The Society of Authors (SoA) has come under fire from all sides after members voted against a resolution demanding it issue an official statement condemning Israel’s military action in Gaza.
The campaign group Fossil Free Books (FFB) submitted two motions to the SoA, the UK’s largest trade union for writers, illustrators and translators, triggering an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) on Thursday night. Members voted 1,480 to 251 in favour of the first, which called for the publishing industry to divest from ties with the fossil fuels industry. Calls for the book industry to break ties with investment firm Baillie Gifford, which sponsors the UK’s most prestigious nonfiction prize and a number of literary festivals, began after Greta Thunberg pulled out of her scheduled appearance at the Edinburgh international book festival last year. Since then, FFB was formed, and a number of authors have continued to speak out against Baillie Gifford, which has a proportion of its investments in corporations that profit from fossil fuels.
The second, which was narrowly defeated, called for the SoA to issue a statement saying it supported an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. The motion called for a statement to be released to the effect that: “The SoA condemns indiscriminate targeting of civilians and cultural infrastructure including churches, mosques, hospitals, schools, libraries and universities. The SoA calls for an immediate and permanent ceasefire and for Israel to uphold its obligations under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.”
The proposal said that “at least 95 journalists and media workers have been killed as a consequence of Israeli military action since October 7th, 2023” and added: “Writers at risk of harassment and obstruction while evacuating Gaza is of serious concern.”
The management committee of the SoA added a note to the proposal saying it opposed the resolution because it did not feel the organisation should issue “a collective statement on issues that are outside of our remit and expertise and where we have no mandate from our membership”.
The electronic ballot, conducted during the online meeting, saw 786 members vote for the motion, 883 against, with 239 abstentions.
A statement released by FFB said:“We are disappointed that our trade union still refuses to: condemn the genocide in Gaza, support a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, or express solidarity with Palestinian writers and publishing workers here in the UK who face job loss and censorship for speaking out.”
Women’s prize-winning author of Home Fire Kamila Shamsie, who endorsed the motion, said that it was “astonishing” to see the SoA back the fossil fuel divestment motion while opposing the Gaza motion – she said both motions were “deeply political” but the SoA had opposed the Gaza proposal on the grounds the organisation doesn’t engage in politics.
She said: “This is a very odd sort of society, which responds to opposing views within its ranks by declaring the subject off-bounds. How is this remotely democratic?”
Guy Gunaratne, author of Mister, Mister, added: “Throughout this process they have resisted our call for condemning the killing of our colleagues. They asked all members to vote against it, and even changed the number of agreed speakers three hours before the vote. In spite of this, the resolution was rejected by a very small margin.”
Among those who voted against the resolution was the author Hilary Freeman, whose next book in August is a children’s retelling of Tova Friedman’s Holocaust memoir entitled Daughter of Auschwitz.
Freeman, who lost a family member in the Hamas kibbutz attacks on 7 October, said the resolution was too one-sided. “It didn’t mention Hamas or October 7 at all, it didn’t mention the hostages,” she said. “If it had condemned Hamas as well as Israel and called for a peaceful resolution it might have had more support. As it was, I just found it very offensive.”
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Freeman consulted the group UK Lawyers for Israel with a view to mounting a legal challenge against the SoA releasing a statement if the motion was carried, saying it was against the SoA’s remit. She said: “Despite letters from barristers, the SoA still went ahead with the vote.”
Freeman, who said she was not a supporter of Benjamin Netanyahu or the Israeli government, but considered herself a Zionist because she believes in the existence of an Israeli state, added: “I think the fact that more than 200 people abstained shows how uncomfortable people were with it.”
Vanessa Fox O’Loughlin, chair of the SoA board, said: “We appreciate that many members are very disappointed with the result of the vote on Resolution 3, which asked the SoA to publish a statement on Gaza. Ahead of the EGM, while some expressed frustration that the SoA has not already made a statement on Gaza, others described Resolution 3 itself as ‘divisive’ and ‘alienating’. The fact that the voting was so close on this – 53% against to 47% for the resolution – demonstrates just how divided the membership is on this issue.
“However, it is important to note that the Resolution 3 vote was on whether or not the SoA should publish a statement. It was not – as some have claimed – a vote on whether or not the SoA membership is for or against a ceasefire. We are a democratic organisation and our members will always hold a wide range of views, and disagree on issues – which means that as in this case the staff team and board need to navigate the fine line between them.”
During the EGM, members also voted in favour of a further motion, put forward by the SoA management committee, asserting that they do not consent to the use of their works being used to develop generative artificial intelligence systems.