Archivio Conz Requests REPLICA to Remove Poems Expressing Peace and Solidarity with Palestinians

We regret to announce the cancellation of An Arrow Against the Tank, an intervention that was to take place on July 24 at Archivio Conz in Berlin. We, the artists involved in the project, Sicilian Antigroup: a translocal study, supported by the Italian Council (12th edition, 2023), decided to instead carry out an action of protest to demonstrate against the censorship we experienced from Archivio Conz. Our choice to organize a protest action was made based on the censorship by Archivio Conz against the political and cultural legacy of the Antigroup.

After a year of preparations and exchanges of information on the project, the Archivio team demanded that we censor an important part of the Antigroup's history. We were asked to remove any reference to the poems of peace and solidarity that Sicilian poets addressed to the Palestinian people 40 years ago. “So, dearest friends, only those poems and no others. Should you not agree, we cancel” was one of the vile phrases that were sent to us by email. This was an attempt to silence, without opportunity for dialogue, the voice of the Antigroup and, moreover, of all those who demand an end to the genocide. For these and other reasons, we have decided to discontinue our collaboration with Archivio Conz, so as not to be complicit in the cultural censorship policy that the West is guilty of.

Following the Sicilian Antigroup’s paths, we decided to plan an open reading in the square of Monbijoupark on the same date and time of the canceled event. The aim was to emphasize the potential revolutionary power of the small against the strong powers.