Australian writers’ festival cancelled after Palestinian author axed

Описание: A top writers’ festival in Australia has been called off amid controversy over the cancellation of a scheduled appearance by a prominent Australian Palestinian activist and author.
The organisers of Adelaide Writers’ Week said on Tuesday that the event could no longer go ahead following a wave of speaker withdrawals and board resignations prompted by the removal of Randa Abdel-Fattah from the lineup.
In a statement, the festival’s board said while it had disinvited Abdel-Fattah out of respect for the Jewish community in the wake of the Bondi Beach mass shooting, the decision had created “more division”.
“We recognise and deeply regret the distress this decision has caused to our audience, artists and writers, donors, corporate partners, the government and our own staff and people,” the board said.
It is clear that the board’s regret extends to how the message of my cancellation was conveyed, not the decision itself,” Abdel-Fattah said.
“Once again, the Board citing the ‘national discourse’ for an action that specifically targets me, a Palestinian Australian Muslim woman, is explicitly articulating that I cannot be part of the national discourse, which is insulting and racist in the extreme. The Board again reiterates the link to a terror attack I had nothing to do with, nor did any Palestinian.”
On Monday, New Zealand’s former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced that she would not go ahead with her scheduled appearance at the festival, adding her name to a boycott that swelled to some 180 writers, including former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis and award-winning novelist Zadie Smith.
Peter Malinauskas, the premier of the state of South Australia, as well as several federal politicians and a number of Jewish groups, had backed the revocation of Abdel-Fattah’s invitation.

Hannah Ferguson is a best-selling author and the Chief Executive Officer of Cheek Media, an independent news commentary platform. She explains why she withdrew from the festival.

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