The German left can no longer ignore the plight of Palestinians

Many in Germany try to smear the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement as antisemitic. But BDS targets complicity not identity

A wind of change is blowing through Israel’s closest allies. After Israel denied entry to two sitting members of the United States Congress, the US public, including members of Congress, have questioned Israel’s democratic character and unconditional US military aid.

A shift in discourse is also taking place in Germany, where Palestinian rights and the German state’s complicity in Israel’s denial of those rights have long been ignored by the white German left. People of colour and marginalised communities are leading the pushback against the censorship of debate on Palestinian rights in Germany.

Palestinian rights were at the center of the “Radical Queer March” in Berlin in late July. I was eagerly anticipating the march, but when march organisers falsely labelled the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement for Palestinian rights as antisemitic and banned its supporters from participating, I knew I had to do something.

The BDS movement calls for nonviolent pressure on Israel until it complies with its obligations under international law. It is based on principles that categorically reject all forms of racism, including antisemitism, and focuses on companies and institutions that are deeply complicit in Israel’s violations of Palestinian human rights. BDS targets complicity, not identity.

I co-organised a Queers For Palestine bloc to reclaim the Berlin march as a space for radical queers committed to feminist anti-racist and anti-colonial politics.

And reclaim we did. The Queers For Palestine bloc drew an unprecedented turnout of over 500 supporters, most of whom were queers of colour, migrants and refugees. We chanted and carried placards reading “Queers for a free Palestine. Fight against: racism, islamophobia, homo/transphobia, antisemitism, apartheid!”

In a move that shook us to our core, march organisers called cops in full riot gear to repress the action, with little regard for the safety of some of the vulnerable participants.

The police blocked the Queers for Palestine contingent. It was a frightening moment, but we firmly held our ground until the march organisers were finally compelled to call off the cops. Queers for Palestine marched on, chanting “It’s Not Radical To Call The Police.”

What made this all the more absurd was the march’s slogan: “Let’s get critical. Pride is Political”, and its celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riot against violent police repression. It set off unprecedented debate on pinkwashing (the strategic branding of corporations and states as LGBT-friendly), the white German left’s silencing of debate on Palestinian rights and Germany’s complicity in Israel’s military occupation and apartheid.

For decades, Berlin’s leftist and queer spaces have either ignored or actively suppressed discussion on Palestine. This was feasible because Palestine was treated as a theoretical discussion among primarily white Germans. In the official Queers for Palestine statement, we explained why this is no longer possible.

Berlin and the Berlin queer scene “are not so white anymore. There are too many Palestinians and other Middle Easterners, black people and POCs [people of colour], migrants and refugees, Jews and Jewish Israelis, to single this issue out for ‘protection’ from open discussion and debate. … For us it’s not a theoretical debate we can afford to put aside - it’s about our lives, and for some a matter of both life and death. These are our streets, our pride weekend and we will bring our own fabulous chairs if we don’t get seats at the table.”

Other broad coalitions are forming to counter the prevailing narrative in Germany. In June, under the banner of “Palestine Speaks - Coalition for Palestinian Rights and Against Racism”, hundreds protested in Berlin against the German parliament’s repressive, anti-Palestinian resolution, which falsely accused the BDS movement of antisemitism.

The Israeli government is reportedly pressuring the German government to adopt and enforce this non-binding resolution, a step which would take anti-democratic repression in Germany to a new and dangerous level.

The outpouring of support for Queers for Palestine and the protests against the German parliament’s resolution mark the beginnings of a political storm in the German left.

We should all be deeply concerned over and take action against the dramatic rise in racist violence, including antisemitism, in Germany. However, promoting or remaining silent on smears against the nonviolent, anti-racist BDS movement trivialises the reality of anti-Jewish racism. It shifts attention away from those who are actually responsible for it. A German government report found that 90 per cent of anti-Jewish hate crimes in Germany are committed by far-right supporters.

Building coalitions with, and, crucially, listening to those who are already situated at the intersection of racism, colonialism and heteropatriarchy, is the best path toward a more inclusive and just society.

As we wrote in our official Queers for Palestine statement released after the march, “The time of silence on Palestine is over! The time of the white left dictating to people with lived experiences of racism and colonial oppression how to be free is over!”

Dr Melanie Richter-Montpetit is a Lecturer researching war and militarism, as well as feminist and queer politics at the Department of International Relations at the University of Sussex. She co-organised the Queers for Palestine bloc at the Radical Queer March in Berlin