Festival ‘must answer’ for dropping Palestinian author

The decision to dump Palestinian-Australian writer Randa Abdel-Fattah from a major Australian festival is “morally indefensible”, her lawyer says.

Three Adelaide Festival board members and chair Tracey Whiting quit over the weekend, and dozens of authors have withdrawn from Writers’ Week, which starts on February 28.

The mass boycott followed the board’s announcement last Thursday that “national grief” and “community tensions” triggered by the Bondi shooting on December 14 had prompted its decision to remove the Palestinian-Australian writer from its program.

The board referred to “past statements” made by the author and conservative Jewish groups have highlighted Dr Abdel-Fattah’s sharing of posts critical of Israel on social media.

Marque Lawyers managing partner Michael Bradley, who represents Dr Abdel-Fattah, told Starts at 60 that the “moral indefensibility of the Adelaide Festival board’s actions has been amply evidenced by the reaction it’s provoked”.

“It also trampled on Randa’s human rights, and the board will have to answer for that,” he said.

In a letter to Ms Whiting on Sunday, Mr Bradley wrote that “it appears … that the board’s decision to exclude Dr Abdel-Fattah was made because of ‘past statements’ made by her”.

“As a matter of basic procedural fairness to Dr Abdel-Fattah, please identify with specificity each of the past statements made by her on which the board relied in making its decision,” he wrote.

“Please ensure that your organisation and each individual member of the board retains all documents in their possession … that relate to the decision to exclude Dr Abdel-Fattah.

“You are each now on notice that these documents may be required for the purpose of litigation.”

Announcing her decision to resign on Sunday, Ms Whiting said that “recent decisions were bound by certain undertakings and my resignation enables the Adelaide Festival, as an organisation, to refresh its leadership and its approach to these circumstances”.

Three board members – journalist Daniela Ritorto, businesswoman Donny Walford and lawyer Nick Linke – also quit at an extraordinary board meeting on Saturday.

The board has made no public comment since announcing Dr Abdel-Fattah’s cancellation, and over the weekend, comments on Facebook pages for the festival and writers week were disabled.

In a statement, Adelaide Festival Corporation executive director Julian Hobba said the festival was “navigating a complex and unprecedented moment” and would share further updates later.

Former Adelaide Writers’ Week director Jo Dyer told Radio National that Ms Whiting’s decision to quit was unsurprising.

“She has … overseen a decision which has trashed the international standing of what is one of the most beloved organisations in Adelaide,” she said.

Only three voting members remained and the board no longer had a quorum, Ms Dyer said.

Premier Peter Malinauskas has said that he is prevented by law from directing the board.

However he said “when asked for my opinion I was happy to make it clear that the state government did not support the inclusion of Dr Abdel-Fattah on the Adelaide Writers’ Week program”.

The premier had been “criminally negligent in the way that he has approached Writers’ Week,” Ms Dyer said.

“He had brought really unbearable pressure on the board to rescind the invitation to Dr Abdel-Fattah in a way which is completely inappropriate for him to do,” she said.

Greens acting leader Sarah Hanson-Young said Mr Malinauskas had “created an enormous mess” by putting political pressure on the board and called for Dr Abdel-Fattah to be reinstated.

“Adelaide’s arts and festival brand is in tatters,” she said.

“The Adelaide Festival is now on the brink of collapse and the government needs to act urgently.”

When asked for his view on the author’s axing Arts Minister Tony Burke responded by saying “we leave those decisions to the festivals themselves”.

“We don’t tell festivals who they should put on and who they shouldn’t,” he said.

However federal cabinet minister Madeleine King has backed the controversial decision saying she is “on a unity ticket with Premier Peter Malinauskas on this”.

“The views that (Randa Abdel-Fattah) has said in relation to wishing for the end of Israel, as well as some other pretty vile commentary, doesn’t deserve an invitation to the writers festival,” said Ms King who is the first federal minister to comment on the issue.