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If you're just tuning into the scandal over the Swedish Academy selecting Peter Handke for the Nobel Prize in Literature, here's a thread of my stories and tweets on the controversy (which still shocks me).
I found out last month that two Nobel Prize jurors, in their deliberations, fell for a debunked conspiracy theory that falsely backs up Handke's discredited views on the Serb genocide of Bosnia's Muslims. https://theintercept.com/2019/11/14/peter-handke-nobel-prize-bosnian-genocide-conspiracy/
I also found out that during a 1998 visit to Bosnia, Handke stayed in a hotel, the Vilina Vlas in Visegrad, that had been used as a rape camp by Serbs during the war. It seems likely that Handke knew of the hotel's history. https://theintercept.com/2019/11/28/peter-handke-nobel-prize-bosnia-rape-hotel/
If you want to know more about the crimes committed at the Vilina Vlas, please read this thread by @hikmet_karcic. https://twitter.com/hikmet_karcic/status/1200053752226598915
Handke delivered a eulogy at the 2006 funeral of Slobodan Milosevic, who oversaw the genocide in Bosnia. Though Handke has claimed he wasn't allied with Milosevic, I found out that he secretly had a passport from the Serbian leader's regime. https://theintercept.com/2019/11/06/nobel-prize-literature-peter-handke-yugoslavia-passport/
Here's a thread I wrote about the passport, with some details about it and how I found it and verified it -- https://twitter.com/maassp/status/1192202067131224067
For a close reading of Handke's appalling version of what happened in Bosnia, here's a thread I wrote about one of his books, "A Journey to the Rivers: Justice for Serbia." https://twitter.com/maassp/status/1183847059696304133
It's important to understand Handke's strategy of creating doubt without evidence. He uses a sophisticated form of genocide denialism, raising questions about proven crimes, trying to manufacture doubt where there are no grounds for it. Here's my story -- https://theintercept.com/2019/10/26/nobel-prize-literature-peter-handke-genocide/
The Swedish Academy has conducted a deceptive and offensive campaign to stifle the well-founded criticism of its selection of Peter Handke for the literature Nobel. Here's my thread on three of the letters it sent to groups in Bosnia and Kosovo. https://twitter.com/maassp/status/1197950765106630657
Peter Handke's publisher, Suhrkamp Verlag, is part of the campaign to defend his indefensible work. Here's the story I wrote about the deceptions in Suhrkamp's 24-page defense of Handke. https://theintercept.com/2019/11/09/peter-handke-won-the-nobel-prize-then-his-publisher-quietly-circulated-a-strange-defense-of-his-genocide-denialism/
The Swedish Academy has endorsed Suhrkamp's shoddy document. Here's a thread I wrote about a letter the Academy wrote that approvingly cited the Suhrkamp document. https://twitter.com/maassp/status/1198716690382635010
One of the Swedish Academy's key failures is that it did not consult the victims of genocide about whom Handke was (falsely) writing. Here's a thread I wrote about the voices that were ignored — and that we should all listen to. https://twitter.com/maassp/status/1196520628809015297
Here are some of the voices from ex-Yugo that I've relied on: @_edinh @SashaHemon @jagodamarinic @sasa_s @Petrit @Skosevic @alida_bremer @StoTeNema @hikmet_karcic @HarisAlisic @HarisPasovic @jasenkos @hjasminko @suljagicemir1 @ervinmalakaj @JasminMuj @ReufBajrovic @abithoxha
One of the elements I haven't written enough about -- the core element, really -- is the importance of the Swedish Academy's anti-Muslim bias. In this short thread, I note how it operates in a way that's not explicit. But it's central. https://twitter.com/maassp/status/1197978586478731265
I think @SashaHemon's comment on that thread is key -- https://twitter.com/SashaHemon/status/1197983927975190532
And here's the story I wrote about the Swedish Academy, confronted with profound criticism of its choice of Handke for the Nobel, decided to plunge itself even deeper into the abyss of genocide denialism. https://theintercept.com/2019/11/20/peter-handke-nobel-prize-bosnian-genocide/
If you want to figure out who's a real genocide denier, check with the real genocide deniers. Here's my thread on the ultranationalist Serbs who are thrilled with Peter Handke's Nobel Prize. https://twitter.com/maassp/status/1201919133505531906
The @NobelPrize organization and the Swedish Academy are dodging, in a frankly cowardly way, vital questions they hope to never answer. The following thread, written from Stockholm, is an example of genocide denial via intercom. https://twitter.com/maassp/status/1202713962917322753
Just adding to this thread, a bit tardily, the story I wrote on Friday about asking Peter Handke, at a press conference, about the genocide in Bosnia. He said my question was "empty and ignorant," and compared it to a "calligraphy of shit." https://theintercept.com/2019/12/06/peter-handke-nobel-prize-genocide-questions/
The day after the press conference, Handke and Olga Tokarczuk (the 2018 winner) delivered their Nobel lectures on Saturday at the Swedish Academy. No media were allowed to attend. Here's my short thread about that. https://twitter.com/maassp/status/1203343121012142080
A point often overlooked -- how radical Serb nationalists of the 1990s are connected to, and are inspirations for, contemporary white nationalist violence. Here's a thread I wrote on that. https://twitter.com/maassp/status/1203775029596561408
To finish this thread of threads on the Handke scandal, here's the story I wrote on Dec. 10, 2019 about the disgraceful ceremony at which the King of Sweden officially gave Peter Handke the Nobel Prize for Literature. https://theintercept.com/2019/12/10/the-king-of-sweden-gives-peter-handke-a-disgraceful-nobel-prize/
