Nan Goldin: Never Again Means Never Again For Everyone

Nan Goldin’s speech at the opening of her exhibition This Will Not End Well at Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin is one for the history books.

Goldin starts by asking for a four minute silence and after that she begins her speech.
You can watch the video recording of the speech on About Social Arts and Adam Broomberg’s Instagram account, and you can read the transcribed version below.

Also for the history books, but for different reasons, during the general opening speech by the museum’s director Klaus Biesenbach before Nan Goldin came on, this happened. Monty Python vibes.

Iconic timing at the Nan Goldin opening in Berlin tonight: museum director Klaus Biesenbach passionately reaffirming the institution’s commitment to freedom of expression - just as its security staff quietly removed a protest banner right behind him.
— @hahauenstein

Still via Instagram

The four minutes you spent standing in silence represents one hundredth of a second for each of the 44,757 people killed in Palestine by Israeli forces. Half of them children, 10,000 of them buried under the rubble, and the 3516 people killed in Lebanon by Israeli forces, and the 815 Israeli civilians killed on October 7.

Were you uncomfortable?
I hope so. We need to feel uncomfortable, to feel our bodies under siege, even for a minute. Those are the official numbers. However, there is other reporting that the direct and indirect deaths from this war is closer to 186,000.

Why did I feel I have to talk tonight?
This is my lifetime retrospective. There is nothing in it from the past year and that's missing. The museum has kept its promise to allow me to talk, and I thank them, but they claim that my activism and my art are separate, even though that has never been the case. The last year has been Palestine and Lebanon for me. Since October 7, I found it hard to breathe. I feel the catastrophe in my body, but it's not in this show.

Why am I talking to you Germany?
Because tongues have been tied, gagged by the government, the police and the cultural crackdown. This is a city that we used to consider a refuge. Now over 180 artists, writers and teachers have been canceled since October 7, some for something as banal as a like on Instagram. Many of them Palestinian, 20% of them Jews.

Why am I talking here?
I decided to use this exhibition as a platform to amplify my position of moral outrage at the genocide in Gaza, in Lebanon. I saw my show as a test case. If an artist in my position is allowed to express their political stance without being canceled, I hope I'm paving a path for other artists to speak out without these being censored. I hope that's the result.

Why can't I speak Germany?
Criticism of Israel has been conflated with anti-Semitism. Anti-Zionism has nothing to do with anti-Semitism. This is a false equivalency used to maintain the occupation of Palestine and to suppress those who speak out. The word anti-Semitism has been weaponized. Its lost its meaning in declaring all criticism against Israel is anti-Semitic. It makes it harder to define and stop violent hatred against Jews. We are less safe.

Is that all Germany?
Meanwhile, Islamophobia is being ignored. The government's weaponization of anti-Semitism is being aimed at the Palestinian community in this country and those who speak out in support for them. Germany is home of the largest Palestinian diaspora in Europe. Yet protests are met with police dogs, deportations and stigmatization.

Are you listening Germany?
Yesterday, the highest criminal court in the world, the ICC, officially issued arrest warrants for Nethanyahu and Galant. For war crimes, of starvation as a method of warfare. For crimes against humanity. For the widespread and systematic attack of the civilian population of Gaza. The ICC is talking about genocide. The UN is talking about genocide. Even the Pope is talking about genocide. Yet, we're not supposed to call it a genocide.

Are you afraid to hear this Germany?
This is a war against children. Children are directly targeted, shot in the head. On average, a child was killed in Gaza every 10 minutes. They're intentionally destroying the next generation. The children who lose their entire families are asking to die.

What have you learned Germany?
My grandparents escaped progroms in Russia. I was brought up knowing about the Nazi Holocaust. What I see in Gaza reminds me of the progroms that my grandparents escaped. Never again means never again for everyone. Israel defines itself as the eternal victim, which means it can never be blamed, and so is incapable of victimizing others.

Why can't you hear this Germany?
There has been a genocide unfolding on our phones for the last 14 months in real time. The first genocide that's ever been live streamed. The heroic journalists are risking their lives to send us daily dispatches, even as they are targeted by bombs and drones. 137 journalists have been targeted and killed since October 7, mostly Palestinian. Israel doesn't want a record left.

What don't you see Germany?
We cannot look away. Can you imagine if it was possible to watch the war in Vietnam, the ethnic cleansing in Bosnia, or even the Holocaust live streamed on your phone? Would we have turned away? Even if we are incapable to capable to change what is going on, we need to bear witness, and we need to amplify the voices of the Palestinians. There is still an opportunity for the world to step in and stop this horror.

Why are you afraid to hear this Germany?
There is a total eradication of the conditions for life of an entire population. The Israeli generals have made their intentions clear, to mow the lawn. This is clearly ethnic cleansing. It was a land grab from the beginning. Most people have been displaced multiple times, and now they’re selling waterfront real estate on Palestinian land at synagogues in the US. The loss of civilian life has been intentional. If there was a terrorist in the tunnels of the New York subway system, would they drop the 2000 pound bomb on the entire subway?

Why can't you see this Germany?
It’s a domicide as well. 88% of homes have been destroyed in Gaza. Almost every Palestinian has been forcibly displaced. The entire infrastructure of Palestine has been destroyed, the hospitals, the schools, the universities, the libraries. It's also a cultural genocide.

Why can't you see this Germany?
In a country like Israel, where everyone is a soldier, extreme violence has become accepted. Cruelty and cynicism have become the norm. There are 1000s of hours of Tiktok videos of soldiers committing war crimes. They prosecute themselves, smashing of homes, dressing up in women's lingerie, celebrating burning villages, bragging of killing children. I'm talking to America. This slaughter would stop if the US stopped arming Israel. The US has spent $22 billion on military to aid to Israel. 69% of the weapons being used in this water are US made, and 30% come from Germany. I will not stop talking to you, America. This is not just an Israeli war, it's also an American war. Corporations are profiting wildly. Their stocks have skyrocketed as the US vetoes cease resolutions over and over.

Why am I talking?
Because advocating for human rights cannot be anti-Semitic, because I use words people here feel in danger to say, because Israel and Germany use the Holocaust and memory culture to manufacture innocence, because social media is shutting down pro-Palestinian voices, because of the intentional starvation of an entire population, because of the occupation of 75 years that has to be ended, because Lebanon is beginning to look like Gaza.

What do we need to do?
Millions of people around the world are screaming for a cease fire, for an arms embargo, but their governments are not listening. We need to demand an arms embargo. Meanwhile, it's time to stop policing our allies. If we're on the same side, we should support each other, even if we have different methods. Agree that our anger need to be channeled into action. The most important thing is to take to the streets. The more of us there are, the more of us, the more of us there are.