German city withdraws award to artist over his backing for BDS
Walid Raad will not get the Aachen Art Prize due to his political views, a month Dortmund withdrew a literary award to author Kamila Shamsie
The German city of Aachen nixed an award to a Lebanon-born artist after discovering that he is a supporter of the boycott Israel movement.
Walid Raad will not get the Aachen Art Prize due to his political views, the mayor said Monday. The prestigious prize comes with an award of approximately $10,900.
“According to research, we have to assume that the designated prizewinner is a supporter of the BDS movement and has been involved in various measures for the cultural boycott of Israel,” Mayor Marcel Philipp said in a statement, according to ARTnews.
The statement said that the contemporary media artist had been asked about his support for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement against Israel and that his reply had been “evasive.”
Raad currently lives in New York, where he teaches at the Cooper Union School of Art.
In May, Germany passed a resolution calling the BDS movement antisemitic, becoming the first major European parliament to do so.
In 2014, Raad signed a letter calling on artists to withdraw from an exhibition because it was being shown at Israel’s Technion Institute of Technology. More than 100 artists and intellectuals signed the letter organised by the BDS Arts Coalition.
Last month, the German city of Dortmund withdrew a literary award to British author Kamila Shamsie for her support of the boycott Israel movement.
Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.
For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.
Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.
You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.
100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...
Engaging
Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.
Celebrating
There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.
Pioneering
In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.
Campaigning
Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.
Easy access
In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.
Voice of our community to wider society
The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.
We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.
