‘Foolish’: Mabo historian pans festival axing of author
The Australian Aboriginal historian who played a key role in launching the Mabo High Court trial has condemned a writer’s festival over the sacking of a pro-Palestinian academic.
Professor Henry Reynolds confirmed to AAP on Sunday that he was withdrawing from Adelaide Writers’ Week after the board dismissed academic and novelist Randa Abdel-Fattah over “cultural sensitivity”.
The festival board said the “national pain” and “social tensions” caused by the mass shooting in Bondi on December 14, in which 15 people died, led to the decision to suspend the author.
The Tasmanian historian described the conduct of the festival as short-sighted, causing him not to attend the festival in March.
“It’s a very stupid decision, following the collapse of the previous writers’ festival and an inexcusable capitulation to Zionist pressure,” he told AAP on Sunday.
“No matter what, inviting someone and then taking them back is a stupid thing to do.”
Dr Abdel-Fattah was also excluded from the Bendigo Writers Festival in 2025 due to his pro-Palestinian stances.
Dr Reynolds was due to appear at the Adelaide event from February 28 to March 5 alongside acclaimed Indigenous film director Rachel Perkins, but withdrew from the event after nearly 100 speakers, including award-winning authors Trent Dalton and Helen Garner, withdrew from the line-up.
He persuaded indigenous rights activist Eddie Mabo, who wrote extensively about the massacre of indigenous people in many books, to take the land ownership case to the Supreme Court.
The landmark decision in 1992 paved the way for Native Title claims ever since.
Dr Reynolds’s research, along with that of other leading historians, also triggered the “culture wars” of the 1990s; former prime minister John Howard described critical writings on the issue as “black armband history”.
The historian, through his lawyers, told the festival board, including former coalition immigration minister Amanda Vanstone, on Friday that Dr. He sent a letter demanding a detailed explanation regarding the cessation of Abdel-Fattah’s existence.
“What is the Board’s definition of ‘culturally sensitive’ in this statement?” the letter asks. he wrote.
“Does this definition have broader application, or is it limited only to the human tragedy that occurred at Bondi Beach in December?”
AAP contacted the Adelaide Festival for comment on Sunday.
“Given his past statements, we formed the view that it would not be culturally sensitive to continue programming Bondi at such an unprecedented time so soon after,” the board said in a statement Thursday.
Dr Abdel-Fattah has been accused by conservative Jewish groups of posting posts criticizing Israel’s war crimes in Gaza and claiming support for Hamas.
The board did not clarify which specific statements were inflammatory.
However, the report stated that “in no way has it been suggested that Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah or her writings had any connection with the tragedy at Bondi.”
The growing list of withdrawn international guests includes keynote speaker British novelist Zadie Smith, Russian-American journalist M Gessen and former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis.
