Ghostpoet Calls German Cultural Attack Wrong Direction While Expressing Support For Gaza

Ghostpoet (Instagram @ghostpoet)

JAKARTA - British musician Ghostpoet described Germany's new cultural attack as "misguided", and at the same time he also expressed his support for Gaza.

In recent weeks, figures from the arts and entertainment industry voiced their support for the Strike Germany movement in response to the use of the McCarthyist policy that suppresses freedom of expression related to solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.

An open letter from the movement claims that Palestinian solidarity protests have been "aligned as anti-Semitic and prohibited" while the police's space of activists was raided, and violent arrests were frequent".

He added that Strike Germany is an "excitation for international cultural workers to strike from a German cultural institution".

However, Ghostpoet whose real name is Obaro Ejimiwe expressed his doubts over the complete cancellation wave' carried out by the strike.

In an Instagram post shared last week, the singer-writer of Mercury Prize's nominee wrote that although he expressed his anger at Germany's unforgivable support for Israel's genocide campaign against Palestine, it would not achieve the desired result.

He added that the strike was "misguided", because many of the affected institutions were "spaces for dissent against this genocide policy" but instead they paid the price for the government's position".

Another weakness he claims to hinder the strike is that there is no reciprocal aid plan that can help provide financial, political, legal and logistical support to the strikers, and also notes that art and cultural workers in Germany are not a cohesive category..

He said most of them are freelancers whose income depends on exhibitions, performances, and events.

"In the end, instead of bearing the legal, financial and political impacts of this action collectively, we are required to do so individually, for an undisclosed period of time, without an emergency plan," he continued.

The lack of concern and a sense of collective responsibility is contrary to the principle of a strike. In the end, it will be a strike against workers, not against the German government; an individual moral purity show designed for social media without any tangible results."

The artist concluded he "with his conscience unable to continue to support this strike", adding: "I welcome exchanges and conversations with those who have chosen to join, and hope we can develop a more effective strategy. I continue to support the Palestinian struggle, as I always do. Palestine will be free!"