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.
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