Dear kfetisch-collective,

We are current and former regulars from different contexts. Many of us have helped organize events at kfetisch on feminism, anti-racism, antisemitism and many other topics.

Last week, the kfetisch was smeared with antisemitic slogans. Our solidarity is with you is certain, just as we are solidary with all people who are affected by antisemitism and who are attacked as Jews.

We write to you because the kfetisch as a place is important to us, because your statement takes away solidarity with those who were targeted by the recent attack.

We ask ourselves: How should those people who are affected by antisemitism, or who are threatened by Islamists, feel welcome at kfetisch if after an antisemitic attack you write a text which mainly criticizes racism and German and Israeli politics, and then condemns antisemitism in only two short general sentences?

How should people whose relatives, friends and comrades were slaughtered, raped and abused or taken into the tunnels of Hamas feel, if your first sentence, rather than a condemnation of antisemitism, is to declare your "clear, unwavering stance against the" allegedly "systematic murders [...] of the Palestinian population by the Israeli state"? It was and is the Hamas murderers, who on October 7 and afterwards indiscriminately attacked and killed everyone they considered Jewish, who kidnapped over 200 people, many of whom still fear for their lives and whose relatives do not know if they will come home alive.

Imagine the following: Had there been an anti-Muslim attack in the neighborhood and the first thing listed in a statement were the crimes of Hamas. That would be clearly racist. Your statement works in the same way. It is therefore antisemitic.

It is right to criticize the situation in the Israeli-occupied and disputed territories of the West Bank, to call for the observance of human rights in the context of military actions or to criticize their violation. It is an expression of humanity to mourn the civilian Palestinian victims. Our solidarity is also with the people in the Palestinian territories who are suffering under the rule of Hamas and Israeli military operations. But those who fantasize about genocide and claim "systematic murder" of the Palestinian population are falling for Islamist propaganda or lying in order to demonize Israel. It is Hamas alone that declares the murder of Jews to be the unconditional duty of any Muslim.

The conditions in Gaza are catastrophic and the suffering caused by the war is devastating. Our solidarity is with the people who suffer from the war in Gaza, who have lost their loved ones and fear for their bare lives in inhumane conditions, and who are deprived of fundamental rights.

Neukölln is a neighborhood where many people have family ties to the Gaza Strip or to the Palestinian refugee camps in Jordan and Lebanon. It is understandable to criticize the restrictions on demonstrations, to raise the issue of racist police assaults or reprimands at schools that are sparked by Palestinian symbols or advocacy for the rights of Palestinians.

Protest becomes antisemitic when it is no longer Israel's policy that is targeted, but Jews and Jewish institutions and their actual or supposed supporters. If for you the antisemitic attack is related to war and terror in Israel and Gaza, as many things indicate, then a demarcation would be the least. Otherwise, antisemitism will contaminate even legitimate causes. It would be a duty to all those who stand up for the rights of Palestinians without supporting antisemitism.

Jews also live in Neukölln. Many Jews in Neukölln avoid being recognizable as such, many Israelis do not speak Hebrew in order not to be attacked — not a word about all this can be found in your text.

Your final sentence is bitter. You end your text with the phrase: "We are not an anti-Deutsch establishment." The kfetisch never was. But again and again it has been called that way by Stalinist sects and antisemitic splinter groups, because they did not like the clear consensus against any antisemitism. Such a phrase — which follows the principle "Spare my house, set fire to others" — is a desolidarization with everyone who is attacked by antisemites. Because antisemitism remains antisemitism, no matter whether it is directed against a self-attributed or a foreign-attributed political current, which you yourself do not share. After the next antisemitic attack will you be proclaiming that you are not Jews after all? To show solidarity with the victims of antisemitism would mean to reject antisemitism, and not to correct the supposedly wrong address.

In this time, it (unfortunately) needs courage to position oneself against any form of antisemitism. We would be glad if we could trust you again in this respect. It would be a sign of courage if you reflected upon on your statement and retracted it. It would be a signal if instead you managed to write a statement in which you condemned antisemitism without any relativization.

Berlin, friday november 3rd, 2023

1.) André 2.) Andreas 3.) Anna F. 4.) Anna V. 5.) Anne G. 6.) Bastian B. 7.) Birgit L. 8.) Charlie K. 9.) Chris 10.) Dirk F. 11.) Doris L. 12.) Florian 13.) Friederike 14.) Georg R. 15.) Gruppe FF 16.) Hilke 17.) Isabelle B. 18.) Jana K. 19.) Jana S. 20.) Jeremia S. 21.) Jessica R. 22.) Julia S. 23.) Katja G. 24.) Kirsten A. 25.) Kristin 26.) Lisa 27.) Lukas U. 28.) M. 29.) Madita 30.) Mario 31.) Marion 32.) Markus E. 33.) Martin F. 34.) Mathias B. 35.) Mathis 36.) Meli 37.) Nicholas 38.) Nina U. 39.) Noradin 40.) Paula K. 41.) Rebecca M. 42.) Rebecca W. 43.) Sandra R. 44.) Sebastian S. 45.) Sina 46.) Stefan G. 47.) Steph 48.) Thomas 49.) Tobi B. 50.) Vero K.
Weitere Unterstützer:innen: 51.) Andy H. 52.) Arne 53.) Bettina Fellmann 54.) Dagmar L. 55.) Martin 56.) Sarah H. 57.) Veronika L. 58.) Moritz Berning 59.) Dissi K. 60.) Britt H. 61.) Franziska S. 62.) Niklas Lämmel 63.) Berlin-Treffen der Initiative für einen Gedenkort ehemaliges KZ Uckermark e.V. 64.) Barbara 65.) Sarah H. 66.) Thorben 67.) Arne 68.) Kalle 69.) Linus K. 70.) Rod 71.) Felix S. 72.) Christoph 73.) Just161 74.) Kai 75.) Linda H. 76.) Claudia Liebelt 77.) Lore J. 78.) R. 79.) Sora 80.) Leon 81.) Martin Renz 82.) Irene Eidinger 83.) Emanzipative & Antifaschistische Gruppe Berlin (EAG) 84.) Saskia 85.) Maj 86.) Flip 87.) Lisa 88.) Astrid 89.) Autonome Neuköllner Antifa 90.) Anne B. 91.) Lennart P. 92.) Jule 93.) Tobias R 94.) Martin Schellenberg 95.) Celine 96.) Friede 97.) Sarah B. 98.) Kate 99.) Julia 100.) Bruce 101.) Anja 102.) Tatjana Volpert 103.) björn 104.) Manu 105.) Torsten A. 106.) Jana 107.) Florens Briga 108.) Pete S. 109.) Thomas 110.) Simon 111.) Michael Strixner 112.) erika schlegel 113.) Nadine 114.) Jana 115.) Martin 116.) Jessi J. 117.) Anne B. 118.) Lena J. 119.) Max 120.) Katrin 121.) Mo B. 122.) Johanna F. 123.) Kevin 124.) outside the box - Zeitschrift für feministische Gesellschaftskritik 125.) Anna A. 126.) Jochen K. 127.) Gisela 128.) Jan J.

K-fetisch posted a second statement on instagram. You can find it here.

 

Feedback and questions send to: kf3tisch@bleib-bei-mir.de If you want to support the open letter, please use the form.


Instagram