I have received solidary support from my family, from my friends and acquaintances and from political comrades-in-arms against these untenable hostilities from Benny Claessens. That was of great support for me. Thank you all very much!

What is this about? A Courage-Women, Zilli Quest, has written a book about her trip to Namibia. This book is directed against racism, advocates international friendship, reports on women’s projects, talks with world women and the struggle for daily bread.

This book was used by director Benny Clasessens in his production “White People’s Problems – The Evil Dead” at the Bochumer Schauspielhaus in September 2018 without the author’s knowledge and consent. In doing so, the book was used in its opposite meaning and falcified as a racist connotation.

The autor’s open letter to the theatre manager and to the director with the demand to stop this falsification immediately, remained unanswered. Even an invitation to discuss openly and factually on racism was left answered.

Instead, members of the theatre ensemble published untruths, twists and completely unobjective rantings on Facebook and in a local newspaper.

Finally, director Benny Claessens went one step further when, on October 16, 2019, on Instagram, he slandered the author Zilli Quest as the Hitler admirer “Leni Riefenstahl von der Ruhr” and insulted the author’s supporters as a “gang,” i.e., a criminal organization. The Shitstorm on Instagram was then escalated further by him and part of his fan community, which numbered around 2,600 subscribers, to a title of “stupid racist”, not to mention insults that I don’t want to repeat.

Director Benny Claessens thus proves his personally cowardly, shameful behavior and the bankruptcy of his political judgment.

But theese attacks by Benny Claessens are not just hitting only me. Rather a particular political tendency is expressed in that way. That political tendency is  rejecting  the joint solidarity, the common and political stand against racism but those tendency  replaces  the joint action with an individual-psychological look at your own  belly button and more.

See article: Women oppose the trivialisation of racism in the cultural sector