“Why has the Book Fair, after last year's criticism and after itself intervening against the wording in the association's programme, once again decided to let the organisation exhibit?”, the authors ask.
They specifically mention the decision to give space to Jonathan Conricus, a former spokesman for the Israeli army, who has, among other things, questioned the number of civilian deaths in Gaza.
According to the debate article, the director of the Book Fair, Oskar Ekström, has referred to freedom of expression and to the fact that each exhibitor is editorially responsible for their own programme items, but that "all exhibitors are reviewed."
The authors are critical of that review, "especially considering that the Book Fair this year made public education a main theme and highlighted disinformation as a threat to public discourse," they write.
