Dahabflex: Could This Rapper Decide Berlin’s Election?

A campaign event held under the slogan “Angry at Capitalism” ended with a performance that put Berlin’s Die Linke under intense political pressure. Rapper Dahabflex performed “Stop the Genocide,” including lines such as “Yalla Yalla Intifada” and “Death to the IDF.”

The event took place in Berlin-Neukölln and featured guests including Volksbühne artistic director Matthias Lilienthal, author Deborah Feldman and director Volker Lösch. Dahabflex appeared toward the end of the gathering, but his performance quickly overshadowed the rest of the evening.

Politicians from parties competing with Die Linke in Berlin’s election campaign accused the event of antisemitic agitation. The criticism also came from within the party. Elif Eralp, Die Linke’s lead candidate in Berlin, sharply condemned the rapper’s appearance.

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Calls for violence and the killing of people are absolutely unacceptable.

“Calls for violence and the killing of people are absolutely unacceptable,” Eralp said. “Those responsible should have intervened immediately.”

The controversy has placed the performance at the center of a dispute over the political and cultural forces represented at the event. The supplied account describes Dahabflex as a musician associated with what it calls a new pop-cultural cross-front shaped by “terror romanticism” and nostalgia for the Soviet Union.

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Those responsible should have intervened immediately.