Philosopher Slavoj Zizek speaks at the opening of the Frankfurt Book Fair on Tuesday.picture alliance (dpa/picture alliance via Getty I)
The conflict between Israel and Hamas is the protagonist of the start of the Frankfurt Book Fair, the most important in the world in its sector, which starts this Wednesday shrouded in a bitter controversy. The cancellation of Friday's ceremony in which the LiBeraturpreis prize was to be awarded to the Palestinian writer Adania Shibli has been joined by the boycott of several Arab publishing groups and the refusal of Malaysia to participate, which has announced that it is protesting against "the clear support of the organizers for Israel". and Indonesia, which was invited in 2015.
Learn more
Controversy after Frankfurt Book Fair cancels award ceremony for Palestinian author
In the midst of growing divisions in the world over the conflict in the Middle East, the opening ceremony of the fair, held on Tuesday night with the political authorities, became an unusual scenario for controversy. Slovenian writer and philosopher Slavoj Zizek used his speech to recall the suffering of Palestinian civilians, prompting boos from part of the audience and an angry response from one of the attendees, Hessian State Anti-Semitism Commissioner Uwe Becker, who rose from his chair to shout at the author that he was "relativizing" Hamas' crimes. The Slovenian condemned the terror attacks, but stressed that you also need to listen to the Palestinians and take into account the context and background if you want to understand the conflict.
Zizek, who spoke near the end of the event as a prominent representative of Slovenia, this year's guest country at the fair, repeated over and over again that he condemns Hamas' actions and that he was not putting anything into perspective, but the atmosphere was so heated that some of the invited personalities, such as the mayor of Frankfurt, Mike Josef, They stood up and left in protest. Even before the interruption, the philosopher had criticized the fact that all previous speakers had spoken about Israel but none of the Palestinians, and had called the decision not to honor Shibli at the fair "scandalous."
From left to right, the director of the fair, Juergen Boos; Slovenian President Natasa Pirc Musar and German Culture Minister Claudia Roth at the opening of the fair on Tuesday. POOL (via REUTERS)
After Zizek, the ceremony was closed by the director of the fair, Jürgen Boos, who began by saying that the philosopher's words were "freedom of expression" and that it was necessary to "be able to express them". "It's important that we listen to each other," he added. Among the authorities invited was Claudia Roth, Secretary of State for Culture, who replaced the presence of Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who was visiting Israel to show Germany's unconditional support.
Boos is the focus of criticism from hundreds of authors and publishers around the world, who regret that the organization of the fair, which this year celebrates its 75th edition, has chosen a side in the conflict. "The Frankfurt Book Fair stands in full solidarity on Israel's side," the organization posted on Instagram on Saturday, citing Boos, who is also president of LitProm, the literary association that awards the LiBeraturpreis prize. In fact, the fair's program has been modified at the last minute to give more visibility to Jewish voices.
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Frankfurter Buchmesse (@buchmesse)
One of the main claims of this edition is the presence of Salman Rushdie, who has barely appeared in public since he was attacked in the summer of 2022 while giving a lecture in New York. The author of The Satanic Verses will receive the German Booksellers' Peace Prize and will talk on Saturday about his new book, in which he reflects on the attack that left him blind in one eye.
The LiBeraturpreis is an award given by LitProm to women writers from the global south and that this year has gone to a novel by Adania Shibli published in Spanish with the title Un detalle menor (Hoja de Lata). The book chronicles the 1949 gang rape and murder of a Palestinian girl by Israeli soldiers. The award ceremony was supposed to be held this Friday as part of the fair, but LitProm announced a few days ago that it had decided to cancel it due to the war between Israel and Hamas and that it "is looking for a suitable format and framework for the event at a later date."
Palestinian writer Adania Shibli, in a 2021 photo.Alamy Stock Photo
Shibli's novel had already generated controversy in the country after its German translation was published last year. One of the judges for the prize, Ulrich Noller, resigned in protest at the decision to award him the prize. He and other critics pointed out at the time that it contained anti-Semitic narratives. On the other hand, other reviews in the German press did not even mention this alleged subtext. Shibli, 49, who lives between Berlin and Jerusalem, has not appeared in public since the controversy erupted last Friday, but through her German publishers she has expressed her disagreement with the decision not to hold the award ceremony during the fair.
On Monday, several authors and publishers from around the world have accused the Frankfurt Book Fair of "silencing" Palestinian voices in an open letter. The signatories, who are already close to 1,000 people, regret that Shibli and her novel have "closed their space", ask for a rectification and recall that the organization "has the responsibility, as a great international book fair, to create spaces for Palestinian writers to share their thoughts, feelings and reflections on literature in these terrible and cruel times. don't shut them down." In addition to the award ceremony, a public debate was planned with Shibli and her German translator, Günther Orth, which has also been cancelled. Among the signatories of the letter critical of the fair are at least three winners of the Nobel Prize in literature: Abdulrazak Gurnah, Annie Ernaux and Olga Tokarczuk.
"I am very disappointed that [the countries that have announced the boycott] are not coming for geopolitical reasons," Jürgen Boos said at the opening. "They don't understand that we feel sorry for the victims on both sides, but that we are firmly on Israel's side," his deputy Torsten Casimir added. All German political parties and a majority of public opinion have been clearly pro-Israel since the Hamas terror attacks of 7 October and have stressed its right to defend itself.
The war has brought back to the fore divisions among German cultural institutions over unconditional support for Israel. Several recent examples testify to how Germany closely monitors any artistic expression that might be considered suspected of anti-Semitism. Last year, the contemporary art exhibition Documenta decided to cover with black cloth a mural containing figures offensive to Jews. The commissioners, the Indonesian collective Ruangrupa, were accused of inviting organizations that are in some way linked to the BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) movement, labeled anti-Semitic by the German parliament, which calls for a boycott of Israel over the occupation of Palestinian territory. In another example of the cancellation of cultural expressions suspected of inciting hatred against the Jewish community, a German theater withdrew an award from British playwright Caryl Churchill earlier this year after discovering that she supports Palestinian rights organizations and calling that support anti-Semitism.
Subscribe to continue reading
Read without limits
Read more
I'm already a subscriber
_