Ongoing Repressions of Women Writers ; and Appeals

by C Murray Thu Jan 24, 2008 11:13

Elif Shafak, mentioned above in the post has an interesting Wiki. Guardian covered extensively
the almost imprisonment of Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk and even put some nice pics of men
up ,when they disected /covered the notorious 'Insult Laws'. (publisher trial)

Nothing , however on how Shafak was treated when she published a book in which one
of her characters discusses the Armenian Massacre.

Amnesty :- http://www.amnesty.org/en/report/info/EUR44/003/2006

Wiki on Shafak :- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elif_Shafak

(The discussion on 301 is under the heading :' The Bastard of Istanbul and Criminal
Prosecution in Turkey'.)

http://www.armeniapedia.org/index.php?title=Elif_%C5%9Eafak

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Orhan Pamuk:- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orhan_Pamuk

http://www.indymedia.ie/article/79042

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Shafak"s Criticism of the Insult Laws as 'Ultra-Nationalism' and the movement of government
into Art and literature is quite interesting.

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Currently PEN are fighting a case on the UK Government and the Blasphemy Laws
which undermine freedom of expression and are in breach of Article 10 of the ECHR:-

http://www.indymedia.ie/article/85600

Rushdie's Words on Blasphemy:' If There is a God, he certainly does not need
the protection of the British Legal system, If there isn't, he doesn't need it either,
there is therefore no excuse for preserving the offence of blasphemous libel
and it should be abolished'.

(how close ultra-nationalism and religious oppression and censorship have become.)

by C Murray Thu Jan 24, 2008 12:20

forgot to add in the link:-

http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/listinfo/imc-women

The chat thing is:- http://chat.indymedia.org

the girls at indy womyn will direct anyone with a bit of interest into the organising/feminist/tech
groups from there.

The online meetings aren't really regular, but the lists are interesting from the point of
view of looking at women and tech, many of the writers are on other lists too and meet
online at irregular intervals.

by C Murray Mon Jan 28, 2008 10:58

The IFEX group who have worked very hard on the issue of freedoms and grown considerably
since inception carry updates on most of the above cases of repression of communicators
artists and writers.

They have been working with AMARC on Community Radio Access in Oaxaca, Mexico
(amongst other campaigns).

They have affiliates globally including In Ireland.

This is the Cartoon Affiliate group:-

http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/23221

CRNI

Imagine political cartoonists facing four year sentences in Turkey cos they did an unflattering
portrait of a politico?

http://www.artnewsblog.com/2007/09/artist-facing-prison...y.htm
Elif Shafaf: http://www.indymedia.ie/article/85907

Ireland:- http://www.indymedia.ie/article/76354

Steve Bell images over 2007 [in pics]

Satirists and Artists reserve the right to take the piss out of our governments and the
media, its an accepted freedom of expression .

This cartoonist faced two years, two more are looking at four years

Steve Bell

Cartoonist's Rights Network image

another bell

by C Murray Tue Mar 04, 2008 18:38

"International PEN Writers in Prisons Committee is calling on it's members to protest the
restrictions imposed on Zeng Jiynan, Tsering Woeser, and Li Jianhong, and are demanding
that they be allowed to live and work freely in accordance with article 19 of the International
Covenant on civil and political rights, to which China is a signatory".

The restrictions on the women include:

Harassment, brief detentions, house arrest, travel restrictions, loss of work, denial of access
to communications , heavy surveillance and censorship.

Zeng Jinyan- human rights activist and internet writer. under house arrest since
December 2007. accused of inciting subversion. She has a three month old baby.
Her husband is an environmental and AiDS activist.

Tsering Woeser- Tibetan writer and poet, born Lhasa in 1966. He books include:
Tibet above, Notes on Tibet. Her two Weblogs have been shut down, she is unemployed and
her movement is restricted.

Li Jianhong: 'XIao Qiao'. activist in freedom of press and political dissident.
she has suffered multiple periods of house arrest and harassment.

There is Wiki on the women, and the campaign letters and pics will be linked
in at a later stage.

contact: cathy.mccann@internationalpen.org.uk

appeals: His Excellency Hu Jintao
President of the People's Republic of China
State Council
Beijing 100032
P.R China.

The link to the women's bios and sample writing can be obtained from the
email address above.

Women Writers Committee

by Sri Padma Wed Mar 05, 2008 02:24

Brilliant article and work as usual C. We've been lulled by the success of Women's Lib struggle for so long. But the successes seem to be increasingly thwarted more and more; as more and more men can't take the challenges of women being completely liberated and getting equal especially in the non-western culture. Thus why in Islam for example, women are increasingly denied their liberation and equality through opportunistic male-constructed laws that suddenly appear out of the blue such as the increasing forcing of young female girls to wear the veil from young age!

by - Sun Mar 30, 2008 11:54

another two years in prison;-

http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/spectrum/Mightier-...16.jp

a few women have gone to prison too, cf comments above.

http://www.scottishpen.org
http://www.scottishpen.org/default.aspx?id=286&n=223&cid=0