Zora Simic
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zorasimic.bsky.social
Zora Simic
@zorasimic.bsky.social
Lurking for now, but getting ready to roll
Reposted by Zora Simic
25/7/1988, The Go-Betweens📸Steve Pyke
January 21, 2026 at 6:35 PM
Reposted by Zora Simic
Labor is passing laws that are more extreme than what Trump has attempted, on immigration and speech, largely at the behest of the media. But if Trump tried to do it, the same outlets would say they were bad, fascistic overreach. Insanely dumb country.
January 20, 2026 at 3:02 AM
Reposted by Zora Simic
Having read the draft of the Australian government's new "hate" legislation, the scope it gives the government of the day to restrict civil society is massive. It's very clear that it could be used to outlaw a Palestine Action-style organisation www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01...
Hate laws to pass after Labor and Liberal deal
The Liberal Party struck an agreement with Labor to tighten the scope of a bill to ban hate groups, but the position of the Nationals is unclear.
www.abc.net.au
January 20, 2026 at 2:12 AM
Reposted by Zora Simic
Gabriele Münter,
Dahlias, 1945
Expression painter
#Womensart
January 15, 2026 at 7:35 AM
Reposted by Zora Simic
Abdel-Fattah launches defamation proceedings against Premier Malinauskus.
This will be a very revealing case, if it gets to court
Breaking: Randa Abdel-Fattah launches defamation proceedings against SA Premier
Palestinian-Australian author Randa Abdel-Fattah says her lawyers have launched defamation proceedings against South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas, following his public commentary about her sch...
www.abc.net.au
January 13, 2026 at 11:37 PM
As usual, Randa Abdel-Fattah speaks with utter clarity and conviction.

podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/w...
Randa Abdel-Fattah on the collapse of the Adelaide Writers’ Festival
Podcast Episode · We Used to be Journos · 13/01/2026 · 36m
podcasts.apple.com
January 13, 2026 at 9:25 PM
'When the Adelaide Festival Board’s statement is read closely, it follows the DARVO pattern almost line for line.'
- Natasha Joyce in Lantana Journal

www.lantana.net.au/words/empty-...
Empty Words, Emptying Stages — Lantana
By isolating one writer as a potential risk, the institution produces a broader chilling effect in which participation itself becomes precarious. Public debate shrinks not because anyone is ordered to...
www.lantana.net.au
January 13, 2026 at 12:06 AM
Reposted by Zora Simic
What is the end game here? No publicly funded cultural events that aren’t approved by Israel? No arts boards that aren’t pro-Israel? The sections of our political class and media who are active in this attempted gutting of our cultural landscape need to ask wtf they are doing here.
Exclusive: pro-Israel campaign seeks removal of Palestinian DJ from WOMADelaide
After ruining the Adelaide and Bendigo writers festivals, pro-Israel supporters are now targeting WOMADelaide’s inclusion of Sama’ Abdulhadi
www.deepcutnews.com
January 12, 2026 at 8:18 PM
Reposted by Zora Simic
welp. Looks like we have a date for Herzog arriving in Aust.

The first Day of Mourning in this country was held in Sydney on 26 January 1938.

www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01...
Albanese calls national day of mourning for Bondi victims on January 22
There will be a national day of mourning for the victims of the Bondi terror attack on January 22, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says.
www.abc.net.au
January 12, 2026 at 10:19 PM
'Many years ago the former premier Don Dunstan touted Adelaide as the “Athens of the south”. Now South Australia’s tourism slogan could be “Welcome to Moscow on the Torrens”.' - Louise Adler resigns

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
I cannot be party to silencing writers, which is why I am resigning as director of Adelaide Writers’ Week | Louise Adler
Cancelling the Australian Palestinian author Randa Abdel-Fattah weakens freedom of speech and is the harbinger of a less free nation
www.theguardian.com
January 12, 2026 at 10:19 PM
Reposted by Zora Simic
Kind of shocking that Randa was the only Arab or Muslim writer booked for the Adelaide Writer’s Fest tbh.
January 9, 2026 at 2:26 AM
Reposted by Zora Simic
“The Adelaide Festival’s decision to dump Palestinian academic Randa Abdel-Fattah gives us a grim foretaste of the Australian cultural landscape in 2026.”

David Brophy on “ambient antisemitism” and the institutional mechanisms for curtailing protest and political expression.
Universities and the arts after Bondi: from definitions to “ambient antisemitism” - Overland literary journal
The Adelaide Festival’s decision to dump Palestinian academic Randa Abdel-Fattah from its upcoming Writers’ Week gives us a grim foretaste of the Australian cultural landscape in 2026.
overland.org.au
January 8, 2026 at 10:52 PM
Reposted by Zora Simic
You can contact the Adelaide Festival here to express your opinion about their decision to ban Randa Abdel-Fattah. Please refrain from abuse.
Contact
www.adelaidefestival.com.au
January 8, 2026 at 4:55 AM
Reposted by Zora Simic
Boycott the racist Adelaide Festival. If you are presenting or performing, withdraw. If you are attending, ask for a refund.

If you proceed with your engagement with Adelaide Festival, you have to be taken to mean that you think Arabs should be cancelled for being
January 8, 2026 at 2:57 AM
Reposted by Zora Simic
I am stunned and saddened by this announcement. Adelaide Writers Week has been an important platform for Arab and Palestinian voices these past few years. I greatly admire director Louise Adler and her fearless advocacy for freedom of speech. There will be more to come on this story, I’m sure.
Announcement by Adelaide Writers Festival cancelling invitation to Randa Abdel-
Fattah
Adelaide Festival Board Statement
www.adelaidefestival.com.au
January 8, 2026 at 1:55 AM
Randa Abdel-Fattah
wrote one of the most important & highly praised novels of recent times, but the board of Adelaide Writer's Week have cancelled her on the grounds of 'cultural sensitivity'. No hiding this racist BS. Boycott!
January 8, 2026 at 3:47 AM
post a perfect album from the 90s that isn't nirvana, pearl jam, soundgarden or alice in chains

easy! except it was so hard to choose between jeff buckley, liz phair and this:
December 28, 2025 at 5:20 AM
Reposted by Zora Simic
Australia's unique multicultural broadcaster, SBS, turned 50 in 2025.

Here's an insight into what SBS was like in the 1980s and how it enriched Australia, all of its people... and me.

Australia, the Balkans, languages and translation all roll into one here for me.
SBS is 50!
Australia's unique multicultural broadcaster, SBS, turned 50 in 2025. Here's an insight into what SBS was like in the 1980s and how it enriched Australia, all of its people... and me.
www.nicknasev.com
December 26, 2025 at 5:24 PM
Reposted by Zora Simic
Here, for @historyworkshop.org.uk I discuss the history of a refuge for trans women.

I show women’s shared experiences of violence across the spectrum of cis and trans.

I highlight histories of solidarity against male violence by feminists and trans women.

academic.oup.com/hwj/advance-...
Reconsidering Violence Against Women through the History of a Refuge for Trans Women
Abstract. Both right-wing forces and gender-critical feminists currently frame cis and trans women’s needs as fundamentally different and conflicting. Viol
academic.oup.com
December 19, 2025 at 10:21 AM
Reposted by Zora Simic
Following the horrific antisemitic attack at Bondi supporters of peace & rights for all in Israel Palestine are being slurred as supporters of terrorist atrocity. In a democracy peaceful protest is essential but NSW Premier Minns wants more powers to ban it. Write urgently to MPs using this template
Letter to NSW MPs: Protect democracy - don't ban protests
In an attempt to exploit the horrific trauma produced by the recent mass shooting that devastated the Jewish community in Bondi, the state NSW premier, Chris Minns, announced that Labor would move to ...
palestinejusticemovement.good.do
December 19, 2025 at 1:03 AM
Reposted by Zora Simic
As we approach the end of 2025, historians @michellearrow.bsky.social and @zorasimic.bsky.social reflect on Anne Summers’ 1975 book, Damned Whores and God’s Police, fifty years later.

Read more here ⬇️
www.auswhn.com.au/blog/anne-su...
Anne Summers: Living in the Seventies | Australian Women's History Network
Vera Mackie joins Michelle Arrow and Zora Simic in commemorating fifty years of Anne Summers' 1975 feminist blockbuster, Damned Whores and God's Police.
www.auswhn.com.au
December 18, 2025 at 1:59 PM