10 January 2026

We stand in solidarity with Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah following her expulsion from the Adelaide Festival’s Writers’ Week program. We condemn the Festival’s very clear and unambiguous anti-Palestinian racism. And we reject in the strongest terms the Board’s framing of their decision around social cohesion and cultural sensitivity, while taking this divisive and discriminatory action.

Throughout Israel’s genocide, the Zionist targeting of Palestinians within the arts – and academia, the workplace and public life in general – has been calculated and systematic. Conflating Randa’s Palestinian identity with the tragedy of the Bondi massacre adds additionally cynical element to an already relentless and dehumanising campaign.

Urgent reform is needed in Australian arts governance. Artists and festival organisers should not be subject to discriminatory, racist decisions by boards and management. Artists should be free to speak up against genocide, occupation and human rights violations without having their work and voices suppressed.

So far, over 77 participants have withdrawn from the Writers’ Week program. We welcome and honour their support, and encourage everyone to support their work. 

We invite the remaining Adelaide Festival performers and musicians to join the boycott. As artists, their solidarity is a crucial bulwark against Zionist censorship and repression.

As people, our collective voices are singularly powerful: write to the Adelaide Festival Board and demand Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah’s reinstatement.

Boycott Israel and Zionism.
Speak up against genocide and occupation.
Defend Palestinian existence.

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