Immediately’s weblog submit is a little bit completely different to my common posts as a result of I’m writing it as a author quite than as an economist. I write tens of hundreds of phrases yearly and have accomplished so for a few years. Individuals have requested me whether or not I get pleasure from spending my time in that method, on condition that it will appear to be fairly a self-discipline. It’s. However it’s also my freedom. My freedom to precise another viewpoint. My freedom to publish the outcomes of my analysis, framed in my very own explicit method. Many individuals hate what I write and I get quite a lot of hate E-mails telling me that. Anytime I point out Palestine, the hate mail floods in. I’m informed to delete the posts and/or die. Anytime I criticise the US, the hate is available in. I’m stunned, frankly, that individuals have that a lot time on their fingers, and, furthermore, assume that I’ll in some way crumple in a heap when accused of being an anti-Semite, when all I’ve ever accomplished in that house, is to criticise the indecent, genocidal and unlawful insurance policies and actions of the Israeli authorities performing out their Zionist ideology. There may be zero anti-Semite intention in that regardless of the way in which the present debate has efficiently conflated the 2. From one perspective, I’ve identified ‘cancel tradition’ my whole profession. The dominant and harmful Groupthink in my occupation has at all times tried to sideline my viewpoint. However I sense at this era of historical past that we’re in a time the place authoritarian viewpoints are as soon as once more turning into dominant within the wider society and as a author I see the hazard in that for people and our posterity.
Background
Readers from overseas may not know of the present controversy in Australia, the place an Australian college educational and writer – Randa Abdel Fattah – who has some Palestinian heritage, had her invitation to talk on the (previously) prestigious Adelaide Writers’ Week (AWW) revoked after lobbying from highly effective Zionist forces to have her banned.
The AWW is a part of the main arts and music pageant in Australia and has been held in excessive regard by folks in these communities each right here and overseas.
Adelaide has at all times held itself out as a progressive metropolis and society.
Final week (January 8, 2026), the governing board rescinded the invitation of Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah to take part on this 12 months’s AWW.
The rationale?
It’s laborious to fathom as a result of the Board solely launched the barest of statements.
The – Adelaide Competition Board Assertion (January 8, 2026) – mentioned by the use of reasoning for the choice that:
As an organisation and as folks, we have now been shocked and saddened by the tragic occasions at Bondi. We’ve got been additional saddened by the nationwide grief and the numerous heightening of each group tensions and the group debate …
… we have now right this moment suggested scheduled author Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah that the Board has fashioned the judgment that we don’t want to proceed along with her scheduled look at subsequent month’s Writers’ Week.
While we don’t counsel in any method that Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah’s or her writings have any reference to the tragedy at Bondi, given her previous statements we have now fashioned the view that it will not be culturally delicate to proceed to program her at this unprecedented time so quickly after Bondi.
What are these ‘statements’?
Google’s AI Overview informed me they embrace, for instance:
1. 2024 Twitter submit – “The purpose is decolonisation and the top of this murderous Zionist colony.”
2. Undated assertion on-line – “In case you are a Zionist, you don’t have any declare or proper to cultural security” and that it’s her “responsibility as any individual who fights all types of oppression and violence to disclaim you a secure house to espouse your Zionist racist ideology”.”
There have been another related statements.
She has additionally said she condemned the homicide of harmless Jews at Bondi Seaside just lately.
Whether or not one agrees along with her building of the Zionist venture is one factor and this submit just isn’t about the fitting or improper place on that problem.
The purpose of this submit, is that in a free world, a author ought to have the ability to assemble the fact they see in no matter method they need even when another person would possibly disagree with that building.
Writing is about stylising concepts and imagery in order that the reader can use their creativeness to assemble their very own impressions.
I realise in literary principle that there’s a big debate about who ought to have the accountability of setting up what the narrative means – the fact of that narrative.
The division of accountability additionally varies throughout completely different kinds of writing.
In my writing, the writer is primarily accountable for the development due to the technical nature of the fabric.
I’m attempting to coach the readership on issues which are tough and layered.
After all, all my subjective biases come out as they need to.
My freedom.
I can, after all, perceive why some folks would discover her statements about Zionism tough.
And the Zionist foyer in Australia, like in all places, could be very highly effective and has in some way persuaded authorities, the media and organisations just like the Adelaide Writers’ Competition, that that issue crosses the road of decency and anybody expressing such views needs to be silenced.
They go additional than that and demand prosecutions and governments appear compliant given the spate of laws that’s now rising to limit freedoms in Australia.
Nonetheless, in all of this, in some way killing no less than 72 thousand largely harmless Palestinians in Gaza and destroying their homes and civic areas doesn’t cross the road of decency (Casualties of the Gaza Battle).
The ‘Foyer’ has demanded that expressing these views about what has been taking place within the Center East are to not be publicly allowed.
There may be one model of occasions and no different needs to be heard.
The AWW Board’s building that permitting Dr Fattah to talk could be “culturally insensitive” is simply one other method of claiming that censorship is permissible if one highly effective group doesn’t just like the message.
The quick outcome?
Predictably, many authors who worth their freedom to jot down what they need determined to boycott the occasion.
There may be even a Wiki web page – Adelaide Writers’ Week boycott – now documenting this controversy.
As the times handed, the boycotts grew and a few members of the governing board resigned.
Politicians had been questioned about their involvement and squirmed after they tried to disclaim they’d some affect.
After all they did.
And on Tuesday morning, the Director of the AWW – Louise Adler – additionally resigned.
Ms Adler is a effectively regarded writer (beforehand CEO of Melbourne College Press) and comes from a Jewish (holocaust) background.
She is related to the “Jewish Council of Australia, a group organisation representing non-Zionist Australian Jews supporting human rights for Palestinians.”
She had stayed quiet within the final week however, in saying her retirement, wrote a superb rationale within the UK Guardian for her choice to give up – I can’t be get together to silencing writers, which is why I’m resigning as director of Adelaide writers’ week (January 13, 2016).
And shortly after on Tuesday (January 13, 2026), the governing board of the AWW introduced it had cancelled the 2026 AWW.
That they had to do this as a result of “greater than 180 writers have withdrawn” from the occasion and the managing board has all however collapsed.
And the credibility of the AWW was in tatters.
Reds beneath the mattress
I used to be born within the Fifties in the course of the so-called second – Pink Scare – which was characterised by the pogroms that American senator Joseph McCarthy inflicted on many harmless Individuals – many within the Arts – who had been alleged to be Communist spies and a menace to nationwide safety.
It was additionally an assault on those that weren’t sufficiently ‘non secular’ for the Proper-wing zealots like McCarthy in addition to lingering resentment that in some way the New Deal that had attenuated the impacts of the Nice Melancholy for a lot of deprived Individuals was a leftist plot.
One remembers the ludicrous raid on the Baltimore warehouse in 1930 (in the course of the first ‘Pink Scare’), the place anticommunist officers had been informed there have been secret Soviet paperwork saved there by Communist spies in America.
The raid yielded some crates of lettuce.
In Australia, I recall as a boy listening to politicians speaking on the radio about ‘reds beneath the beds’.
Previous to my existence, the conservative Australian authorities launched the – Communist Celebration Dissolution Act 1950 – which sought to ban the Communist Celebration in Australia.
The Act empowered the Governor-Basic “to declare an individual or physique (reminiscent of a commerce union) to be communist and a menace to nationwide safety.”
Such a declaration would ban the individual from working within the authorities sector or in different ‘strategic sectors’.
The laws was challenged within the Excessive Courtroom and on March 9, 1951, the Act was dominated by the Courtroom “to be unconstitutional and invalid; ruling that it was past the facility of the Parliament to suppress an organisation in a time of peace.”
The governments response was to attempt to change the Structure to present them the facility to ban and oppress ‘Communists’ through the – 1951 Australian Communist Celebration ban referendum (held September 22, 1951).
The referendum failed, however solely simply.
However the marketing campaign was extremely lurid and divisive and assaults on the freedoms of residents deemed to be commies continued.
Many careers had been destroyed by the paranoia and assaults by the anticommunists.
The Australian Labor Celebration, the political arm of the commerce unions, was break up by the marketing campaign, with the anticommunist Roman Catholics forming a brand new get together the Democratic Labour Celebration.
This break up the working class vote and allowed the conservatives to rule for a few years unchallenged.
This graphic was a handbill printed by the YES case in the course of the Referendum marketing campaign – the arrows from Asia are apparent.
The marketing campaign was actually concerning the autocratic inclinations of the conservative get together beneath the dominant management of the Prime Minister Menzies.
His intention was to ban, imprison and customarily harass any political opponents.
There have been additionally ‘non secular’ elements.
In his 1951 election marketing campaign launch – Election Speech – the PM mentioned:
… Communism is a materialistic doctrine, void of religious content material. It isn’t solely anti-Christian, however is against all these nobler aspirations which spring from the non secular religion of first rate folks. True, Communism itself has been referred to as, by some, a faith. However it’s a faith of hatred; it derives from the darkest recesses of the human thoughts; it has nothing in widespread with the Christian gospel of affection and brotherhood. If it had, it couldn’t preach the category battle or use envy and malice as its attribute weapons.
As a part of this anticommunist zealotry, residents had been assaulted by politicians and foyer teams with the so-called – Domino principle – which invoked the imagery of all of the South East nations between China and Australia toppling like dominoes because the evil reds invaded and eventually got here to our borders.
When requested to touch upon a query about “the strategic significance of Indochina to the free world?”, the US President on the time Dwight D. Eisenhower informed the media at – The President’s Information Convention (April 7, 1954) – that:
Lastly, you will have broader concerns which may comply with what you’ll name the “falling domino” precept. You’ve got a row of dominoes arrange, you knock over the primary one, and what’s going to occur to the final one is the knowledge that it’s going to go over in a short time. So you would have a starting of a disintegration that may have essentially the most profound influences …
… the geographical place achieved thereby does many issues. It turns the so-called island defensive chain of Japan, Formosa, of the Philippines and to the southward; it strikes in to threaten Australia and New Zealand.
This ridiculous principle – given China didn’t have a reputable navy on the time to launch any invasion, even of the – Paracel Islands – a lot much less anyplace else – was used to justify unlawful army interventions by the US and its allies internationally, however notably in Indochina.
The unlawful Vietnam Battle, which fortunately the West misplaced, was an instance of this ‘domino’ paranoia.
Trump’s current escapades in Venezuela is redolent of the ruses that the US repeatedly makes about different nations threatening their sovereignty and, as a consequence, should be invaded and broken.
What’s at stake right here?
The responses by authorities and the media since October 7, 2023 has been excessive and biased in my opinion to the Zionist place.
The occasions of October 7, 2023 had been appalling, however I rejected feedback from Australian politicians that they had been with out provocation.
Strive being a Palestinian of their homeland over the past a number of many years.
Strive coping when Zionist zealots within the West Financial institution for the reason that late Sixties, who’re given free rein by the IDF to illegally seize homes and property from the Palestinian households.
Human rights organisations and the UN have reported incidents of bodily violence, theft and sexual assaults as a part of this criminality.
Anger can solely be contained for therefore lengthy.
Since October 7, 2023, the closely armed IDF have slaughtered tens of hundreds of harmless Palestinians in Gaza.
There is no such thing as a doubt that has occurred.
It has additionally destroyed the infrastructure, housing, civic buildings, universities, colleges and extra which are required to create first rate communities.
The intention was genocidal.
There is no such thing as a doubt about that.
Individuals all over the world are very indignant about that.
I’m very indignant about that.
The issue is that individuals like me get indignant however won’t ever resort to violence ourselves as a result of we are able to stream that anger in non-violent methods – road marches, lobbying politicians, attending occasions, supporting movie makers and musicians, and writing, writing, writing.
However in any society there’s a fringe, the place some indignant folks will resort to violence.
Some on the perimeter have psychological well being points that make it laborious for them to resolve their anger in non-violent methods.
And the extra indignant some get the extra possible that violence will happen, particularly when the State authorities (NSW) has accomplished soiled offers with the gun foyer with a purpose to win elections, with the consequence that gun management has been lax.
After which we get the Bondi Seaside killings in that very same state (NSW), which just like the October 7, 2023 killings had been appalling.
However the response shouldn’t be to stifle the liberty of writers and teachers.
Precisely the other needs to be our purpose – to raise the talk and permit folks to precise their anger in peaceable methods.
The Israeli authorities claims that slaughtering all these Gazans is making the world a safer place for folks of the Jewish religion.
In truth, its actions have made the remainder of the world a a lot much less safer place for these folks.
The brand new authoritarianism has additionally invaded the college system in Australia and there may be delicate (however not an excessive amount of so) strain on teachers to evolve to what the Zionist foyer needs.
The highest degree consultant physique of Australian universities has adopted a really contentious definition of anti-Semitism, with which I disagree.
That may be a separate matter.
However teachers are sometimes within the entrance line of the repression that authoritarian regimes impose on their societies.
It’s simple to know why.
Traditionally, teachers had been the gate keepers who probed the sensitivities in society to reveal fictions and advance our information and consciousness.
Now the biased notion of ‘cultural sensitivity’ that the AWW claimed justified their silencing of Dr Abdel-Fattah, is threatening to limit free speech and definitely, because the ‘Foyer’ needs, will curb teachers who present assist for the Gazans who’ve been willfully attacked and murdered by the IDF.
And don’t overlook that this travesty has been beneath the course of a Proper-Wing Zionist zealot, who is needed by the Worldwide Felony Courtroom for being “Allegedly accountable for the battle crimes of hunger as a way of warfare and of deliberately directing an assault towards the civilian inhabitants; and the crimes towards humanity of homicide, persecution, and different inhumane acts …” (Supply).
Australian universities have launched a raft of insurance policies since October 7, 2023 to curb free speech on the Gazan state of affairs.
The justification – to curb anti-Semitism.
If these curbs had been really lowering the evil of anti-Semitism then we should always have a good time that.
However, after all, they won’t obtain that finish.
On December 15, 2025, the Murdoch media newspaper, The Australian, printed an article – Prime adviser slams Australian universities for failure to stamp out anti-Semitism – which recounted how a “government-appointed educational has delivered a scathing evaluation of universities’ dealing with of campus anti-Semitism, saying their inaction had made hatred ‘fashionably acceptable’.”
This character is a federal appointee tasked with getting ready “a ‘report card’ on how every college was responding to anti-Semitism on campus”.
He was reported as saying:
… a big majority of educational workers and college students have sympathies with the Left. Due to this fact they discover it very laborious to confront the Left, as a result of giant components of the Left is anti-Semitic.
And:
Each time you see a chanting, vicious protest on a college campus, it’s telling you that anti-Semitism’s all proper …
Are you able to consider that these views are of the individual tasked with offering the Federal authorities with appropriate recommendation on this matter?
Observe the tie in – Left -> anti-Semitic.
Protests on campus concerning the slaughter of Gazans -> anti-Semitic.
These protests, by the way in which, are stuffed with chanting and infrequently are violent or “vicious” – however that reality wouldn’t go well with the narrative wouldn’t it?
The wonderful Op Ed by Sydney educational, David Brophy on Overland (January 9, 2025)- Universities and the humanities after Bondi: from definitions to “ambient antisemitism” – concluded that:
In a sane world, that outburst alone would disqualify him. Nobody who sees anti-Jewish hate in each pro-Palestine rally needs to be entrusted with adjudicating institutional responses to antisemitism at universities.
Agreed.
He gives in depth element of the quite a few shifts inside our universities which are looking for to embed the views of the “Zionist lobbying infrastructure” inside the operations of these establishments.
He additionally notes that in all these shifts, there has not been a willingness by authorities “to recognise numerous Jewish views by providing house to anti-Zionist Jews within the battle towards antisemitism”.
I received’t go additional on this.
Conclusion
Authoritarianism is spreading at a tempo all through the world beneath the guise of defending Jewish pursuits.
Louise Adler referred to Adelaide as “Moscow on the Torrens” as a consequence of its cancellation of Dr Abdel-Fattah’s invitation to talk on the AWW (the Torrens being the river that flows by town).
Jewish folks ought to have the identical rights and protections as everybody and present anti discrimination laws in Australia gives that safety.
Nonetheless, the strain on authorities by the ‘Foyer’ to limit freedom of expression and any criticism of the Israeli authorities’s actions goes effectively past defending these rights.
Suppressing the liberty of writers to jot down and discuss won’t curb anti-Semitism and won’t shield these inalienable rights.
The Jewish folks, above all, ought to perceive that, given what an evil authoritarian regime did to them in Poland, Germany and past in the course of the Forties.
I might be again to economics subsequent time.
That’s sufficient for right this moment!
(c) Copyright 2026 William Mitchell. All Rights Reserved.
