‘Censorship is never the answer’: Writers festival organisers call for braver spaces after Bendigo boycott

Writers festival organisers around the country are expressing dismay over the fallout from the Bendigo Writers Festival saying such codes of conduct “stifle freedom of expression.”

“Censorship is never the right answer,” says Brooke Webb, chief executive of the Sydney Writers’ Festival, adding that freedom of speech and freedom of expression underpin a civil society.

“The authors have spoken and here we are ... You invite an author because you want to hear what they want to say,” says Webb, who has led the Sydney event for five years.

More than 50 participants withdrew from the Bendigo event last week, protesting against a code of conduct sent two days before the festival was set to begin, requiring them to “avoid language or topics that could be considered inflammatory, divisive, or disrespectful”.

That meant discussion of colonialism and violence against First Nations people, the Russia-Ukraine war, violence against women and children, and a raft of other topics would potentially breach the code. Many people immediately assumed it was directed at one particular issue: Gaza.

The code included La Trobe University’s definition of antisemitism – the Universities Australia definition, which several universities around the country have not accepted – which some critics claim conflates anti-Zionism with antisemitism.

As reported by this masthead on Monday, the Jewish lobby group 5A wrote to event organisers in July raising concern over the appearance of Palestinian writer Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah. In a letter to Bendigo and La Trobe, two of the group argued Abdel-Fattah would “pose a direct threat to the Jewish community in Australia” citing previous alleged social media posts by the writer.

The letter alleged Abdel-Fattah was “widely known for her antisemitism and anti-Israeli rhetoric … [and] perpetually dehumanises people who hold Zionist views and condemns them as not worthy of human dignity”.

Responding to the revelations on Monday, Abdel-Fattah said: “La Trobe University and Bendigo Festival indulged a defamatory smear campaign against me by a pro-Israel lobby group. Ironic that the code and policies use the language of anti-racism, safety, respect and inclusion and yet were deliberately wielded to silence, manage and target me, a Palestinian-Egyptian Muslim woman.”

Also known as the Australian Academic Alliance Against Antisemitism, there is little detail about the group on their website. 5A has been approached for comment.

Elizabeth McCarthy, program director of the Queenscliffe Literary Festival, which is held over two weekends in October, describes the actions of the authors who withdrew from Bendigo Writers Festival as “deeply admirable”.

“As festival curators we should call this what it is: a vicious campaign against particular writers and against the existence of Bendigo Writers Festival itself,” she alleges.

“It is deeply admirable that writers have pushed back in solidarity and said, ‘we won’t be hounded like this and we are boycotting’.”

Lucy Hayward, at the Australian Society of Authors, agrees, saying she heard from several authors after the Bendigo festival fallout.

“We are becoming increasingly concerned about the overreach we’re seeing in codes of conduct for public appearances, which has the effect of stifling freedom of expression,” she says.

“Freedom of expression is a fundamental right, and the work of authors needs to be respected and valued,” the ASA said in a statement.

“Of particular concern is when sponsors of festival sessions seek to impose guidelines around appropriate and inappropriate speech... Authors are engaged by festivals precisely because of their expression of ideas.”

Webb argues there is no need for codes of conduct because legislation is already in place. “You’re operating within the bounds of the law – that’s the code of conduct, but that’s with everything, it’s not just festivals.”

Two years ago, Webb wrote a statement called On Freedom of Expression, which sits on the Sydney Writers’ Festival website. “Not long after October 7 [2023] we could see that these conversations were going to be very emotive and very polarising. I crafted that [piece] on freedom of expression and why it’s so important. That has helped us define, articulate and talk about our values,” she says.

This year, more than 100,000 people attended the SWF in May, including an impressive cohort of twenty-somethings, Webb says. “We [had] a number of Jewish-Israeli authors, we also had a number of Arab-Australian voices, and Palestinian voices, and we want to hear their lived experiences.

“We need to get much more comfortable with difficult, complicated conversations.”

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