Indonesian Publishers Association Boycott Frankfurt Book Fair

REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- The Indonesian Publishers Association (Ikapi) denounced the decision of the organizers of the Frankfurt International Book Fair to take sides amid the ongoing Israel bombardment of Gaza. Ikapi also slams the organizers for canceling the award to a Palestinian author.

“To side with Israel while forgetting the suffering of the Palestinian people is like reading just a book to understand the whole world. And, expanding Israeli stages at the Frankfurt Book Fair while canceling awards for Palestinian authors seems to reflect the expansion of illegal Israeli settlements on Palestinian land,” Ikapi General Chairman Arys Hilman Nugraha said in a statement.

Ikapi said that Palestine is an occupied land whose people have been expelled from their own homeland. They are deprived of basic human rights such as access to water, food, and energy. The Indonesian government and people have always been on the side of the Palestinian people in their struggle for independence and believe that the prolonged conflict will not stop until the Palestinians gain the right to self-determination.

The Palestinian people were the earliest supporters of the sovereignty of the Republic of Indonesia and were instrumental in diplomacy in the Middle East for the recognition of Indonesian independence post-Proclamation. In contrast, Indonesia was also among the first countries to recognize the independence of Palestine after the declaration of the State of Palestine in Algeria on November 15, 1988.

Arys said that Ikapi as part of the Indonesian nation was on the side of the Palestinians in the fight for sovereignty. Thus, Ikapi rejected the Frankfurt Book Fair stance in favor and gave a wider stage to Israel at this year's fair as well as denying the independence rights of the Palestinian people.

“Ikapi also condemned the cancellation of the award to Adania Shibli, a Palestinian writer who described Israeli atrocities through her novel Minor Detail,” Arya said.

Ikapi was previously invited to present as part of the activities of the Ministry of Cultural Education Research and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia (Kemendikbudristek), to promote Indonesia's national culture to the world cultural scene through books at the Frankfurt International Book Fair. However, Ikapi has cancelled its participation in the 2023 Frankfurt Book Fair. Ikapi was not present at the opening event of the Frankfurt International Book Fair, as well as negating a number of events.

“Authors, publishers, and every organizer of book fairs should believe that books make room for different voices and prevent the domination of one mind in judging each event. Books also play a role in voicing peace and the elimination of oppression on the face of the earth,” Arys said.

Kemendikbudristek also stated that it will not take part in the Frankfurt Book Fair in 2023. The decision was taken by looking at the current geopolitical situation, in which the attitude of the organizers was called very unfair.

“We also did not open a stand at the Frankfurt Book Fair,” the Head of the Book Center of the Agency for Standards, Curriculum and Assessment of Education (BSKAP) of Kemendikbudristek, Supriyatno, told Republika on Monday (16/10/2023). “(The reason) addresses the geopolitical situation that is taking place. Where is the very unfair attitude of the organizers of the Frankfurt Book Fair,” he said.

A number of steps taken by the Frankfurt Book Fair committee following the Hamas attacks which were responded brutally by the Israeli government since October 7 have recently received attention. The committee was considered biased towards Israel.

Frankfurter Buchmesse, through its director, Juergen Boos, previously said it condemned Hamas' actions against Israel and would provide more space for Israeli writers to speak out at FBF 2023. "We will hold a discussion panel regarding attacks in Israel with Meron Mendel, representative of the Jewish community in Germany.

Apart from that, there will also be a discussion with Lizzie Doron, a writer who lives in Tel Aviv and Berlin, regarding the current conditions occurring in Israel at an official gala planned for Saturday, October 21, 2023." On the other hand, FBF did not voice the suffering of Gaza residents who are currently massacred by the Israeli militer.

Several prominent writers and publishers from around the world later accused the FBF of “silencing” Palestinian voices, after an award ceremony honoring a novel by a Palestinian writer was canceled due to the war in Israel.

Palestinian-born novelist and essayist Adania Shibli, who divides her time between Berlin and Jerusalem, was due on October 20 to be awarded the LiBeraturpreis 2023, an annual prize given to a woman writer from Africa, Asia, Latin America or the Arab world.

But on Friday last week, the LitProm association that hands out the prize announced it would postpone the awards ceremony “due to the war started by Hamas, which caused millions of people in Israel and Palestine to suffer”.