THE NEWS from International P E N and its centers and from West Bengal, India
The PEN News around the globe and urgent message from any PEN center over this world and local news of writers in India. I believe in FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION and I use this space for this purpose. I am a stark activist of International PEN and I follow it. All the news and articles are posted here by Albert Ashok, you can mail if you have any news about writers and their troubles, struggles for posting here.Type respectable 2008 at live dot com
When: Monday, November 9 Where: WNYC Greene Space, 44 Charlton Street, NYC What time: 7 p.m.
With Mary Gaitskill, Eric Bogosian, John Turturro, Patricia Smith, Jamal Joseph, Lemon Andersen, Sean Wilsey, and others
Tickets: Collaborator: $75/Friend: $50
Collaborator ticket covers the expenses of one-on-one mentoring services between a PEN Member and an incarcerated man or woman for one year. This premier ticket includes the best views and a reception following the program.
Friend ticket covers the postage and printing costs to provide eight incarcerated men and women with a free copy of PEN’s Handbook for Writers in Prison. This ticket includes a reception following the program.
PEN Members and friends will read the award-winning work from PEN’s Prison Writing Program. Breakout: Voices from Inside, the Program’s second annual benefit reading and reception, will feature readings by Mary Gaitskill, Eric Bogosian, John Turturro, Patricia Smith, Jamal Joseph, Lemon Andersen, and others. As an installment of WNYC’s signature series “The NEXT New York Conversation,” this event will be broadcast and live-streamed, allowing incarcerated men and women with radio and/or internet access to listen to the event and join our audience.
For more than 30 years, PEN’s Prison Writing Program has been dedicated to helping make the harsh realities of American imprisonment part of our social justice dialogue. PEN’s Program has also been on the front-lines of prison reform, helping inmates in federal, state, and local penitentiaries cope with life behind bars, gain skills, and have a voice while they are there. Breakout: Voices from Inside will help raise much-needed funds to enable our program to continue its most important mission into the future—helping incarcerated men and women to see themselves in a new way: as writers.
United Kingdom: Government Begins Decriminalisation of Defamation, Concerns Remain for Northern Ireland
ARTICLE 19, English PEN and Index on Censorship welcome the UK government’s drive to decriminalise defamation. However, we are deeply concerned that the proposed amendments do not abolish the offence of ‘blasphemous libel’ in Northern Ireland.
Led by Secretary of State for Justice Jack Straw MP and Lord Bach, the newly released amendment to the Coroners and Justice Bill will repeal the criminal offences of sedition and seditious libel, defamatory libel, and obscene libel in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
ARTICLE 19, English Pen and Index on Censorship are campaigning for the decriminalisation of defamation and repeal of blasphemy offences in the UK and around the world and strongly welcome the amendments.
Evan Harris MP, an ARTICLE 19 Board Member, who has led the campaign for decriminalisation within the UK legislature, says: “I welcome this repeal which I hope will show the way forward for many other jurisdictions which not only have these unjust and unjustifiable laws, but which actually use them to censor and persecute writers and journalists.”
However the three organisations remain deeply concerned that instead of repealing all criminal offences of libel, the offence of blasphemous libel in Northern Ireland remains.
The historical offence of blasphemous libel is entirely incompatible with democratic ideals. In the past it has been abused to protect religions, religious ideas and religious leaders from legitimate criticism.
“We call on Members of Parliament to introduce further amendments in advance of the 26 October debate on the Bill. They should not deny Northern Ireland full protection for freedom of expression. This ground breaking step will be tainted if such a derogation is permitted.”
Lord Lester, Liberal Democrat Peer and Vice President of English PEN who will table the amendment in the House of Lords, comments: “I welcome the amendments but I hope before the Lords debate, the Government will reconsider their decision to retain the offence of blasphemous libel in Northern Ireland. That would create an arbitrary and divisive outcome threatening free speech and freedom of religion. God no more needs to be protected by criminal law in Northern Ireland than in Great Britain.”
Criminal defamation has not been used in the UK for a number of years, but its “chilling effect” remains. Moreover, states around the world justify their persistent use of criminal defamation according to the example set by the UK.
In many countries, criminal defamation laws are abused by the powerful to limit criticism and to stifle public debate. The threat of harsh criminal sanctions, especially imprisonment, exerts a profound chilling effect on freedom of expression.
NOTES TO EDITORS:
• For more information please contact: Oliver Spencer, ARTICLE 19 oliver@article19.org, +44 (0) 7837 833 893, Robert Sharp, English PEN, robert@englishpen.org, +44 (0) 020 7713 0023, Jo Glanville, Index on Censorship, jo@indexoncensorship.org, +44 (0) 20 7278 2313. • To see more details of defamation and its effects around the world, please see ARTICLE 19’s Global Maps at: www.article19.org/advocacy/defamationmap/map/?dataSet=defamation_legislation • Index on Censorship is an organisation dedicated to protecting and promoting freedom of speech through its publications, international projects, events, campaigns and website
Monday, October 26: PEN America 11: Make Believe Launch Party Celebrate "make believe"—and writers who make us believe in the worlds of their own creation—with PEN America, PEN's award-winning literary journal. Join recent contributors—including Cynthia Cruz, Said Sayrafiezadeh, and Lynne Tillman—to toast our newest issue, Make Believe; Paul Auster and Roxana Robinson will read. >> More
Thursday, October 29: Bearing Witness in Chechnya: The Legacy of Natalia Estemirova Salman Rushdie, Keith Gessen, and others will gather for a night of readings and conversations to honor the legacy of Natalia Estemirova—the award-winning human rights activist and journalist murdered on July 15, 2009—while calling attention to issues of freedom of expression in Russia. >> More
Monday, November 9: Breakout: Voices from Inside PEN’s Prison Writing Program will host its second annual benefit reading and reception, featuring readings by Mary Gaitskill, Eric Bogosian, John Turturro, and others. This event will be broadcast and live-streamed, allowing incarcerated men and women with radio and/or internet access to listen to the event. >> More
NEW AT PEN.ORG
Sneak Preview: PEN America 11: Make Believe Alesksandar Hemon, Cynthia Ozick, Lynne Tillman, and others imagine books they wish they (or someone else) had written; Sigrid Nunez invents an orphanage full of “rapture children”; and Rivka Galchen pretends to be Lydia Davis and Peter Altenberg. Plus new fiction from Brian Evenson; poetry by Christian Hawkey, Marie Ponsot, and Liu Xiaobo—and much more.
English PEN is outraged by the sentences handed down to nine dissident writers in recent days for 'spreading propaganda' against the government. The sentences range from two to six years. All were first detained in September 2008, and include the well known novelist and journalist Nguyen Xuan Ngia, leader of the banned pro-democracy group Bloc 8406, and editor of the underground democracy journal To Quoc (Fatherland).
Writer Nguyen Xuan Nghia, poet Nguyen Van Tinh, human rights defender Nguyen Kim Nhan, poet Nguyen Van Tuc, student and internet writer Ngo Quynh, and writer Nguyen Manh Son were charged with conducting anti-government propaganda under article 88 of Vietnam's penal code for their pro-democracy writings and activities, in particular their membership of the banned pro-democracy group Bloc 8406. They were convicted to sentences ranging from two to six years following a two-day trial in Hanoi that concluded on 9 October. In 2006, Bloc 8406, a coalition of political parties and organisations campaigning for political reform, created the "Manifesto on Freedom and Democracy in Vietnam". The group's name refers to the date that the manifesto was created. Originally signed by 118 dissidents, the number of signatories grew into the thousands. Most notable is Nguyen Van Ly, a priest and writer arrested in February 2007 and who was sentenced to eight years for his involvement in Bloc 8406.
The six writers sentenced on 9 October 2009 are amongst dozens of activists to have been arrested since September 2008 as part of an ongoing crackdown on peaceful dissent. The group's leader, writer Nguyen Xuan Nghia, received the heaviest sentence. The indictment, dated 3 July 2009, cited fifty-seven pieces written by Nguyen Xuan Nghia from 2007 until his arrest in 2008, including poetry, literature, short stories and articles, which allegedly sought to "insult the Communist Party of Vietnam, distort the situation of the country, slander and disgrace the country's leaders, demand a pluralistic and multiparty system ... and incite and attract other people into the opposition movement."
- Expressing alarm at the ongoing crackdown on dissident in Vietnam, in which at least nine writers have been handed down lengthy prison sentences for their peaceful dissident writings and activities; - Calling for the immediate and unconditional release of all those detained for the peaceful exercise of their right to free expression, in accordance with Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Vietnam is a signatory.
Appeals to be sent to:
President, Socialist Republic of Vietnam His Excellency Nguyên Minh Triêt C/o Ministry of Foreign Affairs Hanoi Socialist Republic of Vietnam
Please note that there are no fax numbers available for the Vietnamese authorities, so you may wish to ask the diplomatic representative for Vietnam in your country to forward your appeals. It would also be advantageous to ask your country's diplomatic representatives in Vietnam to intervene in the case.
Index on Censorship and English PEN today welcomed MPs' robust response in this afternoon's adjournment debate to Carter-Ruck's attempts to gag Parliamentary reporting, and called on them to strengthen the public's right to information by banning the use of so-called 'super-injunctions' except in extreme circumstances.
Jo Glanville, Editor of Index on Censorship, said: 'The widespread use of super-injunctions is a serious threat to media freedom in this country - and to the fabric of open democracy. It is essential that this debate marks the beginning of reform, so that individuals and companies are no longer free to gag the press and prevent information that's clearly in the public interest from coming under scrutiny.'
Jonathan Heawood, Director of English PEN, said: 'The rights of Parliament are the rights of citizens. Unless Parliament is free to debate everything that MPs believe to be important, it can't do its job properly. And unless the public is free to know what Parliament is talking about, we have closed government. Super-injunctions compromise democracy and should be banned, except in extreme circumstances.'
MPs from the three main parties voiced their concerns about super-injunctions and the impact of English libel law on free speech in an adjournment debate called by Evan Harris MP in the wake of the Trafigura affair, in which the law firm Carter-Ruck argued that a 'super-injunction' prevented the media from reporting on a Parliamentary question asked by Paul Farrelly MP. They wrote to the Speaker of the House on 14 October suggesting that the issue might also be out of bounds for Parliament. Carter-Ruck withdrew the injunction in the wake of a global internet campaign.
During the debate, Denis MacShane MP called for the partners of Carter-Ruck to be called to the Bar of the House of Commons to account for their attempts to 'subvert Parliamentary democracy.'
MPs commended the work of Evan Harris, English PEN and Index on Censorship in raising awareness of the failings of English libel law.
Paul Farrelly MP asked for a return from the 'rule of lawyers to the rule of law'.
Peter Bottomley MP asked for all injunctions to be logged openly in order to allow proper parliamentary oversight of the courts.
John Whittingdale MP, Chair of the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, said how MPs on the Committee had received threatening letters from solicitors. These had been described by the Speaker's Counsel as 'improperly interfering with the work of Parliament'.
David Heath MP asked the government to confirm that the Parliamentary Papers Act 1840, which grants the media the right to report on everything in Parliament, is still in force.
Responding to the debate, Bridget Prentice, Minister for Justice, said: 'It is not possible to fetter Parliament'. She confirmed that the advice given by Carter-Ruck in their letter of 14 October to the Speaker was incorrect. She said: 'we are very concerned that super-injunctions are being used more frequently, especially in libel.' And she confirmed that the Parliamentary Papers Act 1840 was still in force.
Prentice promised further guidelines on the use of super-injunctions and agreed that defamation law 'needs to be tightened up'.
She stated that the government would abolish the antiquated laws of criminal libel, obscene libel and seditious libel in an amendment to the Coroners & Justice Bill in response to pressure by Index on Censorship, Article 19 and English PEN.
Index on Censorship and English PEN are publishing their detailed recommendations for libel reform on 10 November. For press tickets, please contact Michael Harris: michael.harris@pbm.org.uk
To view the English PEN/Index on Censorship Briefing paper: Free speech, libel law and super-injunctions, please click here.
English PEN is pleased to announce The London Book Fairhas become a Silver PEN member, joining a select group of publishing companies and organisations whose commitment to the literary community extends far
beyond a list of authors.
As a Silver PEN Partner, The London Book Fair provides a major platform for English PEN to reach a global audience of publishers, agents, booksellers, librarians, journalists and the wider global book industry and to promote the core aims of English PEN. The London Book Fair is very proud of their continued partnership with English PEN - together they launched the English PEN Literary Café in 2008 to provide fair attendees with a programme of author interviews, readings and book signings with a wide range of international authors.
High-profile authors such as Umberto Eco, Azar Nafisi, William Dalrymple, Alaa Al Aswany, Kate Mosse and William Boyd have delighted Literary Café visitors during lively and fascinating interviews that focus on their latest books and writing styles, to issues of freedom of expression, the book industry, literacy and politics.
Alistair Burtenshaw, Group Exhibition Director, The London Book Fair, said: "The London Book Fair has for many years supported the aims and objectives of English PEN in a number of ways. We were delighted that English PEN were able to accept our proposal to work together to create The English PEN Literary Café, which in a very short period of time has become a much loved feature of The London Book Fair and a wonderful forum for authors from across the world to share their views, at the heart of the Fair".
Jonathan Heawood, Director, English PEN, said: "The London Book Fair provides English PEN with a remarkable window to the world. Thanks to the generosity of Alistair Burtenshaw and his team, we have now developed the English PEN Literary Café as the central venue at LBF for literary talks, readings and debates featuring some of the world's great authors. This enables us to build support for English PEN's work promoting literature and the human rights of authors around the world, and to fulfil our charitable objectives at the same time. It's a winning combination."
I have posted here a set of e-mails images which , I hope would expose some truth.
What happens inside an Indian PEN Center organization, maybe centers at large world wide are facing the same. This article will prove how much Unity, Solidarity among writers community you can expect. I have been let down by the behaviour of these organizations, though I came forward voluntarily to help and use myself for the cause and principle of Freedom of Expression and Human Rights. I did not expect that big organisations would treat me in such a manner and continue discourage a man like me. Its very unfortunate on going event. I want to draw attention of the people who profess Human Rights and Freedom of Expression.
Click the email images to see them enlarged, the content of the image document also been typed along with the images, if the images do not show than read the same in type written matter. I have posted all the emails in image format to prove as document.
4 th Oct. 2009 The body of the mail below: Dear Caroline,
I write in response to your email of 15 September, and am sorry for this delay: we have had a very full schedule, including a discussion led by Sampurna, titled 'The Concentric Commitments of the Writer', which drew the large audience present into an intense space of participation, and a wonderful evening with Arundhati Roy four days ago, where we released her new book, *Listening to Grasshoppers: Field Notes on Democracy*, followed by a public conversation between Arundhati and myself and ceaseless questions from the two hundred people present.
As to Albert Ashok's latest email, I am sorry that this deplorable conversation appears to continue unabated. However, what shocks me more is the tone you have adopted towards me in your email. I have made my position abundantly clear before, vis a vis Albert Ashok, and I repeat it in the 5 points I have made below, while also responding to your suggestion that I have contravened the spirit of cooperation and harmony.
1. As you are completely aware, the PEN All-India Centre has its hands full doing all the productive work that it is doing -- and doing it in a collegial, collaborative, receptive spirit. As against this, we have in Albert Ashok a man who is not a member of the PEN All-India Centre; who has never been able to prove that he represents the organisation in whose name he speaks; who never communicates with usexcept to send in his latest complaint of neglect; and who importunes you with accusations against us.
2. In this context -- and before you commit yourself to any further well-meant advocacy on this man's behalf -- I would like you to take note of a particularly shocking and intemperate attack, ad hominem (or ad feminem?), on Taslima Nasreen, put out by Albert Ashok on his blog under the titles, 'The wrong Number of Feminism' and 'Beware of Taslima she can bite you back!' (idiosyncratic capitals and punctuation in original). Please look this up at http://penwestbengal.blogspot.com/2009/08/wrong-number-of-feminism.html.
Please read this before you extend your support to someone who does not deserve it, under the mistaken assumption that this is in the spirit of fair play and let's have some proper cricket please, gentlemen.
The tone and content of Albert Ashok's attacks on a fellow writer are simply not acceptable to the PEN All-India Centre. They contravene the spirit of International PEN, and I cannot allow our hard-won reputation to be tarnished by association with anyone writing in this vein.
3. Let me make it clear that I am not constrained to admit Albert Ashok's claims to represent the PEN All-India Centre's West Bengal Branch until I have seen actual documentary proof to this effect. Unlike Albert, I am not in the habit of basing my actions on vague suggestions and unverifiable claims. Should he prove that he actually has a definite and verifiable connection with PEN, and should he indicate his willingness to engage in reasonable discourse, we would be happy to communicate with him. Until Albeert Ashok can offer such proof, there is no ground for communication and no crisis to resolve -- the need for communication only reflects his need for attention, and the crisis is one that he has generated out of thin air.
4. Please also note that I have, in a previous email to Albert Ashok -- copied to you and now posted by him on his blog (please look this up at http://penwestbengal.blogspot.com/2008_09_01_archive.html) -- clearly said that we would be happy for him to establish his own separate PEN Centre in West Bengal, so long as he does so on his own merit, and not by maligning actual members of the PEN in Bombay, who have been working hard and voluntarily, without any desire for personal recognition or financial recompense and often subsidising PEN activities, to sustain the PEN's work in India.
5. Unfortunately, unlike Albert Ashok, I am completely incapable of demanding attention or sympathy as though this were my birthright.
Even so, Caroline, I would like to register my deep sense of hurt and distress at the manner in which you have equated the PEN All-India Centre, whose commitment to the PEN Charter and whose many achievements are evident and publicly recorded, with a man whose main achievement has been to make repeated false accusations about us in the public domain through his blog -- an act that, as he should know, could invite legal action.
With best wishes, Ranjit ------
--- On Tue, 15/9/09, Caroline McCormick wrote:
> From: Caroline McCormick > Subject: FW: membership from India > To: albertashok@yahoo.com, ranjithoskote@yahoo.co.uk, "Sampurna Chattarji" > Date: Tuesday, 15 September, 2009, 1:38 PM
Truth should prevail and its should be held high above all
On last 4 October, Ranjit Hoskote, secretary of All India PEN Center sent a mail to Caroline McCormick, The executive Director of International PEN and me. He addressed it to Caroline, not me. He wants to threaten me, intimidate me. Why? Because, I want to become a PEN Member. And he would not let us ( writers community in West Bengal) be so. It started as evidence from 29 June 2007. Read the whole story. Here, I have posted all the emails that are the parts of the story. Atleast you will find some characters.
I have posted his (Ranjit Hoskote’s) email here ( above) for the readers ( I expect all members of International PEN and it’s Centers world wide would read, and send me and concerned people their views. This is an intentional suppression and harassment towards the writers community in West Bengal) I hope International community will take this matter seriously and find the people who has ill intention behind this. I fear such things could exist in other centers. It should be stopped.
Many years ago, when I had heard for first time the name of International PEN from late Mr. Dev Kr. Basu, and from daily news paper in the late eighties, I became so much inspired and felt to work with International PEN. because its charter and principles what Mr. Dev. Kr. Basu told me and what I had learnt about it from different writers inspired me to join this world organisation of writers. On then I was resourceless person and unemployed man.
Years later, I explored that the practicing PEN of West Bengal Chapter has its main center in Mumbai, where the head Office is, presided by Mr. Annada Shankar Roy, a famous writer in India, whose health was not so good on then living in Kolkata. Mr Dev Kr. Basu told us that Mumbai center has stopped communicating us, but never thought they want to erase West Bengal chapter from the center. This ill intention never been dreamt by any in West Bengal. Mr Dev kr. Basu also never thought it before nor the president of all India PEN center, Mr. Annada Shankar Roy, who lived in Bengal in Kolkata. Mr Annada Shankar Roy used to attend most literary functions, seminars held by PEN West Bengal Chapter. I have seen prominent writers from neighbouring country Bangladesh also used to come at the house of Mr. Annada Shankar Roy, todays most writers used to feel the matter of pride when they could have the chance to read their own poem in our seminars or functions conducted by PEN West Bengal Chapter, with a banner 'PEN West Bengal', and in Mr. Annada Shankar Roy's gracious presence. We used to have us photographed of these such events. Bangla Acdemy is the heart of writers in Bengal, run by state government, has its register book and records that how many tens years it has witnessed PEN West Bengal held functions at this hall.
We knew with us Mr Annada Shankar Roy we are representing International PEN in India. On behalf of PEN West Bengal Mr Dev. Kr. Basu, on then the Secretary and Hon. Treasurer ( he held this position till his last demise) had sent mails by postal department. he was fed up having no reply from Mumbai.One day I came to know that International PEN has websites, I searched and found, I came to know many things from the website. I told Mr. Dev Kr. Basu about many things that West Bengal PEN chapter did not know. He suggested me to make a contact. but how? It took a long time.
Due to lack of proper communication and contact for more than a decade we were gathering misconception about International PEN.
Even Mr Dev Kr. Basu also believed and told us the wrong information. I had to fight hard against this wrong information to set it correctly. I printed materials from International PEN websites and had to distribute among writers and people interested in PEN by my hard earned money.
As Mr. Annada Shankar Roy was aged, sick and busy we were restricted to visit him personally, and I think he did not know about the misconception and wrong ideas within members of West Bengal PEN chapter. Anyway Dev Kr. Basu became a synonym of PEN West Bengal Chapter. He had a close homely relation with Mr. Annada Shankar Roy too. Mr Annada Shankar Roy died at the age 99, 28 oct. 2002.
I am very fortunate I have been photographed with him flanked by many literary prominent personalities several times and I have 3 photos in my possession.
Mr Dev Kr. Basu had tremendous affection on me, he loved me, but I am sorry I could not make a contact with International PEN in his life time, how he badly wished to communicate with people in International PEN.
After Mr Dev Kr. Basu (24th Feb 2007), as his successor, Dr. Jagannath Ghosh took the rein of West Bengal PEN Chapter. He also affectionately loved me a lot. He saw me establish a connection with International PEN. He inspired me to become a Lifetime Member of West Bengal PEN and He was happy and given me a responsibilty to create a direct connection with International PEN , as Mumbai Center deliberately used to ignore us. ITS VERY MUCH SHOCKING!
My first letter to International PEN 29 June 2007.
But sad to tell Dr. Jagannath Ghosh died 10th May 2009, within a short time. but I took this challenge regardless my success and failure I would keep a communication with international PEN community and try to create a New independent Indian PEN Center in West Bengal, lead ours independently, we shall not bother the people in Mumbai who do not like writers in West Bengal the Maharastrian politicians.
I also want to inform all writers in Mumbai about this behaviour from PEN Mumbai center we are facing. I believe good people exist everywhere.
I donot know Mr. Ranjit Hoskote eye to eye. as I never been infront of him, I came to know him through international PEN. so, I express no enmity with him rather I see him a fellow writer and a colleague in International writers association. We can exchange pleasantries not hatred. We are writers, we hold high the charter of International PEN and ideals , principles of Human Rights.
Now lets read the emails below. The email documents will unfold the mask of a liar and information in folds.
1) 29 June 2007 I started first the conversation with International PEN on 29 june 2007 :
From: pen kolkata [mailto:penkolkata@yahoo.co.in] Sent: 29 June 2007 12:28 To: Caroline McCormick; Frank Geary; Karen Efford; Cerian Eiles Subject: Membership from India Sir, We want to become members of International P E N .We are In Kolkata,WestBengal State,we tried to contact mumbai Maharastra ( indian part of International PEN, for long 10 years, I Think That organization is not working. So We beg ypur help,How we can become members of International Pen I look forward to you .Thank you Albert Ashok Pen Kolkata --------------------------------------------- 2) 29 th June 2007 The reply came from Caroline McCormick, Executive director International PEN, U.K. :
To: "pen kolkata" , "Frank Geary" , "Karen Efford" , "Cerian Eiles" Dear Friends, Many thanks for your message. The only way to join International PEN is to join one of its Centres. I have passed your message onto Indian PEN and they will be in touch with you. All best wishes, Caroline
Caroline McCormick Executive Director International PEN Brownlow House 50 / 51 High Holborn LONDON WC1V 6ER Tel: 02074050338 Fax: 02074050339 ---------------------------------------- 3) 16th July 2007 I wrote 14th july 07:
To: Caroline McCormick Subject: RE: Membership from India
dear madam , with due respect, can you send us the addresses of indian pen center or what we should do if we want to open a center in kolkata? I look forward to hear from you,Thank you Kind regards Albert Ashok Dumdum kolkata 28
Reply:
RE: Membership from India Date: Mon, 16 Jul 2007 11:30:27 +0100 From: "Caroline McCormick" To: "pen kolkata"
Dear Sir,
I have heard from Indian PEN and understand that there is something of a delay as the demand for membership is very high at present. You will find all contact details on the website of International PEN including this email address: ranjithoskote@yahoo.co.uk Best wishes, Caroline Caroline McCormick Executive Director
------------------------------------------------ 4) 17 th July 2007
First mail from Ranjit Hoskote, the secretary of All-India PEN Center wrote me as he was been directed by Executive director of International PEN. The mail says Ranjit is quite unaware of the presence of West Bengal PEN chapter, I wonder how he became a secretary if his duty he does not know.
Mon, 16 Jul 2007 23:28:23 -0700 (PDT) From: "Ranjit Hoskote" Subject: Re: FW: Membership from India To: penkolkata@yahoo.co.in CC: "Caroline McCormick" , india.pen@gmail.com
Dear Albert Ashok, Caroline McCormick of International PEN has forwarded us your recent emails -- we would be happy to initiate a dialogue with you on the subject of membership of the PEN All-India Centre (I will add your email address to our e-mailing list in any case, to keep you updated on our events: we hold an average of two readings/ lectures/ discussions a month; sometimes three or even four). Please write to me with the following details about your group, and we can take the dialogue forward:
1. When was your group founded? 2. How many members do you have? 3. What is the periodicity of your meetings? 4. Do you already have an administrative structure; or have you preserved a refreshing informality? 5. Do you have a journal, or any other publication? 6. We would be very interested in the profile of your members -- are they young writers, published authors, literary activists? Details of this nature would help us enormously to help you.
With best regards, Ranjit Hoskote -------------- Ranjit Hoskote Hon. Secretary-Treasurer The PEN All-India Centre Theosophy Hall 40 New Marine Lines Bombay 400 020
Dear Ranjit, Another request from the group whom I emailed you about a few weeks ago - could you possibly drop them a line please? Many thanks and best wishes, Caroline Caroline McCormick Executive Director International PEN ----------------------------------- 5) 19 July 2007
I wrote back to Ranjit:
pen kolkata wrote to Ranjit Hoskote:
dear sir, I am happy that I have got your answer after trying a few years. Annada shankar Munsi was our president, Now Sunil gangopadhaya, I shall get back to you very soon , I have to talk with our seniors, It may take a week or two Thankl you Kind regards Albert
When I could have established a dialogue with Ranjit I was happy and I carried forward the message to my seniors. here he admits about the existence of West Bengal PEN Chapter, and Mr . Annada Shankar Roy the president of All India PEN Center
And Mumbai center answered:
Thu, 19 Jul 2007 08:46:47 -0700 (PDT) From: "Ranjit Hoskote" Yahoo! DomainKeys has confirmed that this message was sent by yahoo.co.uk. Subject: Re: FW: Membership from India To: "pen kolkata" Dear Albert,
I am very glad that you have established a line of communication with us. I have to say that -- to the best of my knowledge; it is possible that some papers are missing -- we have not found any previous communication from you. And tell me, have you had no contact, in all these years, with the West Bengal Branch of the PEN All-India Centre? Our President, Annada Sankar Ray, used to preside over its periodic meetings; but he passed away some years ago, at a very advanced age, and we have subsequently had no communication from the West Bengal Branch either.
Do write again with more details, and let us take this forward. And please convey my warm personal regards to Sunil-da.
With very best wishes, Ranjit ----------------------------------------- 6) 31st July 2007 I wrote again but no reply came and Ranjit Hoskote has stopped to communicate, I sent several mails but no reply.
To ranjithoskote@yahoo.co.uk, executivedirector@internationalpen.org.uk, india.pen@gmail.com, ranjithoskote@yahoo.co.uk
Dear sir / madam, I have received your letter. Thank you for your response. A summary of our organization, I am stating below. I have discussed to our executive body, Our (secretary and treasurer ) beloved Debuda is nomore , so at present, specifically, with exact date, I am unable to give you, but best information from our meeting as follows- The History of Indian P E N ( West Bengal Part), so far I know, started by Manindralal Basu, a novelist, in Kolkata ( by then Calcutta) around 1930, (IF I am not wrong ,As soon as Sophy wadia started it in India , we have not found the papers my earlier assumption was wrong, ) First president was Rabindranath Tagore ( all India center) and founder in India was Sophia Wadia, From then on we are active , we had seen Annada Shankar Roy all India president,vice President Professor N S gorekar, secretary treasurer Nissim Ezikiel, West Bengal Branch secretary was Dev Kumar Basu. We had then ( somehow regardless the distance from Calcutta to Mumbai almost 2000 kilometer) well built communication with Mumbai part Indian PEN. Sometime before Nissim Ezekiel ‘s death the communication of Pen activities about West Bengal branch (on then it was called west Bengal branch Indian P E N ) and reportings deteriorated, we were sending via postal mail as used to send before, but from Mumbai ( Bombay) part communication came to a halt. We continued our meetings , every Wednesday , members and non members crowds about 60 to hundred , we have special meetings on average two or more than two, mostly at Bangla Academy, and other districts, we attend also at different organization, many organization invite us as PEN. I think in activities ours organization is bigger in all respects, our members ( active) 52 and we have an administrative structure too. One chairman, 5 vice chairman, one secretary 2 jt. assistant secretary treasure and other active members with categorically responsibilities. After Dev Kumar Basu’s sad demise our new secretary been elected Jagannath Ghosh And years ago when all Indian President Annada Shankar Roy , who was chaiman of west Bengal branch , died Famous writer Sunil gangopadhya became our president.For long we have not heard from Mumbai Indian Pen center . We are eager to make our center Kolkata an independent Indian PEN center. India is big Country, and ours organization is bigger in all respects and we have official documents for long since its foundation about 45 yeas or so. The P E N in Bangladesh also know us about our activities. Our members are published authors and most of them are professional. Hereby I , on behalf of West Bengal Part of Indian P E N . humbly request to the executive commity of International P E N to grant us an independent Indian Pen center. Our organization is big , very much active and oldest. We deserve it. The neighbouring states ( Bihar, Orrissa and Tripura ) also joined us. I look forward to hear from you, Thanking all of you Best regards Albert Ashok West Bengal P E N 9/3 Tamer Lane. Kolkata 700009
The same matter sent on 26 july 07 to
executivedirector@internationalpen.org.uk, india.pen@gmail.com, ranjithoskote@yahoo.co.uk frank.geary@internationalpen.org.uk, karen.efford@internationalpen.org.uk, cerian.eiles@internationalpen.org.uk -------------------------------------- 7) 6 th Aug 2007 I was disappointed and continue to mail several people involve in PEN
Monday, 6 August, 2007 12:38 AM From: "pen kolkata" To: "Ranjit Hoskote" , executivedirector@internationalpen.org.uk, faridah@dhaka.net, frank.geary@internationalpen.org.uk, india.pen@gmail.com, karen.efford@internationalpen.org.uk
Dear sir / madam, Regarding membership, we did not hear from you since my last letter. I hope very soon we shall have a reply from you regarding granting another international P.E.N. center in kolkata thanking all of you Albert Ashok tamer lane Kolkata ------------------------------------------------------------- From my inbox and sent folder the following mails in 2008 speak :
1) 27 th April 2008Sunday, 27 April, 2008 11:40 PM From: "pen kolkata" Add sender to Contacts To: ranjithoskote@yahoo.co.uk, india.pen@gmail.com, executivedirector@internationalpen.org.uk Dear Sir / Madam, I have started a web blog on behalf of the PEN (West Bengal), http://penwestbengal.blogspot.com/ It is my request please, have a look , and send your views ,I want to post our activities and news (The PEN West Bengal) here, and we shall be happy if you keep us in touch and let know your programmes (The PEN ,Mumbai). Thank you Albert Ashok
my mail fell on deaf ear. ---------------------------------- 2) 3rd May 2008 My First Contact with Ms. Taslima Nasreen:
2008/5/3 pen kolkata : To Ms. Taslima Nasrin We have got this address from the websita of 'International PEN' we want to keep contact with you. If You have any message you can send it here. thank you. All the best Albert Ashok Member PEN west Bengal
Taslima responded:
i did not know there was a PEN in west bengal. did you do anything when the west bengal government threw a writer out of the state?
-------------------------------------- 3) 4 th May 2008 Again I wrote to Taslima But no reply
Sunday, 4 May, 2008 7:27 PM From: "pen kolkata" To: "Taslima Nasrin" Cc: executivedirector@internationalpen.org.uk
You may not know,because you never looked for it. West Bengal PEN is very active in promotional work of literature, it was led by Late Deb Kr Basu, President Late Annada Shankar Roy, after Annada Shankar our beloved writer Sunil Gangopadhay is our president. Since Rabindra nath Tagore our past and first president PEN westbengal is in promotion of literature. very recently we are using electronic medium for correspondence. I can not answer your question, but we assure you We follow the ideals of International PEN. And we act according our strength. at present our living members are about 60. and Bangla Akademy (register book) may tell how active we are! and PEN bangladesh also know our existance. Thank you for your quick response, i hope we shall try our best to support you. --------------------------------- 4) 4 th May 2008 The same day I wrote to Ranjit Hoskote too
Sunday, 4 May, 2008 7:33 PM From: "pen kolkata" To: "Ranjit Hoskote" , india.pen@gmail.com Cc: executivedirector@internationalpen.org.uk
Dear Ranjit, I had sent emails a few days ago , but I got no response from you. I hope you will mail me soon. I wish we can exchange our views about all-india PEN activities, All India PEN does not mean only a few members in Mumbai. West Bengal Also plays a big role in promotional activities on literature and ideals of PEN. We can spread this organization in other states also. I hope you will let us know all PEN events in future, and after the events a report with photos, so that I can post all activities including ours on my web blog http://penwestbengal.blogspot.com/ .And any thing you want to know you can email me , all we want is understanding, joining and sharing by each other ( Mumbai and Kolkata) I wish ( this is completely my view) to elect Sunil Gangopadhay as president of All-India PEN Centre. He is our president since Annada shankar Roy passed away. And he is now elected president of the Sahitya Akademi (India Govt.).Think about my proposal, If you support me I may take a motion in our next meeting. I have heard little about you and your works, But please let us know about Dr. Dauji Gupta president of all India PEN. I wish through your mail we can know all necessary information about Mumbai All-India PEN center. I look forward to hearing from you Thank you With best compliments Albert Ashok http://collectpainting.blogspot.com I am a poet, 8 books of poetry have been published seven in Bengali and one in English, ----------------------------------- 5) 3 rd June 2008 I wrote Taslima wishing her best as I was very careful about Taslima Nasreen.
best wishes from albert Ashok , Kolkata Tuesday, June 3, 2008 8:34 PM From: "aibert ashok" View contact details To: taslima.nasrin@gmail.com
dear taslima, how are You? hope you are fine. staying away from motherland is very painful to me , i try to realise and think about you. can i do something for you ( if things are possible at all) i would feel happy if i could do something for you. I had seen a community in ORKUT after you name , do you know or is it yours. I felt happy that people in bengal support you, do you have any account in ORKUT? If you feel easy and comfort with me you may keep in touch Thank you All best wishes Albert
-------------------------------------- 6) 7 th June 2008 A mail to International PEN : our activities have been included in news letter of International PEN. And we were happy with International PEN
We are glad that our activities have been included in the new letter of international P E N Saturday, 7 June, 2008 10:41 AM From: "pen kolkata" Add sender to Contacts To: pisubscribers@internationalpen.org.uk, sara.whyatt@internationalpen.org.uk, emily.bromfield@internationalpen.org.uk, info@internationalpen.org.uk, cerian.eiles@internationalpen.org.uk, executivedirector@internationalpen.org.uk, india.pen@gmail.com, karen.efford@internationalpen.org.uk, nabaneeta@nabaneetadevsen.com, ranjithoskote@yahoo.co.uk, sampurna_c@yahoo.co.uk, taslima.nasrin@gmail.com To Caroline McCormick Executive Director International PEN Brownlow House 50 / 51 High Holborn LONDON WC1V 6ER
Dear Caroline, Thank you and others who are working for international PEN, We are glad that our activities have been included in the new letter of international P E N, We shall be more happy if we are in touch with International P E N through activities,guidance and ideals. please, if possible visit our blogs off and on. Your news letter Is been also posted in our blogs, pls. have a look and we expect all of yours comment. http://newsfreedomofexpression.blogspot.com/ We shall report on our present and local activities and about our coming projects in promotional literature very soon. Thank you.
All the best Albert Ashok 165, R N Guha Road, Kolkata 700028. West Bengal, India Phone +9133 2560 0070 ---------------------------------------- 7) 9 July 2008 I felt I had been encouraged so some of our own local problem i took to Caroline :
To Caroline for her opinion in our local problem Wednesday, 9 July, 2008 7:43 AM From: "pen kolkata" To: executivedirector@internationalpen.org.uk Dear Caroline, I want to share a problem with you regarding our organization, if you wish you can share your suggestion with us. 1. a problem we are facing for long time that all India PEN Center mumbai part, never response our mail . I tried to contact with them in many occasions but they very coolly maintain silence, they, I think either not putting importance, or they have no time at all for PEN! 2. we have, in west Bengal ,about 60 life members, all are mostly retired form their own job and spending time with writings, very few numbers are young energetic /enthusiastic members , Most members joined at the time of our late secretary Mr. Deb Kr. Basu. Mr deb kr basu, did not know about the charter of PEN that we defend FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION, and most members did not know about the Charter of International PEN, They became member as a writing club. But in time of discussion, about rules of PEN, people still argue with me, and become furious, As Most members are elderly person I keep silence as I put respect on them according our traditional custom. That is why when Indias renowned painter M F Hussain had painted some objectionable painting on then Mr Deb Kr basu collected signs against him and campaigned, when Taslima Nasreen had worst time in kolkata, we could not Help much and stand beside her. There are more such incidents and I find I am helpless going against more people in our organization. And as I am young man in our organization the older members love me and advice me to keep quiet about PEN Charter. Please share your view with me. Professionally I am a Painter and Poet I have 8 books of poetry in my credit and about a hundred books on drawing and paintings I have authored which are used by art students. I am also a founder secretary of an artist and writer ‘s organization (est.2002) my organization defend freedom of expression and human rights you can read them in the following weblogs, http://rainbowartistsandwritersfoundation.blogspot.com/ http://newsfreedomofexpression.blogspot.com/ http://freenewsfreespeech.blogspot.com/ please if you have time have alook I hope I shall hear from you very soon. Thank you. Best regards Albert Ashok ( member, campaign executive)
But I did not have any answer in return -------------------------------------- 8) 9 th July 2008 In my blog I publish any material relating PEN so in the beginning I had taken permission from authority:
From: pen kolkata [mailto:penkolkata@yahoo.co.in] Sent: 09 July 2008 03:11 To: Mitchell Albert ; Emily Bromfield ; Caroline McCormick Subject: your permission West Bengal PEN India Dear Sir/Madam, I have down loaded your ‘PEN INTERNATIONAL Volume 58, No. 1, Spring 2008’ the magazine for our reading, can I republish it in my blog or any manner for free distribution , I have noticed a price is mentioned on the cover, so I need your permission. By the by we are not making any business or trade benefit out of it. Thank you. We are looking forward to hear from you soon. Best regards Albert Ashok ( member, campaign executive) All India PEN center, (west Bengal) 165, R N Guha Road Kolkata –700028, India . Phone +9133 2560 0070
Reply: RE: your permission West Bengal PEN IndiaWednesday, 9 July, 2008 7:51 PM From: "Emily Bromfield" Emily.Bromfield@internationalpen.org.uk
To: penkolkata@yahoo.co.inCc: "Mitchell Albert" , "Caroline McCormick" executivedirector@internationalpen.org.uk
Dear Albert Ashok, Many thanks for your email and interest in the magazine. It is always good for us to know that PEN Centres and members are accessing our website and reading the magazine! We would be more than happy for you to add the pdf of the magazine to your blog. However if you would be so kind to ensure it remains within its format as opposed to cutting and pasting text into the blog we would be grateful. Either this or you could direct people to the International PEN website for them to download it. Does this make sense and sound agreeable to you? I hope this email finds you well. Best wishes, Emily
Emily Bromfield Communications Director International PEN
---------------------------------------
9) 11th July 2008 I wrote back to Emily Thanks from west bengal
Thanks from West Bengal PEN India Friday, 11 July, 2008 12:09 PM From: "pen kolkata" To: "Emily Bromfield" Dear Emily, I shall follow your instruction as it is. thank you for your kind permission. we show and maintain a harmony with 'International PEN', always Thank you all once again Best regards Albert Ashok ( member, campaign executive)
12 July 2008 From: pen kolkata [mailto:penkolkata@yahoo.co.in] Sent: 12 July 2008 19:48 To: Emily Bromfield; Caroline McCormick; india.pen@gmail.com; ranjithoskote@yahoo.co.uk; sampurna_c@yahoo.co.uk; Sara Whyatt; taslima.nasrin@gmail.com; pen@pen.org Subject: RE: your permission West Bengal PEN India Dear Sir/Madam I have re-posted ----- ‘DEFAMATION AND ‘INSULT ’ : WRITERS REACT A report from International PEN’s Writers in Prison Committee Insult Laws in the European Union A SILENT THREAT October 2007’ and PEN ‘International Magazine’ in our blog, Please have a look at http://freenewsfreespeech.blogspot.com/ http://www.penwestbengal.blogspot.com/ if any thing goes wrong please, let me know, so that I can correct We need all of your cooperation.. Thank you. We are looking forward to hear from you soon. Best regards Albert Ashok ( member, campaign executive)
------------------------------------------------ 10) 13 July 2008 Again I took care of Taslima Nasreen: Your recent news posted in our blog Sunday, 13 July, 2008 12:27 AM From: "pen kolkata"
To: taslima.nasrin@gmail.com
dear Taslima, How are You! I hope you are doing fine. We have posted your recent news in our blog please check it and if anything you have to say you can tell it to us . feel free ! Stay well. thank you for your news click it http://freenewsfreespeech.blogspot.com/ http://www.penwestbengal.blogspot.com/ Best regards Albert Ashok ( member, campaign executive) ------------------------------- 11) 14th July 2008 RE: your permission West Bengal PEN India Monday, 14 July, 2008 7:40 PM From: "pen kolkata"
To: "Sara Whyatt" Dear Sara Whyatt, I am happy to receive your mail and felt encouraging by your nice word. As you know I am a Member of All-India PEN Center, I feel honoured when i am assigned to any PEN job. I believe The ideals of International PEN, and believe also universal Human Rights.So you are welcome to guide and advice me for PEN. I am ready also to work for your prison committee. Thank you for your kind offer and assistance. Best wishes Albert Ashok Albert Ashok ( member, campaign executive) All India PEN center, (west Bengal)
--- On Mon, 14/7/08, Sara Whyatt wrote: From: Sara Whyatt Subject: RE: your permission West Bengal PEN India To: penkolkata@yahoo.co.in Date: Monday, 14 July, 2008, 4:25 PM Dear Albert Ashok, Thank you so much for putting the paper on insult laws in Europe on your website. What a fantastic site and so good to have our work brought into new communities. Do let me know if you are interested in other material from PEN's Writers in Prison Committee and I will do what I can to assist. With very best regards, Sara Whyatt Programme Director Writers in Prison Committee International PEN Brownlow House 50/51 High Holborn London WC1V 6ER UK Tel: + 44 (0) 20 7405 0338 Fax: + ff (0) 20 7405 0339 Email: sara.whyatt@internationalpen.org.uk
--------------------------------- 12) 30 th July 2008 In my life I wanted to work with international PEN. A reflection is given below :
From: Emily Bromfield Subject: RE: from albert ashok, all India PEN center, review To: penkolkata@yahoo.co.in Date: Wednesday, 30 July, 2008, 3:18 PM Dear Albert Ashok, Many thanks for your emails. I hope that either Caroline or Sara responded about your correspondence below. I wanted to email you to suggest that we include the blog address on the All India PEN Centre page on the International PEN website? Would you be happy for me to add this? I very much look forward to hearing from you. With all best wishes, Emily Emily Bromfield Communications Director
From: pen kolkata [mailto:penkolkata@yahoo.co.in] Sent: 15 July 2008 16:12 To: Sara Whyatt; Emily Bromfield; Caroline McCormick Subject: from albert ashok, all India PEN center, review To International PEN , UK Dear Sir/ Madam, i have posted another matter ' DEFAMATION AND ‘INSULT ’ : WRITERS REACT A report from International PEN’s Writers in Prison Committee ' in my blog with a quotationfrom the cover of the PDF matter. Please check it. Thank You Best regards Albert Ashok ( member, campaign executive) All India PEN center, (west Bengal ) 165, R N Guha Road Kolkata –700028, India . Phone +9133 2560 0070 ------------------------------ 13) 25 Sept 2008 After a long time Ranjit's mail Again, and take note what he wants to say:
Re: Please check a new post at http://penwestbengal.blogspot.com/ Thursday, 25 September, 2008 3:57 PM From: "Ranjit Hoskote" To: emily.bromfield@internationalpen.org.uk, executivedirector@internationalpen.org.uk, faridah@dhaka.net, india.pen@gmail.com, info@internationalpen.org.uk, karen.efford@internationalpen.org.uk, mitchell.albert@internationalpen.org.uk, nabaneeta@nabaneetadevsen.com, pen@pen.org, pisubscribers@internationalpen.org.uk, sampurna_c@yahoo.co.uk, sara.whyatt@internationalpen.org.uk, tamsin.mitchell@internationalpen.org.uk, penkolkata@yahoo.co.in... more
Dear Albert Ashok,
Thank you for your email and for the link to your post. Since you have copied your mail to a wide array of recipients, I have addressed this response to them as well -- and apologise to those on the list who might quite justifiably regard this exchange as unsolicited mail.
We at the PEN All-India Centre, located in Bombay, have recently begun to sort through our large collection of files -- including records, correspondence, and PEN All-India Centre annual conference proceedings -- which date back to the early 1930s. An American researcher, who is working towards a PhD in the area of late-colonial Indian history, has offered us invaluable support in this endeavour. She regards our material as vital and even impressive: an opinion that vindicates the constancy with which we have held on to our files through the vagaries of shifting, lack of financial support, and other difficulties.
With some luck, time and support, we should soon be able to organise them into a proper and coherent archive -- this would go a long way towards addressing the lacunae that you have indicated in your post.
While many of the details that you have put together in your post are common knowledge to PEN members in Bombay, Lucknow, Chennai and elsewhere, I can well imagine how you must feel to be so cut away from this lineage in the West Bengal Branch.I also sympathise with the fact that you have suffered because of a problem of transmission between generations, and perhaps you were not as fortunate as us in Bombay, who have had the privilege of inheriting a clear succession from Madame Sophia Wadia through Nissim Ezekiel and Ramesh Sirkar.
At the same time, I would most collegially request you to avoid a persistent solipsism in your account of your situation -- in your post, and on previous occasions, you have resorted to the suggestion that, since you did not hear from the PEN All-India Centre in Bombay for many years, it is somehow defunct or non-existent. Unfortunately for your line of argument, the PEN All-India Centre is not only alive and well, but has been flourishing. It has rebuilt a network of contacts, exchanges and discussions across India, while also opening up a range of conversations with colleagues and institutions internationally. Given the difficulties that we faced in the late 1990s and the early years of the 21st century, this has been a demanding and onerous, but ultimately productive task.
Since this matter has arisen before, let me re-state my position on it clearly: If you wish to establish your own separate PEN Centre in West Bengal, please do so by all means, and good luck to you.
However, I will add a note of caution that I have refrained from sounding before, despite your repeated provocations: Please establish your Centre on your own merit, and not by trying to discredit the activities of a flourishing literary community in another part of the country, and of individuals who put in an enormous amount of work on a completely voluntary basis to sustain it.
With very best wishes, Ranjit Hoskote
Secretary-Treasurer The PEN All-India Centre ------------------------------------------ 14) 25 sept 2008 He sent another mail on the same matter same day 25 sept 08
Dear Colleagues,
A brief post-script to my previous email; and once again, my apologies to those on this list who might regard exchanges on this topic as intrusions into their e-space.
This is just to set the record straight, since I am offended by Albert Ashok's claim (one he has made before) that the PEN All-India Centre did not respond to his letters and emails, until one was forwarded to us by International PEN.
I have just gone back over my correspondence, and find the very first reference to Albert Ashok in an email from Caroline McCormick, dated 1 July 2007 and forwarding an email written to her by him (in which, of course, he claims to have written to us over a ten-year period with no response). Since this was the first time we were hearing of him and his group, we were naturally interested to know more, and wrote to him at once.
With best wishes, Ranjit Hoskote
you have read earlier his Two mails in the beginning, his words do not match and contradicts himself, check it once again. It seems he loves to display lame excuses! ------------------------------------------- 15) 25 Sept 2008 I wrote to all:
On Thu, 25/9/08, pen kolkata wrote:
From: pen kolkata Subject: Please check a new post at http://penwestbengal.blogspot.com/
I have posted In search of the history : All INDIA PEN CENTER and edited a old posting about International PEN the history part http://penwestbengal.blogspot.com/ from various source Pen centers, It is my humble request to you please check it if anything I have mistaken. I look forward to hear from you . Thank you.
My best regards Albert Ashok ( member, campaign executive) ---------------------------------
I had seen a message on christian persecution in India on the website of International PEN, so I wrote: From: pen kolkata [mailto:penkolkata@yahoo.co.in] Sent: Mon 20/10/2008 06:24 To: Caroline McCormick; Cerian Eiles; Emily Bromfield; Frank Geary; Info - International PEN; Karen Efford; Mitchell Albert; Sara Whyatt Subject: Please include my name in the list
Dear All,
I have noticed that your news on attacks on Indian christian included a list of names , i think I am a member and working voluntarily for freedom of expression and human rights.
http://www.internationalpen.org.uk/go/news/distinguished-writers-condemn-continuing-attacks-on-christians Your inclusions of my name in the list is a recgnition of my personal efforts in this regard.
I take labour for my action that is I think priceless and bold ( i am from a very poor class so when I work for this global concern I have to lose my earnings a lot and my family has to suffer, i think in this respect my works is price less, I am fighting also to bring all friends in PEN West Bengal in harmony and proper knowledge within Charter of International PEN)
To verify my word click http://penwestbengal.blogspot.com/2008/09/in-search-of-history-all-indian-pen.html
--- On Mon, 20/10/08, Emily Bromfield wrote: From: Emily Bromfield Subject: RE: Please include my name in the list To: penkolkata@yahoo.co.in Date: Monday, 20 October, 2008, 7:09 PM Dear Albert Ashok,
It is good, as always, to hear from you. The statement was issued by the All India PEN Centre, so perhaps we can suggest you contact the Secretary to declare your interest in being added to the statement. International PEN cannot add your name directly as we support the initiative but we did not originate it. With best wishes,
Emily
Emily Bromfield Communications Director International PEN
________________________________
16) 23rd Oct 2008 I wrote again to Ranjit:
from Albert Ashok kolkata Thursday, 23 October, 2008 5:56 AM From:"pen kolkata"
To:ranjithoskote@yahoo.co.uk Dear Ranjit, I have seen a report on recent christian persecution at
http://www.internationalpen.org.uk/go/news/distinguished-writers-condemn-continuing-attacks-on-christians I came to know that you have sent it. I appreciate the timely action. In kolkata, all our executive members are slow for their age related problem, but i have my voice against this I would request you to view my blogs and your comments apart from this I personally want to involve with you in activities like Indian art and culture. I also would request you to enlist my name in your mail list when you do any action on behalf of Indian PEN. I would like to put your news in my penblog http://penwestbengal.blogspot.com/ http://cartoonin.blogspot.com/2008/10/shameful-beastly-acts-by-cowards-and.html http://www.cartoonin.blogspot.com/ give my regards to sampurna chatterjee and dauji gupta, I have read your works and sampurna's works. It gives me pleasure I wait for your reply Best regards
Albert Ashok Member All India PEN West Bengal
-------------------------------------- 17) 4th Nov 2008 I sent another remider:
From: "pen kolkata"
To: ranjithoskote@yahoo.co.uk Dear Ranjit, I am eagerly waiting for your kind response,are you still angry with me? the last mail I sent as follow: I have seen a report on recent christian persecution at http://www.internationalpen.org.uk/go/news/distinguished-writers-condemn-continuing-attacks-on-christians I came to know that you have sent it. I appreciate the timely action. In kolkata, all our executive members are slow for their age related problem, but i have my voice against this I would request you to view my blogs and your comments apart from this I personally want to involve with you in activities like Indian art and culture. I also would request you to enlist my name in your mail list when you do any action on behalf of Indian PEN. I would like to put your news in my penblog http://penwestbengal.blogspot.com/ http://cartoonin.blogspot.com/2008/10/shameful-beastly-acts-by-cowards-and.html http://www.cartoonin.blogspot.com/ give my regards to Sampurna Chatterjee and Dauji Gupta, I have read your works and sampurna's works. It gives me pleasure I wait for your reply Best regards
Albert Ashok Member All India PEN West Bengal
---------------------------------------- 18) 14 Nov 2008 blog review Friday, 14 November, 2008 5:04 PM From: "Caroline McCormick"
To: penkolkata@yahoo.co.in
Dear Albert, I’ve just taken a look and this is very helpful. Thank you for your good work. Best wishes, Caroline
Caroline McCormick Executive Director International PEN
From: pen kolkata [mailto:penkolkata@yahoo.co.in] Sent: 14 November 2008 11:20 To: Cerian Eiles; Emily Bromfield; Caroline McCormick Subject: blog review
Dear Sir/Madam,
Please, check the following blogs I have posted some news about you from your website or others.
I need your views. http://penreporter.blogspot.com/ http://penwestbengal.blogspot.com/ http://newsfreedomofexpression.blogspot.com/ http://freenewsfreespeech.blogspot.com/ www.cartoonin.blogspot.com
I am looking forward to hear from you, thank you.
Best regards
Albert Ashok http://mydiaryalbertashok.blogspot.com/ http://www.freedomtocreateprize.com/featuredartist_Albert_Ashok.asp
It is an expression of our anger and an appeal for maintaining peace, harmony and Indian integrity in face of terrorists' attack in Indian soil on 26 th Nov.08
" We condemn the indiscriminate violence that hit Mumbai, India, through a series of ugly and odious terrorists act.
We stand in solidarity with the families of unsung heroes, brave soldiers and security forces of India , who were courageously heading to protect Indians and foreign hostages in recent terrorists attack, in Mumbai.
We appeal to all INDIANS to stay calm,united and foil the evil designs of the terrorists whose main objectives are to spread violence, disintegration and hatred.
We urge the political parties not to exploit these terrorist acts for political purposes.We are alarmed over the sophistication and military level planning seen in these coordinated attacks and on the failure of the intelligence agencies in preventing such a huge and widespread attack.
We demand that the federal and state governments bring the perpetrators of these actions to justice swiftly."
The signatories include: ( writers, artists and prominent personalities)
co ordinated by : Sahitya Setu and Rainbow Artists and Writers Foundation
We shall appreciate if you publish the above matter through your media. Thank you
Best regards Albert Ashok On behalf of
All India PEN center. West Bengal
--------------------------------o------------------------------------- From my inbox and sent folder the following mails in 2009 speak : 1) 9th Feb. 2009 When terrorists attacked Mumbai we in West Bengal came out with an appeal: From: pen kolkata Date: Sat, 7 Feb 2009 09:51:54 +0530 (IST) To: Emily Bromfield; Subject: Indian PEN. West Bengal
Dear Emily and Caroline, With hope , soon we shall hear from International PEN, about a pending request and its status , that we sent on 18 dec. 2008, on the topics :
An expression of Our Anger and An Appeal from Writers Community In West Bengal
It is an expression of our anger and an appeal for maintaining peace, harmony and Indian integrity in face of terrorists' attack in Indian soil on 26 th Nov.08.
Please visit the link for more doc. http://penwestbengal.blogspot.com
" We condemn the indiscriminate violence that hit Mumbai , India , through a series of ugly and odious terrorists act.We stand in solidarity with the families of unsung heroes, brave soldiers and security forces of India , who were courageously heading to protect Indians and foreign hostages in recent terrorists attack, in Mumbai.
We appeal to all INDIANS to stay calm,united and foil the evil designs of the terrorists whose main objectives are to spread violence, disintegration and hatred.
We urge the political parties not to exploit these terrorist acts for political purposes.We are alarmed over the sophistication and military level planning seen in these coordinated attacks and on the failure of the intelligence agencies in preventing such a huge and widespread attack.
We demand that the federal and state governments bring the perpetrators of these actions to justice swiftly."
PEN. All India center, West Bengal Tamer lane, Kolkata , India - 700028
The signatories include: ( writers, artists and prominent personalities) Signs are collected from all over West Bengal . Co ordinators : Sahitya Setu and Rainbow Artists and Writers Foundation
About 500 Intellectuals from different communities like religious, social and political: Writer ( mostly Editor, Poets , Novelists and Essayist) Film Maker, Singer, University Professors , Stage Actor have signed on this appeal of/to solidarity . Its a great bond of Brotherhood in face of abominable, heinous terrorists conspiracy and attacks from foreign and neighbouring soil. We are ready to weed out any fanaticism, communalism and conspiracy to save the lives of Indian and integrity of Indian Soil.
Treat this as a humble request from West Bengal PEN in solidarity with writers association of International PEN. Best Regards Albert Ashok , On behalf of All India PEN, West Bengal ,
International PEN respoded : RE: Indian PEN. West Bengal Monday, 9 February, 2009 6:16 PM From: "Frank Geary" View contact details To: penkolkata@yahoo.co.in Cc: "All-India PEN Centre Secretary Ranjit Hoskote (E-mail)" Dear Albert Ashok, Thank you for your email. If this is a statement on behalf of the All India PEN Centre, please liaise with the All India PEN Centre Executive Committee, and send us an agreed statement on behalf of the whole PEN Centre. I am copying thsi email to Ranjit Hoskote, Secretary of the All-India PEN Centre. I should also remind you that the name of 'PEN' or 'PEN Centre' cannot be used without the approval of the International PEN Assembly of Delegates. If you are a designated chapter of the All India PEN Centre, I suggest you refer to yourselves as the West Bengal Chapter of All India PEN Centre or a similar title. Each Centre agrees the role of its chapters. If you have such an agreement, please let us know. With best wishes, Frank Geary
Frank Geary International Programmes Director International PEN
But Ranjit did not respond , he says he is receptive and collaborative, his word does not match his action, Its Fact.
-------------------------------------- 2) 12th May 2009 A reminder Tuesday, 12 May, 2009 8:10 PM From:"pen kolkata"
To: executivedirector@internationalpen.org.uk From Kolkata, India. Dear executive director, We, on behalf of West Bengal, India, sent you a mail on last February. regarding opening an indipendent center in kolkata West Bengal, India. We sent mail to Mr Ranjit Hoskote , the general secretary in Mumbai. But we are sad to tell you that neither you nor Mr Ranjit Hoskote had replied. We feel let down. and we are determined to seek what we deserve. I dont know is it the way or an expression from writers organisation like International PEN. We have still hope and believe we shall have an answer from International pen and others organisation. Thanking you Albert Ashok
To: "Frank Geary" Cc: executivedirector@internationalpen.org.uk, info@internationalpen.org.uk
To Frank Geary International Programmes Director International PEN Brownlow House 50 / 51 High Holborn LONDON WC1V 6ER Tel: +44 207 4050338 Fax: +44 207 4050339
Dear Frank Geary,
Once again, we request you and all in International PEN that we sent mails to you regarding opening a new PEN center in Kolkata for Eastern India, for we are refused and barred joining All India PEN center in Mumbai, and its impossible also to keep contact with people who do not like bengal living 2000 KM afar . It is sad that International PEN strangely silent over this dispute
If you dont like to answer our querries and dispute International PEN should clearly say its decision and we shall not spend our time writing you and all. it saves your time and our time
I hope this time we shall have an answer
with best regards Albert Ashok
On behalf of All India PEN, West Bengal ,
165, R N Guha Road Kolkata -700028, India .
Phone +9133 2560 0070
http://www.penwestbengal.blogspot.com/
we are bringing this grievances to the world communities
http://penwestbengal.blogspot.com/2009/04/grievance-against-all-india-pen-center.html ------------------------------------------- 4) 11 th June 2009 we continued our best efforts to keep a contact with Mumbai
To: ranjithoskote@yahoo.co.uk Message contains attachments 1 File (38KB)
* ranjit.docranjit.doc
Dear Ranjit
We are going to publish a quarterly journal 'Pen WestBengal Review', the first issue we are bringing out in this month of June, as our president Mr Sunil Gangopadhya will not be in India for a couple of months. The content of journal journal are as follow, special feature (articles on a PEN member in India, life and works) poem , stories and essays and little news from pen centers world wide including local updates and activities.
This present issue will focus two important personalities , one is on Sunil Gangopadhya as president of west Bengal PEN and another will be on you as hon. Secretary and treasurer. I have collected materials on you from different sources in internet. I am afraid they might be wrong so I am sending it to you , please find the attachment and read the materials whether they are correct and send it back , if you have any suggestion you can put in your mail. We need also your phone number and residential address.
With best regards Albert Ashok 9133 2529 9371 Excutive member (PEN west Bengal) Editor : Pen West Bengal Review
---------------------------------------------------- 5) 17 th June 2009 reminder Wednesday, 17 June, 2009 9:54 AM From:"pen kolkata"
To:ranjithoskote@yahoo.co.uk
dear Ranjit,
Earlier I sent you a mail, and that was very important to us. Again, I remind you that our news buletin needs your co operation pls. send your opinion about your biodata that is due to go to press. regards albert ----------------------------------------- 6) 22nd June 2009
I was desperate by the deplorable situation and very disappointed, I sent my views to many :
From: pen kolkata [mailto:penkolkata@yahoo.co.in] Sent: 21 June 2009 11:22 To: Emily Bromfield; Caroline McCormick; Frank Geary; Info - International PEN; Mitchell Albert Cc: alice@englishpen.org; andrea@englishpen.org; editor@ibnlive.com; editorial@newstatesman.co.uk; enquiries@englishpen.org; faridah@dhaka.net; feedback@ndtv.com; ftw@pen.org; ifex@ifex.org; india.pen@gmail.com; info@24ghantas.com; info@article19.org; jonathan@englishpen.org; letters@dailymail.co.uk; mailbag@worldmag.com; nabaneeta@nabaneetadevsen.com; natasha@article19.org; oliver@article19.org; PEN-Germany@t-online.de; pen@pen.org; PI Subscribers; ranjithoskote@yahoo.co.uk; rita dahl; sampurna_c@yahoo.co.uk; Sara Whyatt; sarah@englishpen.org; Sonnet MondalSec. General United Minds For Peace Society; starananda@starnews.co.in; taslima.nasrin@gmail.com; thestatesman@vsnl.com; thestatesman@vsnl.net; ttedit@abpmail.com Subject: Pen West Bengal review-- a quarterly bulletin is been published
Dear all,
I have noticed that you people are not responding my emails. Its your duty and of the chair you hold whether you would answer a mail or not. I hope a writers community never behave like this. anyway our duty is to inform and keep a connection and inform all.
A good news from All-India PEN, West Bengal Chapter, We have published a quarterly news bulletin ‘ The PEN West Bengal Review’ on 20 June 2009. Our executive body has decided in its last meeting on last 4th June to publish and continue a news bulletin. We are sending it to various media and organization and interested readers and writers can print it from our blog.
Albert Ashok Executive member , PEN All-India center, West Bengal Chapter Editor : The PEN WestBengal Review
165,R N Guha Road , Kolkata 700028
Phone (9133) 2529 9371
And Caroline responded: RE: Pen West Bengal review-- a quarterly bulletin is been published Monday, 22 June, 2009 5:36 PM From: "Caroline McCormick"
To: "pen kolkata" , "Emily Bromfield" , "Frank Geary" , "Info - International PEN" , "Mitchell Albert" ... more Cc: alice@englishpen.org, andrea@englishpen.org, editor@ibnlive.com, editorial@newstatesman.co.uk, enquiries@englishpen.org, faridah@dhaka.net, feedback@ndtv.com, ftw@pen.org, ifex@ifex.org, india.pen@gmail.com, info@24ghantas.com, info@article19.org, jonathan@englishpen.org, letters@dailymail.co.uk, mailbag@worldmag.com, nabaneeta@nabaneetadevsen.com, natasha@article19.org, oliver@article19.org, PEN-Germany@t-online.de, pen@pen.org, "PI Subscribers" , ranjithoskote@yahoo.co.uk, "rita dahl" , sampurna_c@yahoo.co.uk, "Sara Whyatt" , sarah@englishpen.org, "Sonnet MondalSec. General United Minds For Peace Society" , starananda@starnews.co.in, taslima.nasrin@gmail.com, thestatesman@vsnl.com, thestatesman@vsnl.net, ttedit@abpmail.com... more
Dear Albert,
Thank you for your message. I do try and look at as many of your blogs and documents which you send through as I can and have sent through messages of support when I have had chance to do so. However, with 144 PEN Centres in 102 countries, I’m afraid I simply can’t read and comment on everyone’s work. That doesn’t lessen my appreciation of it.
With regard to the ongoing tension between yourself and the office of All India PEN Centre, I will state again that International PEN does not involve itself in the internal dispute. I would like to urge you both to enter into open dialogue about these problems. I will write to Ranjit with the same message and look forward to hearing from you both as to your progress.
My best wishes,
Caroline
Caroline McCormick Executive Director International PEN
Caroline again tried her best to dissolve the disput
FW: Pen West Bengal review-- a quarterly bulletin is been published Monday, June 22, 2009 5:39 PM From: "Caroline McCormick"
To: ranjithoskote@yahoo.co.uk Cc: albertashok@yahoo.com Dear Ranjit,
As I have said several times to Albert, International PEN does not involve itself in internal disputes; however we do expect every effort to be made to address them when they arise.
I would like to strongly urge you both again to enter into open dialogue as to how you can work and move forwards together. I will wait to hear from you both as to how things are progressing.
My best wishes,
Caroline Caroline McCormick Executive Director International PEN
------------------------------------ 7) 22 nd June 2009 Thanks to International PEN Monday, 22 June, 2009 6:36 PM From:"pen kolkata"
To:"Caroline McCormick" Dear Caroline, Thanks for your reply, we have due respect to each and everyone working in International PEN. Thank you Best wishes Albert Ashok I thanked Caroline for her support ----------------------------------------- 8) 22nd June 2009 and again Taslima Nasreen appears in this scene, as her nature to damage an unity:
"Taslima Nasrin" View contact details To: "Caroline McCormick" Cc: "pen kolkata" , "Emily Bromfield" , "Frank Geary" , "Info - International PEN" , "Mitchell Albert" , alice@englishpen.org, andrea@englishpen.org, editor@ibnlive.com, editorial@newstatesman.co.uk, enquiries@englishpen.org, faridah@dhaka.net, feedback@ndtv.com, ftw@pen.org, ifex@ifex.org, india.pen@gmail.com, info@24ghantas.com, info@article19.org, jonathan@englishpen.org, letters@dailymail.co.uk, mailbag@worldmag.com, nabaneeta@nabaneetadevsen.com, natasha@article19.org, oliver@article19.org, PEN-Germany@t-online.de, pen@pen.org, "PI Subscribers" , ranjithoskote@yahoo.co.uk, "rita dahl" , sampurna_c@yahoo.co.uk, "Sara Whyatt" , sarah@englishpen.org, "Sonnet MondalSec. General United Minds For Peace Society" , starananda@starnews.co.in, thestatesman@vsnl.com, thestatesman@vsnl.net, ttedit@abpmail.com... more Hi Caroline ! I just cant resist myself to inform you that during my stay in Kolkata, (West Bengal, India) the government of West Bengal banned my book called 'Dwikhandito', a several fatwa was issued against me by the Muslim fundamentalists, they set price on my head, i was physically attacked by the fanatics, I was forced to live under house arrest by the the government, after a violent protest against my stay in Kolkata I was bundled out of Kolkata which was my home for 4 years( 2004-2007), I was again forced to live in solitary confinement in Delhi, and finally I was thrown out of India by the Indian government. A writer, because of her writings, and because of her views that are different than the extremists has been banished, banned and blacklisted in the ''largest democracy'', and PEN kolkata did not do anything to protest against the fatwas, or attacks or harassment. I don't think PEN is at all a known organisation in Kolkata. I am now having a nomadic existence in the West, living out of a suitcase. My home is still in Kolkata, and I am not allowed to return to my home. I hope you will try to find some efficient writers to be involved in PEN kolkata who can support the persecuted writers. Best, Taslima
it is because I wanted to help her. Ungrateful woman! ---------------------------------- 9) 8th July 2009 I wrote back Taslima and become concious of her intentional ill will and determined to expose her nature otherwise she may cause havoc to the people who wanted to help her: Taslima, we have a reply in our blog Wednesday, 8 July, 2009 3:05 PM From: "pen kolkata" Add sender to Contacts To: taslima.nasrin@gmail.com Cc: executivedirector@internationalpen.org.uk Dear Taslima, Your letter to executive director of International PEN is a work of irresponsible writer. it gave us , the volunteers of PEN center , a deep wound and unending pain. we have posted the whole episode in our blog http://penwestbengal.blogspot.com/2009/07/other-side-of-taslima.html Let the whole world know what offence we have done, we are posting a comprehensive matter on your life up-to-date with in a few weeks. so that everyone can read you and defend you properly atleast in Bengal without border. My best wishes Albert Ashok Executive member , PEN All-India center, West Bengal Chapter Editor : The PEN WestBengal Review
------------------------------- 10) 9 th July 2009 From: "pen kolkata"
To: executivedirector@internationalpen.org.uk Dear Caroline, After a long struggle I am succeeding to renovate the old structure of West Bengal PEN of all India PEN center. I made and got all my friends ( members of PEN) acquainted with International PEN, the charter, aim and all vital information literally in our meeting and through PEN News Journal. I have uplifted the spirit and gave a speed and action to this organisation. The credit goes to International PEN and its numerous centers where I regularly visited and collected information. Thanks to Internet and my perseverance and patience. May be as people say I am very much aggressive and fast in nature. I think I am doing what it requires to put things straight. I thank you especially because most of my mails you replied, and it encouraged me to devote my time with this writers organization, many from different countries also helped me in many ways. I appreciate also their cooperation. This time I have a request to you, can you send me any message/ matter on behalf of International PEN for publication in our next issue ( OCT. 2009 The PEN West Bengal Review, http://penwestbengal.blogspot.com/2009/06/pen-westbengal-review.html ). Actually, I put importance on your writing to publicize International PEN and bringing more writers in this organization. Your cooperation will be very much appreciated. Thank you My best regards Albert Ashok Editor The PEN West Bengal Review http://www.penreporter.blogspot.com/ . http://www.penwestbengal.blogspot.com/
-------------------------------------- 11) 14th July 2009 ----------------------------------------- 12) 8th Sept. 2009 International PEN Monday, September 7, 2009 10:18 PM From: "Caroline McCormick"
To:albertashok@yahoo.com
Dear Albert,
I understand that you have recently been referring to the West Bengal PEN Centre of International PEN in your blog and in other documents. I must highlight to you that there is no West Bengal PEN Centre. In order to use the name of PEN you need the permission of the Assembly of Delegates of International PEN. I would be happy to direct you as to how to work with us on developing a PEN Centre, but until accepted by the Assembly you cannot use the name of PEN. I must remind you that the name is copy-writed.
Yours, Caroline
Caroline McCormick Executive Director International PEN
I replied: -------------------------------- 13) 8 th Sept. 2009
Re: International PEN Tuesday, September 8, 2009 5:11 PM From: "aibert ashok"
To:"Caroline McCormick"
Dear Caroline,
We ( from West Bengal) never ever claimed West Bengal is a PEN center, it is a chapter of All India PEN center. In our newly journal we mentioned it as a chapter organisation of All India PEN Center. Where you have got this particular phrase 'the West Bengal PEN Centre of International PEN'' , I think you have mistaken.Its not true. Yes, my blog's address is 'http://penwestbengal.blogspot.com.it is just a name to indicate the blog about PEN and this blog does not represent our organisation,
I feel a zeal to work for PEN, so all PEN news around the globe, whatever I collect and think suitable to post I do. You check them all posts are of about PEN. If you say I should stop, I shall stop. In my blog, I post also local news, it does not neccessarily indicate its a PEN center. several times I mentioned its a chapter organisation.
Your last request to West Bengal and to Mr. Ranjit Hoskote, Mumbai did not bring a solution. we are sorry, Mr. Ranjit Hoskote does not think to reply us. I donot think this is the way a responsible secretary of a pen center treats with a fellow writers, members. In my blog you will notice the long involvement of westbengal writers, they held important position in the very center of Mumbai.
We want a center of our own, Guide us what to do?
I am waiting to hear your reply
My best wishes
Albert Ashok executive West Bengal chapter of all India PEN Center
--------------------------------------- 14) 8th Sept. 2009 Being diappointed on Executive director I wrote to International PEN, to Emily Bromfield the same request:
membership from India Tuesday, September 8, 2009 5:56 PM From:"aibert ashok"
To:emily.bromfield@internationalpen.org.uk
Dear Emily,
I want to become a PEN member of International PEN, I am also an executive of westbengal chapter of all India PEN center of International PEN.
Mr Ranjit Hoskote, the secretary of All-India PEN Center has stopped communicating with us. Executive director of International PEN, Caroline is aware of this.
I would request you to help me find solution:
1) I as an individual want to become a member of ‘International PEN’
2) The writers group in west Bengal want an independent center of International PEN
We shall not go anymore to Mr. Ranjit Hoskote, The Mumbai center is 2000km away, its impossible to contact the center, guide us what to be done.
I look forward to hear from you soon. Thank you
Yours
Albert Ashok
------------------------------ 15) 15 th Sept. 2009 Again on 15 Sept, Caroline sent us message: FW: membership from India Tuesday, September 15, 2009 6:08 PM From: "Caroline McCormick"
I believe that International PEN has made its position on this matter extremely clear; we expect communication to take place and a resolution to this matter to be found.
It is in the spirit of PEN to work in co-operation and harmony and the Board expects to see this reflected in the behaviour of both parties in this matter.
I expect to see efforts towards communication from both sides and a joint report on this issue in due course.
Yours, Caroline
Caroline McCormick Executive Director International PEN
------------------------------------- 16) 16 th Sept. 2009 I replied Caroline and Ranjit:
membership from India Wednesday, September 16, 2009 10:50 PM From: "Albert Ashok"
This is second time that both you and me have received a second mail from International PEN secretariat concerning our problems and dispute.
Earlier, I had sent you mails, but you still keep mum. We writers in West Bengal do not expect such behaviour from a secretary of All India PEN center. We hope writers in PEN work with cooperation and harmony. But it is missing from your behaviour and for decades, we are tolerating and keeping silence. If you can not maintain the liabilities and unable to do the duties of a PEN center you confess it and help us create a new PEN independent center. We understand no one can take notice from 2000 Km away. Nor we could see people in Mumbai from Kolkata. It is impossible. The two states differ each other in many ways. Language, lifestyle, economy etc. But our faith is we can maintain co operation and harmony.
Please, consider we need our own community growth, we need to take care of ourselves, we cannot depend on a center which is 2000 KM away for any approval of activities. We had been left abandoned, detached for decades; we do not expect it again in future. Our group is growing day by day. So, we need our own center. Please, forward this appeal to International PEN secretariat. and do cooperate us. Thank you.
With best regards
Albert Ashok ----------------------------------------- 17) 4 th Oct. 2009 http://penwestbengal.blogspot.com/2009/10/have-look-inside-p-e-n-india.html ----------------------------- 18) 4 th Oct. 2009 Now I hope this exposition of documents will unfold the truth about Ranjit's claim and his good intention of collaborative, receptive spirit of Mumbai center. ------------------------------------------- I want these documents and the relating story of Indian PEN will touch my brothers and sisters in PEN community, the great writers association.
I would love to hear from the readers about this matter. Thank you
Here is an art event if you could send out to your networks?
Please, support!
This is a wake up call to all our Pacifika brothers and sisters. This is the reality of the contemporary pacific and climate change. We need awareness now.
Jane Camens Asia-Pacific Writing Partnership PRESS RELEASE 6 October, 2009 WRITING ACROSS CULTURES Bringing some of the world's top creative writing programs to Asia
Writers teaching in some of the world's top Creative Writing programs will talk about how they mentor students and important aspects of craft at 'Writing Across Cultures' in Hong Kong, 9-11 March 2010.
'Writing Across Cultures' is a two-day event for students and teachers of creative writing in Asia, organised by The University of Adelaide based Asia-Pacific Writing Partnership and The English Department of The City University of Hong Kong, in conjunction with the Man Hong Kong International Literary Festival.
Instead of academic papers, 'provocateurs' will talk for four or five minutes about aspects of craft and teaching writing then open the discussion to the audience. A roundtable on the first day will focus on teaching creative writing in the academy. The next day will focus on teaching creative writing in English in Asia.
'Not many countries in the region offer creative writing at university level,' said the Asia-Pacific Writing Partnership's founding director, Jane Camens. 'I know of a number of excellent emerging writers who have left Asia to study creative writing abroad, generally in the United States or UK. Few know about the excellent programs on Asia's doorstep in Australia.'
'Writing Across Cultures' will feature representatives from top writing programs in Australia, the United States, Britain and the region. They include:
* Robin Hemley from the Iowa Writers Workshop, University of Iowa, * Andrew Cowan, Director of the MA in Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia, * Brian Castro, Chair of the Creative Writing Program at the University of Adelaide (home of the Asia-Pacific Writing Partnership), * Marilyn Chin, who teaches Creative Writing in the Master of Fine Arts program at San Diego State University. * Catherine Cole, Chair of Creative Writing at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University (RMIT), * Kim Cheng Boey who teaches Creative Writing at the University of Newcastle, * Jose Dalisay, Director of the Institute of Creative Writing at the University of the Philippines, * Dai Fan, Chair of English at Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou (China), who teaches creative non fiction in China.
The Asia-Pacific Writing Partnership's first event was held in India in October 2008. It strives to hold events throughout the region in conjunction with local universities and writers organisations and bring to those events its international network of writing talent.
The Partnership is based within the Creative Writing Program of the University of Adelaide under the auspices of distinguished Australian writer Professor Brian Castro. Its founding director Jane Camens also founded the Hong Kong International Literary Festival with writers Nury Vittachi and Shirley Geok-lin Lim.
For the full program and registration details see http://apwriters.org/wac/
Media Contacts:
Jane Camens (APWN Founding Director) jane.camens@apwriters.com In Australia: tel +(61) 2 66804906
Xu Xi (APWN Chair) xuxi@xuxiwriter.com (schedule USA to Oct 14 . Hong Kong to Nov 10 . New Zealand to Nov 29 . Hong Kong to Dec 9 tel USA (1) 917.494.5071 . HK (852) 2559.4944 or 9175.2839/cell . New Zealand (64) 3.465.8486)
Issued by the Asia-Pacific Writing Partnership www.apwriters.com
With Matthew Alexander, Paul Auster, Don DeLillo, Eve Ensler, Jenny Holzer, Jack Rice, Amrit Singh, and Art Spiegelman
When: Tuesday, October 13 Where: The Great Hall at Cooper Union, 7 East 7th St., NYC What time: 7 p.m.
Tickets: $15/$10 for PEN/ACLU Members and students with valid ID at www.smarttix.com. Tickets may also be purchased at the door.
On Tuesday, October 13, at 7 p.m. in Cooper Union’s Great Hall, PEN will join forces with the ACLU for one of the most important events of our fall calendar to call attention to acts of torture and abuse carried out by the United States since 9/11. At a time when the world’s eyes are on America and the Obama administration has taken important steps toward addressing the mistreatment of prisoners over the past eight years, authors Paul Auster, Don DeLillo, Eve Ensler, and Art Spiegelman will take the stage with Matthew Alexander (former U.S. interrogator and author of How to Break a Terrorist), Jack Rice (former CIA case officer), and Amrit Singh (staff attorney for the ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project). They will read from recently released secret documents that have brought these abuses to light—memos, declassified communications, and testimonies by detainees. The event will also feature a special presentation by visual artist Jenny Holzer! .
Since 2003, the ACLU—the nation’s foremost advocate for human rights and civil liberties—has been instrumental in securing and making public documents regarding the government’s treatment of prisoners in American custody and in U.S. ‘black sites’. Both PEN and the ACLU believe writers have a crucial role to play in examining crimes committed in the name of their country and in helping the nation face, understand, and reckon with these terrible acts. Writers around the world have been active not only in exposing such crimes but also winning accountability for such abuses.
Join us as writers and artists take center stage to make a significant step together in the long process of national reflection and reconciliation.
PEN American Center 588 Broadway, Suite 303 New York, NY 10012 Tel. (212) 334-1660 Fax. (212) 334-2181 www.pen.org
The PEN/Beyond Margins Award celebrates outstanding books by writers of color published in the United States during the previous year. The 2009 winners are Uwem Akpan for Say You're One of Them, Juan Felipe Herrera for Half of the World in Light: New and Selected Poems, and Lily Hoang for Changing.
PEN American Center is now accepting submissions and nominations for the 2010 Literary Awards. PEN’s awards program is the most comprehensive and prestigious in the nation, honoring achievements in fiction, nonfiction, poetry, translation, playwriting, and editing. For a complete list of awards and submission guidelines, visit www.pen.org/awards. ADVOCACY NEWS
Imprisoned Writers Released
PEN welcomes the release of journalist Sayed Parwez Kambakhsh, who had originally been sentenced to death for blasphemy in Afghanistan, and Ilham Tohti, a member of the Uighur PEN Center who was detained in Beijing during the unrest in Xinjiang Province. >> More
PEN Goes to Washington
Next week, PEN American Center will be on Capitol Hill pressing two of PEN’s top agenda items. Representatives of PEN American Center and the Independent Chinese PEN Center will visit House members to enlist support for a resolution calling for the release of our colleague Liu Xiaobo in China. We will also join our partners in the Campaign for Reader Privacy for meetings with senators and representatives to press for the full restoration of protections for bookstore and library records.
Stop by the PEN booth to meet PEN Members and staff, learn how you can get involved with PEN's mission to defend free expression in the U.S. and abroad, and check out the live recording of PEN podcast conversations. At 1:00 p.m., on the International Stage, PEN will team up with Tin House to present Rasskazy: New Fiction from a New Russia, with Dale Peck, Francine Prose, Anya Ulinich, Vadim Yarmolinets, Emily Gould, and Dmitry Danilov. >>More
PEN American Center joins forces with American Civil Liberties Union to contront the acts of torture and abuse carried out on by the United States government since 9/11. Paul Auster, Don DeLillo, and Art Spiegelman take the stage with Matthew Alexander (former U.S. interrogator and author of How to Break a Terrorist) and Amrit Singh (staff attorney at the ACLU's Immigrants' Rights Project) to read from the recently-released secret documents that have brought these abuses to light and to reflect on how we can move forward as a nation.>> More
Mexico: One year one, silence surrounds murder of anthropologist
Published: July 30, 2009
English PEN is seriously concerned about the apparent lack of progress in the investigation into the murder of the anthropologist, author and indigenous rights activist Miguel Ángel Gutiérrez Ávila, who was beaten to death in Guerrero state on 25/26 July 2008. A year on, there has been silence from the Mexican authorities on the subject of the investigation and the crime would appear to remain unsolved.
The Chair of International PEN's WiPC, Dr Karin Clark, has sent the following letter to the Mexican Embassy in London:
Mr. Juan José Bremer, Ambassador Mexican Embassy 16 George Street London W1S 1LX Tel: 020 7499 8586 Fax: 020 7907 9483
28 July 2009
Re: Investigation into the murder of anthropologist, author and activist Miguel Ángel Gutiérrez Ávila
Your Excellency,
I am writing to you as Chair of the Writers in Prison Committee (WiPC) of International PEN, the global writers' association with 144 centres in 102 countries, to express serious concern about the apparent lack of progress in the investigation into the murder of the anthropologist, author and indigenous rights activist Miguel Ángel Gutiérrez Ávila, who was beaten to death in Guerrero state on 25/26 July 2008. A year on, there has been silence from the Mexican authorities on the subject of the investigation and the crime would appear to remain unsolved.
Gutiérrez, anthropologist, linguist, author of a number of books on the indigenous people of Guerrero state and activist for the rights of the Amuzgo people, was killed late on 25 July 2008 or the early hours of 26 July 2008 while driving towards the capital of Guerrero, Chilpancingo de los Bravo. His body was found covered in bruises and cuts by the side of the Acapulco-Pinotepa highway near La Caridad community in the municipality of San Marcos, Guerrero, on the morning of 26 July 2008. Although initial police reports suggested that Gutiérrez died as the result of a car accident, it was later thought that he was beaten to death. According to his family, the vehicle in which Gutiérrez was travelling was untouched and only his filming equipment had been stolen.
A few days before his death, between 23 and 25 July 2008, Gutiérrez had visited the Suljaa' and Cozoyoapan communities in Costa Chica, Guerrero, in connection with a documentary film he was making on indigenous cultures and traditions. Gutiérrez had been carrying out research into the indigenous people of southern Guerrero for more than 20 years, particularly in Costa Chica, and had been involved in various cultural projects there, including the community radio station Radio Ñomndaa and the establishment of the first Amuzgo community library. During his last visit to the area, Gutiérrez documented alleged human rights violations on the part of the authorities against the staff of Radio Ñomndaa/ La Palabra del Agua (The Word of the Water), including an interview with one of the station's founders, which he reportedly intended to include in his documentary.
According to local press reports at the time of Gutiérrez' death, one lead pointed to the involvement of Aceadeth Rocha Ramírez, mayor of Xochistlahuaca municipality in Costa Chica. Rocha is allegedly one of a number of local political leaders opposed to indigenous movements and Radio Ñomndaa. Another lead reportedly suggested that Gutiérrez may have angered the authorities by filming members of the Federal Investigations Agency (Agencia Federal de Investigación, AFI) while they were conducting a raid on the radio station.
In August last year, the WiPC wrote to the Guerrero state and federal authorities asking them to ensure that a full and impartial investigation into Gutiérrez' murder was carried out and that those responsible were brought to justice. However, a year after the killing, there has been no response from the authorities; nor have we received any reports on the progress of the investigation from other sources. Our understanding is that the crime remains unsolved.
This is particularly worrying given that Gutiérrez is just one of 24 writers murdered in Mexico between 2004 and today, the majority of them print journalists. Four more print journalists have disappeared in the same period. It is our understanding that few if any of these crimes have been properly investigated or punished. Given this bleak panorama, we are understandably concerned that Gutiérrez' murder should not meet with the same impunity.
The WiPC respectfully requests assurances that a full and impartial investigation into the murder of Miguel Ángel Gutiérrez Ávila is being carried out, and for details of any progress in the investigation to date.
I thank you in advance for your attention and assistance in this matter and look forward to your response. I or another representative of PEN would be delighted to meet with you to discuss our concerns in person.
Please feel free to contact the WiPC's Americas researcher, Tamsin Mitchell, at the above address or at tamsin.mitchell@internationalpen.org.uk should you require any further information.
Yours sincerely,
Dr Karin Clark Chair, Writers in Prison Committee, International PEN
Copies to: • Lic. Eduardo Medina-Mora Icaza, Attorney General • Emb. Patricia Espinosa Cantellano, Minister of Foreign Affairs • Lic. Zeferino Torreblanca Galindo, Governor of Guerrero State • Lic. Eduardo Murueta Urrutia, Attorney General of Guerrero State
TAKE ACTION
PEN members and other interested parties are invited to do at least one of the following in the month following the first anniversary of Miguel Ángel Gutiérrez Ávila's death (25/26 July):
Send appeal letters:
Send similarly worded appeals to the Mexican authorities, asking for assurances that a full and impartial investigation into the murder of Miguel Ángel Gutiérrez Ávila is being carried out, and for details of any progress in the investigation to date. You may wish to use the letter above as a guide for your appeals.
Please send your appeals to the Mexican Attorney General, Eduardo Medina-Mora Icaza, via your nearest Mexican Embassy (Salutation: Dear Attorney General). For a list of some Mexican embassies, see: http://www.sre.gob.mx/acerca/directorio/embajadas/dirembajadas.htm
Write letters and articles:
You may also wish to use the first anniversary of Miguel Ángel Gutiérrez Ávila's death as an opportunity to send letters to your national press and/ or publish articles highlighting his murder and unsolved journalist murders and disappearances in Mexico (for more information, including case summaries and photos, click here).
I had posted the same earlier a few days ago, this is an updated and added version. some of my friends, Sadananda Singha and his companions ( BHASA SAHITYA) went to see the poet and editor Sweta in Hospital AND THEY HAVE DONATED HER Rs. 5000/:
( sweta has written a poem, posted below, lying in her hospital bed)
GOLDEN EYE //Sweta Bhattacharjee
The eyes are the mirror, The eyes are the mind, I peeped those in a maestro evening I peeped those in spring I, however peeped those In string at night.
The eyes are some special, The eyes are so nice, So sensuous like a dream --- I saw my dreamy then.
I fall in love— Where fingers are playing ---- Oh lord, I just know the beats. I just want a beat --- The beauty with a gold I’d seen within him.
A dark dew as shown, As depth of the sea --- I picked some conch shells Some pebbles and pearls there--- Only try …… only a try … To reach in his heart, To sink in his eyes.
I call those Golden eye— The eyes of my heart The eyes of m"
The girl in the picture is an editor of a little magazine, the name of the magazine is 'NEER'. She used to bring out the issues of the magazine with her peers/ friends, with a heart filled dream. Her overflowing excitement would fill the ground/ compound of the bookfare. Last January, she was diagnosed, her tummy ache is indicated as Cancer, Doctors consultation and advice had taken her at Vellore. After spending two lakh rupees on her treatment she was not cured. Her name is Sweta Bhattacharya, a fatherless, she is now at G B Hospital under treatment. Beside her bed, Nelly Bhattacharya, a poet- companion and co-writer of her book of poetry 'PRATIBIMBA ( mirrored shadow)'.
Her mother is helpless, a destitute and resourceless. Sweta needs chemotherapy, she needs financial assistance, we want to help her in this dire crisis keeping hand in hand. Friends, extend your hand, it is your generous cooperation that can save a brighter life. Let us try today our best.
your help should reach at:
'Aajker Fariad' Gandhighat, Agartala West Tripura Pin - 799001 India
Posted by Albert Ashok for any comment about this blog and any report posted here write : respectable2008@live.com
£23-25,000, full time, 9-month contract, central London
English PEN is the founding centre of an international writers' association, working to promote literature and freedom of speech. Our Readers & Writers programme takes this mission into communities across England where the power of literature can help to transform lives. Readers & Writers works in schools, prisons and community groups to introduce beneficiaries to great contemporary writers of all backgrounds; to build their confidence as readers; and to develop their skills as creative writers. Thanks to a major new grant, we are expanding our work with refugee and migrant groups. We are seeking an exceptional literature education specialist to lead this new project, whilst continuing to serve our existing beneficiaries in schools and prisons. The successful candidate will join a small, hardworking team, based at the new Free Word Centre in London's Clerkenwell, and will appoint and manage a number of freelance creative writing tutors.
Position
The Readers & Writers Programme Manager will lead on English PEN's educational work in schools, prisons and community groups. He or she will report directly to the Director of English PEN, and will be supported by the Readers & Writers Committee.
Responsibilities The Readers & Writers Programme Manager will have the following responsibilities:
• Developing and implementing an outstanding programme of creative writing workshops with refugee and migrant groups in London, launching in autumn 2009. • Overseeing and developing a continuing programme of creative writing workshops in prisons and young offenders' centres. • Collecting and collating monitoring and evaluation data in a format agreed with funders. • Appointing and managing freelance creative writing tutors. • Recruiting professional writers to participate in creative writing workshops. • Liaising with site coordinators and authors to set up workshops well in advance. • Ordering all books for the programme from the publishers and ensuring their safe arrival at the sites. • Attending and reporting on various site visits, in London and across England - on rare occasions an overnight stay might be involved. • Ensuring that sites and partners give feedback on the event as required and synthesising this feedback into overall evaluation documents. • Planning and implementing celebratory events featuring readings of new work by participants in creative writing workshops. • Overseeing the publication of 'chapbooks' of beneficiaries' work. • Performing other administrative tasks such as organising and preparing minutes for meetings of the Readers & Writers Committee; ensuring that invoices are paid and recorded; keeping the programme files in order. • Supporting the fundraising work of the Director towards the development of the Readers & Writers programme, including supplying information for funding applications, meeting funders, and including funders in workshops where appropriate. • Promoting and communicating the aims and activities of the programme to potential new sites, writers, donors and other partners. • Developing Readers & Writers activities and policy in consultation with the Director and the Chair of the Readers & Writers Committee. • Ensuring that the Director and Board are well informed as to the work of the Readers & Writers programme. • Producing regular reports for internal and external communications.
Experience and skills The successful candidate will ideally have relevant experience in literature development or other arts education work in the voluntary or public sector. They will be:
• Passionate about literature; • Passionate about working with disadvantaged groups; • Interested in other cultures; • Eager to develop new writing from unheard voices; • Enthusiastic about promoting new writing; • A great communicator, both in writing and verbally; • An experienced educator, in a formal or informal setting; • Calm and professional under pressure; • Able to capture, process and evaluate data relating to the programme; • Able to work as part of a team and with a range of partners; • Flexible and extremely well organised; • Keenly interested in English PEN's wider work for literature and free speech.
To apply: Please send a cover letter (with ref: Readers & Writers in the subject line) and your CV to Amy Oliver: amy@englishpen.org, by 5pm on Wednesday 29th July 2009. Interviews will be held in central London in early August. Successful applicants should be available to start work in early September.
We offer: • A fulfilling job, working on a range of challenging issues with a diverse team based in an exciting new centre for literature, literacy and free speech. • Flexible working. • 25 days Annual Leave per annum plus all public holidays.
Salary: £23-25,000 pro rata, depending on experience, full-time, 9-month contract
Please note: Only those candidates selected for interview will be contacted.
English PEN welcomes applicants regardless of race or colour, nationality or national or ethnic origin, religion or religious belief, sex or marital status, sexual orientation, disability or age.
There are currently no other full-time vacancies with English PEN. However, we are always looking for volunteers to help out with our regular programme of Writers in Public events so do fill out one of our online volunteer forms if you are interested in finding out more.
Cuba Campaign Updates Campaign Update, July 2009: http://www.englishpen.org/writersinprison/campaigns/cubacampaign2009/cubaupdates/
On 16 January 2009, fifty years after Fidel Castro took power, English PEN launched our 2009 Cuba Campaign. The principal aim of the campaign is to bring greater freedom of expression to our fellow writers, journalists, novelists, poets and dramatists in Cuba.
The campaign was launched with a letter to The Guardian on 16 February, highlighting the poor prison conditions and the effects that these have on the health of cases of concern to PEN. This letter proved controversial in some quarters. Shortly after publication, Professor Michael Chanan responded with a letter 'Cold war myths about Cuban jails' (The Guardian, 21 February 2009) in which he refuted the allegations of poor prison conditions, and questioned the motives of our campaign.
Days later, in response to Professor Chanan's letter, Terence Blacker wrote a piece, 'We can't ignore Cuba's dark side' (The Independent, 24 February 2009), in which he described Professor Chanan's reaction as "bizarre and vaguely shameful".
Nevertheless many people, ranging from PEN Members, the British Embassy in Havana, and a number of Cubans with whom we are in contact, have responded in a supportive and encouraging way to the campaign.
There were a number of reasons why we chose to focus on Cuba for this year's campaign, not least because of the recent changes in power, both in Cuba and in the United States, which have led to the widespread belief that now may be a good time to push for greater freedom of expression on the island.
The WiPC's Cuba campaign was also launched in conjunction with International PEN's Freedom to Write in the Americas, which aims to highlight the persecution of writers and journalists in Latin America. Although the WiPC is working closely with International PEN on this regional campaign, we decided to focus on Cuba, where we have the greatest number of Honorary Members.
Our Cuban Honorary Members, Fabio Prieto Llorente, Léster Luis González Pentón, Normando Hernández González, José Luis Garcia Paneque, Julio César Gálvez Rodriguez, Adolfo Fernández Saínz, and Pedro Argüelles Morán, are seven of the twenty-two writers, journalists and librarians who remain detained following the Black Spring crackdown of March 2003. As such, on the sixth anniversary of the crackdown we asked members to write to the Cuban authorities protesting their continued detention. We were extremely pleased to learn some weeks later that Honorary Member Léster Luis González Pentón had been allowed to return to his family home for a total of three days, between 20 and 23 March, and that another case of concern, Pablo Pacheco Avila, was allowed to spend 24 hours at home with his family. We find these latest developments extremely encouraging, and have written to the Cuban authorities to acknowledge them.
We were also delighted to have the opportunity to meet with a representative from the British Embassy in Havana, who was extremely enthusiastic about the campaign and made some very useful recommendations. We will be working closely with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office here in London, as well as the Embassy in Cuba, in order to ensure that our work, and theirs, is as beneficial as possible.
English PEN's Campaigns Team will shortly be producing a press pack and hope to hold an event in the autumn. We sincerely hope that we can contribute to bringing about change in Cuba, as well as raise awareness about the situation in the UK. At the very least, we know that our campaign is appreciated by those who matter most:
"Every campaign you can do has an enormous value and avoids him to be forgotten….Thank you very much for your work helping the prisoners of conscience."
(Joana C. Fernandez, daughter of journalist Adolfo Fernández Saínz, who was sentenced to 15 years during the Black Spring Crackdown of March 2003.)
Links:
Time to close Cuba's other prisons' (The Guardian, 16 February 2009) http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/feb/16/cuba-prisons-guantanamo-castro
'Cold War Myths About Cuban Jails' (The Guardian, 21 February 2009) http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/feb/21/cuba-jails-political-prisoners
'We can't ignore Cuba's dark side' (The Independent, 24 February 2009) http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/terence-blacker/terence-blacker-we-can8217t-ignore-cuba8217s-dark-side-1630342.html
International PEN Freedom to Write in the Americas Campaign http://www.internationalpen.org.uk/go/freedom-of-expression/campaigns
RUSSIA/CHECHNYA: Human Rights Defender, Natalia Estemirova, Murdered
16 July 2009
RAN 28/09
International PEN's Writers in Prison Committee is appalled by the abduction and murder in Chechnya yesterday, 15 July 2009, of the courageous human rights defender and journalist, Natalia Estemirova. PEN welcomes statements by Russian President Medvedev that an inquiry has been ordered into her death. It urges that the investigation be carried out speedily and that it not be beset by the problems encountered in other cases of murders of human rights commentators, notably that of the trial of writer Anna Politkovskaya, a close friend and colleague of Natalia Estemirova, who was herself murdered in October 2006.
Estemirova, of Russian-Chechen descent, worked at the Grozny office of Memorial, Russia's best known rights organisation. Tenacious in her investigations into torture, killings and other abuses in Chechnya, Estemirova was awarded for her courage by the Swedish and European parliaments. Estemirova was a close colleague of Anna Politkovskaya and in 2007, she was the first recipient of the annual Anna Politkovskaya Award given by the Reach All Women in War campaigning group. From 2001 until Politkovskaya's assassination in 2006, the two had worked together to expose abuses carried out by Russian armed forces in Chechnya and by Moscow-backed Chechen officials. Politkovskaya's killers remain free, three years after her death. In June 2009, three Chechen men were acquitted of her murder after a trial that many observers describe as a farce. The Supreme Court has ordered that the acquittals be reviewed.
Despite knowing the acute danger, Estemirova continued to research and advocate on abuses in Chechnya, most recently a spate of house burnings by government backed militia. She has been commended by local and foreign journalists for whom she was an important source of independent information in the conflict. Witnesses reported hearing Estemirova calling out that she was being kidnapped as she was forced into a van around 8.30 am as she left her home in Grozny. Her body was found some hours later in woodland in neighbouring Ingushetia. She had been shot in the head and chest.
In December 2006, Natalia Estemirova was a guest speaker at a PEN America event commemorating Anna Politkovskaya. She told the meeting that "Criminals were afraid of Anna and afraid of her investigations". It is clear that these same criminals also feared Estemirova. Aged 50, Natalia Estemirova leaves behind her 15-year old daughter. International PEN extends its deepest condolences to Estemirova's family and colleagues.
Since 2000, 17 journalists have been murdered in their attempt to uncover the high levels of criminality and abuses in Russia, specifically in Chechnya and Ingushetia. None of the cases have been properly resolved and their murderers act with impunity It has become increasingly urgent that the Russian government take serious measures towards fully and properly investigating these murders and ensuring that those responsible be brought to justice.
To see photographs and hear the panel discussion with Natalia Estemirova at December 2006 American PEN event go to: www.pen.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/911
For details of the Reach All Women in War Anna Politkovskaya award to Estemirova go to: www.rawinwar.org/
Take Action
What you can do:
* Protest to the Russian President * Write to the Russian embassy in your own country * Send messages of solidarity to Memorial
www.memo.ru/eng/index.htm
email: info@memo.ru
Government Appeals should:
* Express shock at the murder of Natalia Estemirova clearly in retaliation for her investigations into human rights abuses in Chechnya; * Welcome President Medvedev's promise that there will be an immediate investigation into her murder, and urging that this be carried out fully and impartially, and that those responsible be brought to justice. * Raise concern that almost three years after her murder, no-one has yet to be convicted of the murder of Estemirova's colleague, Anna Politkoskaya, leading to concerns that there is little real commitment to resolving such crimes and thus allowing those who carry them out impunity; * Call on the Russian authorities to counter these concerns by unequivocally condemning all attacks on the independent press and human rights monitors, to review the unresolved murders of 17 journalists killed in the past decade.
Addresses:
Mr Dmitry Medvedev
President of the Russian Federation
Kremlin
Moscow
Russia
Fax: +7 095 206 5173 / 230 2408
Email: president@gov.ru
Mr Chaika Yuri Yakovlevich
Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation
Ishaya Dmitrovka 1 a GSP e
Moscow 12599 3
Russia
Fax +7 095 292 88 48
*Please contact the address below for updates if you are considering sending an appeal after 15 August 2009*
For further information please contact
Sara Whyatt at the Writers in Prison Committee of International PEN, Brownlow House, 50-51 High Holborn, London WC1V 6ER Tel: +44 (02) 20 7405 0338 Fax: +44 (0) 20 74050339 Email: sara.whyatt@internationalpen.org.uk http://www.internationalpen.org.uk/go/news/russia/chechnya-human-rights-defender-natalia-estemirova-murdered
ARTICLE 19 is shocked and deeply saddened by the killing on 15 July 2009 of Natalia Estemirova, a Chechen human rights activist and representative of the Memorial Human Rights Centre in the Chechen capital Grozny.
Estemirova was abducted outside her home earlier today; according to the reports of Russian officials, her body was later found near Nazran, the capital of neighbouring Ingushetia, showing signs of a violent death.
Estemirova had worked at the Memorial Human Rights Centre since 2000 on a number of sensitive cases documenting human rights abuses in Chechnya. A well-known and respected defender of human rights, she had been awarded the Anna Politkovskaya Award by RAW in WAR, an organisation supporting women in armed conflicts, as well as the European Parliament's Robert Schuman medal in 2005.
This killing is just the latest in a prolonged series of attacks, abductions and murders targeting media workers, journalists and human rights defenders in this troubled region. It also highlights the failure of Russian government to abide by international human rights laws, which stipulate that the state should protect its populace and create an environment which encourages pluralism and political debate. Instead, a climate of intimidation pervades Russia and such killings are all too frequent a way of dealing with opponents of the regime.
"We at ARTICLE 19 express our sincere condolences to Natalia's family, friends and colleagues," says Dr Agnès Callamard, ARTICLE 19 Executive Director. "The global human rights community has lost one of its most courageous members. Her loss, however, does not weaken our resolve to stand in solidarity with those people suffering human rights abuses in Chechnya and to continue acting with principle and determination to expose abuses and bring perpetrators to justice."
ARTICLE 19 calls upon the Government of the Russian Federation to: " Immediately open a full and impartial investigation into the murder of Natalia Estemirova, and to ensure that both the perpetrators and instigators of this murder are found and prosecuted; and " Take all measures necessary to protect members of its population against acts of violence, threats and intimidation, and to insure that those reporting on human rights violations in Russia, and especially in the North Caucasus, are not targeted for attack.
NOTES TO EDITORS:
o For more information please contact Anoush Begoyan, Programme Officer for Europe at anoushb@article19.org or tel +44 20 7324 2500.
The Writers in Prison Committee of International PEN is seriously concerned about the detention of Uyghur writer, academic and member of the Uyghur PEN Centre, Iham Tohti, who was reportedly arrested in Beijing on 6 July 2009. He had spoken out on the ethnic unrest which broke out in Urumqi on 5 July 2009. International PEN seeks details of any charges against Iham Tohti, and calls for his immediate and unconditional release if held in violation of Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which China is a signatory.
According to PEN's information, leading Uyghur academic and activist Iham Tohti was arrested in Beijing after an online report in which he criticised Nur Bekri, Chairman of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Regional People's Government for his perceived support of Han Chinese following the recent ethnic unrest in Urumqi in which hundreds died. Iham Tohti is Associate Professor of the Economics School at the Central Nationalities University in Beijing. He is also Chairman and General Manager of Uyghur Online Web Technology Development Co. Ltd., and a guest professor at the University of Kazakhstan.
Tohti was born in Atush, Xinjiang, on 25 October 1969. He graduated from the Northeast Normal University and the Economics School at the Central Nationalities University in Beijing. He has studied in Korea, Japan, and Pakistan, and is known for his critical views of Chinese government policy and the provincial leadership in Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR). He has been previously detained on three occasions for his peaceful support of Uighur rights, and is a member of Uyghur PEN. For more background on Tohti's writings go to: http://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/tohti-03062009130647.html?searchterm=None
Background
The Xinjiang Autonomous Region in north-west China is home to many Muslim Uyghurs, a Turkic-speaking ethnic group, some of whom have waged a low-level separatist struggle for independence from Chinese rule for decades and where repressive government policies have led to severe economic deprivation amongst the Uyghur community and fomented ethnic tension between Uyghurs and Han Chinese. It is widely believed that the Chinese government has exaggerated the alleged terrorist threat in the region to suppress peaceful political and cultural expression. According to Human Rights Watch:
Much like Tibetans, the Uighurs in Xinjiang, have struggled for cultural survival in the face of a government-supported influx by Chinese migrants, as well as harsh repression of political dissent and any expression, however lawful or peaceful, of their distinct identity. Some have also resorted to violence in a struggle for independence. Chinese authorities have not discriminated between peaceful and violent dissent, however, and their fight against "separatism" and "religious extremism" has been used to justify widespread and systematic human rights violations against Uighurs, including many involved in non-violent political, religious, and cultural activities.
Writers and journalists are amongst those at particular risk of arrest in the region for speaking out on these issues.
On 5 July 2009, Uyghurs took to the streets of Urumqi, the capital of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR), to protest an incident in which a number of Uyghur workers in a toy factory in Guan Dong province, southern China, were attacked by Han Chinese and killed. These protests led to violent clashes with Han Chinese in Urumqi which were violently suppressed by the authorities. The state newsagency Xinhua reports that 156 have been killed and over 1000 wounded, although details and figures are impossible verify. An estimated 1400 people are said to have been arrested.
Take Action Please send appeals:
Expressing serious concern about the detention of Uyghur writer and academic Iham Tohti, apparently for expressing views critical of Chinese economic policy in XUAR, and seeking details of any charges against him; Calling for his immediate and unconditional release if held in violation of Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which China is a signatory. Seeking assurances that he is granted full access to his family and legal representation, and is treated humanely in detention. Calling upon the Chinese authorities to protect the right of citizens to accurate, impartial information, the right to peaceful assembly and free expression of all citizens, and the right to a fair trial for anyone suspected of committing a crime during the protests.
The WiPC recommends that you copy your appeal to the Chinese embassy in your country asking them to forward it and welcoming any comments. Government addresses:
His Excellency Hu Jintao President of the People's Republic of China State Council Beijing 100032 P.R. China.
Chairman of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Regional People's Government Nur Bekri Xinjiang Weiwuer Zizhiqu Renmin Zhengfu 2 Zhongshanlu Wulumuqishi 830041 Xinjiang Weiwuer Zizhiqu People's Republic of China.
Please note that fax numbers are not available for the Chinese authorities, so you may wish to ask the diplomatic representative for China in your country to forward your appeals.
Please copy appeals to the diplomatic representative for China in your country if possible.
**Please contact the PEN WiPC office in London if sending appeals after 1 August 2009**
For further information please contact Cathy McCann at International PEN 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@internationalpen.org.uk
(Click the photo to see it big then again press back button) The girl in the picture is an editor of a little magazine, the name of the magazine is 'NEER'. She used to bring out the issues of the magazine with her peers/ friends, with a heart filled dream. Her overflowing excitement would fill the ground/ compound of the bookfare. Last January, she was diagnosed, her tummy ache is indicated as Cancer, Doctors consultation and advice had taken her at Vellore. After spending two lakh rupees on her treatment she was not cured. Her name is Sweta Bhattacharya, a fatherless, she is now at G B Hospital under treatment. Beside her bed, Nelly Bhattacharya, a poet- companion and co-writer of her book of poetry 'PRATIBIMBA ( mirrored shadow)'.
Her mother is helpless, a destitute and resourceless. Sweta needs chemotherapy, she needs financial assistance, we want to help her in this dire crisis keeping hand in hand. Friends, extend your hand, it is your generous cooperation that can save a brighter life. Let us try today our best.
your help should reach at:
'Aajker Fariad' Gandhighat, Agartala West Tripura Pin - 799001 India
Just a reminder that the final event in English PEN’ssummer season will take place next week on Monday 13 July. The PEN/Ackerley Prize for memoir and autobiography is the only prize of its kind in the UK. In this special event, previous winners of the prize Diana Athill, Dan Jacobson and Miranda Seymour come together to discuss the impact of the prize on their lives and to consider the state of life writing as a genre. The winner of this year’s prize will then be announced.
The shortlist is:
Julian Barnes - Nothing to be Frightened of (Cape) Julia Blackburn - The Three of Us (Cape) Susie Boyt - My Judy Garland Life (Virago) Ferdinand Mount - Cold Cream (Bloomsbury) Sathnam Sanghera - The Boy with the Topknot [originally published as If You Don’t Know Me By Now] (Penguin)
Date: Monday 13 July, 6.30pm
Venue: The Gallery, Foyles Bookshop, Charing Cross Road, London WC2H 0EB
How to Book: call the office on 020 7324 2535 or book online.
I am an executive member of West Bengal PEN chapter till today, but the writings that I have written here donot represent the PEN west Bengal Chapter in any way. Like other human being, I am also made of blood, flesh and emotion. Beyond this organisation, the PEN West Bengal chapter I am also an individual and I have my expressions on some on going events. So, read it as Albert Ashok's personal view and expression, I do not and never represent any writings for this organisation that I belong. I donot give any credit to the west Bengal PEN chapter. because The secretary of the organisation has other means of publication, they donot use this blog. From the beginning I have been collecting news/ information from different sources and publish here for the benefit of writers and common people, and credit goes to the source of information where from I collect it excluding my personal views.
I started this blog when I was not a member. My purpose was to project the news of The P.E.N. and its centers from West Bengal. It is very hard to face always fear and anxiety and rendering a service for greater world - Albert Ashok
The other side of Ms. Taslima Nasrin the feminist writer
Ms Nasrin has some misconception about PEN West Bengal, she is angry because Indian government could not provide adequate security for her stay in India. So, she wants a revenge and made a complain to an international organization without context and provocation on 22nd june 2009, in a time when it is very critical to West Bengal chapter of Indian PEN center for some reason. The mail is published here. This is a reply to Ms. Nasrin's mail.
It all started one day when I came to pick up an email of Taslima Nasrin from a website page of International PEN in 2008, (probably) month of May.( so far I can remember)
As my occupation is writing books and a stark defender of ‘Freedom of Expression’ it was my policy to defend and keep a vigil all the charters of UN covenant. I made many blogs where I post all the news that Article 19, IFEX, and PEN International and its centers world wide and other sources publish. I do it by my own pocket money, I could have used my time and my money enjoying my life as it is my hard earned money. I am a freelancer, I have no job guarantee, I have my family. I can give my son something he needs for his study. But I think I am doing something great for this world, like me there are many people ( in comparison, very few numbers in thousand) doing and thinking this. This is the way how the world moves. So, if you expect more how shall I give you. Be contented what you are having.
Ms. Nasrin was in problem and in trouble. International PEN had an appeal to Indian government to look into Ms. Nasrin’s Problem. Someone has to take initiatives to support or defend her cause. I stepped forward; I told my PEN members/ colleagues in West Bengal. We had a discussion as how to help her. We have no fund to start action and campaign. We decided personally we shall try our best level, influence people and do the necessary according our strength, and we did it for Ms. Taslima Nasrin.
The intellectuals in Kolkata, West Bengal, personally have defended ‘taslima’ the woman, and made speech in favour of her through different Media. Its recorded documents.
From early 1993, probably when she started attacking some persons (not the system) in media in the name of literature, from then on I had a close observation on her ( my sentiment is after all she is a writer I should defend her) like many defenders of Freedom of Expression. I have stored many important published news from different sources in my collection. From Hanifa Deen’s (an Australian author of Pakistani origin, ) ‘The crescent and the pen’ to many assorted news journals and her books. So, with out document I hardly speak.
Mr Sunil Gangopadhyay to Madam Mahasweta Devi, many came down to street to defend her. Our late president of All India PEN center, Mr Annada Shankar Roy had taken many initiatives to support Taslima in 1994, and it is a published news document. How come she says a lie to an international body! Is it a conspiracy to degrade a community and attract the attention of media, fooling all?
What you see is not the whole world, beyond your knowledge the world does exist too, it has the rest massive part. You are an ignorant, irresponsible and small creature when you make a comment what you do not know.
I sent a mail to Ms. Nasrin who is exhorting polygamy in society through interviews in media,as a feminists view, she retorted me: She replied on Saturday, 3 May, 2008
i did not know there was a PEN in west bengal. did you do anything when the west bengal government threw a writer out of the state?
(The exact mail with out editing what she sent to me)
I assured her in my mail a strong support next day.
After then I tried to keep a communication with her but she found she has no interest in us. Because this Bengal ( including Bangladesh) know her critically.
The western countries are very busy how they would expose themselves above all as a big champion of freedom of expression and Human rights, they don’t judge what they are doing in most cases.
Is there any precaution or punishment for those who abuse the rights freedom of Expression?
Do you think Freedom of Expression is for killing millions? Hurting millions? All pornography writings? Waging wars? Rioting ? Communal disharmony?
This question has arisen in me.
All I knew we want a better world. Taslima Nasrin is not matched with Salman Rushdie, We defended him for his good literature.
In early 90 when Lajja was published it was not a literary work, it is not that the fact she wrote, many criticized about her writing skill, many said it was not literature. Many individuals and organisations, the defenders of ‘Freedom of Expression’, supported many writers, reporters who were not like Ms. Taslima Nasrin.
Does she not wear the title as irresponsible, ungrateful and stupid woman when she says to International PEN ( the following mail ) :
Hi Caroline !
I just cant resist myself to inform you that during my stay in Kolkata, (West Bengal, India) the government of West Bengal banned my book called 'Dwikhandito', a several fatwa was issued against me by the Muslim fundamentalists, they set price on my head, i was physically attacked by the fanatics, I was forced to live under house arrest by the the government, after a violent protest against my stay in Kolkata I was bundled out of Kolkata which was my home for 4 years ( 2004-2007), I was again forced to live in solitary confinement in Delhi, and finally I was thrown out of India by the Indian government. A writer, because of her writings, and because of her views that are different than the extremists has been banished, banned and blacklisted in the ''largest democracy'', and PEN kolkata did not do anything to protest against the fatwas, or attacks or harassment.
I don't think PEN is at all a known organisation in Kolkata.
I am now having a nomadic existence in the West, living out of a suitcase. My home is still in Kolkata, and I am not allowed to return to my home.
I hope you will try to find some efficient writers to be involved in PEN kolkata who can support the persecuted writers.
Best,
Taslima
Because of PEN centers she is enjoying a VIP status, (she has exploited a lot people’s sentiment, we become emotional easily and illogically sometime!)
Ms. Taslima Nasrin is Bangladeshi national, she has lived there all her life,Bangladesh has a PEN centers of International PEN, did she ever complain against the center to International PEN or somewhere else because it could not provide security? Or is she taking revenge that we could not do adequate arrangement for her shelter in India?So far I know Indian government has extended her Visa, but she is free to speak a lie.
Or Is she exercising her freedom of expression this way? Or does she think it is a way to earn more dollar and live in news? Sometimes artists and writers do this intentionally its a trend to live in news.
Do feminists think it is her expression of feminism?
By the comment above she made, she did not insulted only the Bengal in India, the Bangladesh also will feel insulted and appreciate what a ungrateful genius it has brought forth.
Every one in a country is not a evil. Most people are good and can be trusted.
Stop Ms. Nasrin, commenting untrue and lies. You are creating a hostile environment in Bengal. If possible please, co operate us, to help the dissidents and persecuted writers. We, who defend you don’t discourage us, don’t steal our ground beneath our feet to stand for Freedom of Expression. This is our self willed service not by the fund of any generous or philanthropic organization. And West Bengal PEN chapter always a follower of International PEN, It works according its own strength.
Your comment the Bengal will keep as a treasure and remember you for ever.
I don’t think doing this you will earn more from the ignorant westerners.
Your comment has put us in an embarrassing position, it gave us pain and deep wound as a reward and in face of our hard working voluntary service. The damage you have done to us you can never restore.
We request the government of Bangladesh where she was born to treat her properly and secure her living, and Ms Taslima should return to her homeland where she can fight her cause and mission. We wish herthe best.
I have studied Ms. Taslima Nasrin’s a few years ( 1993 to 2009), I can not resist to tell all about her rise and western countries should know her well so that she will get more comfort all over the world. I shall post it with in few weeks. Promise.
------------------------- Siobhan Dowd wins Carnegie Medal
June 26, 2009Siobhan Dowd, much missed PEN member and a leading force in the establishment of our Readers and Writer programme, has been awarded the Carnegie Medal for her posthumously published novel Bog Child. A full report on Siobhan's triumph and the award can be found on the Guardian website. source:
Carnegie medal posthumously awarded to Siobhan Dowd
Siobhan Dowd's Bog Child, finished three months before her death from cancer, has taken the Carnegie medal for children's literature and made Dowd its first posthumous winner
A novel completed just three months before she died made Siobhan Dowd today the first ever posthumous winner of the most prestigious prize in children's literature, the Carnegie medal.
Bog Child, the story of a teenage boy who finds the body of a child in an Irish bog, was finished by Dowd in May 2007. She died of cancer that August at the age of 47, having only turned to writing in 2003. In just four short years, she penned four children's books: her first, A Swift Pure Cry, was also shortlisted for the Carnegie.
"It's infuriating that she didn't start writing earlier, that she couldn't go on. We've lost one of our great new voices, and they don't come along that often, not at Siobhan's standards," said her publisher and editor, David Fickling, who accepted the Carnegie medal on her behalf this lunchtime. "Bog Child was written with great intensity, when Siobhan was at the height of her powers, all the while being very ill ... You get to the end and are uplifted, and that's what she was like in person, too. She buoyed you up."
The book is "an absolutely astonishing piece of writing", said the librarian Joy Court, chair of the judging panel (the Carnegie medal winner is selected by 13 librarians from around the UK). "To be able to write like that when she was going through what she was going through is just astonishing – the sheer beauty of the language, the descriptions of the environment; she has such an amazing sense of place."
Bog Child intertwines two stories: that of the 16-year-old Fergus, who discovers the child in the bog in 1981 and thinks she has been murdered by the IRA, and that of the bog child, Mel, who turns out to have lived 2,000 years ago during the iron age. Fergus smuggles packages across the Northern Ireland border each day, believing them to contain semtex, while his brother goes on hunger strike in prison in an attempt to free Northern Ireland from "the misery of it. The mourning and the weeping. The vale of tears." Dowd's command of language is "extraordinary", said Fickling, as in her description of Mel's death: "Silver light fizzed and shot apart. Love fell in particles, like snow."
Dowd spent 20 years as a human-rights campaigner for PEN in England and New York before she turned to writing in 2003. "All that looking after other writers must have been preparation for writing," said Fickling. "There's a lovely letter which she wrote to her mother, where she said: 'I must get on with writing, I mustn't be modest any more.'" He recalled a conversation with Dowd on Waterloo footbridge, when he asked if she had started writing because she had cancer. "She said: 'Absolutely not. It's more of a hindrance than a spur.'" Her husband has said she "needed to experience life first in order to write to the standard she aspired to".
Dowd lived to see her first two books published, and to see her first, A Swift Pure Cry, win the Eilís Dillon award for a first-time children's author, writing on her blog at the time that it was "very precious to me, my first ever award". Her second novel, The London Eye Mystery, planned as the first in a series, won her the major Irish children's fiction prize, the Bisto award, which she also picked up last month, for the second year running, for Bog Child.
She's been "sweeping the board" where literary prizes are concerned, said Fickling, but winning the Carnegie would have been "very special" to her because it is organised by librarians who spend their days helping children find a way to read, a cause very close to her heart. She believed that "if a child can read, they can think, and if a child can think they are free", and in the few days before she died she set up the Siobhan Dowd Trust, which helps to bring books to disadvantaged children and to which her book royalties and prizewinnings go. "She was intensely practical, not airy-fairy or sentimental in any way," said Fickling. He added she would have been "overjoyed" to win the Carnegie, but would have found it "a terror" being on the seven-strong shortlist with the likes of Frank Cottrell Boyce, Eoin Colfer and Patrick Ness.
The Carnegie medal comes with no prize money but much prestige: in its 72-year history, it has been won by authors including Elizabeth Goudge, CS Lewis, Philip Pullman and Noel Streatfeild.
This morning's award ceremony also saw the 27-year-old illustrator Catherine Rayner win the Kate Greenaway medal for children's book illustration for her second title, Harris Finds His Feet. The book, inspired by an encounter in the wild with a hare and by Rayner's own large feet, follows the story of a small hare learning to hop with oversized paws. Court said the creation of Harris was "a triumph, from the way he moves and his expressions to his velvety fur". Rayner wins £5,000, and joins a distinguished list of former winners of the 50-year-old prize including Shirley Hughes, Raymond Briggs and Quentin Blake.
'For anyone who believes that words can help us chart a path, PEN International is essential reading' Alberto Manguel
'Reading in the pages of PEN International we celebrate not just our differences but also our common humanity and universal values' Azar Nafisi
PEN International addresses a global audience and features original work by contemporary writers from around the world.
Founded in 1950, the magazine was originally a compendium of reviews of world literature entitled ‘Bulletin of Selected Books'. Over the years, it was expanded to include articles, stories and poems either contributed directly or reprinted from other publications.
The magazine is read by the 144 PEN Centres in 102 countries, as well as readers all over the world.
In 2007, PEN International was relaunched with the ‘Context:' series, featuring a new design, a dedicated editor and special guest writers. ‘Context:' showcases writing from different regions of the world with the express goal of introducing the work of new and established writers to each other and to readers everywhere. It has so far covered Africa and the Middle East. ‘Context: Latin America' will appear in autumn 2008 and ‘Context: Asia/Pacific' in 2009. A special issue will be published in spring 2008 called ‘The Writer Next Door', and will be dedicated to International PEN's annual literary theme of the same name.
Contributors to PEN International have included Adonis, Margaret Atwood, Karel Capek, Siobhan Dowd, Nawal El-Saadawi, Moris Farhi, Antonia Fraser, Nadine Gordimer, Günter Grass, Han Suyin, Liu Hongbin, Chenjerai Hove, Alberto Manguel, Salim Matar, Ngugi wa Thiong'o, Ben Okri, Moniro Ravanipour, Salman Rushdie, Wole Soyinka, Hilary Spurling and many others. Previous editors have included Alexandre Blokh and Per Wästberg.
PEN International is supported by UNESCO, the Sigrid Rausing Trust, Bloomberg and an anonymous donor.
Volume 59, No. 1, Spring/Summer 2009 The magazine of International PEN
Le magazine de PEN International
La revista de PEN Internacional
Editor’s Note
Welcome to ‘Heaven and Earth’.
The theme of this issue takes its inspiration from International PEN’s second
annual Free the Word! festival of world literature in London, with which it coincides.
We have asked our contributors to respond to this theme in a personal way, and
the results hint at an almost infinite range of cultural perspectives.
Take our special guest writers, both of whom appear at the festival. Each has
taken ‘Earth’ as synonymous with that other possible antonym for ‘Heaven’: fearless
truth-teller Lydia Cacho of Mexico reports on her encounters during a recent trip
to Cambodia with people who have lived through the kind of hell that human
beings seem all to adept at inflicting on their fellows; Petina Gappah of Zimbabwe
imagines the lives of a young family who have made their way from hellish
circumstances to a better place – only to discover that ‘better’ is relative.
It’s not all infernal, of course. Jack Waveney’s narrator flies above Peru’s Nasca
Lines and vividly senses the Great Mystery; there is a numinous quality, too,
in Rebecca O’Connor’s tiny poem rooted in the material world.
Most of the writers in this issue grapple with the realities confronting us
in between Heaven and Earth: Azar Nafisi (also appearing at Free the Word!)
remembers a girl’s striking moment of independent thought under an authoritarian
theocracy; Kachi Ozumba’s hapless Nigerian pastor comes down to Earth from hislofty sense of self at the hands of canny, corrupt policemen; Jason Mooreland takes
a thoughtful look at a troubling trend in education and wonders which way it
will lead us.
For some, the ‘earthier’ elements of our existence take centre-stage: Florian
Zeller (another festival guest) gives us a cynical, desperate traveller who views
sexual encounters strictly in terms of ‘exchange rates’, and Encarna Cabello’s
young North African couple discover the erotic potential of a common garment.
The Earth as a planet harbouring ferocious power features as well, in a poem
by Kynpham Sing Nongkynrih (appearing at Free the Word! as well) that considers
the aftermath of the tsunami of 2004, and in a story by Élise Gruau set on Stromboli,
that Aeolian island in thrall to its volcano.
Heaven and Earth: sooner or later we must each of us come to terms with either
one, or both. We hope the writing in this issue can provide some sustenance for
virginity ensured the safety of the city. It took just a single detour by one of them
to turn stability into chaos. When that happened, there were meticulous rituals
in place to purge the curse and restore hope: failed Vestals were buried alive in an
underground chamber, and it was left to Vesta, the goddess they served, to decide
whether they lived or died.
2
For minor offences, a Vestal risked being scourged in private by Rome’s highest
priest, the Pontifex Maximus.
3
But a Vestal’s violation of her vow of chastity was
a public curse. All participated in the expiation. Immediately after her conviction,
the guilty priestess was flogged and then bound in thick cloth to muffle her
lamentations. Churning like a larva, she was put on a litter bed and carried through
the Forum. Thousands watched in tearful silence as she passed. ‘No other spectacle
is more appalling,’ wrote Plutarch of such sights, ‘nor does any other day bring more
gloom to the city than this.’
4
The crowd’s sombre mood came not from the woman’s
imminent death – gory public executions were common enough – but from terror
at what might result from the Vestal’s loss of virginity.
The procession ended near the Colline Gate, just inside one of the city’s walls,
where the burial chamber awaited. The room was supplied with furniture, a lamp
and bits of food, milk and oil. The Vestal was unfastened from her coverings except
for a veil over her face. As her soiled body stood in the wind, an object of grief and
scorn, the Pontifex Maximus stretched his hands toward heaven, muttered some
prayers and then sent her down into the hole. As soon as she was underground,
attendants sealed the room with stones and spread earth around it so that no traces
of it, or her, remained.
Technically, this was not an execution. No one shouldered the responsibility
of killing a Vestal, even a guilty one. The few provisions supplied to the accused
priestess absolved the priests for her death and gave Vesta the opportunity to hand
down the ultimate ruling. If the Vestal was, in fact, found by the goddess to have
broken her chastity vow, Vesta rebalanced the celestial scales by letting her starve
and suffocate. If she was innocent, Vesta could lift her up and restore her. Of theten or so Vestal virgins who endured this process over seven centuries, none was
resurrected. Their guilt was confirmed beyond doubt and Rome was saved, at least
until the next Vestal misbehaved.
Only girls between six and ten years old who were deemed perfect in all
respects were eligible for service in Vesta’s temple. No marks, lisps or other defects
were allowed. Both parents had to be alive and married, with no divorce, scandal or
slave blood clouding their lineage. Selected girls underwent an elaborate initiation
process that put them in service to Vesta and Rome and no one else. All Roman
women belonged to one man or another, but not the Vestals. They alone were free
from male control, because they were the sisters, daughters and wives of the city
itself. They were taken from their homes to Vesta’s temple in the Forum, where
they lived for at least thirty years.
5
Vesta was the goddess of the hearth, and of the
Earth itself.
6 The perpetual flame that burned in the Atrium Vestae was the fulcrum
of Roman life. Just as early Rome’s daughters tended the flames of their families’homes, the Vestals kept Rome’s fire alive. They also maintained a storehouse
of holy substances and took care of dozens of other ritual duties.
7
For that, the
priestesses received extraordinary privileges. They were allotted prime seats at the
theatre and at gladiatorial games, and rode in ornate carriages with bodyguards to
move people out of their way. Even consuls had to step aside. If, during their travels
around town, they encountered a criminal about to be executed, the man’s life was
spared. (However, anyone with the nerve to pass under a Vestal’s carriage would
be killed.) When Vestals died, they were among the very few inhabitants of Rome
whose burial was permitted within the city’s sacred precincts.
8
Most Vestals kept their bodies and reputations intact. There were precautions
in place to prevent temptation (their temple was closed to all men at night, even
doctors), but it was inevitable that some would fail. When a Vestal had sex, the
crime was incestum – an offence that incorporated incest (all Roman men were
their family) and sexual defilement. Because that loss of virginity was a direct
assault on the state, calamities were often blamed on Vestal incestum. In what
seemed like an instant, they transformed from high priestesses to monstrous
scapegoats.
The very fact of Rome’s troubles was taken as proof of Vestal unchastity.
In 483 BC, the city was at war with the Volsci and the Veii. Rome’s superior
resources should have permitted it to make short work of these enemies, but Rome
was wasting its advantages on internal struggles. To make matters worse, there
were daily heavenly prodigies showing the gods’ anger and portending disaster.
The city was in a panic. Its priests could not figure out what was causing the
problems, even after consulting animal entrails and bird flight patterns. They thenconcluded that a Vestal was misbehaving. ‘These terrors finally resulted in the
Vestal virgin Oppia being condemned for incestum and executed,’ wrote Livy.
9
In 215 BC, in the alarm over Rome’s loss of 50,000 men to Hannibal at the Battle
of Cannae, the Vestals Opimia and Floronia were found guilty of incestum. One of
them was buried alive; the other was allowed to commit suicide. A century later,
after the destruction of the army of Marcus Porcius Cato in Thrace, three Vestals
were put on trial for conduct more fitting to prostitutes than professional virgins.
‘Three had known men at the same time,’ wrote Cassius Dio.‘Of these, Marcia had
acted by herself, granting favours to one single knight … Aemilia and Licina, on theother hand, had a multitude of lovers and carried on their wanton behaviour with
each other’s help.’
10
If that was not bad enough, the fire in Vesta’s temple began to sputter out on
its own – a sure sign of Vestal misconduct – and a bolt of lightning killed a noble
girl on her horse, leaving her dress hiked up above her waist.
11
At first, only the Vestal
Marcia was found guilty, but the public’s thirst for a clear remedy for all this trouble
was too strong for a single verdict to stand. A second trial was convened, and the
other two Vestals convicted. All three were buried alive.
Vestals were sometimes prosecuted in the absence of a calamity. Emperor
Domitian’s moral reforms were punctuated by trials against Vestals for incestum.
12
The chief Vestal, Cornelia, was buried alive in 83 AD, but did not go down quietly:
‘Is it possible?’ she demanded of Domitian as he watched her being led to the
hole. ‘Does Caesar think that I have been unchaste, when he has conquered and
triumphed while I have been performing the rites?’
13
In other words, how dare
Domitian accuse her when he has enjoyed good fortune? But he did anyway.
Some Vestals were able to acquit themselves at trial with impressive feats of
magic. The priestess Tuccia was charged, in 230 BC, with giving away her virginity
based on one man’s accusation. Calling Vesta to her aid, she led a crowd to the
TiberRiver, where she pulled up a quantity of water with a sieve. To everyone’s
amazement, the water did not drain out of the holes. She took it back to the Forum,
where she dumped the river water onto the feet of her judges. Her life was spared,
and her accuser was never heard from again.
14
Another time, after the sacred fire
went out on the Vestal Aemilia’s watch, the priests enquired as to whether she had
been entertaining men. In the presence of everyone, she cried out:
O Vesta, guardian of the Romans’ city, if, during the space of nearly thirty years,
I have performed the sacred offices in a holy and proper manner, keeping a pure
mind and a chaste body, manifest yourself in my defence and assist me and do
not suffer your priestess to die the most miserable of all deaths; but if I have
been guilty of any impious deed, let my punishment expiate the guilt of the city.
She then threw a piece of her clothing on the cold altar where the fire had burned.
Instantly, a flame burst through the linen. With that, the city was safe again, and
Aemilia cleared.
15
The Vestal college lasted for about a millennium, until the fire was put out
forever and the order disbanded in the fourth century AD by the Christian emperor
Theodosius. Judging by Rome’s long run, the priestesses mostly protected the people
well by keeping the sacred fire lit and men out of their beds. In a sex-soaked culture
in which aristocratic women tried to register as prostitutes, the Vestals’ untouched
genitals were a guarantee of Rome’s long life.
(Unpublished, 2009)
1Holt Parker, ‘Why Were the Vestals Virgins?’, American Journal of Philology,
vol. 124, no. 4 (2004), p. 568.
2Sarah B. Pomeroy, Goddess, Whores, Wives, and Slaves: Women in Classical
Antiquity (Dorset, 1975), p. 211; see also Plutarch, Roman Questions
(Loeb Classical Lib. 1936, Frank Cole Babbit, tr.), ch. 96.
3Plutarch, Life of Numa Pompilius (Loeb Classical Lib. 1914, Bernadotte Perrin, tr.),
ch. 10.
4Ibid., see also Dionysus of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities (Loeb Classical Lib.
1937, Earnest Cary, tr.), Book II, ch. 67.
5Plutarch, Life of Numa Pompilius, ch. 10. It seems that many Vestals stayed
longer than the required three decades, however, as they had bad luck with
their marriages after laying down their sacred offices.
6Robin Lorsch Wildfang, Rome’s Vestal Virgins: A Study of Rome’s Vestal
Priestesses in the Late Republic and Early Empire (Routledge 2006), pp. 6–60;
see also Dionysus of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities, Book II, ch. 66: ‘And they
regard the fire as consecrated to Vesta because that goddess, being the Earth
and occupying the central place in the universe, kindles the celestial fires from
herself.’
7Wildfang, pp. 16–17. The Vestals were involved in other practices that seem
incompatible with virginity, e.g. agricultural and fertility rituals such as
the Fordicidia rites, in which a Vestal burned a fetus torn from an unfortunate
pregnant cow; see also Pomeroy, p. 211, and Mary Beard, ‘The Sexual Status of
Vestal Virgins’, Journal of Roman Studies, vol. 70, p. 13 (1980). The Vestals’
chastity throughout their fertile years gave them ‘stored up, potential
procreative power’ (Beard, p. 15).
8Parker, p. 568; O. F. Robinson, Ancient Rome: City Planning and Administration
(Routledge 1994), p. 124.
9Livy, History of Rome (Dutton 1912, Rev. Canon Roberts, tr.), ch. 2.42.
10Cassius Dio, Roman History (Loeb Classical Lib. 1925, Earnest Cary, tr.) ch. 26.87.
11Wildfang, pp. 93–4.
12Cassius Dio, Roman History, ch. 67.3; The Letters of the Younger Pliny (Penguin
1963, Betty Radice, tr.), pp. 118–19; Brian W. Jones, The Emperor Domitian
(Routledge 1992), pp. 101–2.
13Pliny, Letters, 43.
14Dionysus of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities, Book II, ch. 69.
15Ibid., ch. 68.
Natalia Smirnova
Gas
look, we intend to croak. but we will just
live on. and on and on and on
and on, wrinkle-free, in a tiny flat
where there is no heating, only gas
where coffee grows old and grows cold
within two minutes. not like in ukraine,
of course – we’ve got some gas – but heating,
there’s neither heating nor even water
that could flood the place, flood it, no,
if only we could have our flood, or blood
but there’s no flood, no wrinkles, no poison
with which to croak and no home to live at
or leave. but there’s gas, at least.
god bless ukraine. oh please let there be gas.
Translated from the Russian by the author
Kachi A. Ozumba
THE POLICE IS YOUR FRIEND
Nduka was determined not to leave the Ikeja police station without his police
report. He waited at the counter, his gaze fixed on a poster on the opposite wall.
Although he had seen the poster many times before, it never failed to arrest his
attention. It depicted a policeman smiling broadly and benignly; radiating beneath
it was the caption: THE POLICE IS YOUR FRIEND.
A policeman emerged from the door behind the counter. His black uniform bore
the two red stripes of a corporal. Leaning on the grimy wooden counter, he asked:
‘Good morning, sir, can I help you?’
‘Yes, I’m Pastor Nduka Obi, and I’ll like to see Sergeant Bello.’
‘Oh, I’m sorry, the sergeant is not around at the moment. Is there anyway I can
be of help?’
For a mere corporal, the policeman’s English was flawless, Nduka thought: his
tone was polite, his manners polished. Although this was his third time at the
station that week, Nduka could not help being reminded that the corporal before
him was not a semi-illiterate, as was so often the case in years past. A government
policy a few years back had pegged the minimum qualification for recruitment
into the police force at a National Diploma. This was to help stem corruption and
make the force friendlier.
‘Yes. He’s the one handling my case. I lost my passport two weeks ago, and I
need a police report to obtain a new one, which I will need for my trip to the UK in
a month’s time. The report has already been written since my first visit. All that has
been holding it is the Divisional Police Officer’s stamp. I need it to apply for my visa,
and I’m already running late.’
‘You say the report has been written since your first visit; how come you have
not collected it since then?’
‘On the first visit, I was told the DPO was not around; on the second, I was told
he needed time to study the document; on the third, I was told the document had
been signed and only the stamping by the DPO remained, and they were looking
for both the DPO and the stamp. Please, corporal, I hope I won’t leave here today
without it.’
The corporal smiled, but it was a tight-lipped smile, and the pastor felt there
was something incongruous about it. He could not tell whether it was born of
sympathy or mockery.
‘I really apologise for the delay so far. But you know how life is: nothing is
predictable. Anything can crop up at any time to cause a delay. But if you’re
determined, then your determination will move mountains – and you’ll get your
report today.’ The corporal smiled again, glad to show the pastor that he knewsomething of the Bible.
‘Of course I’m determined to get it today,’ the pastor answered, irritation
seeping into his voice. ‘I’ve been determined to get it since the first day.’
‘Okay, I’ll see the DPO about it right away. Won’t you like to send your regards?’
‘I don’t even know him,’ Nduka said. ‘Well, tell him a law-abiding citizen sends
his regards.’
The corporal hesitated, staring for some time at Nduka, then turned and
disappeared through the door. Moments later he reappeared, shaking his head.
‘The DPO has yet to reach your file. He has so many files to attend to, those of
people who came before you. We operate on a first-come, first-served basis, so
please exercise some patience.’
A red curtain fell over the pastor’s eyes, making them bloodshot. His voice rose
an octave: ‘What … what nonsense is this? Do I have to pass through the eye of a
needle just to collect a common police report? You people are –’ He caught himself
back from swearing. Be angry but do not sin, he cautioned himself, quoting the
Bible.
The corporal must have taken pity on him. ‘But, sir, why are you making things
so difficult for yourself? Have you not got the message? All that stands between
you and your report is just an express-service mobilisation fee of a mere two
hundred naira!’
Nduka’s eyes narrowed into slits. ‘What exactly are you saying?’ he asked.
‘Are you suggesting that I give a bribe in order to collect my police report?’
He pointed to a poster on the wall to his right. ‘I’m sure you can read this!’The poster bore the bold caption:
DO NOT GIVE BRIBE
IT IS ILLEGAL
‘Of course I can,’ replied the policeman. He gestured at another poster behind the
pastor. ‘I hope you have also read that one.’ It had an even bolder caption:
HELP THE POLICE TO
HELP YOU
‘I’m not asking for a bribe,’ the policeman said, ‘but that you help us to help you.’
‘I want to see your DPO right away,’ Nduka said. His anger had given way to a
zealous determination to fight corruption.
‘Sir, I’ll advise you to stick with me. Just pay the two hundred-naira mobilisation
fee and you’ll get your report. The higher you go, the higher the amount that will
be demanded of you.’
‘Will you take me to your DPO right now, or do you want me to find my way
there?’
‘Well, if that’s your wish …’
The corporal led Nduka into a dim hallway with several doors. He tapped on the
last door, on which a sign was affixed that read: DIVISIONAL POLICE OFFICER (DPO);
then he ushered Nduka in.
It was a small cluttered office. The DPO sat behind an enormous desk strewnwith files and papers. A miniature national flag sat between two plaques on the
table. On one of the plaques was engraved the name ‘Owonikoko J. A., B.Sc. M.Sc.’.
On the other was perhaps the man’s personal motto: Heaven helps those who
know how to help themselves.
The DPO lifted his face, frowning with irritation.
‘Good day DPO Owonikoko,’ Nduka began. ‘I have a problem.’
‘You have your problems, I have my problems, everyone has his problems,’
the DPO replied. He returned his gaze to the files before him.
This not-so-subtle message was not lost on Nduka: How can you persuade
me to abandon my problems and help you with yours? Blood raced through
the pastor’s veins, and his lips trembled. He nearly screamed his reply: ‘Well, my
problem now is that if I do not walk out of this station today with my police report,
the evils of this station shall be all over tomorrow’s papers!’
The DPO looked up sharply. He ran an appraising eye over this new-generation
pastor before him, taking in his Piaget wristwatch and Gucci shoes, the expensive
cut of his suit. A huge smile replaced his frown. Once again, Nduka felt odd about
the smile. It was indulgent – as though the man could see through his bluff. But
there was still something else hidden in its wide expanse, something the pastor
could not place his finger on.
The DPO waved Nduka to a seat and said: ‘Please calm down, and sit down.’
The corporal eased himself out of the office as Nduka sat, shutting the door quietly
behind him. ‘You are?’
‘Pastor Nduka Obi of the Mighty Faith Ministries.’
‘Oh, that’s the one located along the Lagos–Ibadan expressway, isn’t it?’
The pastor nodded.
‘Hmm! So you people are the ones building that gigantic church, eh? Great.
How can I help you?’
Nduka took a deep breath. ‘For over two weeks now,’ he said, ‘I’ve been trying
to collect a simple police report with which I may apply for the replacement of my
missing passport. You see, I have to be in the United Kingdom next month. I need
the report urgently so that I can obtain a new passport and apply for a visa.
Now your corporal is telling me I have to give a bribe before I can collect it.’
The DPO sprang from his seat and went over to the door, quickly. ‘Corporal!’
he bellowed. ‘Corporal!’
The corporal appeared promptly.
‘Did you ask this righteous gentleman for a bribe?’
‘Bribe?’ the corporal said, shocked. ‘No, sir. I only asked him for the usual express-
service mobilisation fee of two hundred naira, sir.’
‘Two hundred naira?’ the DPO barked. ‘Since when did the mobilisation fee
become two hundred naira? It’s five hundred! Something must be wrong with you.
Are you sure you were not planning to pocket the money?’
‘No, sir. I would have placed it into the coffers of the station and had it duly
receipted.’
‘Okay, you can go now. I’ll see you about it later.’
Nduka’s heart sank as he watched the whole exchange.
‘You see,’ began the DPO as he came round to his seat, now smiling benignly.
‘We have to collect such fees when someone wants us to jump the usual process and give him what amounts to an express service. It’s our policy, and you willfind the same everywhere, even in the presidency. Such fees help us in running
the station. You know as well as I do that in this country one cannot rely entirely
on the government.’
‘My report has already been delayed for over a week, and you’re still talking of
express service!’ The pastor’s voice was losing something of its crusader’s fervour.
‘You would appreciate the express nature of the service if you knew the
enormous number of reports and complaints we receive daily. Some have waited
months, indeed years, to collect a common police report. We try our best, but we
can only do so much …’ The DPO broke off, spreading his hands in a gesture of
helplessness.
‘And you’re asking for what you call a “mobilisation fee”, which you know as
well as I do is only a euphemism for a bribe.’
‘Bribe? No!’ The DPO shook his head, apparently hurt. ‘How can you say that?
Even the good Lord demands some mobilisation fee for the work He does for us.
Please correct me if I’m wrong, but my pastor says it is written in the Scriptures
that the Lord demands one-tenth of our earnings – what the Scriptures call tithes,
and what you collect, un-taxed, as offertory in your churches.’
The pastor opened his mouth, but no sound came out.
‘It’s really no different here,’ said the DPO.
Nduka suddenly felt tired. He glanced at his watch. He felt like running out
of the station. The atmosphere was beginning to choke him.
‘You have to understand that we cannot be partial in the way we apply our
policy here,’ the DPO began again. ‘So, just release the funds and I’ll personally
see to it that you get your report immediately.’
Slowly, Nduka reached into his trouser pocket and retrieved a five-hundred
naira note.
Lord, please forgive me if I’m committing a sin, he prayed silently.
But you’re only giving to Caesar what is Caesar’s, another voice whispered.
Nduka was about to banish it as the voice of Satan, but hesitated. He filed it away
in his mind. He would examine the idea later; there might be some truth in it.
He handed the money to the officer across the table.
International PEN is outraged by the charges brought against Liu Xiaobo
World Writers‘ Association outraged by the charges brought against Liu Xiaobo,dissident writer and former President of the Independent Chinese PEN Centre.
29 June 2009
Before you enter the grave Don't forget to write me with your ashes Do not forget to leave your address in the nether world
From a poem by Liu Xiaobo.
International PEN, the world association of writers, is outraged by the charges of ‘incitement to subversion of state power' brought against prominent dissident writer Liu Xiaobo, former President and Board member of Independent Chinese PEN Centre, on 23 June 2009. Liu Xiaobo was arrested on 8 December 2008 for his role in publishing Charter 08, a document calling for political reform and human rights. Many other signatories of the Charter have been harassed or briefly detained, and there are growing concerns about reports that other members of Independent Chinese PEN Centre based in the P.R.China have been under increased pressure in recent days.
According to PEN’s information, police from the Beijing Public Security Bureau (PSB) National Security Unit delivered Liu Xiaobo's formal arrest notice dated June 23 to his wife, Liu Xia, on 24 June 2009. According to the official Xinhua news agency, he is accused of ‘spreading rumours and defaming the government, aimed at subversion of the state and overthrowing the socialism system in recent years'. The charge carries a maximum five-year prison sentence, and is believed to be based on his endorsement of Charter 08 and over twenty articles published between 2001-2008. He is said to have confessed to the charges against him.
After his arrest on 8 December 2008, Liu Xiaobo was held under ‘residential surveillance', a form of pre-trial detention, at an undisclosed location in Beijing, without access to his lawyer. He was allowed only two family visits throughout his six-month detention, in January and in March, and was held in a windowless room without any outdoor time. His lawyer Mo Shaoping has been barred from representing Liu due to his endorsement of Charter 08, therefore two other members of Mo’s law firm have been nominated to represent him. Liu Xiaobo was reportedly transferred to the Public Security Bureau (PSB) Detention Centre in Douge Zhuang, Beijing, on 23 June 2009, where he reports “an improvement” in his conditions since he now has regular outdoor time and five detainees in his cell with whom he can talk. He was allowed to meet with his lawyers on 26 June 2009.
Liu Xiaobo is among a large number of dissidents to have been detained or harassed since December 2008 after issuing an open letter calling on the National People's Congress Standing Committee to ratify the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), and launching Charter 08, a declaration calling for political reforms and human rights published on 9 December 2008. These activities were part of campaigns to commemorate the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (10 December), and were initially signed by over 300 scholars, journalists, freelance writers and activists and now have over 8000 signatories from throughout China.
Liu Xiaobo first received support from PEN 20 years ago, when, in 1989, he was one of a group of writers and intellectuals given the label the “Black Hands of Beijing” by the government, and arrested for their part in the Tiananmen Square protests. Liu has since spent a total of five years in prison, including a three year sentence passed in 1996, and he has suffered frequent short arrests, harassment and censorship. He is among over forty writers detained today in the People's Republic of China for the peaceful expression of their opinions. International PEN demands the immediate and unconditional release of dissident writer Liu Xiaobo and all those detained in China for the peaceful exercise of their opinions, in accordance with Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which China is a signatory.
On behalf of the Board of International PEN
Jirí Gruša - International President
Eugene Schoulgin - International Secretary
Karin Clark – Writers in Prison Committee Chair
Vice-Presidents of International PEN
Margaret Atwood
J. M. Coetzee
Moris Farhi
Nadine Gordimer
Gloria Guardia
Lucina Kathman
Kata Kulavkova
Joanne Leedom-Ackerman
Mario Vargas Llosa
Per Wästberg
For further information please contact Cathy McCann at International PEN 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@internationalpen.org.uk
On behalf of All India PEN center, West Bengal expresses our solidarity with all the chinese detained writers and demand unconditional release of detained writers along with International PEN.
Albert Ashok Editor: The west bengal review
Executive Member: The west bengal PEN chapter of All India PEN center
Related links:
our earlier posts on chinese detained writers
Festival & Co: Politics and Storytelling 18-20 June 2010
Venue: Venues across Paris
English PEN is proud to announce that it will be sponsoring Shakespeare and Company's fourth literary festival, Politics and Storytelling, which will take place in Paris from June 18-20, 2010. In the spirit of Shakespeare and Company's fifty-year-independent bookshop, FestivalandCo is an international yet intimate event that is mostly free and open to all.
2010: Politics and Storytelling Next year's theme will explore the way writers depict, transform and influence their political environment. What role does politics play in the novel? How much do politicans rely on invention and storytelling? Do writers have a political responsibility? How do censorship and ideology shape our culture? Authors from around the world will discuss these issues amongst others and look at the importance of literature in our present cultural climate.
Over the course of three days we will host readings, panel discussions, book signings and film screenings. Held in the park next to Shakespeare and Company opposite Notre Dame, the festival will attract authors, actors and spectators from around the world. There will also be special events in select venues across Paris such as Théâtre de l'Odéon, the École des Beaux-Arts and the Hôtel de Ville.
FestivalandCo 2008 The 2008 festival, Real Lives: Exploring Memoir and Biography, attracted over 6000 people. The 35 participating authors included Paul Auster, Alain de Botton, Jung Chang, Rachel Cusk, A.C. Grayling, A.M. Homes, Siri Hustvedt, Hermione Lee, Catherine Millet, Amélie Nothomb, Marjane Satrapi, André Schiffrin and Jeanette Winterson. Charlotte Rampling and other actors also participated.
FestivalandCo 2008 was sponsored by The New York Review of Books, the Times Literary Supplement, English PEN, Eurostar, Roederer Champagne, Montblanc, the Mairie de Paris, the French Ministry of Culture, The British Council, The American Embassy and other associations.
Shakespeare and Company Shakespeare and Company was opened by George Whitman in 1951. Over the years, writers such as Allen Ginsberg, William Burroughs, Henry Miller, Anaïs Nin, Richard Wright, Lawrence Durrell, James Baldwin, and Lawrence Ferlinghetti have written, given readings and even lived at the shop. Now 95 years old, George has received the Officier des Arts et Lettres from the French Government for his long-running contribution to Parisian literary history. His daughter, Sylvia Whitman, now runs the institution and founded FestivalandCo in 2003.
Cuba: Journalist sentenced to three years' imprisonment
Published: May 20, 2009
English PEN strongly protests the three-year prison sentence given to Habana Press director Alberto Santiago Du Bouchet on 12 May 2009, reportedly for "disrespect for authority". The circumstances around his arrest are unclear and it is said that he was denied a fair trial, including access to a lawyer.
Albert Santiago Du Bouchet Hernández, director and reporter for the Havana-based independent news agency Habana Press, was reportedly arrested on 18 April 2009 while visiting relatives in Artemisa, near Havana. The circumstances behind the arrest remain unclear but it understood that he was taken to the local police station after a verbal exchange with a police officer. The police have claimed he was shouting anti-government slogans in the street. His family has reportedly not been allowed to visit him since his arrest. He was transferred to Melena 2 Prison to the south of Havana on 10 May.
On 12 May, Du Bouchet was sentenced to three years in prison, reportedly on charges of "disrespect for authority". There are unconfirmed reports that he was also charged with "distributing enemy propaganda", but it is not known whether he was convicted of this. The trial was said to have been summary and Du Bouchet was reportedly denied access to a lawyer. According to an independent Havana-based journalist who has spoken to Du Bouchet since his imprisonment, he was jailed in reprisal for his work, which includes reporting on social issues. Du Bouchet has appealed his sentence but it is thought unlikely that the appeal will be successful (all of the many writers, journalists and librarians imprisoned in April 2003 appealed their sentences but none were successful).
This is the second time Du Bouchet has been imprisoned on "disrespect" charges. In August 2005 he was arrested a few months after attending the congress of the pro-democracy Assembly to Promote Civil Society, summarily tried without access to a lawyer and sentenced to one year in prison. He was released in August 2006, having served the sentence in full. The journalist has reportedly been threatened with prison on several occasions since his release.
English PEN is therefore asking the Cuban government to make public the reasons for Du Bouchet's arrest and imprisonment. If he is indeed charged solely for the non-violent expression of his views, we strongly urge that Du Bouchet be released immediately and unconditionally, along with the 25 other Cuban writers, journalists and librarians who are currently imprisoned in violation of their right to freedom of expression.
Background:
Du Bouchet's sentence brings the number of writers and journalists currently imprisoned for their work in Cuba to 26. He is the fourth journalist to be jailed since Raúl Castro took over power from his brother Fidel Castro in July 2006. A further 22 writers and journalists have been imprisoned on anti-state charges since the Black Spring crackdown on dissidents in March/ April 2003. For further information, click here.
Please send appeals:
• Protesting the three-year prison sentence given to Habana Press director Alberto Santiago Du Bouchet, reportedly for "disrespect for authority", after a summary trial on 12 May 2009 • Asking the Cuban government to make public the reasons for Du Bouchet's arrest and the charges against him; urging that, if Du Bouchet was indeed charged solely for the non-violent expression of his views, he be released immediately and unconditionally, along with the 25 other Cuban writers, journalists and librarians imprisoned in violation of their right to freedom of expression • Urging the government to ratify without reservations the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (Article 19 of which specifically guarantees the right to freedom of expression), which it signed in February 2008, and to introduce the necessary legislative and judicial reforms to guarantee freedom of expression.
Appeals to:
Head of State and Government Raúl Castro Ruz Presidente La Habana, Cuba Fax: 53 7 8333085 (via Ministry of Foreign Affairs) 1 2127791697 (via Cuban Mission to UN) Email: cuba@un.int (c/o Cuban Mission to UN) Salutation: Su Excelencia/Your Excellency
Interior Minister General Abelardo Coloma Ibarra Ministro del Interior y Prisiones Ministerio del Interior, Plaza de la Revolución, La Habana, Cuba Fax: 53 7 8333085 (via Ministry of Foreign Affairs) 1 2127791697 (via Cuban Mission to UN) Salutation: Señor Ministro / Dear Minister
You may also wish to send copies of your appeal letter to the Cuban Embassy in London:
HE René J. Mujica Cantelar 167 High Holborn London WC1 6PA
Russia: Four journalists killed and others attacked in first months of 2009
Published: May 19, 2009
English PEN is alarmed by the increased levels of physical violence against print journalists in Russia. In the first four months of 2009 four have been murdered and four others seriously attacked, seemingly for the practice of their professions.
English PEN condemns these acts of violence and urges the Russian authorities to initiate full and impartial investigations into these incidents, and to bring those responsible to justice. We are also calling on the Russian authorities to unequivocally condemn all attacks on the independent press and to take urgent measures to ensure the safety of journalists.
English PEN has received reports of serious attacks against four print journalists so far in 2009. All are based outside Moscow, and had been reporting on corruption or criticised local politics. As is clear in at least one of these cases, police are reluctant to consider the assaults to be politically motivated. As for the cases of those who have been murdered, prosecutions of those who carry out these crimes are rare. PEN observes that attacks that are carried out outside Moscow are even less likely to be properly investigated.
Yury Grachev, editor of the weekly Solnechnogorsky Forum, was reportedly attacked in the town of Solnechnogork, 65 km northwest of Moscow, on 3 February 2009. He was found by his neighbours unconscious and bleeding at the entrance of his home. The Solnechnogorsky weekly had been covering corruption and had been critical of the local authorities, and as a consequence a number of local officials and businessmen were charged with corruption in 2007. It is said that Grachev's briefcase with material for the following issue of the weekly went missing during the attack.
In Saratov, south-east of the country, Vladim Rogozhin, managing director of the media holding company Vzglyad, was assaulted by two unidentified men on 5 March 2009. Rogozhin was beaten on the head in the corridor of his apartment. There was no robbery. In January 2009 Rogozhin assumed his managerial position and had previously worked for the newspaper Saratovsky Vzglyadan, a news agency and a TV station. He reported on corruption in various levels of the regional government, and it is believed that the attack could be linked with his work.
Vyacheslav Yaroshenko, editor-in-chief of the independent newspaper Korruptsiya i Prestupnost (Corruption and Crime), based in Rostov-on-Don, south western Russia, was found unconscious at the foot of a staircase at the entry to his building on 30 April 2009. He had suffered head injuries and after undergoing surgery remains in a critical condition. Yaroshenko's colleagues believe that he was attacked because of his journalistic work, as his newspaper reports cases of corruption. Soon after the editor was taken to hospital, the police reportedly stated that he had been involved in a fight during the evening of 29 April. Later, the police gave another version of the events saying that the editor hurt himself by falling down the stairs while drunk. On 4 May 2009 there were reports that the police had so far refused to register the attack as a crime.
On 12 March, Maxim Zolotarev, editor of the newspaper Molva Yuzhnoye Podmoskovye, distributed in Serpukhov, a town situated 99 km south of Moscow, reported being assaulted while walking to his car near his flat. Zolotarev was stopped by three unidentified men who got out of a car and hit him with an iron bar after discharging a gas pistol into his face. It is said that the newspaper is critical of local politicians. Zolotarev considered this attack as a warning and decided to stop his journalistic work.
These attacks come in the wake of four murders since the beginning of 2009. The Committee to Protect Journalist (CPJ), in its 2008 report, states that since 1999, 16 journalists have been murdered in Russia for reporting on cases of corruption, and that only one of these deaths had been solved. The rest of the killings, including those that occurred this year, have yet to be investigated by the authorities.
One of the most shocking of the recent killings were the double murders of Stanislav Markelov and Anastasiya Baburova , lawyer and journalist respectively for the independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta, who were shot dead in a Moscow street, on 20 January 2009. They were attacked as they left a press conference at the Independent Press Centre. Markelov, the apparent intended target of the assault, was first to be attacked. Baburova attempted to apprehend the gunman as he fled, and was herself shot.
Two months later, also in Moscow, Sergey Protazanov, journalist for the newspaper Grazhdanskoye, died on 30 March 2009. There are reports that he had been badly beaten prior to his death. Earlier, on 5 January, Shafig Amrakhov, editor of the online regional agency RIA 51, died from gunshot wounds in Murmansk hospital, northwest of the country. He had been shot near his home on 30 December.
Please send appeals:
- Condemning the high levels of violence against journalists in Russia; - Urging the Russian authorities to initiate a full and impartial investigation into these assaults, and to bring those responsible to justice; - Calling on the Russian authorities to unequivocally condemn all attacks on the independent press and to take urgent measures to ensure the safety of journalists.
Appeals to:
Mr Dmitry Medvedev President of the Russian Federation Kremlin Moscow Russia Fax: 7 095 206 5173 / 230 2408 Email: president@gov.ru
Mr Chaika Yuri Yakovlevich Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation Ishaya Dmitrovka, 15a GSP 3 Moscow 125993 Russia Fax: 7 095 292 88 48
Alexander Vladimirovich Konovalov Minister of Justice of the Russian Federation Ul. Zhitnaia 14 119 991 Moscow GSP1 Russian Federation Fax: 7 495 955 57 79
You may also wish to send copies of your appeal to the Russian Embassy in the UK:
His Excellency Yury Viktorovich Fedotov
Embassy of the Russian Federation in the United Kingdom
Since President Ahmadinejad came to power in August 2005, there has been a widespread crackdown on peaceful political dissent across many aspects of civil society in Iran. Those to have been targeted include writers and journalists, academics, women's rights activists and human rights defenders. Separatist struggle has placed writers and journalists particularly at risk in Iran's ethnic regions, and International PEN is alarmed at the number of Kurdish, Azeri and Arab journalists targeted for their critical reporting, peaceful activism and writings in support of minority cultural and political rights. In the run-up to the next Presidential election which is due to be held in June this year, International PEN has launched a month-long campaign to highlight these cases, and to call for greater freedom of expression in Iran.
English PEN is currently campaigning on behalf of six writers, journalists and cultural activists from Iran's ethnic regions who are all sentenced for their critical reporting and peaceful activism on minority rights. They are:
• Adnan Hassanpour, Iranian-Kurdish journalist, detained in January 2007 and charged with espionage and Moharehbeh (fighting God) for expressing his views on the Kurdish issue. He is awaiting a re-trial after his death penalty was overturned. • Kaveh Javanmard, Iranian Kurdish journalist, arrested in December 2006 and serving a three-year sentence for his reporting on the Kurdish issue. • Mohammad Sadiq Kabudvand, Iranian Kurdish journalist, arrested on 1 July 2007 and sentenced to eleven years in prison for his Kurdish rights activism. • Mohammad Hassan Fallahiya, Iranian Arab journalist, arrested in November 2006 and sentenced to three years in prison for his reporting on the repression of the Arab minority in Khuzestan. • Yousef Azizi Banitorof, Ahwazi writer, translator and human rights defender, sentenced on 20 August 2008 to five years in prison for his reporting on protests by the Arab community in the southwestern region of Khuzestan (known locally as Al-Ahwaz). Left Iran in November 2008. • Said Matinpour, Azeri journalist, sentenced to eight years in jail, suspended, on 11 June 2008 for 'publicity against the Islamic regime'. He was detained incommunicado for nine months in jail before being released on bail.
In addition to those listed above, PEN is aware of the cases of at least ten other journalists and writers from Iran's ethnic regions who are currently facing charges for their critical writings and political and cultural activism. Most are charged under national security legislation or Iran's Press Law, which is also widely used to ban publications perceived as critical by the authorities, and to prevent writers from publishing their work.
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
During the Focus period 15 May - 15 June 2009 • Write a letter to the Iranian government. • Lobby your own government • Publicise the issue of freedom of expression in Iran in your local press
PLEASE SEND APPEALS:
- Expressing serious concern about the large numbers of writers, journalists and publishers to be arbitrarily detained in Iran, many serving lengthy sentences, and the widespread practice of ill-treatment of dissidents in detention;. - Expressing alarm at the widespread crackdown on peaceful dissent since President Ahmadinejad came to power in 2005, in which a large number Kurdish, Azeri and Arab journalists have been targeted for their legitimate critical reporting, peaceful activism and writings in support of minority cultural and political rights. - Reminding the Iranian authorities of their obligations to Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Iran is a signatory.
APPEALS TO:
Head of the Judiciary Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi Howzeh Riyasat-e Qoveh Qazaiyeh (Office of the Head of the Judiciary) Pasteur St., Vali Asr Ave., south of Serah-e Jomhouri, Tehran 1316814737, Islamic Republic of Iran Email: shahroudi@dadgostary-tehran.ir (In the subject line write: FAO Ayatollah Shahroudi) Salutation: Your Excellency
Minister of Intelligence Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejeie Ministry of Intelligence, Second Negarestan Street, Pasdaran Avenue, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran Salutation: Your Excellency
President His Excellency Mahmoud Ahmadinejad The Presidency, Palestine Avenue, Azerbaijan Intersection, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran Fax: 98 21 6 649 5880 Email: dr-ahmadinejad@president.ir Salutation: Your Excellency
Speaker of Parliament His Excellency Ali Larijani Majles-e Shoura-ye Eslami, Baharestan Square, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran. Fax: 98 21 3355 6408 Email: larijani@majlis.ir (Ask for your message to be passed to the Article 90 Commission)
You may also wish to write to the Iranian ambassador in the UK asking for his comments on your appeal:
His Excellency Rasoul Movahedian Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran 16 Prince's Gate London SW7 1PT
English PEN is alarmed by reports that imprisoned writers Nguyen Hoang Hai and Pham Thanh Nghien are at risk of ill-treatment, in poor health, and denied full access to family visits. They are part of a group of writers who were detained during a crackdown against peaceful dissent in Vietnam in August and September 2008.
Nguyen Hoang Hai (pen name: Dieu Cay), an independent journalist and blogger, was sentenced on 10 September 2008 to two and a half years' imprisonment by a Court at Ho Chi Minh city for alleged 'tax fraud', although he is widely believed to be targeted for his criticism of the Vietnamese government. On 1 April 2009, Nguyen Hoang Hai's family were told that he had been transferred to Cai Tau prison, in U Minh, which is nine hours from where the family lives and where it is difficult to obtain a visitor's permit. There are reports that Cai Tau prison is notorious for the brutal treatment of prisoners and alleged corruption. The family believes that Nguyen Hoang Hai was transferred there to limit the frequency of their visits, and they are very concerned for his well-being.
Internet writer and independent journalist Pham Thanh Nghien has been detained without charge since 11 November 2008. She is believed to be held under Article 88 of the Criminal Code on charges of 'propaganda against the state', but has not yet been brought to trial. When arrested, she was reportedly suffering from severe migraines due to previous beatings by local authorities in the streets near her home. Pham Thanh Nghien's family has not been able to visit her since her arrest, and they have no information on her health.
The writers below were also detained in the crackdown and continue to be held:
• Nguyen Xuan Nghia, poet and writer, member of the Hai Phong Association of Writers and founding member of the banned democracy movement known as Block 8406. Arrested on 11 September 2008. • Le Thi Kim Thu, online reporter and photographer, arrested on 14 August 2008. • Pham Van Troi, dissident writer and activist, known for his contributions to the underground dissident review Tu Do Dan Chu (Freedom and Democracy). Arrested on 10 September 2008. • Nguyen Van Tuc, farmer, poet and human rights defender, known for his numerous writings on social injustice and satirical poems published on overseas websites. Arrested on 10 September 2008. • Ngô Quỳnh, student and dissident writer, author of online dissenting articles, including 'Viet Nam needs to compile a new History-book' and 'Journey to Lang Son's Dairy', published on overseas websites. Arrested on 10 September 2008.
English PEN continues to call for their immediate and unconditional release in accordance with Article 19 of the United Nations International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights to which Vietnam is a signatory. We seek assurances of their well being, and urge that they are given full access to all necessary medical care and are allowed family visits as a matter of urgency.
For the BBC's country profile on Vietnam, please click here.
Please send appeals:
- Expressing concern at reports that writers remain detained or under heavy surveillance as a consequence of their peaceful activities and protests during August and September 2008. - Seeking assurances of the well-being of writers Nguyen Hoang Hai and Pham Thanh Nghien, and urging that they are given full access to all necessary medical care and are allowed family visits. - Calling for the immediate and unconditional release of all those detained for the peaceful exercise of their right to free expression in Vietnam, in accordance with Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Vietnam is a signatory.
Appeals to be sent to:
His Excellency Nguyên Minh Triêt President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam C/o Ministry of Foreign Affairs Hanoi Socialist Republic of Vietnam
Nguyên Tân Dung Prime Minister 1 Hoang Hoa Tham Street Hanoi Socialist Republic of Vietnam
Lê Doan Hop Minister of Culture and Information 1 Hoang Hoa Tham Street Hanoi Socialist Republic of Vietnam
Please note that there are no fax numbers available for the Vietnamese authorities, so you may wish to ask the diplomatic representative for Vietnam in your country to forward your appeals. It would also be advantageous to ask your country's diplomatic representatives in Vietnam to intervene in the case.
HE Mr. Tran Quang Hoan 12 Victoria Rd London, W8 5RD Fax: 0207 937 6108 or 0207 565 3853
HM Ambassador Mark Kent Central Building 4th floor 31 Hai Ba Trung Hanoi
English PEN was delighted to learn that independent journalists Sakit Mirza Zakhidov and Asif Marzili were released from prison on 9 April 2009.
The following is an alert from the Committee to Protect Journalists, who have since urged Azerbaijani authorities to free the remaining journalists serving jail terms on trumped-up criminal charges, published on 9 April:
Zakhidov, a prominent satirist and commentator for the pro-opposition daily Azadlyg in Baku, was released early this morning under the Pardon Act passed by parliament in March, the Baku-based news agency Trend reported. Zakhidov served all but two and a half months of his three-year prison term; he was arrested in June 2006 on fabricated charges of drug possession. Azerbaijan's parliament passed the amnesty act to mark the spring holiday of Novruz, local press reported. Trend reported that up to 1,700 prisoners may be released under the act.
In a separate case, the appeals court in Baku annulled the verdict of a lower court and released Marzili, the editor of the independent weekly Tezadlar. Marzili had been sentenced on Tuesday to one year in prison on defamation charges, the Azeri Press Agency reported. The same court also scrapped today the six-month suspended corrective labor sentence against Zumrud Mammedova, a Tezadlar freelancer, who was sentenced on Tuesday in the same case.
"We are relieved that at long last Sakit Zakhidov, whose only crime was doing his job, is free and reunited with his family and friends," said CPJ's Europe and Central Asia Program Coordinator Nina Ognianova. "We also commend the appeals court's decision to scrap the charges against Asif Marzili and Zumrud Mammedova. However, these positive developments are overshadowed by the continued imprisonment of at least four other journalists in Azerbaijan. We call on President Ilham Aliyev and his government to release them immediately."
Emin Huseynov, director of the Baku-based Institute for Reporters' Freedom and Safety, told CPJ that Zakhidov and Marzili told him they will continue their work in journalism. Huseynov met with Zakhidov today and said the satirist is eager to return to his work at Azadlyg.
English PEN would like to thank all those who sent letters of appeal to the authorities in Azerbaijan on behalf of Sakit Mirza Zakhidov.
***UPDATE: New York, April 15, 2009: The Committee to Protect Journalists issued the following statement after authorities released Ali Hasanov, editor of the pro-government daily Ideal, who had been serving a six-month jail term for criminal defamation. The journalist served all but one month of his sentence and was freed under the Pardon Act passed by parliament last month.
"We welcome the early release of Ali Hasanov but remain gravely concerned about at least three other journalists who remain behind bars on trumped-up charges in Azerbaijan," said CPJ Europe and Central Asia Program Coordinator Nina Ognianova. "The government of President Ilham Aliyev should end its restrictive policy towards the press and release all jailed journalists."
Free speech groups call on Thailand to repeal repressive legislation
Published: April 6, 2009
Index on Censorship, English Pen and Article 19 today expressed concern over the 10-year prison sentence given to Thai blogger Suwicha Thakhor.
Suwicha was arrested in January and held in custody until his conviction on 3 April 2009 of lèse majesté for material he posted on his blog which was deemed to have defamed the monarchy. Defaming, insulting or threatening the king or the royal family is an offence under Section 112 of Thailand's Penal Code. Suwicha's lawyer has said he will apply for a royal pardon.
Charges of lèse majesté have increased dramatically since the September 2006 coup which deposed Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. In January 2009, Australian writer Harry Nicolaides was sentenced to three years' imprisonment but was later pardoned by the king. In February, an arrest warrant was issued for Thai-British academic Giles Ji Ungpakorn for his book, A Coup For The Rich, criticising the 2006 military coup. Giles fled the country to avoid imprisonment.
In May 2008, BBC Southeast Asia correspondent Jonathan Head was accused of lèse majesté after 'inappropriate photographs' were posted on the BBC's news wesbite. Several issues of the Economist carrying articles about the king have been pulled from the shelves in Thailand. Paul M Handley's biography of the monarch, The King Never Smiles, has been banned in Thailand since its publication in 2006, and websites advertising the book have been blocked.
The Ministry of Information and Communication Technology claims to have shut down more than 2,000 websites alleged to have contained lèse majesté material. And on 23 January, the Senate set up an extraordinary committee to oversee the blocking of further sites, warning that over 10,000 could be targeted.
In a letter to the king of Thailand, Article 19, English PEN and Index on Censorship wrote: "This is an extremely harsh sentence. We are deeply concerned about the routine use of lèse majesté to silence criticism and dissent in Thailand. We ask that Suwicha Thakhor be pardoned, and that the Thai authorities repeal a law that is chilling free speech."
International guarantees of freedom of expression require public figures to tolerate more, rather than less, criticism. By providing special protection for royalty, lèse majesté laws breach these guarantees.
Mexico: Journalist and family threatened; fears for safety
Published: April 1, 2009
English PEN protests the threats issued against El Diario de los Altos editor Miguel Ángel Casillas in Jalisco State in March 2009. The threats allegedly come from 'Los Zetas', a paramilitary criminal gang linked to drug traffickers, on behalf of a local politician, after the newspaper was critical of a dam project in the area. English PEN is calling on the authorities to provide safety measures for Casillas, his family and other journalists at the newspaper and to carry out a full investigation into the threats.
The following is an urgent action alert issued by Amnesty International on 25 March 2009. PEN members are asked to send appeals following the guidance given in the alert as a matter of urgency.
Miguel Angel Casillas, editorial director of local newspaper, Diario de los Altos, was threatened on 18 March by a man claiming to be an official in charge of the Zetas' department (a notoriously criminal organization responsible for hundreds of murders). The threat was made because Miguel Angel Casillas and the newspaper he works for have given critical coverage to a dam development project in el Zapotillo, Los Altos region, Jalisco state.
On 18 March, Miguel Angel Casillas received an anonymous call on his mobile from a mansaying "We know who you are, where you live, where you go, who your family are and we want to know how you are going to cooperate with us" (sabemos quién es usted, sabemos dónde vive, sabemos cómo se mueve, sabemos quién es su familia y queremos saber cómo piensa colaborar con nosotros). The caller insinuated that he was acting on the behalf of a politician who wished to damage Miguel Angel Casillas and added that "from this point on you and your family are at risk" (corre peligro a partir de ahora, usted y su familia).
The day before receiving the anonymous phonecall, Miguel Angel Casillas noticed that both his personal email and that of the newspaper he works for had been hacked. The hackers had left a message stating that "Today the email of the newspaper has been kidnapped. Careful what you publish we don't want to hurt anyone. Regards from Jalisco State Congress, from a friend that likes you a lot and is watching anxiously over you. Rightist Jalisco".(Hoy el secuestro fue del korreo elektonico del medio kuidado kon lo ke publican no keremos lastimar a nadie. Saludos desde el congreso de Jalisco de un amigo que te quiere mucho y te vigila con ansias de encontrarte. Yunque Jalisco)
Miguel Angel Casillas has submitted a official complaint with the Jalisco State Public Prosecutor's Office and the State Human Rights Commission.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
The project to build el Zapotillo dam in Jalisco state on the Rio Verde has led to concern among local communities, particularly those of Temacapulín, Palmarejo and Acasico which will be flooded. Despite previous commitments by the state government to consult the public on the project, the Diario de los Altos and local human rights organizations have been critical of the project and the failure of the authorities to consult adequately with local communities or provide reliable and detailed information on impact and compensation packages.
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible, in Spanish or your own language:
- Calling for safety measure to be provided for Miguel Angel Casillas Báez, his family and other journalists at the Diario de los Altos and for protection measures to be implemented in accordance with their wishes;
- Calling on the authorities to instigate a thorough, prompt and impartial investigation into the email and telephone threats against Miguel Angel Casillas, including any possible links to local politicians, for the results to be made public and for those responsible to be held to account;
- Calling on the authorities to fulfil their obligations under the UN Declaration on the Rights and Responsibilities of Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Promote and Protect Universally Recognised Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, and ensure that human rights defenders have a right to carry out their activities without any restrictions or fear of reprisals.
Breakout: Voices from Inside
