Adelaide Festival Finds Free Speech Only Applies to Certain Writers
The Adelaide Writers’ Week director resigned after pressure to axe Palestinian author Susan Abulhawa, leading to a cascade of speaker withdrawals and board resignations. The irony, of course, is that a 'writers' festival' apparently can't stomach a writer whose reality is deemed too inconvenient for polite Western sensibilities. One wonders how many articles about 'both sides' of a 'conflict' they
would have welcomed, so long as the 'sides' didn't include actual Palestinian voices. This isn't about 'controversy'; it's about censorship dressed up as 'managing sensitivities.' The message is clear: if your lived experience challenges the prevailing, pro-genocide narrative, your 'art' is unwelcome. Free speech, it seems, is a luxury afforded only to those who whisper the approved talking
points.