Former Greek finance minister and author Yanis Varoufakis has defended his withdrawal from Adelaide Writers’ Week as a necessary stand against censorship, as the controversy deepens with the resignation of the festival’s director and a mass boycott by writers.
Varoufakis pulled out of the festival in protest over the removal of Palestinian-Australian author Randa Abdel-Fattah, a decision he said reflected political intimidation rather than genuine concern for community cohesion.
Responding to criticism from a Greek Australian reader who described his decision as “appalling,” Varoufakis rejected claims that Abdel-Fattah had promoted violence or hatred.
“…Randa Abdel-Fattah never called for the elimination of a people,” he wrote. “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.”
Varoufakis argued that Abdel-Fattah’s remarks had been mischaracterised, likening her critique of Zionism to historical opposition to apartheid.
“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,” he said, adding that her call was for “equality before the law independently of one’s religion, ethnicity or creed.”
The fallout has intensified today when Louise Adler, director of Adelaide Writers’ Week, resigned in protest. In an open letter published in The Guardian, Adler said the decision to cancel Abdel-Fattah’s appearance was made by the Adelaide Festival Board despite her “strongest opposition.”
More than 180 invited participants have now withdrawn from Writers’ Week, including former New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern, along with prominent writers and journalists such as Trent Dalton, Peter Greste, Hannah Kent and Evelyn Araluen.
Abdel-Fattah had been scheduled to discuss her novel Discipline, set during Ramadan. The festival board said it was “not culturally sensitive” to proceed with her appearance so soon after the Bondi Beach terror attack in December, while stressing it was not suggesting any connection between her work and the incident.
South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas has backed the board’s decision, citing Abdel-Fattah’s history of anti-Israel and anti-Zionist social media posts.
Varoufakis, however, said the broader implications for free expression were impossible to ignore.
“If you do care about Australian values and institutions, you should be appalled,” he wrote in response to the reader’s letter. “I am glad to have withdrawn from this year’s AWW in a bid to help save it.”
The controversy has reignited debate about artistic freedom, censorship and the growing influence of risk management and commercial considerations on arts programming, as Adelaide Writers’ Week prepares to begin on February 27.
