This week, between September 17 and 20, the Festival of Ideas is celebrated, throughout various spaces in Madrid, such as the Círculo de Bellas Artes or the Prado Museum. However, its organization was in danger in the last hours, after up to 33 related artists or speakers had communicated their decision to “put their participation on hold.” Among them are Rodrigo Sorogoyen, who has just released ‘El ser loved’, the writer Alana S. Portero, the singers Niño de Elche and Rodrigo Cuevas, and the comedian and presenter Inés Hernand.
The original text criticized the sponsorship of Allianz, which has been linked to the stage in Plaza de España. «After learning of the participation of Allianz as a sponsoring entity of the festival of ideas (…) the undersigned have decided together to put our participation on hold»
They continued: “The German insurance giant, Allianz, is today the world’s largest buyer of Israeli State bonds and, therefore, a fundamental financier of the ongoing genocide. Allianz cannot claim ignorance because its name appears in the 2025 report of the United Nations rapporteur Francesca Albanese “From the economy of occupation to the economy of genocide”, precisely for the purchase of those bonds, whose investment has multiplied by three since then.”
Therefore, they asked the organization to “publicly commit to disassociate itself from Allianz and not accept financial support, neither in this nor in future editions, from entities that collaborate with the State of Israel in the destruction of the Palestinian people.”
From the organization, they reported late on Tuesday that Allianz was withdrawing as a sponsor of this event. “It is now impossible to remove the name from the hand programs, but Allianz is dissociating itself from the festival. We assume the cost to be able to continue with the call.”
As El País reports, Allianz has rejected the accusations: “We firmly reject the accusations leveled against our company and support our responsible business practices. We do not want this debate to divert attention from the Festival of Ideas, its organizers, participants or the public. Therefore, we have decided to withdraw from sponsorship so that the event can be held as planned.”
See this post on Instagram
