Why withdrawing from Adelaide Writers’ Week was a necessary stand against censorship and political intimidation

DiEM25 co-founder Yanis Varoufakis withdrew from the Adelaide Writers’ Festival in protest at the banning of Palestinian-Australian author Randa Abdel-Fattah, a decision that sparked an intense public debate. Messages of solidarity poured in, but so did criticism.

Rather than dismissing that criticism, Yanis chose to engage with it directly. Below, we publish an exchange that captures the heart of the controversy: a letter from an Australian-Greek reader who was “appalled” by Yanis’ decision, followed by Yanis Varoufakis’ full reply. The exchange goes to the core of the issue at stake – free speech, accusations of antisemitism, and the growing power of political pressure to silence dissenting voices in cultural institutions.

My withdrawal from Adelaide Writers’ Festival (in protest to the ban on Randa Abdel-Fattah following pressure from the Zionist lobby) drew out immense support but (naturally) also criticism. As the criticism is always more interesting than the praise, here is an extract from an email by a Australian-Greek who was “appalled” by my withdrawal. [My reply to him follows below]

LETTER BEGINS

I’m writing as a second-generation Greek-Australian. My grandparents immigrated to Australia, and my grandmother raised six children alone in Adelaide. All went on to build successful families here – a story that represents the best of multiculturalism, made possible by embracing Australian values of equality, respect, and opportunity.

Your withdrawal from the Adelaide Writers Festival in solidarity with Randa Abdel-Fattah is appalling. The festival organizers made the right decision in removing her. Rhetoric that calls for the elimination of any people – regardless of the political context – has no place on Australian platforms. This isn’t about silencing legitimate criticism; it’s about recognizing a line that should never be crossed in a democratic society.

By withdrawing in protest of that decision, you’re defending the indefensible. As a Greek who should understand what happens when democratic societies fail to stand firm against eliminationist rhetoric, your position is particularly shameful.

Australia’s success as a multicultural nation depends on rejecting those who promote hatred toward any group. I expected someone who speaks of equality and democracy to understand this fundamental principle.

A deeply disappointed compatriot.

AND HERE IS MY REPLY

Thank you for writing. At the very least, we are still blessed with the capacity to disagree agreeably.

In your letter you write that “[r]hetoric that calls for the elimination of any people – regardless of the political context – has no place on Australian platforms”. Agreed. Fully. Except that Randa Abdel-Fattah never called for the elimination of a people. Had she done so, I too would have refused to share a platform with her at the Adelaide Writers Week or anywhere else for that matter.

Like successive Australian governments were calling for years for the elimination of the South African Apartheid state, Randa wished for an end of the “Zionist colony” in Palestine – the equivalent of the Boer colonial white supremacist state in south Africa. What Randa was wishing for, in the terms of your letter, was that the same Australian values you cherish prevail (instead of an Apartheid state’s laws and mores) in the land of her ancestors: equality before the law independently of one’s religion, ethnicity or creed. It is for this call that Randa was banned from this year’s Adelaide Writers Week.

So, if you do care about Australian values and institutions, you should be appalled.

You should be appalled by the ban of Randa Abdel-Fattah, independently of whether you agree with her on specifics.

You should be appalled by the silencing and sidelining of the AWW’s wonderful director, Louise Adler – a Jewish intellectual who has contributed so much to Australian letters and culture and who invited Randa knowing full well the facts of the case.

You should be appalled by a Zionist lobby determined to use the accusation of antisemitism in order to legitimise any war crime the Israeli Apartheid state chooses to commit – all in the name of Australian and Western values.

Finally, and on a personal note, I am glad to have withdrawn from this year’s AWW in a bid to help save it.

Respectfully

Yanis Varoufakis

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