April 23, 2024, 2:18 p.m.
I join countless German workers and activists in institutions like yours who are appalled by and fighting the current climate of racism, censorship, rising authoritarianism, and the denial of atrocities. We stand in solidarity.
Liberate Palestine.
– China Miéville
In an impassioned open letter published earlier today, award-winning British mystery novelist (recently collaborating with Keanu Reeves) China Miéville announced her decision to take part in Germany’s prestigious DAAD residency. In protest of his ambition, he announced that he would cancel his acceptance of a residency in Germany. She is a “shameful project of oppression and anti-Palestinian racism.”
In a letter to Professor Joybrat Mukherjee (Rector of the University of Cologne), Nancy Fraser said that earlier this month, Professor Fraser had signed an open letter expressing solidarity with the people, and that Nancy Fraser would accept the appointment of Professor Albertus Magnus in 2024. I withdrew my invitation to become a professor. Miéville, who is of Palestinian origin, spoke of his horror at the fever of repression and racism that has swept Germany’s political and cultural landscape in recent months, and singled out Mukherjee as the target of the blame, saying:
The political atmosphere in Germany has become increasingly toxic, the crackdown on solidarity with the Palestinians has become increasingly brutal, and activists (including, of course, a disproportionate number of Jewish activists) have been branded as “anti-Semites.” I have watched with horror as I have been vilified. And even more outrageous. Under the aegis of DAAD, I wanted to participate not only in the cultural life of my beloved city, Berlin, but also in its political life. But everyone has a red line. . . I cannot accept DAAD’s invitation if I cannot believe that DAAD will stand up to such a shameful plan of repression and anti-Palestinian racism. Indeed, you have personally shown a willingness to participate in it.
Below is the full text of China Miéville’s letter.
Dear Professor Joybrat Mukherjee,
It is a great honor to be awarded the 2024 Residency Fellowship for Literature by DAAD, which you chair. I am very sorry, but I have to withdraw my acceptance of this offer.
Since that invitation was delivered to me, Israel has launched an onslaught of attacks on Gaza that, according to the International Court of Justice on January 26, 2024, amount to plausibly genocide. The genocidal attacks also include school killings, which UN experts refer to as “organized killings”. The destruction of education through the arrest, detention, and killing of teachers, students, and staff, and the destruction of educational infrastructure. ”Writers and
This week, I spoke out against the unconscionable deprivation of Professor Nancy Fraser’s Albertus Magnus Professorship as President of the University of Cologne, as she signed a letter expressing solidarity with over 400 other philosophers. , I learned that I was personally involved. with the Palestinian people against the backdrop of Israel’s ongoing genocide. This was the same month that the Berlin Palestine Conference was brutally and abruptly shut down, peace activists arrested and speakers banned. I cannot accept DAAD’s invitation if I cannot believe that DAAD will stand up to such a shameful plan of repression and anti-Palestinian racism. Indeed, you have personally shown a willingness to participate in it.
As Jonas Stahl tells you, “You are now part of a situation in which ‘never again’ becomes ‘again.’ ” I am deeply grateful to Stahl for his outstanding letter declining his own nomination, and I urge you to do the same. This details the reasoning behind my own decisions.
I join countless German workers and activists in institutions like yours who are appalled by and fighting the current climate of racism, censorship, rising authoritarianism, and the denial of atrocities. We stand in solidarity.
Liberate Palestine.
China Miéville
