In an earlier post, I discussed the Vancouver Comics Arts Festival’s exclusion of Miriam Libicki for, in effect, being Israeli. Today I found a newly published interview with Libicki that makes the convention look still worse. Based on what she says, the convention’s motivation was more a matter of book-banning.

She characterizes the disruption which allegedly endangered the convention as “screaming.” As described, it might be grounds for restricting or expelling the person responsible, but there doesn’t seem to have been any threat to anyone. At one point, security removed some people for being disruptive. The “screaming” person was objecting to Libicki’s books without having read them. Subsequently the convention demanded a review of Libicki’s writing. Libicki was asked for digital copies of her books, which she couldn’t readily provide.

Someone by the name of Robin McConnell seems to have been largely responsible for the actions against Libicki. From Libicki’s description of the situation, it now seems the real issue was her books, with her military service being just a distraction from the book-banning.

I have a busy day today and wanted to get this up. Sorry if some things aren’t clear. Please read the interview.