The AStA Göttingen criticizes the exclusion of left-wing bookstores from the bookstore award

The AStA of the University of Göttingen condemns the decision of the Minister of Culture Wolfram Weimer to remove three left-wing bookstores, including the Göttingen bookstore Rote Straße, from the list of the German Bookshop Award. The AStA sees this as an unjustified attack on left-wing culture and politics and demands that the minister reverse the measure.

Lukas Bischoff [AStA cultural officer] commented:

“We stand in solidarity with the Rote Straße bookstore and the other affected stores, and we call on the Göttingen student body to support their local bookstore. Wolfram Weimer’s decision directly contradicts the principle of the bookstore award, because the award is intended to honor bookstores that enrich local cultural life – and if that doesn’t apply to the Rote Straße bookstore, then which one does? But that apparently doesn’t matter to Wolfram Weimer. He’s only concerned with turning even an award like this into a new weapon in the fight against the left. Did he become Minister of Culture for that?”

Janna Ouedraogo [climate and sustainability officer] adds:

“Weimer’s actions would be wrong in any context, but in times of an increasingly extreme right, it is a catastrophic signal. The AfD’s poll numbers, the consolidation of right-wing authoritarian regimes in numerous states, the spread of extremely right-wing ideology especially among young people – in light of all this, one can only target a supposed threat from the left if one not only fails to see the signs of the times, but also refuses to see them.”

The Rote Straße bookstore is an integral part of life in Göttingen and contributes to the city’s cultural life with a variety of events. In 2023, it received the German Bookshop Award, among other reasons. The removal of the Rote Straße Bookshop and the two other bookstores from the list of nominations represents an unjustified politicization of a formality. For this reason, we, the AStA Göttingen, clearly oppose the behavior of the Minister of Culture.