Dhe Berlin party scene thrives on an illusion. In other global cities, according to Roy S., only people with money party to electronic music. About Berlin, where admission, drinks and drugs have always been comparatively cheap, S. says: “As soon as you enter the club, identities become blurred.” When Elon Musk and recipients of citizenship go to the same toilet, status doesn’t matter. When Syrian refugees conquer the hearts of students from the DJ booth, techno creates integration. Everyone wants the same sound. The same rush. “That’s part of the magic,” says S. Anyone who goes out to party in Berlin merges into an inclusive utopia.
October 7th shattered this dream, and anyone who wants to understand why the scene is currently being torn apart should meet Roy S. A kosher delicatessen in Berlin-Charlottenburg, where the event organizer wants to pick up more than 1,300 Hamantaschen: a triangular-shaped pastry that is served on the Jewish holiday of Purim. Every guest should get one on March 23rd at the “Karneval de Purim,” an institution in Berlin’s nightlife that S. invented ten years ago as a student party. The costume club night has about as much to do with cultural tradition as techno parties on Halloween or Carnival. Nevertheless, it has become a political issue. Because the club scene has an anti-Semitism problem.
45-year-old Roy S. has lived in Germany for 14 years. Like many left-wing Israelis, he is a harsh critic of his country's politics. He mentions Benjamin Netanyahu in the same breath as Vladimir Putin. At the height of tensions between Israel and Iran, he and an Iranian friend organized parties with the programmatic title “No Beef”: celebrations to overcome political divides.
Because Roy S. is afraid of publicity, he doesn't want to read his last name in the newspaper. But it annoys him that his industry has recently labeled him a Jewish organizer. That it's all about who he is and no longer about what he does. And that three forms of anti-Semitism have been spreading in the club world since October 7th, which he describes as follows:
First, there is the great silence. Of course, says S., you can't expect the party scene to take a stand every time there is a terrorist act. “But the fact that an electronic music festival was attacked would normally have caused a huge ripple in the scene.”
A music festival was attacked – the party scene is silent
After fatal shootings in clubs in Florida and Mexico, there has been a flood of expressions of concern in the past. However, after the excessive brutality at the Supernova Festival on October 7th with a multiple number of deaths – nothing. If anything – secondly – rather sober reports in order to immediately place the carnage in the historical context of the Middle East conflict. Thirdly – “most astonishing” – the blatant support that reinterpreted the terrorist attack as resistance.
A few examples: The Berlin Club Commission, the scene's official association, published a half-hearted statement in which Hamas was not named as the aggressor. Of all people, the “awareness” representative of the club commission – responsible for “safe spaces” in nightlife – attracted attention with social media posts that glorified the aggression. The organizers of the renowned Berlin Atonal music festival joined an international strike call for the Palestinian cause just on the “Day of Rage” declared by Hamas.
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