Diversity Arts Australia stands in solidarity with the many writers, authors, and publishers who withdrew from the 2025 Bendigo Writers Festival. We express our solidarity with Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah, award-winning author, lawyer, scholar and human rights advocate, who continues to face vilification, harassment, and exclusion from artistic and academic spaces. In a time of genocide, it is critical that Palestinian and other marginalised voices be heard, not silenced.
The Bendigo Writer’s Festival’s last-minute imposition of a code of conduct on writers, mandating avoidance of “inflammatory, divisive, or disrespectful” content and adherence to La Trobe University’s contested definition of antisemitism included in its Anti-Racism Action Plan, raises serious concerns in terms of human rights. As Dr Abdel-Fattah noted, it “directly infringes on my right to speak as a Palestinian, as well as my freedom of speech and academic freedom”. The impact of this kind of suppression highlights once more the price cultural organisations pay when they capitulate to external pressures to silence Palestinian writers, artists and those who advocate for the indivisible rights of the Palestinian people.
This is not an isolated incident. As we outlined in our February 2025 open letter, the actions of the Bendigo Writers Festival reflect an alarming pattern of censorship, risk aversion, and a persistent lack of care and respect for critical voices in cultural and academic realms.
Samuel Cairnduff, writing for ArtsHub, aptly captures the broader context: “the weaponisation of policy”. Indeed, in this instance, anti-racism policy has been weaponised and normative practices like codes of conduct intended for protection now serve to silence dissent, confine debate, and undermine the very principles and standards of human rights.