Hanif withdrew in protest against the disinvitation of Palestinian poet and activist Mohammed El-Kurd.
The withdrawal of an invitation to Palestinian poet and activist Mohammed El-Kurd from a conference organised by Goethe Institute in Hamburg, Germany, has drawn a sharp reaction from British-Pakistani writer Mohammed Hanif, who announced his own withdrawal from the conference as a mark of protest on Tuesday.
In a tweet, Hanif, author of Red Birds (2018), Our Lady of Alice Bhatti (2011), A Case of Exploding Mangoes (2008), wrote, “Withdrawing from @goerheinstut’s Hamburg conference where they first invited and then disinvited Palestinian journalist and poet Mohammed El Kurd. Reason is even more offensive. Apparently Kurd is not respectful enough towards Israel. How do you say bugger off in German?”
Scheduled to be held from June 23 to 26, the “Beyond the Lone Offender – Dynamics of the Global Right” summit intends to “focus on the impact of far-right movements and their global entanglements.” In a series of tweets on June 17, the Goethe Institute in Hamburg announced its decision to disinvite El-Kurd. “After some consideration, the Goethe-Institut decided that Mohammed El-Kurd was not an appropriate speaker for this forum: in previous posts on social media, he had made several comments about Israel in a way the Goethe-Institute does not find acceptable.”
Reacting to the withdrawal and announcing his own decision to boycott the conference, Hanif wrote in another tweet, “Mohammed El Kurd’s house was taken over by settlers when he was elven (sic). Kurd and his sister Muna have been protesting since they were children. Haven’t read much Goethe but I don’t think he wanted the world to be respectful towards a ruthless apartheid regime.” Hanif was supposed to speak on the “dynamics of right-wing structures” at the conference.
