cross-posted from: quokk.au/…/palestinian-australian-author-dropped-…
Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah has been dropped from the Adelaide Writers’ Week line-up by the Adelaide Festival Board, citing the festival’s role in “promoting community cohesion”.
How dumb does an arts organisation have to be to still be doing shit like this? Melbourne symphony orchestra’s reputation is still hurt (and they’re still missing out on gigs, too) from cancelling that soloist that dedicated a piece to the journalists of Gaza, and that was a good two years ago.
MisterFrog@aussie.zone 6 days ago
How is it promoting community cohesion for barring someone based on race?
Seems like open-and-shut racial discrimination to me.
zero_gravitas@aussie.zone 6 days ago
The statement from the Adelaide Festival board says that it’s because of “past statements” by Abdel-Fattah, though they don’t cite anything or even mention the nature of these statements. So it’s not explicitly because Abdel-Fattah’s ethnicity.
Taleya@aussie.zone 6 days ago
they don’t need to, it was pretty loud news