We are all Charlie in the silent vigil in Antwerp

 The venue for the vigil had been chosen well, in the center of town, in from of a wall with a huge cartoon. It seemed appropriate to honor the cartoonists from Charlie Hebdo in such a location A few hundred people showed up. Holding their pen or pencil, a candle, a  in cartoon... There was solemn quietness and in the sadness also joy at seeing friends one hadn't seen for a long time, knowing they belong to 'one's tribe'. Writers, members of PEN-Flanders were present and our president was interviewed. She spoke out eloquently about free speech being a fundamental element of democracy.

 A guest from Poland was there, poets en route to the poetry café where they had performance after the vigil. It was a solemn gathering, yet one could feel a quiet determination not to succumb to fear. At the end of the gathering we left the candles in two safe places, letting the light shine in the darkness of a cold and wed winter's night. Joan Baez sang it right so long ago:

We are not afraid!

We shall overcome... one day...

I am Charlie

For my American friends I want to explain what the magazine Charlie

Hebdo represents. That is where the heinous attack happened yesterday in Paris. Charlie Hebdo is a satirical magazine. They use humor as their tool, they are brave and have always defended freedom of expression whether in a cartoon, or as free speech which is the pillar of democracy. When the first cartoon was published by a Danish newspaper, remember the Prophet with a turban as a bomb, the editor in Chief of Charlie Hebdo immediately published the drawing as a gesture of solidarity. Free speech is important and the genius of this particular magazine is that they had four hugely talented, courageous and humorous cartoonists: Charb, the editor in chief, Cabu, Wolinski, Tignous, Maris who is a renowned left wing economist and also the several wonderful writers and the editor and the staff where extremely brave. They did not let anybody intimidate them. Twelve people lost their life. Eight people are in hospital. 35.000 people went to the Place de la Republique to stand in silence, peacefully, respectfully in a spontaneous gesture of solidarity, showing they are not intimidated. This morning the Belgian newspapers printed a lots of cartoons, since we too have a few sharp penned, smart cartoonists in solidarity with their colleagues in Paris. Tonight there is a silent memorial in Antwerp. I'll be there in the rain, so will be the President of Pen-Flanders...

Yes: We are Charlie, we defend freedom of expression. The pen is mightier than the sword. We all will show our pen. I am member of PEN-Flanders.

Freedom of ewpression - PEN International

As a member of PEN-Flanders I repost here the point of view of PEN International which I do fully subscribe:

Egypt:  Al-Jazeera journalists must be released
23 June 2014

Harsh prison sentences handed down today to three Al-Jazeera (English) journalists must be overturned and the journalists freed immediately, PEN International said today.

Correspondent Peter Greste, and producers Mohammed Fahmy and Baher Mohammed were sentenced to seven, seven and ten years respectively on charges of having links to a “terrorist organisation” and “spreading false news”.

PEN International believes that their arrest and imprisonment is part of an escalating crackdown on dissent in Egypt, in which journalists, writers, civil rights activists, and independent or critical voices are amongst those targeted for their reporting or peaceful activism.

“These sentences signal a death knell for freedom of expression and the independence of the judiciary in Egypt” said Marian Botsford Fraser, Chair of PEN International’s Writers in Prison Committee.

“The international community must respond swiftly, not only on behalf of foreign journalists, but on behalf of the citizens of Egypt, for whom democracy is in grave danger.”

Al Jazeera correspondent Peter Greste, an Australian national, Mohammed Fahmy, who has dual Canadian and Egyptian nationality, and Egyptian national Baher Mohamed were arrested on 29 December 2013 following Interior Ministry accusations of illegally broadcasting from a hotel suite.

Peter Greste, who has worked for the BBC, is accused of collaborating with “terrorists” by talking to Muslim Brotherhood members. Al-Jazeera Cairo bureau chief Mohammed Fahmy and producer Baher Mohamed are accused of the more serious offence of membership of the Brotherhood.

Al-Jazeera, the Qatar-based TV channel, has said the men were merely reporting the situation in Egypt. Since 25 December 2013 the Egyptian authorities have labelled the Muslim Brotherhood – the political group that the Al-Jazeera journalists are accused of supporting - as a terrorist group.

According to diplomats and rights campaigners who observed the trial, no credible evidence was put forward to support the verdict. The three journalists are planning to appeal their convictions.

PEN calls on Egypt’s interim government to immediately and unconditionally release all those held solely for the peaceful exercise of their right to freedom of expression, in accordance with the international treaties to which it is bound.

For further information please contact Cathy McCann at PEN International Writers in Prison Committee, Brownlow House, 50/51 High Holborn, London WC1V 6ER, Tel.+ 44 (0) 20 7405 0338, Fax: +44 (0) 20 7405 0339, email: cathy.mccann@pen-international.org

Bloggers and freedom of expression

I am a blogger since 2007. I have blogged freely about every subject that crossed my path: peace and war, freedom of expression without worrying whether what I wrote would please 'authorities'. This is a comfort not many bloggers in the world enjoy. The last incident in this respect was that in Ethiopia  Zone 9 bloggers were arrested on April 25th. Also two journalists were arrested on  April 26^th journalists: Asmamaw Haile Gorgis and Edom Kassaye. The motto of the Zone 9 bloggers is: we blog because we care. And yes I do this specific blogpost because I care. Kerry, US Secretary of State arrived in Africa and during his conversation he raised the issue of the arrests with the Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn. Kerry had met  Natnael Feleke one of the bloggers last year and it is still so that when one knows a person, one cares more. Yet one also has to care about principles and the principle at stake here is 'Freedom of Information' and 'Free speech'. Watch Kerry here.

 If you feel like reacting write the Prime Minister of Ethiopia at the following address:

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Hailemariam Desalegn
Office of the Prime Minister
P.O. Box 1031
Addis Ababa
Ethiopia
Fax: +251 11 551 1244

 

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With tanks to tents

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Eye witness account about Gezi Park

We might remember the shocking images on TV about the demonstrations at Gezi Park inTaksim square in Istanbul. What we might not have realized is that also in Izmir and Ankara and the seaside resorts there were daily demonstrations for change, for more freedom, for a secular society. Basically it was a non-violent demonstration to protect ‘our’ lifestyle in Turkey, says Zeynep. Workers, students, intellectuals were in the street, on the square. Families with children stood there to show they want the park as a meeting point, protected the trees, stood for equality between men and women, the freedom to drink alcohol, against the forbidding of abortion. Men and women sat together on the benches in the park. Gezi Park became a focal point for those who claim the right to an individual life. Lawyers and the board of lawyers defended those who were arrested and accused. All places, cafés, bars opened their doors when protestors had to flee for the brutal police attacks, thus offering real protection to the protesters. Sexist slogans were erased and replaced by human slogans... people brought food and drinks to the square so that the protestors could stay. The sad statistic is: six young people died, eleven lost their eyesight through teargas, 1100 people are still suffering the consequences of the violence which wounded over 8.000 young people. The government never spoke about these brave young people but praised the way the police handled the squashing of the demonstration and protests. Journalist writing about it were sacked by their newspaper for reporting about Gezi Park. During the whole time TV aired documentaries about penguins ...

It was a spontaneous protest in defense of individual freedom. The protestors were not part of a political party but the protest was truly political.

Thank you Zeynep for your moving testimony!

PEN in Reykjavik day one

 Reykjavik is a good place with a pleasant atmosphere and good energy. The building 'Harpa' in which we work is a spectacular colossus of metal, glass and concrete. Does that sound awful? The building is great, it clothes  a person, shelters, does not make one feel small, it feeds the soul.The first meeting was for the Writers in Prison Committee and thus confidential. We listened to cases of authors and discussed how to campaign. The view from the room was pleasant, clouds on an island in the distance, boats in the harbor. It was also an occasion to meet people again whom i had met in Krakow earlier this year.

We also reflected on the definition of 'writer', in other words are it just the authors, journalists, bloggers and publishers or do we need to include the whistle blowers who leak the secrets the general public should know. The real battle is about information.

I learned how the UPR (Universal Periodic Review) at the United Nations works and the role PEN is playing in this process. 

The campaign against impunity targets countries where journalists and authors are tortured and killed. It is worst in Honduras, where 30 journalists where killed since 2009, after the coup. Mexico and Brazil sadly also have a bad record. (Football fans beware!) And we know about Russia after the Punk prayer in the Cathedral... China's record is pretty bad. Yet the USA in persecuting Bradley Manning when she leaked the CIA secrets only wanted to expose the war crimes of the US. American citizens can challenge the government when it spies on them but non-Americans can't. It is all about Freedom of Speech: without that no creativity but fear and self-censorship and without literature no freedom of speech.

The dinner and the speeches were fantastic... What a fulfilling day!

Tahar Ben Jelloun and Isabelle Durant-Passaporta/ Pen

The ice cold, snowy day started early, setting up a stand, the yearbooks of PEN-Flanders and the badges for the authors laid out. The first activity I listened to an interesting discussion about post-colonialism by Tahar Ben Jelloun, an author you absolutely must read. He also is a smart and thoughtful man. He started out by reading from his book L'Etincelle stating that the Arab spring engendered the ultimate defeat of the Islamists. The West however sees it differently, feeling that the countries after chasing off their dictators are overrun by the extreme factions of Islam. These last days however, once again revolts and demonstrations took people to the streets in Egypt, pitting  the popular revolt against the Islamists. 25  offices of these groups have been attacked since the people feel there is no real democracy with them and when they are in power they don't do a decent job of governing. The populations of countries who have lived  for 40 years under the same oppressive ruling family, don't know what democracy means and don't know how to vote. There was also no free press, no political parties nor trade unions. Basically countries like Libya were ruled by a tribal system. As a consequence, new dictators gain power and since they stopped the migration streams from their country a lot of western leader lived in a strange complicity with them. And what does Europe do? Isabelle Durant is clear: there is no European foreign policy. In an ideal world there would be a code for arms deals. She spoke with passion about the Salafists taking over the different revolutions with the squashing of all freedom and blatant racism and antisemitism, leading to more fear in Israel. We also see the growing Russian influence in the region, for instance in Cyprus and Syria, and how President Obama, in his visit to Israel, chose power over morals: Palestine is an occupied country and in parts even colonized. We should remember religion does not equal politics. An interesting debate with a lot food for thought.

Pen-Flanders

Last Saturday Pen-Flanders held its yearly general assembly. The meeting was open and well organized. The chairperson, David Van Reybrouck held the reigns and gave every one space. The authors Geert Van Istendael and Dirk Verhofstadt who gave the keynote speeches were to the point and very interesting. Marleen Teugels did preliminary research into problems of freedom of the press in Belgium. It is clear that an observatorium for the press is a necessity, just as there seems to be a need for an instance or place where complaints could be lodged. The reports about the flat, where authors in need have been given a refuge was heart warming. New plans, new collaborations are explored. I feel the energy and warmth of authors working for authors in trouble because of their writing. Freedom of expression is our core business also for the WIPC – the Writers in prison committee which I will be coordinating for a while, working with my colleagues.