'No solidarity with the victims and hostages, no word of empathy' Reactions from European club culture to the Supernova Festival Massacre

Key Findings:

The Supernova rave, which took place in Re’im, Southern Israel, suffered an overwhelming number of victims at the hands of Hamas during the October 7th massacre – the murder of over 350 individuals and the abduction of over 40 individuals.

The author attempts to answer the question of why this community has done so little in condemning the October 7th attack on the Supernova Music Festival.

The international electronic music community has claimed to stand on principles such as peace, unity, and respect, yet did not express full solidarity with the victims of the terror attack.

Resident Advisor, an international electronic music website, responded to the massacre with a news article that failed to express solidarity with the victims of the rave. Shortly after, Resident Advisor published “a ‘rolling resource story’ about how ‘the electronic music community is responding to the crisis in Palestine’', pedaling a one sided narrative of the events unfolding in the region, and avoiding an acknowledgment of the horrors carried out by Hamas. 

DJs for Palestine, a BDS campaign that called for the boycott of Israeli DJs, was promoted by RA back in 2018 and 2021. This caused a stir in the community, as its principles essentially avoid the boycotting of any subculture or group. Nevertheless, those who stood up against the boycott were harassed or “canceled.” The author holds Resident Advisor responsible for tolerating anti-Jewish hatred by enforcing antizionist antisemitism and promoting BDS narratives. 

The Berlin Clubcomission issued a statement via Instagram that did not specifically condemn the actions of Hamas or mention the victims, but showed a vague message of support. The majority of the post comments displayed a justification or denial of the massacre. The Berlin Clubcomission posted a follow up statement that did not distance itself from the antisemitic comments under its previous post, and absolved itself of the responsibility of showing solidarity for the victims. They excused themselves from doing so due to  their inadequacy to comment or take a stance on the conflict as a whole.

There is a general inability to hold “cognitive ambiguity,” and that it is easier to cling to one very strongly pedaled narrative that practices “emotional ambivalence” towards any other narrative. Within the electronic music scene, the BDS narrative that demonizes the state of Israel and shuns those who support it is a widely known and accepted one. It is not a full representation of the age-old conflict, and prevents individuals from being able to hold multiple truths at once. 

The author concludes by questioning if we are witnessing the return of an “authoritarian personality” in our society, stating that “The ability to deal with ambiguous situations represents a central construct for the acceptance of diversity and can be seen as an important indicator for the functioning of a pluralistic society. Within the framework of the authoritarian personality, intolerance of ambiguity is connected to the devaluation of others.”