National racial justice organisation, Democracy in Colour, stands in solidarity with Palestinian-Australian author Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah following the Adelaide Festival’s decision to cancel her attendance from the upcoming Adelaide Writers’ Week.
The organisation views this move as a clear example of institutional racism and a deliberate attempt to silence those who speak out against systemic violence. This is not an isolated attack, it is a part of a broader trend of silencing communities of colour in Australia.
Noura Mansour, National Director of Democracy in Colour, said “The Adelaide Festival’s decision to cancel Dr Abdel-Fattah’s appearance is a direct attack on our democratic rights, freedom of expression, freedom of thought, and a blatant act of anti-Palestinian racism.”
The controversy at the Adelaide Writers’ Week highlights a growing concern regarding the safety and inclusion of writers who challenge the status quo. DeCo points out that when institutions cave to pressure to remove Palestinian speakers, they are failing to uphold the democratic values they claim to represent.
“This is a textbook tactic of shrinking the space for people and movements who dare to effectively challenge institutional racism and speak up against the structural nature of racism, systemic violence and the devastating impact it has on affected communities. The last two years have exposed how deeply entrenched racism against Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims is in our institutions, as well as the Australian government’s complicity in the ongoing Israeli genocide against the Palestinian people, through manufacturing and providing F-35 figther jet parts to the Israeli army as it continues to bombard over 2 million besieged Palestinians in Gaza.
“The work that the movement for Palestinian justice has done over the past two years has successfully challenged and exposed this complicity, double standard and lack of political leadership that our government has when it comes to criticising the illegal and inhumane actions of Israel. It has also uncovered and highlighted our government’s failure in upholding democratic and global values of human rights equally and consistently for all people.”
We call on the broader Australian community to recognise these intimidation tactics for what they are: an attempt to police the boundaries of public debate and keep voices of marginalised and racialised communities out of the room.
We demand that the Adelaide Festival issue a formal apology to Palestinian writers including Dr Abdel-Fattah and Dr Micaela Sahhar, as well as non-Palestinian writers who have been deeply impacted by the Adelaide Festival’s decision. We demand that they reverse their decision, re-invite Dr Abdel-Fattah and commit to the safety of all Palestinian, First Nations and other POC writers participating.