Adelaide Voices has always championed the Palestinian cause, acknowledging the Palestinian people’s ongoing struggle for recognition and redress under their occupation by the Zionist apartheid regime.

Adelaide Voices’ most recent issue headlines an article giving voice to the magnificent Palestinian speakers Adelaide Writer’s Week was privileged to host  in March this year. After concerted and strident attempts to silence the voices of these authors, our paper wanted to give an added pathway for people who could not attend in person to hear their voices in their own words, describing their lived experience of life under daily brutality.

The distinguished dissident Israeli historian Ilan Pappe, contends that Palestinian civil society was ripe to become a State, before its potential was cut off by the British repression of the Great Arab Rebellion (1936-39) and the ethnic cleansing of Palestine during the Nakba catastrophe.

We have 42 photographs of late Mandate Palestine (1920-1948), and are exploring how they might be published.

In April of 2024 I will be taking 3 months to walk from Parliament House Perth, Western Australia to Parliament House Adelaide, South Australia - a trip of some 2,700km.

The walk will help to increase awareness of the Palestinian cause for justice, self-determination and human rights and raise money for a program supported by the Near East Council of Churches.

This year, Australian Palestine solidarity groups including AFOPA agreed to hold a National Day of Commemoration of 75 years of the Nakba on Saturday 13 May. Events were held in every state, coordinated by the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network (APAN).

In Adelaide, the day was marked with a reflective walk, a rally, a march through central Adelaide, a ceremony at the Palestine plaque at the SA Migration Museum and a screening of the film Tantura.

13 May was an eventful day for those who participated in Adelaide. It put the focus on the Nakba: how it was in 1948, and how the Nakba continues.

in April the University of Adelaide rejected the adoption of the International Holocaust Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism. This occurred after a nation-wide campaign to have universities and other institutions including governments adopt this definition into their rules or policies.

The definition uses examples to demonstrate instances of antisemitism. More than half of the examples focus on Israel, conflating criticism of Israel with racism against Jews.

In its 11 April statement the University Council declared, “We proudly encourage critical thinking and respectful debate. Freedom of speech is a right everyone holds, subject to the law. The right to express lawful views about controversial matters is at the heart of a robust democracy. It is also the essence of academic freedom.”

What began as a powerful anti-Palestinian campaign by a few Zionist organisations and individuals turned into a victory for Adelaide Writers' Week (AWW) and the Palestinian writers who attended.

The sessions featuring the Palestinians, particularly those held in conjunction with Australian First Nations writers, were phenomenally popular; hundreds of people attended these sessions.

As Louise Adler said, “People are free to deeply object. They don’t have to come. Or come, and you don’t need to agree with what people think. But people listened. These steadfast Adelaide audiences came out in their thousands and listened with courtesy and respect for the conversation. It should be something that lifts the spirits of all of us.”