.org>]

Liebe nettimers,

The XLterrestrials have been wanting to write the list for some time, to
restart a thread that oddly never got any traction, Brian's post about
World War 3...

And was going to write "The Silence on World War 3"... or " The Silence
on The Latest Genocide" ...

But now things are getting a bit more specific... And it's time to get
LOUDER !

Here in Berlin, we just attended a press conference this morning for the
Oyoun cultural space in Neukoelln, which on Nov. 20th had its 4-year
funding program abruptly terminated by Cultural Senator Joe Chialo (
CDU) during a livestream of the cultural committee.

This was due to one of those ridiculous unfounded accusations of
Anti-semitism. And the absurd irony is that these accusations +
termination came as a response to hosting an outspoken jewish group
called Judische Stimmung. There's been alot written about this, and
other cancellations the last couple weeks so i won't take time to go
into more detail on that topic...

Perhaps one of the best perspectives we came across is this is Granta
article from George Prochnik, Eyal Weizman & Emily Dische-Becker titled
" Once Again, Germany Defines Who Is a Jew | Part I "

https://granta.com/once-again-germany-defines-who-is-a-jew-part-i

This link came to us via a fantastic Reading Group here on these issues
in Berlin, which if your interested, please Pm me and will give you more
details. Don't want to overexpose them here.

Interesting to note that Forensic Architecture is now also getting
cancelled. just last week in Netherlands ( on an unrelated topic )

...

Don't have time to go into alot of details on all this, the
XLterrestrials are in the midst of putting together an article for our
*Subslack* called *XLterrestrials Radar*.

More importantly we wanted to alert you about here is that this is
triggering some very dramatic resistance(s). Sophiensaelle perfomance
art space also had a fierce open assembly last nite, and it will
continue on thursday nights ( we think ), next one being hosted by the
publishers of Art of The Working Class ( street sheet ) publishers.

https://www.artsoftheworkingclass.org/

And Oyoun is now launching a 3-day festival in the midst of their own
crisis, with an extremely courageous defiance...

talks, workshops, performances, etc. starting TONIGHT called THREADS OF
RESILIENCE !

Full program here:

https://oyoun.de/en/unsere-arbeit/threads-of-resilience/
<https://oyoun.de/en/unsere-arbeit/threads-of-resilience/>

It feels incredibly urgent to show our solidarity for this space and its
staff ! So please share this news... AND their fundraiser to keep going
while they build their challenges to the Senate decisions. OYOUN has now
filed a lawsuit against them !

...

Just to quickly add some XLt analysis / perspective...

There is also a danger to lose sight of the BIG PICTURE. For example we
saw the tendencies of the art sector ( last nite at Sophiensaelle ) to
focus more on fighting for their specific arts + culture territories,
jobs, freedom of expression, artistic expression, etc....

And perhaps too little about what arts+media + cultural workers can be
doing to show their solidarity and strategize on : STOPPING THE WARS,
THE WAR CRIMES , THE GENOCIDAL ACTS and putting pressures on the various
levels of political figures and on the war-profiting machinery itself
that direct this gruesome trajectory into the fascist abyss.

Of course we will need to fight these things simultaneously, because
what also became apparent from the many deep-thinking speakers from the
Sophiensaelle mileu, was that this shutting down of the diverse
plurality of voices + the much-needed open discourse is how the
narratives get controlled ! And how the nationalist agendas get pushed,
and how populations are then funneled and forced into silence and
complicity !

...

much more to report...

but that's all for now,

the XLterrestrials

p..s.. Just wanted to add the quote from Brian... as a reference to
where this conversation thread started in our heads... and the above is
where we are now... in the local situations... and trying to remember
that Berlin is still very much a bubble ... where these things can still
be made so visible, and where we can mobilize these kinds of refusals to
comply with the Flood of Bullshit... and all the Bloodshed !

>>

the point is that the conduct of the Western countries has contributed to the hostilities, and rather than setting off
on a jingoistic warpath, it's our responsibility to change that conduct. We
watch bloody murder every day, we stand on the verge of a world war, and
behind that is the Anthropocene abyss. It is time to cease thinking that
it's all someone else's business, and I'm just gonna do my job and have my
fun. It's equally time to cease thinking that because of collective guilt
over the Holocaust, Israel should be supported in everything and at all
costs - including that of creating a world full of enemies.

 


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