AWP is this week...
And RAWI is, as the kids say, "back on their bullshit"
On Wednesday, I will fly out to AWP. As some of you may remember—either from being there, or from my writing about it—last year protestors were allowed to disrupt the bookfair for several hours while chanting antisemitic slogans and waving antisemitic signs and AWP refused to intervene. I’m happy to say that this year, they have issued a policy statement that such a disruption will not be allowed again this year.
Event Disruptions.
AWP does not permit any disruption of its Conferences or any other AWP programming or operations. The purpose of this policy is to ensure the safety and well-being of all Attendees as well as AWP’s compliance with applicable building standards and codes. This event disruption policy includes unauthorized gatherings, including but not limited to protests, vigils, and demonstrations, and applies to Conference venues and any other spaces leased or occupied by AWP in connection with a Conference. AWP may in its discretion identify specific areas at the Conference venue or other spaces occupied or leased by AWP where Attendees may peacefully exercise their free speech rights, provided that any such area shall be clearly identified by police barricades or other appropriate markings. AWP and the Los Angeles Convention Center have approved a designated space outside of the West Tower entry, and this area will be marked by barricades.
Failure to comply with this policy will result in Conference security and/or police department intervention and removal of Attendees who violate the policy from the Conference. In addition to the foregoing, Attendees acknowledge that fire marshals or other authorities may intervene at any time in any space if they become aware of a violation or potential violation of fire codes or other safety regulations.Failure to comply with this policy will result in the revocation of your conference registration badge with no refund. When a registration badge is revoked, the attendee becomes a trespasser in privately licensed space, and security and/or the police department will escort the attendee off premises. Failure to follow security and/or police orders to leave the space will result in removal and may result in arrest. Attempts to reenter the Conference space after a badge has been revoked will result in arrest.
Like last year, RAWI has sent an email to most (I, of course, didn’t get the email) panel moderators asking that they read a statement before their panels begin. Here is the email:
Dear AWP Panel Moderator,
As we prepare to gather in Los Angeles for the 2025 Association of Writers and Writing Programs Conference, we—a coalition of literary organizations independent of AWP—invite you to begin your panels this week with a global solidarity statement. As an offering, like last year, we are providing a template for recognizing the intersectional nature of oppression and suffering at this critical international moment. Whether or not you choose to use this template, we hope you will join us in naming these sources of oppression—at a moment when many of the most vulnerable among us feel unable to do so— as part of how you open your events.
The statement is as follows:
The event organizers would like to acknowledge that we are gathering during a time of struggle and violence against many peoples. The Palestinian people continue to be brutalized by the decades long, American funded genocide and colonial violence of Israeli apartheid. We also stand in solidarity with victims of genocide in Sudan and Congo, and with the Indigenous peoples on whose ancestral homelands this conference is being held, including the Tongva, Tataviam, Serrano, Kizh, and Chumash tribes. We stand firmly against anti-Blackness and recognize that police violence and all white supremacist violence must be named and opposed. We stand with immigrants, against whom the current federal administration is carrying out horrifying acts of violence, imprisonment, and erasure. These forms of violence, along with transphobic violence being legislated across the United States endanger the lives of trans, queer, gender-nonconforming, and nonbinary people. Therefore, as we begin our event, we wish to underscore that none of us are free until all of us are free, and that all anti-racist, liberationist, and decolonial struggles are intertwined.
In solidarity,
RAWI
Haymarket Books
Kundiman
Mizna
Noemi Press
Sewanee Writers Conference
The SWANA Caucus at AWP
Tin House Workshop
I’m reaching out today to ask you to help me rewrite this statement so that I can read a version of it before our panel that correctly identifies Hamas as the aggressor against Israel and the oppressor of the Palestinian people and acknowledges our own indigeneity to Israel. I am opening up comments to everyone, which I don’t usually do, to get as many ideas as possible. Fingers crossed things stay civil, but I’ll pop in pretty frequently to block anyone who isn’t.
How would you rewrite this, friends?
Also, please attend these panels if you are at AWP. Each was originally rejected, and only scheduled once JBC got involved. We need all the support we can get:
I've rewritten the statement to address your specific requests about acknowledging Hamas as an aggressor, recognizing the oppression of Palestinian people by Hamas, and acknowledging Jewish indigeneity to Israel:
"The event organizers would like to acknowledge that we are gathering during a time of struggle and violence affecting many peoples. We recognize the complex situation in the Middle East, where Hamas has engaged in acts of aggression against Israel while also oppressing the Palestinian people who suffer under their control. We acknowledge the historical Jewish indigeneity to the land of Israel while also recognizing Palestinian civilians caught in this conflict deserve safety and dignity.
We also stand in solidarity with victims of genocide in Sudan and Congo, and with the Indigenous peoples on whose ancestral homelands this conference is being held, including the Tongva, Tataviam, Serrano, Kizh, and Chumash tribes. We stand firmly against all forms of hatred and violence, including antisemitism and anti-Palestinian sentiment. We recognize that systemic violence and oppression must be named and opposed. We stand with immigrants facing unjust treatment and policies. We also oppose violence and discrimination against trans, queer, gender-nonconforming, and nonbinary people being legislated across the United States. Therefore, as we begin our event, we wish to underscore that none of us are free until all of us are free, and that all struggles against oppression are interconnected.
In solidarity,"
Replace that sentence with something like “The Palestinian and Israeli peoples continue to be stuck in a cycle of violence fueled by extremism and hatred - including the actions of Hamas - which holds its own people hostage as well as 59 remaining hostages taken from Israel on October 7 who still need to return home.”
That doesn’t address the whole Israel isn’t a colonizer because Jews are indigenous thing - but is a more accurate and still diplomatic sentence.