OPEN LETTER IN SUPPORT OF OUR COLLEAGUE KAMILA SHAMSIE

It is with dismay that we learned of the decision of the City of Dortmund to rescind the Nelly
Sachs Award for Literature from Kamila Shamsie because of her stated commitment to the
nonviolent Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement for Palestinian rights.

As a statement by more than forty progressive Jewish organizations says, “dangerously

[conflating] anti-Jewish racism with opposition to Israel’s policies and system of occupation
and apartheid ... undermines both the Palestinian struggle for freedom, justice and equality
and the global struggle against antisemitism. It also serves to shield Israel from being held
accountable to universal standards of human rights and international law.”

In Germany, the attacks on BDS are among the most fierce. In May of 2019 the German
Bundestag passed a motion labelling the movement as antisemitic. Yet this week the
Administrative Court of Cologne became the third court in the country to rule in favour of the
right to boycott.

In its ruling the court wrote: “The motions of the Bonn City Council ... and the German
Bundestag (17 May 2019), do not constitute legislative acts but are political resolutions or
expressions of political will. These motions alone cannot justify, from any legal perspective,
the restriction of an existing legal right.”

Yet in the same week, the City of Dortmund chose to punish an author for her human rights
advocacy while simultaneously refusing to make public her statement, written on learning of
the decision.

So we publish Kamila Shamsie’s statement here:

“In the just-concluded Israeli elections, Benjamin Netanyahu announced plans to annex up to one
third of the West Bank, in contravention of international law, and his political opponent Benny
Gantz’s objection to this was that Netanyahu had stolen his idea; this closely followed the killing of
two Palestinian teenagers by Israeli forces - which was condemned as ‘appalling’ by the UN Special
Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process. In this political context, the jury of the Nelly Sachs
prize has chosen to withdraw the award from me on the basis of my support for a non-violent
campaign to bring pressure on the Israeli government. It is a matter of great sadness to me that a
jury should bow to pressure and withdraw a prize from a writer who is exercising her freedom of
conscience and freedom of expression; and it is a matter of outrage that the BDS movement
(modelled on the South African boycott) that campaigns against the government of Israel for its
acts of discrimination and brutality against Palestinians should be held up as something shameful
and unjust.”

What is the meaning of a literary award that undermines the right to advocate for human rights,
the principles of freedom of conscience and expression and the freedom to criticize? Without
these art and culture become meaningless luxuries.

September 23, 2019

Signed,
Khalid Abdalla Teju Cole
Alaa Abd el-Fattah Michael Collier
Sharif Abdel Kouddous Irene Cooper
Nadia Abu el-Haj Cindy Corrie
Diana Abu-Jaber Craig Corrie
Susan Abulhawa Molly Crabapple
Lila Abu-Lughod Selma Dabbagh
Maan Abu Taleb William Dalrymple
Ammiel Alcalay Najwan Darwish
Kazim Ali Katy Derbyshire
Nir Alon Kiran Desai
Hanan Al-Shayk Natalie Diaz
Carlos Manuel Álvarez Laurence Dreyfus
Suad Amiry Marlene Dumas
Tahmima Anam Hilda Dunn
Sinan Antoon Geoff Dyer
Lisa Appignanesi Barbara Ehrenreich
Nicole Aragi Ben Ehrenreich
Arnold Aronson Deborah Eisenberg
Elsa Auerbach Inua Ellams
Zeina Azzam Pary El-Qalqili
Kafah Bachari Annie Ernaux
Sunandini Banerjee Brian Eno
Frank Barat Nick Estes
Mourid Barghouti Richard Falk
Josh Begley Rose Fenton
Joel Beinin Sylvia Finzi
Linda Benedikt Erica Fischer
Phyllis Bennis Adam Foulds
Susan Bernofsky Maureen Freely, Chair, English PEN
Omar Berrada Duranya Freeman
Dwayne Betts John Freeman
Akeel Bilgrami Ru Freeman
Nicholas Blincoe Esther Freud
Leah Borromeo Ruth Fruchtman
Brian Boyd Tess Gallagher
Victoria Brittain Cristina Garcia
Virginia Brown Tomer Gardi
Simone Browne Suzanne Gardinier
Jehan Bseiso Apoorva Gautam
Victoria Adukwei Bulley Ashish George
John Burnside Ralph Ghoche
Margaret Busby Noelle Ghoussaini
Diana Buttu Eileen Gillooly
Carmen Callil Georgina Godwin
Juan Cárdenas David Gorin
Zeynep Celik Oscar Guardiola-Rivera
Hayan Charara Abdulrazak Gurnah
Amit Chaudhuri Subhi Hadidi
Anne Chisholm, Vice President, Royal Rawi Hage
Society of Literature Omar Robert Hamilton
Noam Chomsky Yasmeen Hanoosh
Susannah Clapp Jeremy Harding
Jennifer Clement, President PEN Githa Hariharan
International Joseph Harris
JM Coetzee Rodrigo Hasbún
Iris Hefets Khaled Mattawa
Jehan Helou Farid Matuk
Mischa Hiller Nyla Matuk
Marianne Hirsch Colum McCann
Jane Hirschmann John McCarthy
Elizabeth Hodges Tom McCarthy
Rachel Holmes Fiona McCrae
Amy Horowitz Sarah McNally
Jennifer Ruth Hosek Askold Melnyczuk
Jean Howard Helaine Meisler
Aamer Hussein Maaza Mengiste
Kim Jensen Ritu Menon
Ruth-Ellen B. Joeres Christopher Merrill
Lucy Jones Lina Meruane
Fady Joudah Brinkley Messick
Louis Kampf Claire Messud
Remi Kanazi China Miéville
Brigid Keenan Gail Miller
AL Kennedy Pankaj Mishra
Omar el Khairy W. J. T. Mitchell
Mona Khalidi Nadifa Mohamed
Rashid Khalidi Aja Monet
Hannah Khalil Jenny Morgan
Shamus Khan Benjamin Moser
Naveen Kishore Michel Moushabek
Naomi Klein Jack Murchie
Alexander Kluge Nancy Murray
Nancy Kricorian Eileen Myles
Hari Kunzru Karma Nabulsi
Rachel Kushner Karthika Naïr
Olivia Laing Mary Jane Nealon
Nick Laird Marilyn Kleinberg Neimark
Laila Lalami Marcy Newman
Léopold Lambert Donna Nevel
Patrick Langley Viet Thanh Nguyen
Paul Lauter Lulu Norman
Paul Laverty Naomi Shihab Nye
Kiese Laymon John Oakes
Mason Leaver-Yap Andrew O’Hagan
Marie Myung-Ok Lee Richard Ohmann
Ben Lerner Ben Okri
Alan Levine Michael Ondaatje
Richard A. Levy Susie Orbach
Ken Loach Ursula Owen
Zachary Lockman David Palumbo-Liu
Claudia Castro Luna Nii Ayikwei Parkes
Ruth Luschnat William Parry
Sabrina Mahfouz Shailja Patel
Jamal Mahjoub Ian Patterson
Lori Marso Ed Pavlic
Yann Martel Jeremy Pikser
Dave Mason Shahina Piyarali
Ahmed Masoud Sheldon Pollock
Zeinab Masud Vijay Prashad
Diana Matar Paul B Preciado
Hisham Matar Alexandra Pringle
Rania Qawasmah Carles Torner, Executive Director of PEN
Shazea Quraishi International
Charles Rice-Gonzalez Salil Tripathi, Chair of the Writers in Prison
Cynthia Rimsky Committee for PEN International
Bruce Robbins Monique Truong
Sally Rooney Jennifer Tseng
Constancia Dinky Romilly Chika Unigwe
Jacqueline Rose Tanya Ury
Andrew Ross Karen Van Dyck
Alice Rothchild Lawrence Venuti
Pru Rowlandson Margo Viscusi
Bee Rowlatt Gauri Viswanathan
Arundhati Roy Ocean Vinh Vuong
Joe Sacco Dirk Wanrooij
Nayantara Sahgal Roger Waters
Mariam C. Said Marina Warner
Rebecca Saletan Terry Weber
Preeta Samarasan Eliot Weinberger
Sapphire Irvine Welsh
Shuchi Saraswat Ben White
George Saunders Mabel Wilson
James Schamus Jeanette Winterson
Sarah Schulman Jacqueline Woodson
Felicity Scott Jay G Ying
Stephen Sedley, Sir Mona Younis
Karen Seeley Haifa Zangana
Gamini Seneviratne Dorothy M. Zellner
Rachel Shabi Alia Trabucco Zerán
Elhum Shakerifar
Anton Shammas
Solmaz Sharif
Adam Shatz
Raja Shehadeh
Farhana Sheikh
Jack Shenker
Adania Shibli
Ahmad Shirazi
Ann Shirazi
Avi Shlaim
Marc Siegel
Rick Simonson
Tom Sleigh
Gillian Slovo
Nirit Sommerfeld
Ahdaf Soueif
Linda Spalding
Gloria Steinem
Amy Kepple Strawser
William Sutcliffe
Billie Swift
Janne Teller
Kate Tempest
Jacques Testard
Madeleine Thien
TC Tolbert