The most revolutionary thing one can do is always to proclaim loudly what is happening.
~ Rosa Luxemburg
Being apolitical means being political without noticing it.
~ Rosa Luxemburg
I am generally a very political human being. My politics are guided by compassion for human people and a disdain for injustices, where the power belongs to the violent hateful ones, who use this power to crush the weak masses. Clearly this makes me oppose fascism and violence. I was raised in a household somewhere between liberal and socialist democratic views but I was always free to form my own opinions and come to my own conclusions. My observations quickly shaped my position: I saw people being mistreated on the basis of their identity, and I eventually knew that I would fight for them.
At the beginning however, I was a very apolitical kid. And I believe this is fine for a kid; children should learn and enjoy their lives, and some responsibilities fall upon the adults. However it is good that children educate themselves on history and current politics, so that they can use their knowledge to make informed decisions, when they are set free into society. But yeah eventually, around age 16 I started to get more involved in politics. And I think this is an acceptable age to start caring about such things! Children also have compassion and love for other humans but they don't have the wide understanding of the world and its complicated systems and relationships. But as they grow, they should become more political over time. This is all fine. In Austria here by the way, we are allowed to vote as early as 16 years old. This happened to align just about right with my experience in the world and my responsibility to make decisions. That's all cool!
What really impressed me politically were a few things in my young life:
It is a matter of fact that many of the great things we have in Austria and specifically Vienna were achieved through Socialist Democratic policies. Our then socialist democratic party, SPÖ, was responsible for the great public health system, great public transit system, cheap housing, and social security systems that make Vienna the worlds most liveable city and Austria a great country.
In university I was taught that everything is political, or at least has political connotations. Art implicitly embeds the political views of its creators, the political situation of the world influences what art is made. Analogously the same is true for scientific projects and any product, and any human action (or inaction) and the professors did a great job proving all of this with proof and real life examples. If you care about such things and want to study sciences in a socially conscious way, I recommend studying at the University of Technology in Vienna. They keep social and political context in mind, pretty much always.
Also in university, I first came across the second aforementioned quote by Rosa Luxemburg. Apoliticalness benefits and pushes the status quo. By not being political, you actively contribute to things being the same as they are or getting worse.
These three facts really shaped my political conscious. I strongly believe that socialist democracy is the form of government that supports justice and equality of chances the most, and that it is important that we move towards such an utopian state of being as a world.
Rosa Luxemburg was a massively important German political figure. A revolutionary who was not afraid to fight for the rights of the common people. A smart woman who understood the world and its power structures. Rosa Luxemburg was an unstoppable force of good, and a key figure in the establishing of socialist democratic parties in Europe. And she made it very clear: by staying silent, you empower the opressors in power around the world.
Fast forward to this recent controversy: Macklemore vs. Ed Sheeran and Robert Kraft. If you don't know what happened let me recap the events:
- 1.
The state of Israel has been founded, the legitimacy of which is subject of many debates: On the one hand, the land was promised to the jews as a safe haven as conpensation for the shoah and historic antisemitism. This land however was already inhabitated by the Palestinian peoples. From its founding on, the military of Israel has been violent and discriminatory against Palestinian peoples. Whether two seperate countries can be formed, one for Israeli people and one for Palestinian people, is a long standing subject of debate as well and we will not get into that in this blog post (I will make a seperate one if needed.) But all in all the truth is this: Israel is on stolen land and Israel keeps violently attacking Palestinian people.
- 2.
There is an ongoing genocide by Israel on the Palestinian people. There is an overwhelming amount of undeniable proof for this. People will call you antisemitic if you point this out, even though that is not true.
- 3.
Hamas committed a terrorist attack on one festival which has been tragic for sure but also blown way out of proportion and used by the current administration of Israel for the genocide that they have been doing before already. Things didn't start on the 7th of October. It happens to be that Hamas provided Israel with a perfect scapegoat for their genocide, but really the genocide is not and cannot be justified.
- 4.
Many artists all around the world call for attention on this ongoing genocide.
- 5.
Ed Sheeran and Macklemore tour the US together; Mack as Eds opening act. Cool.
- 6.
Macklemore takes responsibility. As an artist with a platform he speaks up at the concerts and calls for an end to the genocide. Rosa Luxemburg taught us that speaking up is the most revolutionary thing one can do. Macklemore was doing the human thing. Macklemore gave compassion and fought injustice. Macklemore also explicitly said that his ire is with the state of Israel and not with the jewish people.
- 7.
The current leader of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, of course insults Macklemore and calls him antisemitic. Well that simply is not how it works, Mr. Netanyahu.
- 8.
Robert Kraft, owner of several venues, threatens to cancel Ed Sheerans entire tour, should he keep Macklemore on the tour. Which is to say, Robert Kraft directly opposes justice and humanity and supports genocide.
- 9.
Ed Sheeran is under pressure now. Two sides stand at odds: one the one side, his friend and a pro human agenda, on the other side, his profits and a genocide. Human civilian lives versus his personal profits. Ed chose profits over lives by refusing to tarnish his "perfect apolitical image".
But here's the thing. We know from Rosa Luxemburg that apoliticalness over a genocide is complicitness in the genocide. Okay let's give Ed the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he isn't as educated and doesn't know about Rosa Luxemburg. (In which case, please please improve the UK education system. Thanks.) But it is clear that his friend Macklemore spoke up against a genocide. And Ed did not find it in his heart to say "yeah I agree, maybe we shouldn't be slaughtering innocent civilians". And that is a pretty huge fucking red flag.
And I get the desire to create escapist spaces. Despite everything being somewhat political, you can create safe spaces where you can recover from the daily stress and pressure of politics. That is fine. We all need to take breaks and we cannot afford to be at the front line the whole time. At home you can chill out on your couch and watch silly ol Minecraft letsplays putting the worrying about the future on hold. That is self care. That is alright. However it is important that people with significant reach talk about global issues to raise awareness. It is a matter of balance. A little bit of escapism and a little bit of politics. Noone is asking Ed to be political every single minute, he doesn't even need to say something every concert. But if the words "Free Palestine" within a concerts of multiple hours of escapism is already too much for your perfect image then buddy, you REALLY aren't doing your part. Society is a collective effort. I am a small entertainer myself and I use my platform. I speak up when I need tl, and provide plenty of escapism when needed. As a big artist you have a responsibility to be at least a little vocal. And if you aren't vocal yourself that's still somewhat acceptable if at least you do not actively silence your friends who do try to speak up.
Benjamin Netanjahu and every IDF soldier is GUILTY for the war crimes and genocide they commit.
Robert Kraft is GUILTY for silencing justice and supporting the genocide.
Ed Sheeran is GUILTY for staying silent during injustice and for silencing genocide and is thus also complicit in the genocide.
I do not think that Ed Sheeran is irredeemable, I think he has a chance to learn from this lesson (I will write a whole nother blog post soon about giving artists a chance at redemption) but as it stands, Ed Sheeran has blood on his hands. He could have avoided this blood on his hands by listening to good old Rosa Luxemburg.