Pro-Palestine protesters outside the State Library of Victoria (Image: AAP/Morgan Hancock) The bizarre goings-on at the State Library of Victoria (SLV) say quite a bit about the way the Andrews government’s instinct for authoritarianism has infiltrated the bureaucracy. They point to something deeper as well: the reemergence of censorship as a powerful cultural force. The SLV is in the news after a directive from management was sent to library staff prohibiting them from wearing anything that “support[s] or promote[s] a particular political viewpoint”.
Subsequently, front-of-house staff were instructed specifically not to wear Palestinian flag pins or even the watermelon badges that have come to signify support for the Palestinian cause. Addressing the confusion, the library clarified publicly that Aboriginal or rainbow flag pins are fine, being examples of what it said it encourages: symbols that “support diversity and inclusion”. Which Australian journalists and politicians have gone on trips to Israel and Palestine? Read More So that’s interesting.
The flag of one non-recognised nation is fine, the flag of another is not. Arguably, each stands for both (acceptable) inclusion and (unacceptable) political demands, but only one has been banned. We could pretend to not know why, but we all know the reason.
The library’s bigger censorship problem had already been brewing after its cancellation of a writing boot camp for teenagers, which it denied was due to the pro.
