{"id":117250,"date":"2024-11-24T17:00:46","date_gmt":"2024-11-24T15:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=117250"},"modified":"2024-11-24T11:49:22","modified_gmt":"2024-11-24T09:49:22","slug":"24-00-102","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=117250","title":{"rendered":"German Architectural Foundation Rescinds Award to British Artist Over His Israel Boycott Support"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>German Architectural Foundation Rescinds Award to British Artist Over His Israel Boycott Support<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/h5>\n

Shiryn Ghermezian<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Pro-Hamas demonstrators marching in Munich, Germany. Photo: Reuters\/Alexander Pohl<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

The Erich Schelling Architecture Foundation, located in Karlsruhe, Germany, announced on Monday that it has unanimously decided to rescind an award to British writer and artist James Bridle because of his support for boycotting Israeli cultural institutions.<\/span><\/p>\n

The foundation hands out awards for architecture and architectural theory once every two years, and the awards have a total endowment of close to $32,000. An international jury of seven individuals picks the winner, and Bridle was set to receive the prize for architectural theory at this year\u2019s award ceremony, set for Wednesday. The foundation praised Bridle, saying his \u201cpublications on the complex relationships between society, technology, and ecology have greatly enriched the current discourse.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

However, a day before the award ceremony, the foundation announced that it would not distribute a theory prize this year, which Bridle had won. The institution said it made its decision after discovering that Bridle co-signed an\u00a0open letter<\/a>\u00a0in late October, in which thousands in the literary industry pledged to boycott Israeli cultural institutions in response to the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.<\/span><\/p>\n

The open letter was published by the online magazine\u00a0The Literary Hub<\/em>\u00a0and falsely accused Israel of genocide, ethnic cleansing, and apartheid. It also claimed, without providing evidence, that Israeli cultural institutions have been \u201ccrucial in obfuscating, disguising, and artwashing the dispossession and oppression of millions of Palestinians for decades.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The Erich Schelling Architecture Foundation released a statement on Monday explaining its decision to rescind Bridle\u2019s award because of his anti-Israel stance. The institution cited its \u201cawareness of Germany\u2019s history and of the responsibilities resulting from that history.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cJames Bridle\u2019s signature on a call to boycott Israeli cultural institutions is directly at odds with this responsibility \u2014 and it is the reason the foundation is unable to award him the prize,\u201d it noted. \u201cThis was decided unanimously by all of the foundation\u2019s committees. We respect the right to express James Bridle\u2019s political position, especially as the foundation is not accusing James Bridle of antisemitism. But the foundation can neither support nor be associated with a call for the cultural isolation of Israel.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In a second\u00a0statement<\/a>\u00a0released on Tuesday, the foundation said a \u201cone-sided call for a boycott\u201d of Israel is a \u201crefusal to engage in dialogue.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMany people in Israel have friends in Palestine \/ the Gaza Strip \u2014 and vice versa. They must be supported,\u201d the foundation added. \u201cSo that new friendships can develop as a basis for peace. The Schelling Foundation is of the opinion that a unilateral call for a boycott is not a suitable way to initiate or support peace initiatives.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Bridle has responded to the news and told\u00a0The Guardian<\/em>: \u201cAlthough they are clearly not prepared to state it outright, the foundation\u2019s decision is an accusation of antisemitism, which is abhorrent. It is particularly so given the organization\u2019s own history.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The Erich Schelling Architecture Foundation is named after the late German architect Erich Schelling. He was a member of Adolf Hitler\u2019s Nazi party in Germany as well as the Nazi\u2019s SA paramilitary wing. He was also involved in the construction of a building that included the publishing house of the Nazi party daily newspaper,\u00a0Der Fuhrer<\/em>. He died in 1986, and the foundation was founded by his widow.<\/span><\/p>\n

The controversy surrounding Bridle\u2019s award came after the German parliament passed a resolution earlier this month to combat antisemitism in Germany. The resolution states: \u201cThe Bundestag [German parliament] reaffirms its decision to ensure that no organizations or projects that spread antisemitism, question Israel\u2019s right to exist, call for a boycott of Israel, or actively support the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement receive financial support.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Earlier this year, Germany\u2019s federal domestic intelligence agency\u00a0classified the BDS movement against Israel<\/a>\u00a0as a \u201csuspected extremist case.\u201d BDS seeks to isolate Israel from the international community as a step toward its eventual elimination. Leaders of the movement have repeatedly stated their goal is to destroy the world\u2019s only Jewish state.<\/span><\/p>\n

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German Architectural Foundation Rescinds Award to British Artist Over His Israel Boycott Support Shiryn Ghermezian Pro-Hamas demonstrators marching in Munich, Germany. Photo: Reuters\/Alexander Pohl The Erich Schelling Architecture Foundation, located in Karlsruhe, Germany, announced on Monday that it has unanimously decided to rescind an award to British writer and artist James Bridle because of his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[26,24],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117250"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=117250"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117250\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":117264,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117250\/revisions\/117264"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=117250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=117250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=117250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}