Navid Kermani defends Lisa Eckhart: "You have declared a colleague to be a non-person"

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Lisa Eckhart

Photo: Axel Heimken / dpa

Peace Prize laureate Navid Kermani rarely speaks about current political events.

And as the opening speaker of the Hamburg Harbor Front literature festival, he had chosen a fairly harmless subject: "Literature and music - an eternal love".

But as the "Zeit" now reports, he surprisingly deviated from his topic - and addressed the country's most recent literary scandal in front of the audience in Hamburg's Elbphilharmonie.

It is linked to the name of the literature festival - and also to that of the Austrian writer and cabaret artist Lisa Eckhart.

Eckhart, who often lapses into role prose in her cabaret appearances, has repeatedly been accused of reproducing anti-Semitic or racist clichés in this way - or that she herself is an anti-Semite or a racist or both.

Possibly just a theoretical discussion among text experts - but when Eckhart was supposed to read from her debut novel "Omama" at the young talent competition of the festival in St. Pauli, the matter became more concrete.

Two other authors, who were also invited, refused to perform with her, but remained under cover.

Their names are not known.

In return, it was said publicly that there had been warnings from the neighborhood: If Eckhart appeared, violent attacks by militant leftists could occur.

Finally, the festival invited Eckhart.

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Navid Kermani

Photo: Marc Tirl / picture alliance / dpa

In his speech, Kermani addressed the two authors who protested against reading with Eckhart: "Your refusal to be on stage with Frau Eckhart does not apply to this or that statement, it does not apply to the cabaret artist, she applies to the person whom you declare to be contemptible. "

According to Kermani, it shows "enormous self-righteousness and rudeness to let a colleague who is displeased be chased away anonymously."

The two would have made Eckhart a non-person.

"Forbid one another"

Wherever freedom of expression is restricted, says Kermani, writers have the most to lose: "I am all the more shocked when we writers start to forbid one another".

Those who see themselves as enemies risk situations like in a civil war.

 In doing so, the Peace Prize laureate also entered into the debate about the so-called Cancel Culture, the culture-fighting technique that is mainly found in the intellectual life of the USA, to push or ostracize unpopular or at least controversial authors from the public. 

 There have recently been such discussions in Germany, among other things, about the memoirs by Woody Allen, against whose publication by Rowohlt several authors of the publishing house protested.

And in the debate about Lisa Eckhart, the term "Cancel Culture" was mentioned again and again - however, the fuss about her person did not necessarily turn to her disadvantage: Her novel "Omama" is number 15 on the SPIEGEL bestseller list next weekend.

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