Yes, wrong terminology on my part. I did mean Writer’s Week.
Just goes to show you the level of hand wringing these events create. Everyone is so socially aware and sensitive.
Shut your pie hole Madeleine
Resources Minister Madeleine King on Monday said she was “surprised” writer Randa Abdel-Fattah was ever invited to participate in the festival and that she was on a “unity ticket” with South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas, who has “wholeheartedly” backed the board’s decision.
“I’ve seen the comments that the author in question made, and to be frank, in my own opinion, I’m surprised she ever got an invite to the Adelaide writers’ festival,” Ms King said.
Asked if she thought Dr Abdel-Fattah’s invitation should be reinstated, as has been called for by artists and former festival board directors, the minister said: “Absolutely not.”
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Not the point i was trying to make. I was talking about the future chilling effect, not the past.
Imagine you’re planning a writers or arts festival now. If you include a Palestinian speaker or headliner, it’s been thoroughly proven that powerful individuals from the Premier and federal ministers down will jump down your throat and apply all sorts of threats, blackmail and pressure to try to force you to reverse the invitation. You know that if you do, you’ll both destroy your own festival as all your other speakers drop out in protest, and then you’ll cop all the blame and the premier will claim he had nothing to do with it.
Solution? Simply don’t invite any Palestinians in the first place. Nobody can protest you rescinding an invitation that was never issued, after all. The pressure groups get what they want. Pre-emptive submission from future festival boards is the goal here, and Malinauskas won’t even need to lift a finger to make it happen. Message has been delivered loud and clear..
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Yeah it’s terrible.
If anything now was the time to actually make a stand.
I do think though, it would be a problem if your inviting say a pro Palestinian voice and not also hearing the other side of the story.
Assuming she was there talking about the experience of living with Israel.(or despite it)
its almost like the politicians were gifted pagers.
Goes to show that this Lobby Group is very powerful.
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It’s done now.
Would have been a great festival (and probably made the news in the right way) had it gone ahead with some public debates between Israeli and Palestinian writers/academics.
Ah well.
rAdelaide.
My daughter has Runt on her bookshelf. I really don’t want it there now, but am unsure how to go about it. She has a lot of books so maybe just bin it and hope she doesn’t notice.
What a sick individual. This feels so much worse given his involvement with so many kids over the years.
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Why can’t they just have a Palestinian writers festival and invite whoever they want?
alternatively, the woman that was bannned, could still host an event in Adelaide. I am sure she would attract a pretty sizeable audience and sell a lot of books.
But well done to all the lobbyists groups. What and who will they try and cancel next?
Frustrating that two tiny minority groups that do not see eye to eye can have such a profound influence on the rest of us.
If you look into the overall picture on this situation around Abdel-Fattah, like everything else involved with the historic and current middle-east trouble, this is far from a simple issue. Unless you stick steadfastly , 100 percent without exception , to the notion of unfettered free speech.
Which virtually no one does.
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And no-one should, because it is a fanciful idea that would allow miscreants licence to spread more hate.
And so there’s the problem. We have disparate groups wanting to censor other groups but remain beyond censorship for their own objectionable opinions.
If I was one of the writers withdrawing from the AWW , i’d be making damn sure that it was clear publicly that I was doing so on a principal of free speech. Because it’s the only consistent position on which to do so. Especially given that she who was uninvited is not exactly consistent on that position herself.
It’s all very problematic.
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Some here will have fainting fits at the mere name of the publication, and the slant is clear, but it’s still an interesting play by play and factual.
Sadly, given the climate, the only ‘safe’ thing to do for any writers festival is ensure nobody they invite is pro Israel expansionism or pro Palestinian liberation in their writings. Which would be a form of self censorship and an abysmal reduction. The arts, investigative journalism, debate and contests of ideas, none of these things are by their nature ‘safe’ nor are they supposed to be. Infantile, the whole thing, and Australia looks backward again.
My question, why aren’t the usual publications like Sky and the Australian, and the readers of such publications here showering praise on the ALP for their handling of this troublesome individual?
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Always been the way.
Nazis said whatever they want about Jews, Jews can beaten for telling the truth about Nazis.
I do not believe in free speech. I believe in free thought, but there must be controls over what you can say just like laws over what you can do.
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Some of your posts show that your really do believe in it
Disagree
None of this gives any rights to defile, denigrate and lie. Society must have standards of fairness and decency .
The hard bit is who are the moderators.
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You’ve just used your freedom to insinuate meaning that I’m pretty sure I haven’t come close to communicating there BF. I feel insecure about your interpretation of my words, but I’m thrilled that the dialogue continues.
Insecure?
I could send you my blanket.
I only suck one corner
No thanks Linus