{"id":9689,"date":"2015-04-28T04:34:41","date_gmt":"2015-04-28T04:34:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/?p=9689"},"modified":"2015-05-17T20:31:05","modified_gmt":"2015-05-17T20:31:05","slug":"pen-and-sword","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/pen-and-sword\/","title":{"rendered":"PEN and Sword"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"hebdo\"<\/a>Cross-poste<\/a>d on the Corner<\/p>\n

Pen International is an association of writers intended both to promote literature and to defend it.<\/p>\n

In May, PEN America will be holding its annual gala, an event set to include the award to Charlie Hebdo<\/em> of PEN America\u2019s annual Freedom of Expression Courage Award, citing the French magazine\u2019s \u201cdauntlessness in the face of one of the most noxious assaults on expression in recent memory.\u201d<\/p>\n

PEN America added<\/a>:<\/p>\n

The day after the attack, the surviving staff of Charlie Hebdo<\/em> magazine vowed to continue publication, releasing their next edition on time with a print run expanded from 40,000 to over eight million under the mantra \u2018All is Forgiven,\u2019 donating all proceeds to the families of the victims. The Charlie Hebdo attacks dealt a blow to the bedrock principle that no act of expression, no matter how provocative or offensive, can justify violence.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Indeed it did. PEN America also made the obvious point that it was not necessarily endorsing the cartoons, merely the right to publish them (without, it had no need to add, being murdered).<\/p>\n

But<\/em><\/a>, the Guardian reports<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Peter Carey, Michael Ondaatje, Francine Prose, Teju Cole, Rachel Kushner and Taiye Selasi announced on Sunday that they had withdrawn from next month\u2019s PEN American Center gala, citing objections to the literary and human rights organisation\u2019s honouring of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo<\/em>\u2026. [Francine] Prose told the Associated Press that\u2026 she was in favour of \u201cfreedom of speech without limitations\u201d and \u201cdeplored\u201d the shootings at Charlie Hebdo<\/em>\u2026<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But<\/em>\u2026.<\/p>\n

\u2026the award signified \u201cadmiration and respect\u201d for its work and \u201cI couldn\u2019t imagine being in the audience when they have a standing ovation for Charlie Hebdo<\/em>\u201d.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Peter Carey (AFP reports) conceded that \u201cA hideous crime was committed\u2026.<\/p>\n

But<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cAll this is complicated by PEN\u2019s seeming blindness to the cultural arrogance of the French nation, which does not recognize its moral obligation to a large and disempowered segment of their population.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Salman Rushdie made the obvious point:<\/p>\n

If PEN as a free-speech organisation can\u2019t defend and celebrate people who have been murdered for drawing pictures, then frankly the organisation is not worth the name.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I\u2019ll just take the opportunity to quote yet again <\/a>from an article published in Jyllands-Posten<\/em> in the aftermath of its publication of the original Mohammed cartoons, an article which included this phrase: \u201cYtringsfrihed er ytringsfrihed er ytringsfrihed. Der er intet men<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

The translation? \u201cFree speech is free speech is free speech. There is no but.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indeed there should not be.<\/p>\n

Jyllands-Posten<\/em> is singing a different tune these days, made all the bleaker by its bluntness.<\/p>\n

As I noted in a post<\/a> earlier this year, the newspaper declined to republish the Charlie Hebdo<\/em> cartoons after the Paris murders, saying this:<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have lived with the fear of a terrorist attack for nine years, and yes, that is the explanation why we do not reprint the cartoons, whether it be our own or Charlie Hebdo<\/em>\u2019s,\u201d Jyllands-Posten<\/em> said. \u201cWe are also aware that we therefore bow to violence and intimidation.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That sad surrender makes it all the more important that PEN America took the stand that it has, and that it has stuck with it. As for authors actually attacking PEN America for standing up for the, yes, sometimes uncomfortable principle of free expression, well\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cross-posted on the Corner Pen International is an association of writers intended both to promote literature and to defend it. In May, PEN America will be holding its annual gala, an event set to include the award to Charlie Hebdo … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":64,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[9,15],"tags":[51,434,1108],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9689"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/64"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9689"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9689\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9729,"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9689\/revisions\/9729"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9689"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9689"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9689"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}