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The Guardian
27-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
‘A moral crisis': how the Sydney writers' festival grappled with the Israel-Gaza war
The Israel-Gaza conflict loomed over the Sydney writers' festival long before it opened its doors at Carriageworks last week. In February, the chair of the festival board, Kathy Shand, resigned over her concerns about some of the programming related to Gaza and Israel. Robert Watkins, who replaced Shand as chair, promised the festival would present 'a plurality of voices [and] a diversity of thought' including 'both Jewish and Palestinian writers and thought leaders'. Guardian Australia attended a number of events related to the conflict to see how the writers' festival covered the ongoing death and destruction, antisemitism, Islamophobia and the feelings of different communities being rejected and sidelined. Raja Shehadeh – described by the Guardian as Palestine's greatest prose writer – was one of a few writers joining the festival by video link from the region, Zooming in from his home in Ramallah, in the West Bank. Shehadeh, a human rights lawyer turned writer, has written a number of acclaimed books, including the Orwell prize-winning Palestinian Walks. He was at the festival speaking about his book What Does Israel Fear from Palestine? – a question he answers succinctly in his panel. 'The very existence of Palestine is what Israel fears.' Describing his daily life, Shehadeh told the audience how Israeli settlers had attacked a nearby Palestinian village, firebombing houses and cars 'with the help of the Israeli army'. IDF checkpoints made the hill walking he loves difficult but, he said, 'this is nothing compared to what's happening in Gaza'. 'We hear the planes, the jet fighters … they streak through the sky on the way to Gaza to kill more people,' he told Australian writer Abbas El-Zein, who moderated the session. 'And so we cannot complain.' Ittay Flescher, an Australian Jewish writer, joined the festival via video link from Jerusalem, where he moved with his family from Melbourne in 2018. The audience was warned before the session began that earlier in the evening Flescher had had to evacuate his home because of incoming rockets from Yemen. Flescher, who is the education director at Kids4Peace Jerusalem, an interfaith movement for Israelis and Palestinians, said a key element in working towards peace was combating the dehumanisation of the other side that has occurred in the region. 'I don't think Hamas could have carried out October 7 without extensive dehumanisation of Jews and Israelis … And what Israel has done in Gaza, not just killing Hamas, but killing so so many innocent men, women and children that were not connected to Hamas … and now the limiting of food into Gaza and the starvation, that can't happen without extensive dehumanisation.' Peter Beinart, an Jewish-American political commentator, echoed the need for humanisation of the other, and listening to voices across the divides of the conflict in his sold-out event on Sunday. 'Palestinians lack permission to narrate,' he said, echoing the literary great Edward Said. 'There is this process in which, as a Jew, from the moment you can remember you've been talking about Palestinians, but you're never listening to Palestinians or actually meeting with Palestinians. And I think this is a recipe for both ignorance and dehumanisation,' Beinart told Debbie Whitmont. Beinart said he wrote his recent book, Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza, to try to offer 'a voice that my mind comes from … from love and from Jewish solidarity, to say to the people in my life that I love that I think something has gone horribly, horribly wrong'. 'When I look at what's happening in Gaza, a place where most of the buildings and the schools and the universities and the mosques and the churches and the bakeries and the agriculture have been destroyed, and people have been displaced from their homes … every person I know from Gaza has lost count of the number of people who've been killed,' he said. 'It seems to me this is the most profound chillul hashem, desecration of God's name, that I have witnessed in my entire life, and it will constitute not just a moral crisis for the Jewish people but for those of us who take Judaism seriously.' At a packed – and occasionally tense – session on Friday morning, the British Jewish barrister and author Philippe Sands and Michael Gawenda, the former editor of the Age, spoke about antisemitism and xenophobia. Gawenda argued that many Jewish Australians working in the arts had been refused work because of their political stance on Israel. 'They feel like they are being rejected on the basis that they are Jews, Jews of a particular kind. And I think that there's evidence that this is widespread in Australia ... It's widespread in the arts, I'm absolutely convinced of that.' Gawenda's comments prompted a heated question from an audience member about the experience of Arab-Australians who had missed out on opportunities due to their pro-Palestinian stance, naming Khaled Sabsabi and Antoinette Lattouf as examples. Sabsabi had been selected as Australia's representative at the 2026 Venice Biennale but was dumped by Creative Australia over past works that involved imagery of Hassan Nasrallah, the now-dead Hezbollah leader, and the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Of Sabsabi, Gawenda said: 'With his cancellation, there was a huge uproar ... Letters were signed, petitions were signed calling it out, including by Jews who would have been opposed to his views. There were no letters or petitions supporting these young Jewish artists, none. They got no support at all. Lattouf got heaps of support, as she should have. I think it was a mistake what the ABC did.' Sands, who is a king's counsel, spoke about the risks of a sense of competition between marginalised groups, and of antisemitism being weaponised by politicians for their own political ends. 'The concern about creating the league tables of horror is that it leads to an instrumentalisation of what's going on. And what I really worry about right now is that what's going on is instrumentalising antisemitism for other purposes,' he said. Tension among the audience was heightened when the first question from the crowd came from a woman asking about the 'Zionist lobby', which she said had put 'its tentacles into everything' – an antisemitic trope that attracted gasps and furious comments from other members of the audience. The question was shut down by the moderator. For many in Australia with family and cultural ties to the region, art has become a place to express their rage and grief. The Lebanese Australian writer Sara Haddad, the Lebanese Palestinian poet Hasib Hourani and the Palestinian Australian playwright Samah Sabawi discussed with moderator Micaela Sahhar their texts of home and identity against the backdrop of the Israeli bombardment and blockade of Gaza. All three works were published after 7 October 2023. Sabawi started writing Cactus Pear for My Beloved, which tells the story of her family's expulsion from Gaza and settling in Queensland over 100 years, in 2016. It was intended as a celebration of her father and her home. By the time she got to writing the author's note, in December 2023, 'a lot of Gaza was fast turning into rubble'. 'My family was on the run, my grandfather's home destroyed. Much of our neighbourhood was gone. And then my father, watching the news, fell and broke his ribs,' Sabawi said. After her father died in 2024, the book 'became an obituary for both'. Haddad began writing The Sunbird, a novel following a Palestinian woman's memory as a child in the Nakba and then adulthood in Australia, in response to Israel's bombardment of Gaza. She started her novel in December 2023, after seeing the words written by Dr Mahmoud Abu Nujaila on a whiteboard in his hospital in Gaza: 'Whoever stays until the end will tell the story. We did what we could. Remember us.' Haddad finished the book in January and self-published. 'Watching this for many years … I knew that Israel had what it wanted and what it needed, and it wasn't going to stop. They were not going to stop. And so I knew that I had to do everything I possibly could to speak as loudly as I could. 'I wrote the book very quickly. I had a deadline. I knew it was urgent.'
The Guardian
25-02-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
From Creative Australia to Sydney writers' festival, the direct threat facing the arts is coming from within
All around the world, a succession of arts organisations across all sectors have come under pressure from artists – surely their first and most important stakeholders – to 'take a stand' on a range of topical issues from the climate crisis to Israel's war on Gaza. If artists engage with the issues of the day, what is the appropriate response of the boards and managers of arts organisations? On Monday we saw the resignation of Kathy Shand, chair of the Sydney writers' festival. Obviously individual board members, like donors, have every right to decide the values of an organisation do not align with their own. They also have every right to take their chequebooks elsewhere. Boards are responsible for hiring and firing their artistic directors, for setting strategy and managing risks. A cursory survey of the composition of Australian arts boards would reveal they are filled almost entirely by generalists – directors with financial, legal and marketing expertise. Those skills are essential. However, knowledge of the particular art form is rare indeed. Having appointed an artistic director, it is incumbent upon boards to uphold the former's vision. Opinions are to be welcomed but expertise must surely trump the former. Earlier this month we saw the scandal unravel at Creative Australia after the newly appointed opposition spokesperson for the arts, Senator Claire Chandler, saw an opportunity in parliament to ask why Khaled Sabsabi had been appointed as Australia's artist to the 2026 Venice Biennale. Her 'concern' was prompted by a work made 20 years ago that purportedly 'highlighted a terrorist leader'. Obviously visual literacy isn't in the modern politician's job description, which is why independent expert panels are so important when it comes to judgments about art and culture. Rescinding the invitation to Sabsabi six days after lauding his appointment is a victory for those who briefed Chandler. Creative Australia has now commissioned a review, suggesting the advisory process was flawed. This most recent controversy – only the latest in a long series of pre-emptive self-censoring gestures by Australian arts organisations – suggests the direct threat facing the arts is from within. Justifying its about-face, Creative Australia stated 'the board believes a prolonged and divisive debate about the 2026 selection outcome poses an unacceptable risk to public support for Australia's artistic community'. This managerial-speak obscures at least one dubious assertion – that public support exists for Australian artists. However, it is a claim that we need to take seriously: art, in this (quietist) vision, is the business of consensus. The purpose of art is apparently to affirm the status quo. If 'divisiveness' (taken here to mean dissent) is deemed 'unacceptable' by Australia's leading arts body, what then are we to make of its mandate – 'to uphold and promote freedom of expression in the arts'? This constitutional obligation seems to have been overlooked in the rush to appease critics with a megaphone. It can be difficult to see what is in plain sight, in part because of the banality of the language. Such a pre-emptive capitulation is not merely a rebuke to the artist and a convenient amnesia regarding the board's charter, but more importantly a hostility to art itself. Once upon a time Creative Australia's role was in part to advocate for the arts to government and the community. That task seems to have been abandoned, with the peak arts body reduced to apportioning sorely needed funds. However, the cancellation of Sabsabi is just the latest in a litany of governance failures across all art forms in recent years. Perhaps Creative Australia could show some urgently needed leadership and convene a national conversation to re-establish trust between artists, arts managers, boards and supporters. The scandal highlights just how fraught the relationship between boards, management and artists has become. The corporatisation of arts boards all too often paradoxically results in amateurish governance, increasing reliance on philanthropy and sponsorship and a concomitant escalation in influence over artistic decisions. What we have seen both at Creative Australia and now with Shand's resignation is a confusion of roles, a disrespect for the important separation of powers. Personal views of curatorial judgments are simply personal and should not displace the principle of the artist's freedom of expression or the independence of curators. Many artists feel a moral obligation to use their voices and their art to speak to the injustices and cruelties of the times. Would we wish artists to be indifferent, to narcissistically ignore the world in which they make their art? Even the 19th century artist in his (most often male) garret could not be immune to the life outside his door. In 2023 three actors in Sydney took a curtain call wearing keffiyeh. The usual cultural sentries hyperventilated, ratcheting up outrage across column acres. On opening night, well-heeled titans of commerce and finance became suddenly fearful in their premium seats, feeling intimidated by impecunious artists with different opinions. These captains of industry closed their chequebooks. Emails circulated encouraging donors across the nation to join them and withdraw funding from those arts organisations who had responded to artists' demands for statements calling for a ceasefire and an end to the occupation. Historically donors tended to prefer the anonymity of genuine philanthropy free from self-aggrandisement. What has changed is the sense of entitlement: donations now come with expectations, seats at the board table and judgments about curatorial decisions. Now donors want relationships with the organisations they choose to support: naming of buildings and programs, expectations of invitations, of being feted and of the omnipresent complimentary tickets. When accepting the corporate or donor dime it is probably worth recalling the aphorism that one needs a long spoon to sup with the devil. Last year Baillie Gifford, one of the largest corporate sponsors of the arts (and in particular of literary culture) in the UK withdrew its support from literary festivals after a Fossil Free Books (FFB) campaign linked its protest to the climate crisis and Israel's war on Gaza. Some festival organisers felt 'bullied' by the artist-activists' threat of a boycott of their events and were encouraged by some literary luminaries with opposing views to resist the pressure. Hay festival lost £130,000, Edinburgh international book festival £350,000. At least 10 UK literary festivals are now imperilled as a consequence. This means fewer opportunities for writers to discuss their work, promote their books and publicise their concerns before huge and attentive crowds. Was the FFB campaign a smart strategy? One writer asked why activists had not focused on the 'real enemies' – calling on colleagues to 'withdraw their labour' and strike against the Murdocracy for example, by refusing to publish with Harper Collins, or demanding to be deleted from the Times bestseller lists. Another argued that among all corrupt and complicit corporations, Baillie Gifford is a mere minnow. Those of us working in arts organisations share gallows humour while spending endless executive hours drafting risk analyses to assuage nervous boards. The reality is that risk is inevitable, buffeted by mass-media opinionistas and social-media warriors. So artists require boards with fortitude and a commitment to support the artistic vision. There needs to be a shared recognition that art is by its very nature unpredictable, all arts consumers can never be satisfied, and box-office revenues can't be guaranteed. So, what might good cultural leadership look like? The tail should not wag the dog – those tails include the government of the day, directors, donors and sponsors. When boards resent the pressure they feel from artists, they seem to forget that organisations exist to enable artists and their work. When Adelaide writers' week in 2023 showcased Palestinian contemporary writing, there was a media flurry engineered by antagonists. I remember the leadership shown by the former chair of Adelaide festival who robustly responded to the withdrawal of one sponsor by asserting perhaps they weren't the sort of sponsor we wanted. Arts organisations require directors with legal, financial and political expertise. But directors must understand the organisation's core business. Boards need an appetite for risk, clarity in their mandate and confidence in both the art form and the audience. Artists need to be appointed to arts boards and to be taken seriously. Finally, government relationships must continue to be at arms length, holding fast to the principle of curatorial independence. The long-term sustainability of arts organisations is under threat, once again, from a lack of funding, poor governance, declining and ageing audiences and a lack of courageous leadership. Louise Adler's professional life has been in the cultural sphere as a board member, publisher and artistic director. This is an adapted extract of her essay 'Culture, Money and Morals' in What's the Big Idea? 32 Ideas for a Better Australia (Australia Institute Press)
The Guardian
25-02-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Sydney writers' festival chair resigns amid debate over Israel-Palestine programming
The chair of the Sydney writers' festival board has resigned over concerns about the festival's balancing of views on matters such as the Israel-Gaza war, saying 'freedom of expression cannot and should not be used as a justification to accept language and conversations that compromise the festival'. The festival board confirmed Kathy Shand's resignation on Monday, less than a month before the 2025 lineup of writers, speakers and panelists is due to be announced on 13 March. Shand, a board member of the Sydney Jewish Museum and a former co-publisher of the Australian Jewish News, wrote in her resignation statement that while artistic freedom and independence were essential, 'freedom of expression cannot and should not be used as a justification to accept language and conversations that compromise the festival as a safe and inclusive space for all audiences'. 'Every session that is planned needs to reflect the values of the festival and represent the highest standard of consideration and curation,' she wrote in her resignation letter, sent to the Sydney Morning Herald. 'The reputation of the Sydney writers' festival has been hard won and is well deserved. This needs to be protected and great care needs to be taken with the stages that carry the imprimatur of the festival. At a time when cultural organisations are faced with challenges I wish the festival well.' The Sydney Morning Herald reported that the board had been engaged in a 'years long tussle over the emphasis placed on presenting a diversity of views on issues such as the Middle East conflict and geopolitics'. Weeks before Shand's resignation, Guardian Australia was briefed about the 2025 program, and can independently confirm it includes multiple prominent Jewish and Palestinian writers and thinkers. The speakers names remain embargoed until 13 March. Late on Monday, Robert Watkins, the new chair of the festival and Ultimo Press's publishing director, said the festival was a champion of freedom of speech and respectful debate. The 2025 program, set for release on 13 March, would 'demonstrably reflect the festival's ongoing commitment to presenting a plurality of voices [and] a diversity of thought', Watkins' statement said. 'This includes both Jewish and Palestinian writers and thought leaders. The board are united and supportive of the 2025 program,' he wrote, also praising Shand's 'dedication to championing writers and fostering meaningful engagement'. Since the conflict in Gaza erupted in October 2023, a steady flow of resignations and calls for boycotts have plagued literary festivals and arts organisations. Most recently, Creative Australia dumped artist Khaled Sabsabi as Australia's representative at the 2026 Venice Biennale, over past works by the Lebanese-born Australian artist that involved imagery of the now dead Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and the 9/11 terrorist attacks. That decision that has been widely condemned by prominent artists and art organisations. At the 2024 Melbourne writers' festival, deputy chair of the board Dr Leslie Reti resigned over the programming of a poetry session involving Aboriginal and Palestinian poets reading their work and sharing their experiences of being colonised. At last year's Perth writers' festival, an open letter signed by more than 500 writers and arts workers called for the deplatforming of Jewish singer-songwriter Deborah Conway over her previous comments in support of Israel. Some Jewish figures also called for feminist writer Clementine Ford to be banned from the 2024 Adelaide writers' week due to her social media posts opposing Israel's actions in Gaza.
