Michael Pelly, Financial Review, 21 February 2023.
Australia’s largest law firm, MinterEllison, will cut ties with the Adelaide Festival over the inclusion of two Palestinian writers with a track record of hostility against Jewish people and Ukraine.
Minters chief executive Virginia Briggs said in statement on Tuesday morning that the firm had not only withdrawn its support for the Writers’ Week part of this year’s festival, but also the entire program which covers all areas of the arts.
She also said the firm would boycott all festival events.
“We have made the decision to remove our presence and involvement with this year’s Writers’ Festival program,” Ms Briggs said.
“In addition, as these speakers are associated with the festival, we will be removing our branding from the broader festival program [where feasible] and not be attending any events of the festival.”
Louise Adler: “I don’t want us to be party to cancel culture.”
Minters has been under pressure since it emerged that Palestinian poet Mohammed El-Kurd and Palestinian writer Susan Abulhawa were invited to speak at Adelaide Writers’ Week, which begins on March 4.
Writers’ Week director Louise Adler has resisted pressure from South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas and Jeremy Leibler, a partner of law firm Arnold Bloch Leibler and president of the Zionist Federation of Australia, to drop Mr El-Kurd and Ms Abulhawa from the program. “I don’t want us to be party to cancel culture,” Ms Adler said.
The Adelaide Festival, which runs from March 3-19, has backed Ms Adler. This led to Minters broadening its stance on the full festival.
On the festival website, MinterEllison is listed as a major partner along with the University of Adelaide, aged care provider Askech and The Adelaide Advertiser. Presenting partners include Nine, publisher of The Australian Financial Review, and The Australian newspaper.
Mr El-Kurd is slated for sessions on March 5 (Authors Take Sides) and March 7 (The Poetry of Dispossession). Ms Abulhawa is programmed to speak twice on March 7 (Literary Worlds and Politics in Fiction) and again on March 9 (Sovereignty and Solidarity).
Mr El-Kurd has been condemned by Jewish groups for his stance – and inflammatory tweets – on Israel and Zionism. When he attended Harvard University last October, there was a protest by pro-Israel students.
Ms Abulhawa has been derided for her views on Ukraine and President Volodymyr Zelensky, whom she has described as “worse than Putin”. Frank Fursenko, president of the Association of Ukrainians in South Australia, told the ABC that Ms Adler was a “useful idiot” in Russia’s propaganda machine.
Minters’ move comes in the same week that it will be the only law firm with a float in this year’s Mardi Gras parade in Sydney. There had been some unrest among the firm’s staff about being associated with anti-semitism.
Ms Briggs said the firm did not agree with the views of the two Palestinian writers.
“MinterEllison is a strong supporter of the arts community and has been a sponsor of the Adelaide Festival for five years,” she said.
“We have recently been made aware of the participation by Ms Abulhawa and Mr El-Kurd in the Adelaide Writers’ Festival and, in particular, of certain public statements made by Ms Abulhawa and Mr El-Kurd.
‘Sought assurances’
“We do not agree with those views. We have strongly expressed our reservations to the festival. We sought the festival’s assurances that no racist or anti-semitic commentary should be tolerated as part of Mr El-Kurd’s or Ms Abulhawa’s or any other festival session.
“Notwithstanding, we have made the decision – well in advance of the festival and the Writers’ Festival being staged – to remove our presence and involvement with this year’s Writers’ Festival program.
“In addition, as these speakers are associated with the festival, we will be removing our branding from the broader festival program [where feasible] and not be attending any events of the festival.”
The “where feasible” reference is understood to cover programs that have already been printed for Adelaide Festival events.
