Edward Said Memorial Lecture
The Edward Said Memorial Lecture is a powerful tribute to one of the most influential intellectuals of our time.
Since 2005, the Australian Friends of Palestine Association (AFOPA) has hosted this lecture to honour the life and legacy of Edward Said - the Palestinian-American scholar, cultural critic, and passionate advocate for justice and liberation for Palestine.
Each year, the lecture serves as a platform for courageous and thought-provoking voices who carry forward Said’s commitment to truth, resistance, and human dignity. Past speakers, such as Chris Hedges, Francesca Albanese, Dr Yara Hawari, Dr Salman Abu Sitta and Dr Ilan Pappe, have brought insight and moral clarity to Australian audiences, shining a light on the global struggle for justice.
Details of the 2026 Edward Said Memorial will be announced closer to the date.
Past Edward Said Memorial Lectures
Chris Hedges
Chris Hedges is a Pulitzer Prize winner, best-selling author and former Foreign Correspondent for the New York Times. He delivered the 2026 ESML focused on Western journalists and their obligations to Gaza
Dr Samah Sabawi
Dr Samah Sabawi is an award-winning author, playwright and poet. She delivered the 2024 ESML, titled ‘The Ethnocentric State and Our Fragile Australian Democracy: How Support for Israel Erodes Democratic Values and Practices in Australia and the West’
Melissa Parke
Melissa Parke is a former Australian parliamentarian and human rights lawyer. She delivered the 2020 ESML, titled ‘The Conscious Pariah’ focused on how distortions of facts and character assassinations are used against critics of Israel.
Dr Salman Abu Sitta
Salman Abu Sitta is a Palestinian researcher. Abu Sitta, who was expelled from Palestine as a child in 1948. He delivered the Edward Said Memorial Lecture in 2019