Content Warning: Sexual Harassment and Gender Violence
The year 2023 had been loaded with devastating news about sexist assaults and violence in the music and film industry. All the more important is to report small victories against those “artists”. Maybe they might be repeated and become bigger in the next year. On the 18 November, Till Lindemann, the lead singer of the band Rammstein, who was previously reported for sexually assaulting young women, was about to play in Kassel, a city in Germany. Fortunately, the concert was canceled due to protests, and a seemingly random decision of the city’s construction and fire security department. We did not find it random or accidental. As socialist feminists we know that the battles against sexist and misogynist rape culture will not be won in front of the courts, but on the streets. Only our protests can change decisions, minds, and society as a whole.
There is hardly any industry that shows how closely capitalism and patriarchy are entangled: sexist songs and performances, seemingly “ironic” lyrics about spiking and raping young women, and a majority of male acts. Sexism still sells big in 2023. From that background, it is unsurprising that power structures exist that gave rise to the System Rammstein. This is a system not unique to this band, in which, for many years, young women and girls had been “scouted” on social media and at the shows for the first row of concerts — “row zero” where they were filmed and photographed by members of the crew to be later chosen for the extra after show party with the front singer, for the hotel “party” afterwards, or the so-called “suck box” under the stage, for sexual encounters during the concert. It is also a system with a blatant power asymmetry where young women are intimidated and technicians and caterers would be scared to speak up, risking losing access to the music industry for good.
The successes beyond the court
Thanks to Shelby Lynn, a former fan from Northern Ireland who firstly reported about her experiences during a show, the System Rammstein was uncovered and reported on. Thanks to her, it becomes possible to question sexism and power relations in the industry even more. Shelby and other victims of the System Rammstein have been able to speak up. And more: The “row zero” to which only young and female fans were recruited, does not exist anymore during concerts. Also, the “suck box” under the Rammstein stage or the “penis cannon” [Kanone] on stage and as part of the show has been taken off. The concerts now ironically have a safety team. And many cities denied the band a venue for an after-show event. Universal Denmark canceled a contract with the front singer Till Lindemann. And some publishing houses in Germany stopped working with the singer after a porn-video was released, in which Lindemann rapes and beats women. A few years ago, Lindemann published a book with poems. Many activists and feminists spoke out against a “poem” in which Till Lindemann describes the drugs he is using to spike a woman and how he abuses her, while she is unconscious. The publishing house and bourgeois media defended this poem as art. After the accusations of Lynn against Lindemann, the question whether this is art or a statement of a chauvinist predator seems to be answered for good.
No successes at court?
Many fans who have not stopped supporting the band nor erased the Rammstein tattoos from their bodies in disgust still claim that Lindemann has never been convicted as a sexual predator. However, this is because there was never a case. The aggressive strategy of the Rammstein lawyers and the culture war that right-wing forces are leading now against anyone who speaks up against the band has frightened victims to come forward. There is a bigger danger that they can be accused of defamation than he being convicted of sexual violence. Additionally, any accuser allows the law firms of Rammstein to get access to their private address. Being afraid of Lindemann and the System Rammstein, people would think twice if they go to the police or not.
Yet, the lawyers have tried a lot in court to whitewash the image of Lindemann. They put journalists and media houses on trial for false reporting. They put Shelby Lynn on trial for false accusations. Interestingly, apart from a few exceptions, Lindemann’s lawyers lost many cases. For instance, it is still allowed to state that at Rammstein concerts, there was a “pervert groupie casting system” at play. Also, the charges against Lynn had to be dropped.
Successful in Kassel
In Kassel SAV and ROSA discussed the cases already by the end of May when Lynn published her first Insta-Posts. We then found out that Till Lindemann would play his solo-tour and one of his concerts would take place in Kassel in November. We launched a petition against Lindemann playing in the city and flypostered against him. We immediately got the idea to organize a protest and a counterparty against the concert at the same date. We later also organized a counter event in Hamburg.
We concentrated on three aspects of the “System Rammstein”.
Firstly, sexism in the music industry; secondly, precarious labor contracts which allow power abuse to happen unnoticed; thirdly, the destruction of alternative places for music and culture in the city.
On the first aspect, we found out that only nine percent (!) of artists who registered songs in Germany in 2022, are female. The wage difference between male and female artists is about 30%. Only 10% to 20% of female acts play on the large festivals like “Rock am Ring”. Women and queer people are not just underrepresented but also discriminated against in the German music industry. This shows how sexist the industry still is, and it is one aspect which explains how a system like that of Rammstein — who are unfortunately not the only artists with such a system — could develop.
Concerning the second aspect, we wondered how the system works inside. We found out that most technicians, stylists, caterers etc., work on precarious contracts, from gig to gig or tour to tour. If they speak out, they can be blacklisted — for all musicians, labels, companies. If they are asked to work as a so-called “pussy picker” or “girl scouts”, especially when they are new to the industry, they might not be able to say no. If they are asked to construct a “suck box” under the stage, they might not be able to reject the job. That atmosphere of fear and precarity is the perfect breeding ground for power abuse, for “looking away”, for technicians etc., not to become a witness in front of the court and speak up against a well-known artist. For many of those workers in the entertainment industry, this would simply mean the end of their own careers. We took that point seriously in our meetings and press releases. We demand trade unions to organize the industry and set up whistleblower networks to help workers fight the general power abuse within the industry. We often highlighted that many workers in the industry have nowhere to go if they see something and that this has to change along with their fragile contracts and working conditions.
And lastly, we demand to expropriate Universal and Co. Because of these large industries which were built on sexist songs, abuse and precarious contracts, the System Rammstein and others became possible. And, more and more large festival and concert halls are set up in towns and cities, while small clubs and alternative spaces have to close down. However, it is those spaces where people with less money can practice their songs and play and listen to music which might not promote and profit from abusive and chauvinist lyrics and shows.
When Lindemann was stopped
Lindemann started his shows in November. Every show was accompanied by protests. Also, in Hamburg and Kassel SAV and ROSA organized counter-protests and parties. However, two days before the show in Kassel, we were informed that the Lindemann concert would not take place. It stopped due to a random decision by the construction and fire safety department of the city the stage construction would not be safe enough. The city denied their decision would have had anything to do with the claims and accusations against Till Lindemann. We believe that in the mix of protests, the news about the System Rammstein and our several months-long campaign exacerbated the small mistakes made by the entertainment company that runs the shows and pushed the employees in the department to cancel the show.
Did we cancel our protest as well? No, of course not! On 18 November, it rained cats and dogs. Still, more than 100 people gathered in the rain in front of the closed concert hall in Kassel and then marched two kilometers across the city and to our own party venue, where we celebrated our success.
We made clear that we did not come for Lindemann, but for Shelby Lynn. That we solidarize with all the victims who are still afraid to speak out or go to the police. That we came to solidarize with all the other protests that were attacked by mostly right-wing fans of Lindemann. That we demand whistle-blower networks and trade union action for the workers in the industry. That we are here to stay to fight against the System Rammstein and the capitalist and sexist system in which it breeds.
