Published
Thu, Aug 31, 2023, 13:45
- Critics of the German-language book say its claims are misguided and lack Palestinian perspectives.
A controversial new book of essays on antisemitism has reopened the conversation around a hotly debated topic in electronic music.
Launching at Berlin club ://about blank this Friday, September 1st, Judenhass Underground, or "Jew-Hate Underground," alleges that antisemitism is behind the cultural boycott of Israel by many of electronic music's leading artists—a collective action broadly known as #DJsForPalestine. Dance music is one of several "emancipated" scenes singled out, alongside the likes of hip-hop, punk rock and the international climate justice movement.
According to the German-language book, "accusations of antisemitism are reflexively shot down" in the electronic music scene "because they collide with the self-image of a progressive party world."
In 2018, #DJsForPalestine saw the likes of Ben UFO, The Blessed Madonna and Laurel Halo commit to a boycott of Israel as a means of peaceful protest against the occupation of Palestine. The campaign took inspiration from the wider Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement, which, according to its website, "works to end international support for Israel's oppression of Palestinians."
Among the strongest reactions against the boycott came from Berlin, where the queer-feminist party series Room 4 Resistance had a party cancelled by its longtime home, ://about blank, for supporting #DJsForPalestine. (The collective cut ties with the club as a result.) Three years later, in 2021, another popular queer party, Buttons, left the same club over its alleged pro-Israel stance, triggering more intense debate. (Resident Advisor approached ://about blank for comment on the book launch but received no reply.)
Nicholas Potter and Stefan Lauer, authors of Judenhass Underground, argue that the DJs who aligned themselves with #DJsForPalestine and the BDS movement helped perpetuate antisemitism. The same goes for DJs and promoters in Berlin's queer scenes, where pro-Palestinian stances are the norm. By cutting ties with clubs like ://about blank, the authors argue, these collectives do nothing to help the situation on the ground in Palestine. The book also targets what it calls uncritical coverage of the #DJsForPalestine campaign by magazines like Resident Advisor.
"It's fine to criticise the policies of this or that Israeli government," Potter told RA. "But it's not acceptable to have a blanket boycott of the only Jewish state in the world, and through this boycott recycle age-old antisemitic tropes."
But Palestinian and Jewish DJs, clubbers and activists contacted by RA rejected the assertions put forward by Potter and Lauer. "The book shows that it's not really racism or antisemitism that concerns them, because they're also very comfortable attacking pro-Palestinian Jews," said Zuhour, a Palestinian DJ based in Berlin.
In one such example, the book targets a panel discussion at last year's WHOLE United Queer Festival, where two Palestinians and a Jewish-American journalist discussed the links between Palestinian solidarity and queer movements. "What concerns [people like the authors] is that it's no longer business as usual when it comes to Israel, their favourite ethnostate," Zuhour added.
Berlin's queer and electronic music scenes are overwhelmingly international, driven by promoters, DJs and clubbers from around the world. With that diversity comes a perspective that most progressive scenes outside Germany take for granted—solidarity with Palestinians. This helps explain BDS and #DJsforPalestine's success in the electronic music scene, where many DJs and clubbers hold left-wing ideals.
But in a conversation recorded in the book, Lutz Leichsenring of the Berlin Club Commission said BDS's success in electronic music is because its supporters aren't well informed. Leichsenring, who often serves as a spokesperson for Berlin's club scene, said he has a "strong" connection with Israel and believes antisemitism has "something to do" with the boycott. He also said he's visited Palestine and that it's important to try and understand both perspectives.
"The fact is that Israel-related antisemitism is antisemitism," Potter added. "And it's the most prevalent form of modern antisemitism. The ideological narratives are often the same, but they're instead directed towards Zionists or Israel instead of directly at Jews."
Gideon Berger, a London-based DJ and curator with Lithuanian-Jewish roots, has a different stance. Though he didn't share the original #DJsForPalestine post in 2018, he's been campaigning for Palestinians for most of his life, even organising a creative retreat in the West Bank.
"Israel's simplistic yet carefully orchestrated strategy to suppress any criticism of its ongoing human rights violations designates anyone who questions their mistreatment of Palestinians as automatically antisemitic," he told RA. "I hope the persistent propagation of this unfounded claim doesn't discourage individuals from raising their voices against injustice."
The book's allegations align with the broader German media landscape, which many say routinely silences pro-Palestinian voices, including Israelis, Jews and Palestinians. In June, the European Legal Support Center published a report on the suppression of Palestinian activism in Germany, Austria and the UK due to allegations of antisemitism.
Critics of the book also note the absence of Palestinian perspectives. "They're the main issue, yet not once are they spoken with or interviewed," said Berlin-based researcher Yossi Bartal, who grew up in West Jerusalem and is a member of Diaspora Alliance, an international organisation dedicated to fighting antisemitism and racism. "This erasure of Palestinian voices is disgusting."
According to Bartal, the book also "mainly ignores the fact that a lot of the queer-scene protagonists [the authors] hate are Jewish." He said Berlin's queer scene includes many Israeli and Jewish ravers who stand firmly against the occupation. They support parties like Buttons, attend pro-Palestine demos and spread anti-Israel messages—making them an obvious target for Judenhass Underground's authors.
Berlin is home to the largest community of Palestinians outside the Middle East. Many are involved in the electronic music scene as DJs, promoters or clubbers, and have described feeling uncomfortable with the rhetoric and actions of the community around ://about blank, where for years anyone wearing a traditional Palestinian scarf, or keffiyeh, was forced to leave it at the door. In 2021, Buttons cited solidarity with Palestinian clubbers as one of their reasons for leaving the club. Even today, many DJs refuse to play there.
Boycotts like this, some activists say, are their main tool in fighting against organisations that work against the rights of Palestinians, whether in Berlin or elsewhere.
"It needs to come to a point where more artists, specifically from the Global South, think about boycotting other German institutions that don't have a clear stance on colonialism, racism and censorship," said Palestinian DJ Zuhour. "This is the tool anti-racist and anti-fascist artists have."
Correction, September 1st: A previous version of this article said that Room 4 Resistance was thrown out of ://about blank. In fact, the club cancelled one event and the collective chose to leave.
Update, September 6th: This piece has been updated with more context about Lutz Leichsenring's passage in the book.