Women opposing trivialisation of racism in the cultural sector

By Leave a comment

This report serves as summary of the controversy so far on the falsification of my Namibia book, trivialisation of racism and slander by director Benny Claessens. All my contributions are listed under the register Cultural Criticism in this magazine.

 

Many statements of solidarity asked about the reason or the motive of the scandalous attack by director Benny Claessens on Namibia book author Zilli Quest.

The falsification of white skin anti-racists into racists is based on the view of the American sociologist DiAngelo, who defines racism as an internalized, i.e. unconscious attitude, which is in every white person.

The way to explain and combat racism as the individual psychological path of the individual has two harmful effects: The actual perpetrators of oppression and racism are taken out of the line of fire. And: the united, joint stand of whites and people of color against racism is torpedoed.

The ever-growing dissatisfaction in Germany and the world with the prevailing conditions because of poorly paid work, oppression and wars against other peoples is redirected into racism by the powerful through the media. Fuelling fears of refugees, among others, is sad proof of how racism is used as a lightning conductor in the sense of “divide and rule” by the mighty.

White people are supposed to need the schoolmastership of the intellectual elite. People of Color are assigned the victim role and anti-racist whites are explained that they are racists, unable to recognize this without elites.

So the freedom of art in theatre is transformed from an instrument of enlightenment, inspiration and help for working people into a ridiculous and vain proclamation of intellectual arrogance that must not be allowed to stand still.

In an Instagram post on 16 October 2019, Benny Claessens put the author on the level of Hitler admirer and filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl, insulted the author as a “racist idiot” and her comrades-in-arms as a “gang”, i.e. a criminal or semi-criminal gang.

The women’s movement, which is working against racism and for international friendship, will criticize the falsification and trivialization of racism as an “internalized attitude of whites”, reject the resulting division of the common struggle of whites and People of Color against racism, and replace intrigue, cowardice and bullying by an open, objective and critical discussion.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

n/a