The attack on the Congress is not an isolated event. Even as Israel continues its assault on Gaza, and its escalation of the murderous violence by troops and settlers in the West Bank, the German state has intensified its policy of silencing all voices raised in defence of the Palestinian people. In the days before the Congress the distinguished Jewish American philosopher Nancy Fraser received an abrupt email cancelling her prestigious professorship at the University of Cologne - because last Autumn she had signed a letter expressing solidarity with Palestinians and condemning the killings in Gaza. An interview with Professor Fraser can be found here.

In Germany this drive to silence the voices for Palestine is reaching a peak. Demonstrations are banned, exhibitions cancelled, awards withdrawn, art exhibitions cancelled, museum directors dismissed. 

Statement on the suppression of the Berlin Palestine Congress

On April 12th German police closed down the Palestine Congress in Berlin within minutes of its opening. They stormed the speakers' stage, shut down the organizers' livestream, then broke into the control room and shut off the power.

The 3-day Congress had drawn speakers and participants from across Europe, critical of Israel’s indiscriminate assault on Gaza and its population.

Germany through successive Chancellors has given support for Israel as its Staatsräson (“reason of state”), a non-negotiable national interest. The ostensible justification for this stance is to atone for the Holocaust. But Germany’s performative support for Israel also serves wider economic and geopolitical interests which it shares with other countries including the United Kingdom.

Germany’s demonstrative remorse for its genocidal outrage 80 years ago is completely negated by its repression of protests against a state which currently stands accused before the International Court of Justice - of genocide.

The signatories to this statement condemn Germany’s continuing denial of any legitimacy to the rights of the Palestinians, now being subjected to an unremitting assault. We call on the German authorities to cease their repression of voices for Palestine, and to respect the rights of their own citizens.

Will you add your name to the condemnation?

A statement provoked by the suppression of the Berlin Congress has been signed by distinguished lawyers, politicians, cultural figures and academics. Signatories include:

• Lawyers: Michael Mansfield KC; Sir Stephen Sedley former judge of the Court of Appeal; Sir Geoffrey Bindman KC
• Cultural figures: film maker Ken Loach; musician Brian Eno; writer Ahdaf Soueif; playwright Caryl Churchill
• Politicians: Ronnie Kasrils (South African ex-Minister); Yannis Varoufakis (Greek ex-Minister); Lord Peter Hain; Richard Boyd Barrett (TD in the Dáil Éireann)
• Journalists: Tariq Ali, Yasmin Alibhai-Brown
• Academics: Professors Catherine Hall, Kamel Hawwash, Jacqueline Rose, Alex Callinicos, Avi Shlaim, Malcolm Levitt FRS