17 Nov 2024
We would like to briefly address our own situation as a 25 year-old festival which grew out of DIY roots in 90s Berlin, and has received structural funding from the state of Berlin for the last six years. Throughout the years we have aimed to use our work and privileges to help foster safer spaces and support the visibility of sounds and cultural practices from different communities and perspectives in Europe and around the world. As a music festival we believe that art and culture provide valuable spaces for encounters and reflection, and we remain dedicated to keeping such spaces open to negotiate our differences with mutual respect. This mission remains especially important as the political climate in Germany turns ever more difficult.
For over a year we have been watching with horror the unrelenting violence in Gaza, Israel, the West Bank, and now Lebanon unfold. We find ourselves, like so many, appalled by the war crimes and the catastrophic levels of destruction in this war. Yet, the immense and tragic loss of civilian life continues, despite numerous and repeated calls by various coalitions across civil society petitioning the German and other world governments to uphold the international rule of law. We are frustrated by the lack of decisive political action by the German government, state institutions, and political parties, and their failure to stand up for the protection of Palestinian and Israeli civilian lives equally. As a country with an unparalleled genocidal history, Germany has a special responsibility to uphold the principle of full and equal rights for all. This responsibility also includes actively opposing the ongoing violence in Gaza, Lebanon, and the West Bank, advocating for the protection of all civilians, drastically increasing humanitarian aid, and stepping up efforts towards a just peace.
Instead, political responses in Germany have created an increasingly repressive climate, further amplifying polarisation and leading to cancellations, and self-censorship. Meanwhile extremism, antisemitism, anti-muslim hate, and racism are alarmingly on the rise nationally.
As cultural workers in Berlin we have faced the introduction of a so-called anti-discrimination clause which we firmly rejected together with a large number of Berlin cultural organisations, workers, and artists, and which was eventually removed in early 2024. Last week the German Parliament passed the resolution »Never Again is Now: Protect, Preserve, and Strengthen Jewish Life in Germany,« despite widespread criticism. While we welcome political initiatives that are committed to protecting minorities and preventing racism, antisemitism, anti-muslim hate, and all forms of discrimination or ideologies of inequality, in its current form, this resolution will among other increase social rifts and threaten freedom of opinion, of art, and of science. We invite you to read our statement on the resolution.
The current political developments in our home, Berlin, as well as in Germany and beyond, show once again how easily spaces like the one we aim to create every year anew, can be threatened or even lost. Current attempts to exert greater political influence on art and culture are setting dangerous precedents, not least as they play into the hands of the extreme right whose desire for antidemocratic censorship is evident. Freedom of art and freedom of expression are among the highest constitutional rights. These freedoms are of utmost importance to an open and democratic society, and to a music festival like ours. Rather than pushing for legally doubtful and socially divisive measures of coercion, we need politicians to trust in the ability of civil society and cultural organisations to act responsibly in countering discrimination, hatred, and extremist ideologies.
CTM 2025 will take place amid these complex circumstances. In the current climate, awareness and the conversations around it become ever more important. Free and open expression across borders, cultures, and disciplines can only take place in mutual respect and on a foundation of non-negotiable pre-conditions: the rejection of any form of discrimination, and of any incitement to and trivialisation of violence. We invite you to consult our code of conduct as a backbone to making our events as welcoming to everyone as possible.
We hope that a festival such as CTM can serve as a space to come together and mutually forge stronger links and visions for better days ahead. We are looking forward to (re)connecting with you this January and February 2025!
The CTM Team