One of Australia's biggest cultural festivals has been left in disarray after a decision to disinvite a prominent Australian-Palestinian writer, triggering a massive backlash and mass exodus from fellow authors.
The board of the Adelaide Festival last week said Dr. Randa Abdel-Fattah, a vocal critic of Israel, had been removed from its Writers' Week lineup due to sensitivities after the shooting of 15 people – by gunmen allegedly inspired by the Islamic State militant group – at a Jewish festival at Bondi Beach in December.
Though the Adelaide Festival's board said they do not suggest in any way that Abdel-Fattah had any connection with the tragedy at Bondi, they made the decision that it would not be culturally sensitive to include her given her past statements.
She called the decision to exclude her a blatant and shameless act of anti-Palestinian racism and censorship and the attempt to link her with the Bondi attack despicable.
In the following days, dozens of other writers scheduled to appear withdrew from the festival. By Tuesday the list had jumped to 180, including former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, British author Zadie Smith, US-Russian journalist Masha Gessen, beloved Australian writer Helen Garner and British-Australian novelist Kathy Lette. Many publicly criticised the decision as an attack on free speech.
Four members of the eight-member board, including the chair, have now resigned without detailing their reasons. And on Tuesday the director of the Writers' Week - who had invited Abdel-Fattah - stood down too.
Louise Adler, the Jewish daughter of Holocaust survivors, said I cannot be party to silencing writers and that Abdel-Fattah's exclusion weakens freedom of speech and is the harbinger of a less free nation.
Artists have always been a problem for the state and interest groups but the confrontations have intensified as a consequence of the war on Gaza, she wrote in the Guardian Australia.
Writers and writing matters, even when they are presenting ideas that discomfort and challenge us.
The saga has threatened to spawn legal action and potentially halt the entire festival, which also features music, dance, theatre and other cultural events and is scheduled to begin at the end of February.
Abdel-Fattah, a novelist, lawyer and academic, had been invited to the festival to discuss her latest novel Discipline – which she describes as a cautionary tale about the cost of silence and cowardice. She has previously been criticised for statements arguing that Zionists had no claim or right to cultural safety and a 2024 post on X in which she said the goal is decolonisation and the end of this murderous Zionist colony, a reference to Israel.
The academic has been the target of public campaigns before. Opposition politicians and some prominent Jewish Australians called for research funding awarded to Abdel-Fattah to be cancelled in 2024. However, she was ultimately cleared of allegations that she had bent the grant's rules.
However, criticisms have arisen regarding alleged double standards among the controversies surrounding her and others who have faced disinvitation based on their views.
Moving forward, the Adelaide Festival's director has acknowledged the community's response to the board's decision and is looking to navigate this complex situation with further updates anticipated as the festival date approaches.
