Arab News | Renowned writers pledge royalties to support Sally Rooney’s Palestine Action stance

LONDON: Two renowned children’s writers have said they will donate royalties to Irish author Sally Rooney in solidarity over her support for banned group Palestine Action.

Chris Haughton, the Irish children’s literature laureate, and his Welsh counterpart Nicola Davies, made the move after Rooney’s books were withdrawn from circulation in the UK by her publisher after she said she would use proceeds from sales to support Palestine Action.

As a proscribed group under the terrorism act, providing it with financial aid carries a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison.

Haughton highlighted the “absurdity” of the situation, telling The Guardian: “I really want to express my full support for Sally Rooney. As someone who is in the UK a lot of the time, I can’t do what she has done, but I can support her instead of supporting Palestine Action.

“As authors, we need to be focused on freedom of expression. This is everything we’re about, and this is just showing solidarity with an author who has bravely spoken out.

“The entire situation is just a farce. Sending Sally Rooney the money adds another level of absurdity to this absurd situation, it’s making a mockery of the law.”

Haughton is no stranger to Palestine Action’s cause, having twice been arrested for holding placards in support of the group.

“Palestine Action are the only organisation — or the most effective organisation — in the UK that has had some success in stopping arms going to a genocide. I’m very sure that I will be on the right side of history,” he said.

Davies, who wrote “The Day War Came” about child refugees, said: “I can’t say that I am standing up for the children of Wales if I allow the children of Gaza to be murdered and mutilated without comment.

“Gaza is smaller than the Welsh county of Flintshire, and it’s as if all Wales’s children were concentrated there and being bombed.

“So I support Sally Rooney in the stand she’s taken, and when my half-year royalties arrive shortly, I will donate to her the royalties from my book ‘The Day War Came,’ whose sales have been boosted by the conflicts in Ukraine and Palestine.”

The ban on Palestine Action last year placed it in the same category as organizations such as Al-Qaeda and Boko Haram.

UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham was asked last week by MPs if he would consider reviewing the decision made under his predecessor Keir Starmer.

Burnham said the decision followed “a rigorous and evidence-based process that came before this house, endorsed by parliament.”

A legal challenge against the group’s proscription is due to be heard in front of the Supreme Court on Nov. 4 and 5.