Australian library accused of censoring attendees of pro-Palestine workshop

By Yasin Gungor

ISTANBUL (AA) - Authors and poets in Australia accused the State Library of Victoria (SLV) of censorship on Monday, following the termination of their contracts for a pro-Palestine workshop in March.

Jinghua Qian, one of the writers involved, alleged that he acquired certain documents from the library using a Freedom of Information request, which showed SLV examining authors' social media for pro-Palestine content.

"SLV has actively surveilled our social media and canceled our contracts based on political views, misleading the public about this censorship," he said sharing screenshots from the documents he obtained.

He claimed correspondence between SLV Board member Maxine McKew and CEO Paul Duldig indicated the library management emphasizing the importance of being cautious about the language used by individuals they collaborate with, including scrutinizing Australian poet and novelist Omer Sakr's posts after Oct. 7 on Gaza. Staff were instructed to assess the social media activity of all workshop organizers, focusing on their political stances, Qian claimed.

Qian argued that the library's actions were politically driven, contradicting the library's official statements.

Though SLV previously claimed that the cancelation of the Teen Writing Bootcamp was unrelated to Palestine or the organizers' social media posts, neither the library nor McKew and Duldig have addressed these latest allegations as of 1330GMT.