Mish Mash

On a road less travelled, but gazing at the main drag with much interest. Born @ 317 ppm on Djadjawurung country.

[Mish Mash @custardpear]

@AttardMon She's wonderful. I'm so sorry she has endured this utter bullshit from Malinauskus & co

[💧Mary Kostakidis @MaryKostakidis]

Festival canceled. Board all gone but for a Council rep whose term is up in weeks. Almost all writers and speakers withdrew. An indication of what the community thinks about the suppression of speech (cc @AlboMP )
Instead of this preciousness over criticism of a genocide, maybe try being offended by the genocide.
https://t.co/DjeqblyDec

[Jewish Council of Australia @jewishcouncilAU]

Solidarity with Louise Adler and Randa Abdel-Fattah. We stand against this retrograde decision and with the countless authors withdrawing in support of Randa and her work.

[David Shoebridge @DavidShoebridge]

We need to end AUKUS now, before billions more are wasted and the whole thing just unravels between the incoherence and danger of Trump and the inability and decline of the UK.

[Mish Mash @custardpear]

Bravo @yanisvaroufakis

[Yanis Varoufakis @yanisvaroufakis]

My withdrawal from Adelaide Writers' Festival (in protest to the ban on Randa Abdel-Fattah following pressure from the Zionist lobby) drew out immense support but (naturally) also criticism. As the criticism is always more interesting than the praise, here is an extract from an email by a Australian-Greek who was "appalled" by my withdrawal. [My reply to him follows below]

LETTER BEGINS

I'm writing as a second-generation Greek-Australian. My grandparents immigrated to Australia, and my grandmother raised six children alone in Adelaide. All went on to build successful families here - a story that represents the best of multiculturalism, made possible by embracing Australian values of equality, respect, and opportunity.

Your withdrawal from the Adelaide Writers Festival in solidarity with Randa Abdel-Fattah is appalling. The festival organizers made the right decision in removing her. Rhetoric that calls for the elimination of any people - regardless of the political context - has no place on Australian platforms. This isn't about silencing legitimate criticism; it's about recognizing a line that should never be crossed in a democratic society.

By withdrawing in protest of that decision, you're defending the indefensible. As a Greek who should understand what happens when democratic societies fail to stand firm against eliminationist rhetoric, your position is particularly shameful.

Australia's success as a multicultural nation depends on rejecting those who promote hatred toward any group. I expected someone who speaks of equality and democracy to understand this fundamental principle.

A deeply disappointed compatriot.

AND HERE IS MY REPLY

Thank you for writing. At the very least, we are still blessed with the capacity to disagree agreeably.

In your letter you write that “[r]hetoric that calls for the elimination of any people - regardless of the political context - has no place on Australian platforms”. Agreed. Fully. Except that Randa Abdel-Fattah never called for the elimination of a people. 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.

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 – the equivalent of the Boer colonial white supremacist state in south Africa. What Randa was wishing for, in the terms of your letter, was that the same Australian values you cherish prevail (instead of an Apartheid state’s laws and mores) in the land of her ancestors: equality before the law independently of one’s religion, ethnicity or creed. It is for this call that Randa was banned from this year’s Adelaide Writers Week.

So, if you do care about Australian values and institutions, you should be appalled.

You should be appalled by the ban of Randa Abdel-Fattah, independently of whether you agree with her on specifics.

You should be appalled by the silencing and sidelining of the AWW’s wonderful director, Louise Adler – a Jewish intellectual who has contributed so much to Australian letters and culture and who invited Randa knowing full well the facts of the case.

You should be appalled by a Zionist lobby determined to use the accusation of antisemitism in order to legitimise any war crime the Israeli Apartheid state chooses to commit – all in the name of Australian and Western values.

Finally, and on a personal note, I am glad to have withdrawn from this year’s AWW in a bid to help save it.

Respectfully

Yanis Varoufakis

[Omar Sakr @omarsakrpoet]

Pray tell, when does this mourning period end and why does it entail punishing Randa, who had nothing to do with it? When do Arabs, who had nothing to do with this, get to participate in public life again, according to you?

[Mish Mash @custardpear]

Couldn't agree more. Mediocre man that he is.

[Lucy Treloar @LucyTreloar]

Albanese has made a terribly wrong turn in repeatedly capitulating to the Zionist lobby. The collapse of Bendigo Writers Festival, the closing of Meanjin and now AWW censoring Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah are disastrous markers in Australia’s cultural life. There will be more.

[Mish Mash @custardpear]

@adelaidefest Appalling decision. What a way to trash your reputation.

[Mish Mash @custardpear]

@NickFeik Fabulous. I have written to the Board to express my outrage. Every drop of protest helps.

[Tristan Snell @TristanSnell]

Donald Trump is now so unpopular that he’s losing elections in OTHER countries.

[Mish Mash @custardpear]

@jasxnyz The biggest lesson I took from that whole horrid experience is how much bullshit gets put into the public sphere by political commentators. This is the most accurate, honest take I've seen in the public domain ever. Thank you

[Peter Jukes @peterjukes]

We can look for rays of hope, but the reality is this is a major tectonic shift in world affairs. Trump’s likely victory will empower Putin, Orban, Netanyahu and right wing autocrats everywhere. The world hangs in the balance between democracy and tyranny

[Mish Mash @custardpear]

@carolecadwalla Yep, the world is being realigned. New alliances between oligarchs and authoritarian leaders. The post WW2 "order" seems on its last legs

[Carole Cadwalladr @carolecadwalla]

Bezos saw it coming & did what he needed to do. Who knows what comes next but this now is oligarchy. It’s the cojoining of state power & business interests. It’s 90s Russia. It’s the chaos before the crackdown. It’s Musk & Thiel & every cryptobro chancer in Silicon Valley

[Susie Dent @susie_dent]

Word of the day is ‘recrudescence’ (17th century): the return of something terrible after a time of reprieve.

[Mish Mash @custardpear]

@MayneReport That's sickening

[Mish Mash @custardpear]

@BiancaMinnie4 @profmiketoole Hard not to be afraid for all life on the planet, tbh. But yeah, some will be more immediately under threat than others

[Mish Mash @custardpear]

@Abster_1983 Seems to me they want to ignore science in favour of making money, so they will say "will of god", "natural disaster", "bad luck" or some such and the rich people will just look after themselves

[Mish Mash @custardpear]

@Abster_1983 yep, they will