RUTHFULLY YOURS

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/pro-palestinian-bds-movement-versus-german-culture-festivals-a-1217664.html

EXCERPT: “Belgian choreographer Alain Platel and American composer Elliott Sharp also sent letters of protest. Sharp wrote that the decision to rescind the Young Fathers’ invitation had really upset him. He wrote that it has “must be possible to criticize a violent, authoritarian regime without it being labeled as anti-Semitism.” On this issue, Sharp wrote, “I speak as a Jew and son of a Holocaust survivor.”

The Middle East conflict has arrived in Germany in the form of boycotts against German cultural festivals. The development raises the question of where the line is crossed between criticizing Israel as a state and anti-Semitism.

The Young Fathers sound a bit like gospel singers who have long been locked up in a church — and have now been released into freedom, into a world of unlimited possibilities, but also one filled with many truths and conflicts. They sing about identity and power, violence and war, love and sex. And often about God and the devil.

It is the music of doubtful young men, one white and two black, a Scottish pop group in the digital postmodern era. Critics have dubbed them “the most interesting newish band in the English-speaking world,” and Stefanie Carp, the new artistic director of the Ruhrtriennale, an annual music and cultural festival in Germany’s Ruhr region, was proud when she succeeded in booking the Young Fathers for a concert. In a cheerful announcement, organizers of the festival, which begins in August, described the group’s music as “genre-defying.”

But it’s possible that the band member’s political views may indeed fit into a category — and not a nice one: anti-Semitism. The mere question as to whether they can be classified as such has been the subject of considerable controversy and the debate is creating problems for Carp, with some journalists and politicians demanding her resignation. Last week, The New York Times even reported on the case. The story’s  tone: The criticism of the festival has little to do with the band’s music, but much to do with German history.

Dr Alan Mendoza is Executive Director of The Henry Jackson Society
It always amazes me how quickly after the UK Parliament shuts down for the summer recess – as it did this week – both the pace of work in politics and the news headlines change.

After weeks of knife-edge Conservative Brexit drama, Trump visitations and Labour anti-Semitism crises, today’s BBC homepage offered comment on “blood moon” sightings and the longest heatwave in Britain’s history since the infamous summer of 1976. Given the weather, perhaps it is indeed a good thing that the hot air from Westminster is being vented elsewhere for a change. But rather than using the summer as a time of malaise, perhaps our politicians should consider it an opportunity to do something different and more worthwhile.

There are few other periods in our 24/7 society when our leaders get a chance to take a break from the frenetic pace of political life today. They should use it to recharge, but also to think. For there is currently a policy vacuum in the heart of British politics that requires filling urgently.

Ever since the EU referendum of 2016, the political agenda has been filled with but one issue: Brexit. The one attempt our political parties had to refocus attention – the General Election of 2017 – turned out disastrously when the British public returned an unimpressed verdict on their efforts through a hung Parliament. Since then, neither major party – nor any of the minor ones – have come up with a political idea that has really caught the imagination.

http://henryjacksonsociety.org/

Of all the world’s unstable countries perhaps the most concerning is Pakistan. Not just because of the extent of the religious zealotries that exist there, the power of the clerics or the unstable nature of successive governments. But primarily of course because on top of all this the country is a nuclear power, armed with munitions which many extremist groups in the country would be very glad to have in their immediate control.

It is for this reason more than any other that political events in Pakistan deserve considerable attention from the wider world—and the reason why anybody seeking the highest offices there should be subjected to an unusual degree of inspection.

As of today Imran Khan has claimed victory in this week’s election in the country. Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has said that his own party will not contest the results, despite the usual claims and evidence of corruption at the polls. If Imran Khan is to now take control of the country the wider world will have to spend far more attention on him than it has to date.

To date most of the international coverage has focused on Mr Khan’s celebrity and his former fame as a cricketer. Certainly this all helped him to get a platform in his home country—a country where, like most others, celebrity is an enormous advantage in any election. But it is the layers beneath the famous skin that need to be probed deeper.

Throughout his career in recent years Mr Khan has proven himself adept at manoeuvring around the perilous tracks of Pakistan’s domestic politics. But such navigation is hugely compromising. It has included him having meetings with—and appearing on stage with—extremists who should not be on anybody’s invite list. And of course all of this has presented challenges of its own. To what extent have some of Khan’s public appearances and statements been a necessary evil and to what extent are they the product of sincere and indeed fundamental belief? This is not an easy question to answer. But perhaps over the coming years, once he has been in power, we will be able to see the answer for ourselves. It is much to be hoped that Khan has been engaging in necessary politics in recent years. If not, then Pakistan and the wider world are in for a period which will be perilous even by their standards.