Professional services company PwC Australia has followed the lead of MinterEllison and distanced itself from the Adelaide Festival because of its support of two Palestinian authors whose social media posts have drawn controversy and led to accusations of antisemitism.
The firm removed its logo from the Adelaide Festival website on the weekend and issued an all-staff memo on Tuesday explaining its actions in response to speakers Susan Abulhawa and Mohammed El-Kurd.
Abulhawa, a Palestinian-American activist and novelist who has described Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as “a depraved Zionist”, and poet El-Kurd, who said Zionists had completely internalised the ways of the Nazis”, are slated to speak at Adelaide Writers’ Week, which starts this weekend.
“PwC Australia is the auditor of the Adelaide Festival Foundation, which provides financial support to the Adelaide Festival and Adelaide Writers’ Week. We conduct this audit on a pro bono basis as an acknowledgment of the contribution the Adelaide Festival Foundation makes to the South Australian economy and arts sector. We do not have any role in the Festival’s programs,” the memo said.
“We condemn in the strongest terms any antisemitic comments and any suggestion of support for Russia’s war against Ukraine. We stand with the Jewish and Ukrainian communities who have been understandably hurt by this issue. In this respect we have asked the chair of the Adelaide Foundation that any association of PwC with this aspect of the festival be removed.”
Read the article by Heln Pitt in WAToday.