"Independent bookshops are dangerous because they interrupt us. They do not optimise our curiosity. They derail it. I walk in for a novel and walk out with a theory of the state, a pamphlet on housing struggles, a Palestinian poet I had never heard of. No for you page in an online store would have suggested it."
"Every year, the German Bookshop prize, awarded on behalf of the federal government's commissioner for culture and the media, serves as a financial injection for more than 100 independent, owner-managed bookshops all over Germany. For small bookshops operating on narrow margins, the prize money of between 7,000 and 25,000 makes a tangible difference."
"This year, for the first time, three bookshops disappeared from the jury's list. The ministry of culture deleted them, due to information of relevance to the domestic intelligence agency. What kind of information? Nobody knows, not even Germany's commissioner for culture himself, since the domestic intelligence agency is not allowed to divulge it."
Independent bookshops serve a vital cultural function by curating diverse selections and making unexpected literary connections that algorithms cannot replicate. They interrupt and derail consumer curiosity rather than optimizing it. Germany's annual Bookshop Prize provides crucial financial support to over 100 independent bookshops through federal funding. This year, three bookshops were removed from consideration by the culture ministry based on information from the domestic intelligence agency, though the specific reasons remain classified. The removed bookshops share antifascist orientations, raising concerns about political censorship disguised as security measures.
#independent-bookshops #cultural-censorship #government-funding #political-surveillance #antifascism
Read at www.theguardian.com
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