Is this the next step in cancel culture?
The University of Queensland Press has scrapped 5,000 copies of a forthcoming children’s book, Bila: A River Cycle by Wiradjuri poet Jazz Money, illustrated by Matt Chun.
The university’s dean of humanities, Heather Zwicker, cited an article by Chun, titled “We don’t mourn fascists”, published after the Bondi massacre last December.
In an email sent to UQP staff on Wednesday, Zwicker said Chun’s statements “do not align with UQ’s policies and values, including in light of its adopted definition of antisemitism”.
There is no suggestion that either the text or illustrations of Bila suggest antisemitism. The claim is that Chun’s statements make him an unacceptable author to be published by UQP.
When Lamestream Media approached the University of Queensland for comment, it repeated this explanation, saying it “regrets the impact this matter has on the author” and professing “enormous respect for Jazz and her work”.
The decision follows a campaign from the Australian newspaper after book retailer Dymocks responded to Chun’s article by removing his books from its shops in January.
The article attacked the Bondi Chanukah celebration as a display of Zionist violence. Chun wrote that: “Whiteness, Jewishness and the backdrop of Bondi Beach were enough to bestow every person killed with default innocence and virtue.”
Most of us would probably accept that Chun’s language was antisemitic and may well fall under the restrictions that exist under the federal Racial Discrimination Act. But none of his words appear in Bila. It is telling that the Australian’s article does not even mention the author of the book, presumably because it could find no quotes to use against her.
A number of authors have responded angrily. Multiple prize-winning poet Evelyn Araluen, one of a number of prominent Indigenous writers who have been published by UQP, has cut ties with the publisher. In an email to UQP, shared on Instagram, she described it as “cultural violence”:
You have made a decision today to destroy culture, to destroy story, and to destroy any pretense of integrity UQP might have once held in the community.
First Nations author and publisher Anita Heiss has posted on Facebook: “I stand with Jazz Money and Evelyn Araluen […] Every author and academic should be appalled and concerned about this attack on free speech.”
Another prominent author, Randa Abdel-Fattah, who was at the centre of the Adelaide Writers Week fiasco, has stated she will not publish with UQP again. She criticised “machinations against a children’s book written by a First Nations writer” being “indulged by a publisher that has burnished its reputation through publishing First Nations writers”.
Abdel-Fattah was one of more than 30 UQP authors who wrote to the publisher asking it to fulfil its contractual obligation, after Bila’s publication was suspended in January. Others included First Nations writers Ellen van Neerven, Allison Whittaker, Amy McQuire and Tony Birch, as well as Sara M. Saleh and Omar Sakr.
Boycotts and cancellations
We live in an era that increasingly seeks to cancel authors for their political views, even when these views are not reflected in their creative works. There are bookshops that refuse to stock Harry Potter books because of J.K. Rowling’s increasingly strident transphobic language. There are cinemas that hesitate to show Woody Allen movies because of allegations against him of sexual abuse.
I would not invite Chun, Rowling or Allen to dinner. But I am unwilling to argue we should cancel their work, especially when their views are not part of the work being cancelled.
Since the Hamas attacks of October 2023 and the resulting Israeli destruction of Gaza, our culture has been torn apart by cancellations and boycotts. Even peaceful expressions of support for Palestinians led to major friction in the Sydney Theatre Company, while pianist Jayson Gilham was cancelled by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra after dedicating a piece to journalists killed in Gaza.
Attempts to impose a particular definition of antisemitism led to the virtual collapse of the Bendigo Writers Festival. The intervention of South Australia Premier Peter Malinauskas to prevent Abdel-Fattah’s appearance at Adelaide Writers Week in March led to a boycott large enough to kill the entire festival.
Meanwhile, Jewish creatives who support Israel have also claimed considerable discrimination and cancellations. Probably the best-known example is singer Deborah Conway, who has experienced multiple cancellations and attacks for her views.
As Israel’s occupation of Gaza and the West Bank becomes increasingly violent, there is increasing pressure on governments to restrict criticism. Recently a man was arrested in Queensland for wearing a t-shirt bearing the words “From the river to the sea”, which, it is claimed, is antisemitic in its desire to obliterate the existing state of Israel.
Ironically, senior members of the Israeli government make exactly the same claim in reverse when they speak of the lands of Judea and Samaria, which deny any Palestinian claims.
Had the protester in Queensland worn a t-shirt with those unproscribed words, the police would presumably not have acted.
We need find a better way to express political support and empathy than cancellations and boycotts. I was not invited to Adelaide Writers Week, but had I been, my instinct would have been to go and use the opportunity to speak out against Malinauskas’ attempt to censor an author because of her political views.
As a Jew, I am very aware of the reality of antisemitism. But as a writer, I do not believe we counter racism, antisemitism, homophobia or transphobia by boycotts and cancellations.
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