PEN Canada envisions a world where
writers are free to write,
readers are free to read,
and freedom of expression prevails
he prisoners have different motivations – some just want social contact, or to get a breath of fresh air from their normal routine – but many are sincere and want to improve their skills, get GEDs and that sort of stuff.
During the last three years, almost 100 Tibetans have committed suicide by self immolation to protest conditions under Chinese rule. The wider world has been slow to respond to these protests and reluctant to “re-examine how it [has] acquiesced to China’s Tibet policies.”
The last parliamentary budget included $8 million for the express purpose of CRA purging its rolls of charitable organizations it deemed unworthy of the status.
Jiang Weiping, journalist, dissident and PEN Canada Honorary Member spoke to OpenCanada.org about some of the challenges China’s new leadership will face.
There is a giant fish hanging over my kitchen sink. It is a salmon, carved by Nova Scotia folk artist William Roach, and for more than 20 years it has carried a decoration on its left front fin: a button reading “I am Salman Rushdie”.
PEN International’s 78th Congress in Gyeongju, Korea brought together more than 300 delegates from 80 countries to share ideas, discuss campaigns and focus on emerging challenges to freedom of expression.
Why should Canadians care about imprisoned Syrian blogger and poet Tal Al-Mallouhi? For the same reason we should care very much about Syrian president Bashar Al-Assad’s brutal crackdown on all Syrian citizens: because our relations with the Al-Assad regime helped foster the culture of impunity that is fueling today’s carnage.
But, in practice, within the public as a whole, there could be winners and losers and, ethically, that must be taken into account. What is ethical will depend on all the facts: Good facts (which can be difficult to ascertain) are essential for good ethics.
Argument based on speculation, even “very likely” speculation, is like heading down a rabbit hole.
China’s Peoples Daily Online recently declared that “the Beijing Olympic Games were widely regarded as the best ever.” China was both affirmed and emboldened by it triumphalist Games and subsequent economic ascension. It has no fear of disapproval from the international community.
Finding the Words: Writers on Inspiration, Desire, War, Celebrity, Exile, and Breaking the Rules