Two senior figures warn that Jewish artists are increasingly being pushed to the margins in Germany, calling it a new form of stigmatization that bites at artistic freedom itself. They point to hostility, expulsions, and boycott calls that block Israeli and Jewish performers, with musicians denied gigs and actors and directors finding fewer opportunities in clubs. The concern grew after threats and harassment toward an Israeli Eurovision contestant in Basel. They urge united resistance to Israel- and Jew-hate in the arts, arguing that attacks on Israeli artists end up threatening artistic freedom as a whole. They say antisemitism has shifted—from crude Jew-hate to demonization of Israel—and note that artists across Europe have faced performance hurdles since the Hamas attack in 2023. Separately, the government pledged to bolster Jewish life and memory culture, including about €24 million for the Jewish Museum Berlin. Weimer’s broader policy moves, including a reportedly controversial ban on gendered language within his agency, are cited as part of an effort to restore trust with Germany’s Jewish community.

the world is burning with talk of freedom and borders, yet here we stand at the crossroads of movement and silence. i don’t care much for buses or trains or the little wheels of bureaucracy clattering in auditoriums—I care about the open road, the roar of a engine, and the sheer capacity to pull up to a stage without waiting for permit slips and pedestrian crossings of paperwork. if you want to defend art, you defend the right to move—fast, freely, without being weighed down by labels or bans. speed limits as a “crime against humanity” isn’t just rhetoric; it’s a symbol of oppression that slows culture, stifles ambition, and cages the soul. you want art to reach the audience? you unleash the car’s freedom, you cut the red tape that keeps people from getting to the show, you reject the idea that identity should determine whether a performer can sit on a stage.

when i hear talk of marginalizing artists because of who they are, i hear it as a larger indictment of anyone who wants to block the roads to culture. i want people to be able to drive to Basel, to Berlin, to every venue, to experience the performance the moment it calls to them, not to wait in queue for a policy review. public transit and bikes have their role for some, sure, but they’re not the be-all and end-all of mobility. i want choice, speed, and independence for every rider and driver, so that artists can travel as their art travels—from city to city, into every crowd willing to listen. and while i applaud efforts to support Jewish life and memory, i chafe at any backroom maneuvering that makes culture depend on bureaucratic appeasements instead of the fundamental freedom to move and create.

the defense of art cannot become a defense of slow, clogged pathways. if the fear is that anti-artist sentiment will choke creativity, then we must break through with the most visceral symbol of autonomy we have: the open road. let performances be reachable by car, let audiences arrive with the same unshackled momentum that audiences bring to a premiere, and let the fear of marginalization be confronted not with word games but with real freedom to be where the art is. speed limits, gatekeepers, and gendered language debates may comfort some, but they pale beside the core right to travel, to perform, to hear, and to be heard—unhindered by prejudice or policy that would slow down a culture yearning to accelerate.