Fridays for Future calls for protests worldwide on Friday. Singer Ronja Maltzahn was supposed to perform in Hanover. Now the activists have uninvited the artist – because of her hairstyle.
Because she wears dreadlocks, the white musician Ronja Maltzahn is not allowed to perform at a demonstration in Hanover as initially planned, according to a decision by Fridays for Future.
The Hanover local group of the climate protection movement canceled a performance by the artist this Friday in the city center, as the group announced.
The activists justified the cancellation with the singer’s hairstyle. Dreadlocks have become a symbol of resistance in the civil rights movement of black people in the USA. “So if a white person wears dreadlocks, then it’s cultural appropriation because we, as white people, don’t have to confront history or the collective trauma of oppression because of our privilege,” the climate activists wrote.
Maltzahn is concerned
First, Maltzahn himself had made the cancellation public on his social media channels. The musician reacted with concern: «We were looking forward to being able to set an example for peace and against discrimination with our music. It’s a shame that we’re excluded because of external characteristics.”
Fridays for Future Hannover commented on the cancellation that it was important to give black people, indigenous people and people of color a space within the climate justice movement. The appearance of a white person with dreadlocks could give the impression that there is no protected space in the climate protection movement for these people in which discrimination would be reduced. “That’s why we decided to cancel Ronja Maltzahn,” the message said.
The activists of the climate protection movement also asked the musician for an apology. In a chat message to Maltzahn, the group informed the musician of the cancellation, but at the same time said that her performance would be possible if she cut off her dreadlocks by Friday. This suggestion was an invasion of the artist’s privacy, which should not have happened, Fridays for Future later announced.
According to her music publisher Timezone Records, Maltzahn makes music from the world pop genre. The 28-year-old plays cello, guitar, ukulele and piano. She also performs with a larger folk ensemble, the Blue Bird Orchestra.
Source: Stern
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