Melbourne Writers’ Festival deputy chair steps down over poetry event featuring Aboriginal and Palestinian solidarity
Leslie Reti, the deputy chair of the Melbourne Writers’ Festival, resigned in protest at this year’s program’s poetry workshop on Aboriginal and Palestinian solidarity.
The interim chief executive, Fiona Menzies, is resigning to a consulting post “for personal reasons,” while Michaela McGuire, the festival’s creative director, has declared she will not pursue a contract renewal when it ends in August due to unrelated reasons.
Reti objected to the following statement from the festival program—which has not yet been released—about the poetry event: “The relationship between Palestinians and Aboriginals has a long history, and it is now more important than ever in the fight against colonialism and to speak out against atrocities.”
In a Monday radio interview with ABC Radio, McGuire claimed that Reti had shared his worries with her over a particular phrase in the show that, in his opinion, disregarded the Jewish people’s ancestral ties to the region that is now part of the state of Israel and the Palestinian territories.
When Rafael Epstein, the interviewer, asked McGuire if the session was the reason behind Reti’s resignation, he responded, “That line from that session is the problem.”
However, she added, the program, which was organized by Mykaela Saunders, a “self-determined First Nations programmer,” focused on the relationship between the Palestinian and Aboriginal populations.
According to McGuire, “it’s an amazing celebration of the affirmation and care between Aboriginal people and Palestinians.” She had noticed that the poets had corresponded with “dignity, love, care and respect.”
The theme of this entire event is unity between Palestinians and Aboriginals. Not including that in the event material makes no sense because it’s not for or about anyone who doesn’t subscribe to it.
Guardian Australia is aware that the event’s description won’t be changed before the episode airs on March 21. On May 6, the event kicks off.
Alice Hill, the leader of the organization, declared that the festival will keep promoting free speech.
“We acknowledge, promote, and cherish the significance of varied viewpoints and attitudes among our employees, artists, spectators, the communities we cater to, and via our initiative,” the spokesperson stated.
