PACBI joins calls for the boycott of anti-Palestinian racist Adelaide Festival

[Sid Shniad]

https://bdsmovement.net/boycott-adelaide-festival

9-01-2026

PACBI joins calls for the boycott of anti-Palestinian racist Adelaide Festival

The Adelaide Festival Board cancelled Palestinian author, lawyer and sociologist Randa Abdel-Fattah’s appearance at the Adelaide Writers’ Week on explicitly racist grounds

The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) supports calls for the boycott of Adelaide Festival in Australia, whose board has engaged in explicit anti-Palestinian racism and censorship. Cancelling the appearance of Palestinian Australian author, lawyer and sociologist Randa Abdel-Fattah at the Adelaide Writers’ Week based on her identity, the board absurdly cited “cultural sensitivity” as a reason. This shamelessly racist decision effectively dehumanises Palestinians, and normalises Israel’s genocide and war crimes.

PACBI, a founding member of the largest Palestinian coalition that leads the global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, commends the fifty writers who have already withdrawn from the Adelaide Writers’ Week following the festival board’s racist cancellation of Abdel-Fattah. We support the growing boycott of the Adelaide Writers’ Week, and we call on all participants in the wider Adelaide Festival to also withdraw. 

The Adelaide Festival is funded by and partnered with the Government of South Australia, whose Premier said he supports the decision of the Adelaide Festival Board to cancel Abdel-Fattah’s appearance. Palestinians condemn this state and institutional repression, and we urge all participants in the festival to withdraw, in solidarity with Abdel-Fattah, in support of freedom of expression, and affirming their opposition to all forms of racism.

Throughout Israel’s ongoing genocide against 2.3M Palestinians in Gaza, the federal Australian government has been shamelessly complicit. It maintains military, diplomatic and trade ties with Israel, and has licensed Australian weapons manufacturers to supply crucial components for apartheid Israel’s F35 fighter jets, used to massacre Palestinians in besieged Gaza. Following public pressure, it has reportedly instructed arms manufacturers to prohibit direct sales, but it likely does not affect F35 parts, and other Australian-made parts still reach genocidal Israel through third countries and international supply chains.

In literature, meaningful solidarity with Palestinians has been growing exponentially during Israel’s genocide in Gaza. More than 7,000 writers have endorsed the Palestinian call for the cultural boycott of apartheid Israel and its complicit institutions. Hundreds of publishers have called for the boycott of Frankfurt Book Fair, which cancelled an award to Palestinian author Adania Shibli and hosts complicit Israeli publishers.

Palestinian salute the writers and literary institutions recognising their ethical duty to end complicity in Israel’s oppression against Palestinians, who join tens of thousands of other cultural workers doing so, including filmmakers and musicians. We urge all artists and cultural institutions to stand up for Palestinian liberation and freedom of expression and against racism in all its forms, including anti-Palestinian racism. Boycott the Adelaide Festival.