On May 5, Vienna’s public gathered at Judenplatz in the first district to hear Israeli philosopher Omri Boehm’s Address to Europe, the third in a series following Oleksandra Matviychuk (2023) and Timothy Snyder (2019).
The square was packed, curious to hear what Boehm, known as an Israeli maverick and creative intellectual, had to say about Israel’s war on Gaza.
Some people had already decided that the speech would not suit them: Vienna’s Jewish community (Israel Kultusgemeinde) had campaigned for its cancellation; the former president of the Kultusgemeinde, Ariel Musicant (now interim president of the European Jewish Congress), even said that he would have come to the speech “if he were 30 years younger.”Throwing eggs at Boehm‘.
But the city of Vienna allowed the speech to go ahead – sans the eggs, but with a row of protesters standing in front of the stage with their backs to the speaker, blocking the view with pro-Israel and anti-Hamas placards.
But those hoping for a political speech from the philosopher will be disappointed: although Boehm explicitly condemned Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians, he chose to focus more on the roots of European tolerance of the violence perpetrated by both sides.
If there is one truly controversial point, it is his claim that such tolerance stems from a set of moral assumptions held not just by liberal centrists but also by the postcolonial left.
Boehm argued that the universalist belief in the unconditionality of human dignity is undermined by two tendencies: first, the tendency to instrumentalize the memory of historical crimes for state and political ends, and second, the tendency, especially among former European victims, to accept the subordinatement of justice and human rights to state sovereignty.
According to this interpretation, Europe’s position towards Israel must be based on reason and justice, not on historical arguments (whether notions of atonement or the view that any means are justified), even and especially when it challenges Europe’s deepest commitments and interests.
This speech was great because no one was immune to criticism. You can read the full text here.
Also noteworthy among Eurozine’s recent articles is Samuel Abraham’s incisive analysis of political developments in Slovakia leading up to the May 15th assassination attempt on Robert Fico.
The article was written while the Slovak prime minister was still recuperating, and warned that Fico’s actions upon his return would be crucial. That warning now rings louder: On June 20, the populist-nationalist majority in the Slovak parliament voted to close the country’s public broadcaster and replace it with what is expected to be a government propaganda outlet.
