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Ranjit Hoskote, wrongly accused of anti-semitism, resigns from Documenta ’16 finding committee

Nov 16, 2023 07:42 AM IST

The petition decried Zionism as a “racist ideology calling for a settler-colonial, apartheid state where non-Jews have unequal rights” and called for “democratic and progressive forces in India to align their struggles with that of the Palestinians

Mumbai: Ranjit Hoskote, Mumbai-based curator, writer and art critic, resigned from the finding committee for the upcoming Documenta 16 in Germany after the country’s culture minister Claudia Roth threatened to withdraw state funding for the global art event, and called a 2019 statement to which Hoskote was a signatory “clearly anti-semitic”. The statement resurfaced in an article published by a German daily in an article last week.

Ranjit Hoskote, wrongly accused of anti-semitism, resigns from Documenta ’16 finding committee
Ranjit Hoskote, wrongly accused of anti-semitism, resigns from Documenta ’16 finding committee

On November 9, Suddeutsche Zeitung published a piece referring to a petition circulated by BDS, a coalition of Palestinian civil society — BDS refers to Boycott Divestment Sanction, a multi-pronged strategic intervention towards Israel for its occupation of Palestinian territory — which criticised the Israeli Consulate for an event it had organised on August 26, 2019 in Mumbai titled, Leaders idea of nation in the context of Zionism and Hindutva.

The petition decried Zionism as a “racist ideology calling for a settler-colonial, apartheid state where non-Jews have unequal rights” and called for “democratic and progressive forces in India to align their struggles with that of the Palestinians”. The poster of the event, co-organised by a little-known group called Indo-Israel Friendship Association showcased the photos of Theodor Herzl and VD Savarkar.

“My reason for signing this petition was because the event clearly posited an equivalence between Herzl and Savarkar, and was intended to develop intellectual respectability for an alliance between Zionism and Hindutva. I found this highly ironic, since Savarkar was known to be an admirer of Hitler and openly expressed his admiration for Nazi ideology and methods, which he proposed as a model for a Hindu-majoritarian India to follow, especially with regard to the treatment of the religious minorities. No member of the German commentariat who denounced me has asked herself or himself why the Israeli Consulate General thought it appropriate to equate Zionism with Hindutva in the first place,” Hoskote’s resignation letter, dated November 12, stated.

The German daily accused Hoskote, a noted progressive whose views against the impact of fascism and authoritarian regimes are notable through his writings as much as through his art practice, of BDS sympathies and anti-Semitism.

The Finding Committee of Documenta 16 consisted of five international experts in contemporary art besides Hoskote, including Bracha Lichtenberg Ettinger, Gong Yan, Simon Njami, Kathrin Rhomberg, and María Inés Rodríguez. Ettinger resigned from the committee earlier this month stating that Israel was enduring “dark times.” The e-Flux Notes, a website for art-related news, which published Hoskote’s resignation letter stated that Documenta was to ensure that the members of the new Finding Committee, and particularly the next artistic director(s), held no BDS sympathies.

“I wish to restate that I have the highest regard for the Jewish people, and have always had the deepest empathy with their historic sufferings and admiration for their glorious cultural achievements. This is evident in my essays, my lectures and my books. I am appalled by the accusation that I am anti-Semitic, and the suggestion that I am in need of instruction on this sensitive subject,” wrote Hoskote in his resignation.

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