Major arts festival in doubt after Jacinda Ardern joins mass boycott over axing of Palestinian writer (www.independent.co.uk)
from throws_lemy@reddthat.com to world@lemmy.world on 12 Jan 2026 11:10
https://reddthat.com/post/58013625

The future of a leading Australian arts festival hangs in the balance after former New Zealand premier Jacinda Ardern became the latest prominent figure to pull out in solidarity with a Palestinian writer.

#world

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ms_lane@lemmy.world on 12 Jan 2026 11:24 collapse

This has absolutely nothing to do with Jacinda Ardern who is just inserting herself into this story.

Many important writers over the last week have pulled out, it’s a non-story that a former politician isn’t attending.

Viking_Hippie@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 12 Jan 2026 14:24 next collapse

She’s the best PM a neighboring country and major trading partner ever had and a shitload of people in the region and around the world still admire her. Plus the issue leading to a boycott was a discriminatory political decision by the festival.

Writer or not, that means that her withdrawing matters and is thus her doing the right thing as usual.

Ilovethebomb@sh.itjust.works on 12 Jan 2026 21:33 collapse

How is deciding not to attend “inserting herself into the story”? If she decided to attend anyway, that would be a story in and of itself.