00:02The axing of Randa Abdel Fattah from this year's Writers' Week caused the literary festival to implode.
00:10Now, emails released to the ABC under freedom of information laws reveal what was being discussed behind the scenes.
00:18Though the below may seem alarmist, I think it is realistic.
00:22In one email sent in December, just days after the Bondi shooting,
00:27Adelaide Festival Executive Director Julian Hobber warned the festival's then chairperson and premier's department
00:33of a potential author boycott if Abdel Fattah was removed from the line-up.
00:39From a similar boycott of Bendigo Writers' Festival earlier this year,
00:43they lost just over 50 writers from a program of approximately 80.
00:48For Adelaide Writers' Week, a realistic estimate may be 80 to 90 of our approximately 170 authors.
00:56Mr Hobber wrote that would decimate the program.
01:00Please do not read my position as ignorance of the febrile public anger around anti-Semitism at the moment,
01:07nor dismissal of the genuine horror of what has occurred.
01:10Rather, it will be about whether Adelaide Festival has decided to censor artists
01:15who are critical of the Israeli government in the face of political pressure to do so.
01:2017 days after Mr Hobber sent that email, the Adelaide Festival's then board announced
01:26it had rescinded its invitation to Abdel Fattah over controversial past comments she made about Israel and Zionism.
01:33The next day, the festival's chief financial officer, Karishma Reynolds,
01:38told the then board members that staff no longer felt safe at work.
01:42The narrative has rapidly shifted from a single programming decision to a broader cultural crisis
01:48involving free expression, censorship, racism, staff safety and institutional credibility.
01:56Ms Karishma wrote that within 24 hours, festival staff had received direct threats,
02:03office security had been escalated and doors locked, and some workers were being personally targeted.
02:08This is not normal reputational noise.
02:12It's an active workplace health and safety issue requiring urgent consideration.
02:17Premier Peter Malinowskis backed the board's decision to cancel Abdel Fattah's appearance.
02:23A government spokesperson told the ABC the Premier didn't make his decision based upon threats,
02:28and the fact innocent staff were abused says more about the people making those threats than anything else.
02:35The ABC contacted the Adelaide Festival for comment.
Comments