{"id":501042,"date":"2026-01-08T09:42:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-08T09:42:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/501042\/"},"modified":"2026-01-08T09:42:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T09:42:08","slug":"adelaide-festival-dumps-prominent-academic-randa-abdel-fattah-over-cultural-sensitivity-concerns-after-bondi-attack-adelaide-festival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/501042\/","title":{"rendered":"Adelaide festival dumps prominent academic Randa Abdel-Fattah over \u2018cultural sensitivity\u2019 concerns after Bondi attack | Adelaide festival"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Adelaide festival<\/a> has removed prominent academic and Palestine advocate Randa Abdel-Fattah from its lineup citing concerns over \u201ccultural sensitivity\u201d after a review undertaken in the wake of the Bondi terror attack.<\/p>\n

The festival covers arts, music, talks and theatre and includes Adelaide\u2019s annual Writers\u2019 Week next month, where Abdel-Fattah was due to appear for the second time after hosting a number of panels and sessions in 2023.<\/p>\n

In a statement on Thursday, the festival\u2019s board said it had been \u201cshocked and saddened by the tragic events at Bondi\u201d and the \u201csignificant heightening of both community tensions and the community debate\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs the Board responsible for the Adelaide Festival organisation and all Adelaide Writers\u2019 Week events, staff, volunteers and participants, we have today advised scheduled writer Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah that the Board has formed the judgment that we do not wish to proceed with her scheduled appearance at next month\u2019s Writers\u2019 Week,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n

Within hours of the board\u2019s announcement, Abdel-Fattah issued her own statement, accusing the festival board of \u201cblatant and shameless\u201d anti-Palestinian racism and censorship. She said the board\u2019s attempt to associate her with the Bondi massacre was \u201cdespicable\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Adelaide Writers Festival Board has stripped me of my humanity and agency, reducing me to an object onto which others can project their racist fears and smears,\u201d she said in the statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Board\u2019s reasoning suggests that my mere presence is \u2018culturally insensitive\u2019; that I, a Palestinian who had nothing to do with the Bondi atrocity, am somehow a trigger for those in mourning and that I should therefore be persona non grata in cultural circles because my very presence as a Palestinian is threatening and \u2018unsafe\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sign up: AU Breaking News email<\/a><\/p>\n

Abdel-Fattah also took aim at Australian arts and cultural institutions in general, accusing them of displaying \u201cutter contempt and inhumanity towards Palestinians\u201d since 7 October 2023.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe only Palestinians they will tolerate are silent and invisible ones,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The board said while it did not suggest \u201cin any way\u201d that Abdel-Fattah or her writings had any connection with the tragedy at Bondi, the decision was made \u201cgiven her past statements\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have formed the view that it would not be culturally sensitive to continue to program her at this unprecedented time so soon after Bondi,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe understand these Board decisions will likely be disappointing to many in our community. We also recognise our request to Dr Abdel-Fattah will be labelled and will cause discomfort and pressure to other participants. These decisions have not been taken lightly.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur only request is that our community is respectful to our staff and volunteers who have not formed part of our decision-making process and deserve nothing but ongoing support for their excellent work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Abdel-Fattah said she was confident that the writing community and public would respond with \u201cprinciple and integrity, as they did when I was singled out in the same racist way during the Bendigo Writers Festival\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the end, the Adelaide Writers Festival will be left with panellists who demonise a Palestinian out of one side of their mouths while waxing lyrical about freedom of speech from the other.\u201d<\/p>\n

By Thursday afternoon, statements of withdrawal from fellow writers and sponsors started appearing.<\/p>\n

The Australia Institute announced the withdrawal of its sponsorship for the 2026 event, which in the past had \u201cpromoted bravery, freedom of expression and the exchange of ideas\u201d, it said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cCensoring or cancelling authors is not in the spirit of an open and free exchange of ideas.\u201d<\/p>\n

A former director of Adelaide Writers\u2019 Week, Jo Dyer, posted on Bluesky that she was \u201cappalled\u201d at the Adelaide festival<\/a> board\u2019s decision \u2013 \u201ca shocking decision that will and should have far-reaching consequences\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Stella prize-winning poet Evelyn Araluen was one of the first writers to publicly withdraw.<\/p>\n

The Dropbear and The Rot author said the board\u2019s decision was a \u201cdevastating betrayal\u2019 of the democratic ethos that has defined the festival.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am so disappointed to witness yet another absurd and irrational capitulation to the demands of a genocidal foreign state from the Australian arts sector,\u201d she posted on Instagram.<\/p>\n

\u201cErasing Palestinians from public life in Australia won\u2019t prevent anti semitism. Removing Palestinians from writers festivals won\u2019t prevent anti semitism. I refuse to participate in this spectacle of censorship.\u201d<\/p>\n

The First Nations academic and writer Chelsea Watego posted an Adelaide Writers\u2019 Week list of 2026 confirmed writers on Instagram with her name crossed out.<\/p>\n

Late last year, Abdel-Fattah was cleared of any wrongdoing<\/a> after an investigation into potential conflicts of interest and spending queries launched amid criticism of her comments on Israel.<\/p>\n

The Australian Research Council confirmed that a suspension placed on an $870,000 research grant<\/a> to Abdel-Fattah had been lifted in December. This followed a preliminary investigation by her employer, Macquarie University, launched in early 2025.<\/p>\n

She had faced sustained criticism<\/a> from the Coalition, some Jewish bodies and media outlets for controversial comments on Israel, including alleging Zionists had \u201cno claim or right to cultural safety\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Adelaide festival\u2019s board said its review, undertaken over the past few weeks, had looked at \u201ccurrent and planned operations and interactions through the lens of the current national community context and the role of Adelaide Festival in promoting community cohesion\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cConsideration of the appropriate response to such a tragedy is a human exercise that we understand is subjective in nature,\u201d the board said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe also understand others will undoubtedly form different judgments.\u201d<\/p>\n

A subcommittee has been formed by the board to oversee the ongoing review and \u201cguide decisions about Adelaide Writers\u2019 Week in the near and longer terms\u201d, including the appointment of external experts.<\/p>\n

The board and senior executive will be communicating with all Adelaide Writers\u2019 Week participants in coming days. More than 150 local and international writers are on the lineup, including the Palestinian poet Najwan Darwish and the Greek economist and political commentator Yanis Varoufakis, who has described Israel\u2019s actions in Gaza as \u201cethnic cleansing\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Adelaide-based publisher Pink Shorts Press said it \u201cstrongly condemns\u201d the removal of Abdel-Fattah from programming and was now considering whether it would continue its collaboration with the festival.<\/p>\n

All its authors were scheduled to speak at the event, and a Pink Shorts Press event was scheduled for the festival grounds.<\/p>\n

\u201cAdelaide Writers\u2019 Festival has a long and important history of engaging in the conversations that are important to all Australians, and this kind of censorship is completely at odds with that,\u201d the publisher said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cAbdel-Fattah has contributed so much to multicultural discourse in Australia. Open and challenging discourse within the arts is more important than ever.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last year, Abdel-Fattah was among about 30 participants who pulled out<\/a> of the Bendigo writers\u2019 festival after it issued a last-minute code of conduct<\/a>, including directions to \u201cavoid language or topics that could be considered inflammatory, divisive, or disrespectful\u201d.<\/p>\n

Speakers on panels presented by the festival sponsor La Trobe University were also required to comply with La Trobe\u2019s anti-racism plan, including the contentious definition of antisemitism<\/a> adopted by Universities Australia in February<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Adelaide festival has removed prominent academic and Palestine advocate Randa Abdel-Fattah from its lineup citing concerns over…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":501043,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4740,50],"class_list":{"0":"post-501042","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-australia","9":"tag-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115858829730365311","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501042","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=501042"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501042\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/501043"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=501042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=501042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=501042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}