Published
Tue, Jun 22, 2021, 17:35
- The decision is part of a wider campaign—which launched today—called Berlin Nightlife Workers Against Apartheid.
Berlin party Buttons is leaving its long-running home, ://about blank, over the club's pro-Israel views.
"We have come to the overdue realization that we can no longer continue our working relationship with ://about blank," the Buttons crew posted via Facebook earlier today, June 22nd. They added that it was time "we take a clear stance against apartheid," in reference to the ongoing human rights abuses perpetrated by Israeli forces against Palestinians.
Located in Friedrichshain, ://about blank has been accused of being anti-Deutsch, the German anti-nationalist movement noted for its staunchly pro-Israel politics. (Read more about the movement in this piece from 2018.)
Buttons' statement continued: "While we have shared compatible viewpoints when it comes to anti-nationalism, anti-capitalism and anti-fascism, those same anti-Deutsch views are, on the subject of Palestine, reflexively in favour of all actions of the Israeli state to the point of silencing both Jewish and Palestinian voices, with a vociferousness that calls those broader anti-nationalist, anti-racist, and anti-fascist commitments into question."
Buttons' decision is part of a wider campaign, which launched today, called Berlin Nightlife Workers Against Apartheid. Nightlife workers who support the cause are encouraged to read and sign the group's open letter, which you can read below.
In 2018, ://about blank cut ties with another party, Room 4 Resistance, after the party showed solidarity with the social media campaign #DJsForPalestine.
Buttons has been running at ://about blank since 2016. The party evolved out of another party, HOMOPATIK, which also ran at ://about blank.
Read Buttons' post in full.
Here is the post by Berlin Nightlife Workers Against Apartheid.
Correction, September 1st: A previous version of this article called ://about blank a pro-Israel and anti-Deutsch club and collective. But these are merely allegations. On its website—which was updated in response to Buttons' statement—://about blank defines itself as neither entirely pro-Israel nor anti-Deutsch.