The Academy of Fine Arts cancels a scheduled lesson. Malm’s stance on Israel caused a stir.
The Vienna Academy of Fine Arts canceled the appearance of Swedish climate activist Andreas Malm scheduled for October 19 after the protests. Malm was to deliver a lecture as part of the university’s climate action day, which included many events, and then take part in a discussion led by Chancellor Johan F. Hartle. However, the protests were not against his radical stance on climate terrorism, but on the question of Israel.
Human ecologist Malm, who teaches at Lund University, has been controversial with his thesis on the need for climate activism that does not avoid property damage, at least from his book “How to Blow Up a Gas Pipeline – Learning to fight in a world on fire, “also published in German last year, is said to have praised Islamist Hamas at past events and described Israel as a” Zionist entity “. In doing so, “apparently questioned Israel’s right to exist,” Eva Blimlinger, former rector of the visual arts and spokesperson for Green culture, commented in “Standard”. “The days of climate protection and climate action must pass without anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism”.
Internal circular mail
Last week, in a “Standard” comment, Chancellor Hartle called Malm’s position on Israel and Palestine “wrong and dangerous”: “This position is not the position of the Academy. It is not even my position.” However, this is not a reason to undo a debate on his much-discussed theses on various forms of activism and their legitimacy in relation to the climate catastrophe. “Anyone who wants debates in which there is no ambivalence, really does not want any at all.” On Tuesday afternoon, however, the cancellation of the appointment, which had been decided together with Malm, was communicated with an internal e-mail circular.
“There have been strong objections. The speech has changed and has developed momentum of its own with reprimands and accusations,” Hartle explained in the cancellation, who was trying to “avoid reputational damage.” “We want to focus on discussing the climate problem. It wouldn’t have been possible anymore.” According to Malm, it would be the first time that a show on climate issues had been criticized or had to be canceled due to its Israeli-Palestinian positions. Malm’s appearance was controversially discussed within the academy, but “the interventions mainly came from outside,” Hartle stressed, but he also made it clear that the ministry had no influence: “We decided that. independently.
Replacement solution before finalization
The Malm conference “A Ceaseless Drive: Structural Forces behind Climate Disaster and How to Fight Them” scheduled for 6:15 pm in the Academy auditorium on Schillerplatz on October 19 and the subsequent discussion have been canceled. However, a replacement solution for this element of the program is about to be finalized. In any case, issues of climate activism and criticism of capitalism would be discussed, Hartle said.
The action day will take place on October 19 starting at 10 am in the Academy building in Schillerplatz, in the Secession Garden and in Eschenbachgasse and is part of a reference month in which the Academy, as a “training oriented structure to the future “, it will fulfill its” role as a bearer of social transformation and a place of experimentation “. The goal of the action day is to “further deepen the internal learning and design process on sustainability issues and invite the public to participate,” the announcement states. “With workshops, conferences, discussions, mobile solar kitchens, workshops and various artistic actions, considerations on sustainable action, civil disobedience and alternative forms of appropriation of public spaces are negotiated.”
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