Authors ditch Bendigo Writers Festival over freedom of speech concerns

Stella Prize winner Evelyn Araluen is among a growing number of authors to withdraw from the Bendigo Writers Festival in protest over restrictions on their freedom of speech, in the latest sign of the deep divisions that have erupted in the literary world over the war in Gaza.

Event participants were given a code of conduct, seen by this masthead, that said they must “avoid language or topics that could be considered inflammatory, divisive, or disrespectful”.

The code of conduct also required compliance with La Trobe University’s definition of antisemitism. La Trobe has adopted the Universities Australia definition, which several universities around the country have not accepted, saying it conflates antisemitism with criticism of the Israeli government and anti-Zionism, and therefore prohibits people speaking out.

Last month, Australia’s special envoy to combat antisemitism, Jillian Segal, detailed a proposal that would stipulate taxpayer funding to be withheld from universities, programs or people within institutions that facilitate, enable or fail to act against antisemitism, while academics who engage in antisemitism would be subject to job termination.

The code of conduct applies to the La Trobe component of the festival, co-curated by Professor Claire Wright – author of Naku Dharuk The Bark Petitions, which this week was short-listed for the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards. Having devised nine sessions featuring the university’s academics and alumni, Wright has also resigned in protest.

Others who have withdrawn from the festival, which runs from Friday to Sunday, include journalist Jess Hill, authors Thomas Mayo and Kate Mildenhall, writer Claire G. Coleman, academic Randa Abdel-Fattah, poet and activist Jeanine Leane and journalist/author Paul Daley.

Araluen wrote to the festival organisers saying the festival code of conduct “directly infringes on my freedom of speech … my cultural duty as a First Nations woman and my obligation as someone with a large platform to speak out against oppression, which includes speaking out against Israel’s ongoing UN-defined genocide of the Palestinian people.

“After Israel’s latest campaign to permanently silence Al Jazeera journalists, most recently on
Monday … it is reprehensible that a writers festival should ask anyone, let alone a First Nations woman, to self-censor,” Araluen wrote.

Hamas fighters stormed into southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing about 1200 people, including the massacre of young people at the Nova music festival and elderly residents and children living in kibbutzes near the Gaza border. It was the worst mass murder of Jews in a single day since the Holocaust.

Hamas, which has governed the Gaza Strip since 2007, also took around 250 people hostage, dozens of whom are believed to have died in captivity during the ensuing war. The incursion sparked a ferocious military response from Israel that has extended for almost two years and killed over 60,000 Palestinians.

The ongoing humanitarian crisis, which heightened in recent weeks after images of starving children spread around the world, has underpinned global efforts to secure a ceasefire.

Earlier this week, four Al Jazeera journalists were killed in a targeted Israeli air strike. Confirming the strike, Israel claimed it had killed a Hamas cell leader posing as an Al Jazeera journalist, citing intelligence and documents found in Gaza, but rights advocates said Anas Sharif had been targeted for his frontline reporting on the Gaza war and that Israel’s claim lacked evidence. Al Jazeera and organisations representing journalists also rejected the Israeli claims.

Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah wrote to the writers festival to withdraw, saying, “I cannot take part in any festival that asks me to endorse a framework that demands my self-censorship.”

Abdel-Fattah was due to speak on Saturday afternoon at a program event titled “On Reckonings”. Attendees were invited to join “three acclaimed writers as they confront the ongoing legacies of violence and racism through their fiction and narrative history.” A description of Abdel-Fattah on the festival website says her latest book, Discipline, ”confronts the cost of speaking up and the privilege of remaining silent on Israel’s genocide in Gaza.”

Publisher Aviva Tuffield said it was rare to see a code of conduct given to writers before a festival. “There might be a line about respect, or not allowing hate speech or racism,” she said, “but never anything dictating what you can and can’t say.

“As a publisher who publishes a couple of Palestinian writers, and a number of Muslim Arab writers, it feels very targeted; it feels untenable for them.”

Others agreed it was highly unusual for a writers festival to issue a code of conduct.

The Human Rights Law Centre also sent a letter to the Bendigo Writers Festival detailing concerns, after being approached by several festival participants.

Responding to questions about the writers withdrawing, festival organisers said in a statement: “Bendigo Writers Festival is committed to holding an event that engages in respectful debate, open-minded discussion, and explores topical and complex issues.”

They said the festival and La Trobe University felt it necessary to emphasise the importance of safety and wellbeing for all participants by introducing a code of conduct, and such codes were a part of similar festivals.

“For those participants making the choice to withdraw due to introducing a code of conduct, we respect their decision and thank them for their initial willingness to be part of the festival.”

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