An eventful, challenging and exciting year is coming to an end. We want to thank all guest writers, city coordinators, supporters and partners for your fantastic work in 2014, and look forward to lots of new encounters and fruitful cooperation in the year to come. ICORN Seasons Greetings 2014. Is it illegal to be a City of Refuge? According to the Administrative Court of Falun, Sweden, the answer is yes! Their ruling came on 1st July, as two local politicians had challenged the City of Gävle’s decision to become a member of ICORN. “Membership in ICORN falls outside the local authorities’ competence” the Court concluded. Receiving a guest writer or artist might send a signal to the regime that the artist were forced to flee from, and is hence “considered to be a question of foreign affairs”, which is again considered a State matter. The City of Gävle appealed the verdict, the case is still pending and expected to be brought before for a higher Swedish court early 2015. In spite of the potentially disastrous consequences for the ICORN cities in Sweden, not to mention the guest writers hosted there, the reaction from the unanimous freedom of expression community in Sweden was as clear as it was moving: “No, we will by no means accept such a ruling. If the verdict keeps standing, we have no choice: The laws of Sweden must be changed, to be compatible with ICORN’s charter and statutes!” And contrary to any one’s expectation, in these very days, ICORN membership agreements are being signed with the Swedish cities of Karlstad, Linköping and Eskilstuna, and the region of Västra Götaland. Luckily, cities elsewhere also challenge the conclusions of the Swedish Court. When the mayors of Paris and Mexico City signed a comprehensive cooperation agreement in April 2014, the two ICORN member cities integrated their efforts to promote and protect writers at risk as a vital part of their joint ambitions. We use the occasion to congratulate Casa Refugio Mexico City with their impressive 15 years anniversary. In the midst of the current political turmoil and violence in Mexico, they continue inviting and hosting writers at risk, serving as a model and a source of inspiration to us all. The city of Oaxaca is already applying to become an ICORN member, while other cities in Mexico, Argentina and Uruguay are preparing to join. Furthermore, following an ICORN/PEN International recruitment tour this November to Ouro Preto, Belo Horizonte, Porto Alegre, Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, we see the contours of a new ICORN stronghold in Brazil. These are especially good news, since evidently; the need for shelter against oppressive regimes and violent persecutors has not decreased in 2014, rather the other way around. Almost 70 applications from writers, artists and human rights defenders from Algeria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Egypt, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Gambia, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Mexico, Pakistan, Palestine, Russia, Sudan, Syria, Turkey and Venezuela have reached the ICORN office so far this year. Behind all of them are endangered individuals who see no other solution than seeking temporary refuge, in order to save their lives and be able to continue their work and their fight for human rights and freedom of expression. Iraqi writer and journalist Nawzat Shamdin is among the 15 persecuted writers and artists who have found shelter in an ICORN member city in 2014. Surviving two assassination attempts and observing his native Mosul being invaded by ISIS, he managed to escape the persecutors and arrived safely in Ibsen’s hometown Skien with his family in March 2014. In a recent interview with Larry Siems, Nawzat gives a very strong and moving account of how it grew impossible to think and write freely in Mosul, and how the former historical and cultural capital of Iraq could fall so easily into the hands of the Islamic State. Read the interview from ICORN’s or Granta’s website, or order a free booklet copy from the ICORN office. Increasingly, we see ICORN guest writers reaching out from their exile, targeting the countries and regions they were forced to flee. Eritrean writer and journalist Dessale Berekhet serves as an illustrious example. Ever since arriving in his refuge in Bø, Norway, he has been closely monitoring the deteriorating human rights situation in Eritrea, making him an important witness when he visited and addressed the UN Universal Periodic Review on his home country in Geneva in February. In September, Dessale spoke to the PEN International World Congress in Bishkek, officially declaring the establishment of an Eritrean PEN Centre. The new centre constitutes a useful tool for Dessale and his colleagues inside and outside Eritrea, to continue and strengthen their comprehensive efforts for democracy and freedom of expression. Very well deserved, then, when he on 18 November could receive Catalan PEN’s International Free Voice Award in Palma, Mallorca. The ICORN General Assembly in Ljubljana in May was among the definitive highlights for many of us. More than 120 guest writers, coordinators, city officials and other guests came together for days and nights of fruitful discussions, exciting performances and important decisions. The city delegates decided upon an ambitious strategic plan for 2014-2018, including expanding to become a real global network, and opening up for musicians and artists to apply for refuge in ICORN safe havens. And ICORN means action: The city of Malmö has already received and welcomed its first guest musician, the “Voice of Tahrir Square” Ramy Essam, while the northern City of Harstad just weeks ago became the safe haven for the Sudanese musician and peace campaigner Abazar A. Bagi Hamad. Few cities, if any, hold similar century long traditions of hospitality and refuge for fugitive souls than the City of Amsterdam. Hence we are very glad to be able to invite you all to the joint ICORN Network meeting and PEN International WiPC conference in Amsterdam 26-28 May 2015, under the title “Creative Resistance: Stories from the Edge of Freedom.” Another writer from Mosul, Iraq, gets the last word. Since the Arab Spring broke out, Manal Al-Sheikh has been tirelessly monitoring and blogging about the developments in the Middle East from her ICORN exile. We wish her and all the other creative and courageous ICORN guest writers and artists a festive holiday season, and all possible good for 2015. Wine Gently squeeze me Slightly pour me in Do not rush up drinking me off Be patient…. Wait To get my finest spirit ever A liquor that drives half the world to fluster. Illustration by ICORN cartoonist Fadi Abou Hassan.
Posted on: Wed, 24 Dec 2014 16:52:20 +0000
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