Gnads wrote on Jan 16
th, 2026 at 11:22am:
Here's a comment I have borrowed from another forum & I think it sums up the entire situation & the rank hypocrisy driven by Lauren Adler & Randa Abdel-Fattah.
Quote:The collapse of Adelaide Writers’ Week is not a free-speech crisis.. No writer was censored. No one was silenced by the state.
What occurred was a programming decision, followed by an extraordinary display of hubris that ultimately destroyed a public cultural institution.
Randa Abdel-Fattah was not banned from publishing or speaking.
She was simply uninvited from a writers’ festival after making comments about Israel that many reasonably regarded as antisemitic and beyond acceptable bounds.
Writers’ festivals make such judgements constantly. To pretend otherwise is to drain the word “censorship” of meaning.
She had previously demanded that a Jewish writer be banned from the festival.
The real failure came after that decision.
At that point, Abdel-Fattah had a choice. She could have responded with humility and proportion, acknowledging that her language had caused offence, accepting that festivals must draw lines, and urging other writers not to withdraw.
She could have said that Adelaide Writers’ Week mattered more than any individual participant.
That would have been the stoic response: disagreement without self-dramatization.
Instead, she chose escalation.
Lawyers were engaged. Apologies were rejected. The decision was reframed not as an editorial judgement but as a personal and collective injury.
A protest against exclusion ends by excluding the public.
Adelaide Writers’ Week did not fall because free speech was threatened.
It fell because one individual, and those who followed her lead, believed she was bigger than the institution.
That was well written.
No it wasn't "well-written", it's error based on ignorant opinion.
1. Abdel-Fattah WAS censored even on a recommendation by Malinauskus.
2. The "programming decision" in this case was a dis-invitation of a respected writer.
Note the controversy re "hypocrisy" she has faced recently:
(google)
The Context of the Controversy
The Author in Question:
The author was American Jewish journalist and New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman. The objection centered on a 2002 article he wrote titled "Understanding the Middle East Through the Animal Kingdom," which compared Middle Eastern groups to insects and vermin.
The Action Taken:
In 2024, Abdel-Fattah was one of several academics who signed a letter to the Adelaide Festival board asking for Friedman's invitation to that year's event to be withdrawn due to the offensive nature of his past writing.
Abdel-Fattah's Position:
Abdel-Fattah has clarified that her request was a principled objection to the language used, not an attempt to silence the author because he was Jewish. She argues that the objection was about the impact of his views on "socially and historically marginalised people".
The Outcome at the Time:
The Adelaide Festival board at the time defended artistic freedom and did not officially cancel Friedman. He ultimately did not participate in the 2024 event due to what was officially described as "last-minute scheduling issues".
This controversy became a point of contention after Abdel-Fattah herself was disinvited from the 2026 Adelaide Writers' Week program, a decision that has since been reversed following widespread backlash and the cancellation of the entire event. Abdel-Fattah has rejected comparisons between her situation and her previous stance on Friedman, describing such comparisons as "insulting". ....Note re "last-minute scheduling issues":
(google)
Former board member's claim:
Tony Berg, a former board member, claimed that Louise Adler and other staff members threatened to resign if the board did not agree to disinvite Friedman.
In a letter responding to the petition, the board chair Tracey Whiting stated that while they upheld artistic freedom of expression, Friedman was no longer participating due to "last-minute scheduling issues".
Ultimately, while "scheduling issues" was the publicly given reason, the actual decision to uninvite him stemmed from internal pressure and a petition regarding the content of his writing. ....
So the comparison (re-disinvitation) is between "genocidal zionist colonizers" (Abdel-Fattah) and "Middle Eastern groups (are like) insects and vermin" (Thomas Friedman).
Which is the truer, less objectionable statement?
Surely the former.
Rubbish - you are retarded to logic. A supporter of Jew haters & terrorists.
Take a long walk off a short pier.
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AU Adelaide Writers Week Festival cancelled (Read 3000 times)
