Source: Commentary
by Seth Mandel
“The author Arundhati Roy is boycotting the Berlinale film festival because organizers have suggested that artists should not be compelled to talk about politics. This would seem to be unobjectionable: free speech should also apply to artists who don’t want to let reporters troll them into a political controversy …. A group of 81 actors and other festival participants — among them Tilda Swinton and Javier Bardem — signed an open letter hitting back at the Berlinale and making clear what this fight is really about: ‘Berlinale has so far not even met the demands of its community to issue a statement that affirms the Palestinian’ narrative of the war, the statement complained. More to the point, the letter warned: ‘The tide is changing across the international film world. Many international film festivals have endorsed the cultural boycott of apartheid Israel.’ Ah, there we are. Actors want an anti-Jewish blacklist. In the name of free speech and anti-fascism.” (02/17/26)
https://www.commentary.org/seth-mandel/the-free-speech-advocates-who-love-blacklists/