PEN International Calls for Peace-Dispel all Hatreds
Image: Sandra_M (Shutterstock)
20 October: In the third decade of the 21st Century humans are able to see into the furthest reaches and most distant times of the universe. We can produce literature, art and music of extraordinary resonance and subtlety. And yet, almost every day in the world we are faced with escalating barbarism, mostly directed against our closest neighbours. Vicious conflicts are currently affecting the whole world.
“PEN respects and defends the dignity of all human beings. PEN opposes injustice and violence wherever they are found, including oppression, colonisation, illegal occupation and terrorism.” Bled Manifesto of PEN International’s Writers for Peace Committee.
Revenge killing, acts of terrorism and retaliation against civilians can never be justified, however passionate the cause or sense of grievance. Any such acts remain an affront to humanity. Atrocity merely provokes more atrocity. Some of its perpetrators know this and find glory in their ability to sow carnage. In doing so they relinquish any claim to sympathy. Their wish to control territory is no excuse for cruelty and repression.
The behaviour of a depressingly large number of governments makes a mockery of United Nations ideals and commitments to which they have signed up to. When members of the Security Council openly flout its purpose, the world can only mourn their vain irresponsibility. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is at risk not only from such governments, who regard its provisions as optional, but from those resistance forces that believe that their cause justifies butchery. Neither are legitimate. Nobody will survive if we spend this century squabbling over inaccurate readings of history, spurious ideas of nationalism and chauvinistic and intransigent demands about names, territorial boundaries, and flags.
“PEN acknowledges that it is of primary importance to be permanently committed to creating conditions that can lead to ending conflicts of all kinds. There is neither freedom without peace, nor peace without freedom; social and political justice is inaccessible without peace and freedom.” Bled Manifesto of PEN International’s Writers for Peace Committee
PEN International reaffirms the ethical imperative of placing the rights of people at the centre of any action by governments or their adversaries.
To sign up onto this statement, please click here.
Signatures
Cuba in Exile
Danish PEN
English PEN
German PEN
Independent Chinese PEN Center
Iranian PEN in exile
Irish PEN
Kurdish PEN Center
New Zealand PEN
Nicaragua in exile
PEN Afrikaans
PEN Argentina
PEN Armãn
PEN Belarus
PEN Belgium (Dutch speaking)
PEN Bangladesh
PEN Bosnia and Herzegovina
PEN Cambodia
PEN Canada
PEN Chile
PEN Croatia
PEN Eritrea in Exile
PEN Estonia
PEN Esperanto
PEN Flanders Belgium
PEN Center of German Speaking Writers Abroad
PEN Greece
PEN Guadalajara
PEN Guinea-Bissau
PEN International
PEN Iraq
PEN Japan
PEN Jordan
PEN Malaysia
PEN Melbourne
PEN Myanmar Centre
PEN Palestine
PEN Philippines
PEN Québec
PEN Romania
PEN Slovene
PEN South Africa
PEN Sweden
PEN Turkey
PEN Uganda
Perth Centre
San Miguel PEN
Scottish PEN
Slovenski Center PEN
Alannah Hopkin
Alenka Jensterle Doležal
Alenka Spacal
Alessandra Allen
Ammar Al-Najjar
Andrej Detela
Ankwasa Harlord
AnnaMaria Weldon
Arnulfo Eduardo Velasco
Avery Fischer Udagawa
Awet Fissehaye
Azam Abidov
Bernardus Johannes Odendaal
Bongani Kona
Brane Mozetič
Brendan de Caires
Cagdas Gokbel
Caroline Collingridge
Catrina Wessels
Cecilia Hansson
Cesar Dominguez
Chiara Maria Macconi
Christine McKenzie
Csilla Toldy
Darinka Kozinc
Dave Duggan
Decio Zylbersztajn
Dennis Haskell
Deric Ee
Diane Alméras
D.L. Lang
Dominique Gaucher
Dragica Čarna
Dr. Hanan Awwad
Dušan Gojkov
Evelyn Conlon
Fadi Al-Qadi
Fahmi Mustaffa
Fakhri Saleh
Fazilat Kariyeva
Félix Villeneuve
Fiona Graham
Firoozeh Derakhshani
Frederik Verbeke
Gaston Bellemare
Geraldine Mitchell
Germán Rojas
Gino Leineweber
Gioconda Belli
Glorjana Veber
Gregory Dinner
Hakan Yaman
Imam Beytullah Colak
Isabelle Rossaert
Jahangir Alam Rustom
Jay Caspar
Jamie O'Halloran
Jane Clarke
Jennifer Clement
Jennifer Zoble
Jesús Montero
Jørgen Christian Wind Nielsen
Juana Semiramis Guillen Barrientos
Juanmaría G. Campal
Judyth Hill
Kamran Mir Hazar
Karen Soltan
Kätlin Kaldmaa
Kavyan Writers Group (Malaysia)
Krishna Sen
Lalita Sinha
Laura Mandolini
Lee Xuan Chun
Lesley Marshall
Lia Mills
Lindsay J Sedgwick
Lisa Mullenneaux
Lisa Seitz
Lissa Oliver
Lizzie Eldridge
Luis de la Paz
Luis G Collazo
Maja Vidmar
Majid Mirzaei
Marga Stoffe
Maria Karina A. Bolasco
Maria McManus
Marie Phillips
Marit Kapla
Marilyn Hacker
Marjolijn de Jager
Masoud Amini Mostafaabad
Mattia Scarpulla
Maximillia Muninzwa
Mbongeni Khumalo
Menna Elfyn
Mertkan Yılmazer
Michèle Bernard
Milan Jazbec
Miquel Àngel Llauger Rosselló
Miranda Miller
Miriam Calleja Shaw
Miyuki Saito
Monika Zagar
Mwaniki
Nataša Konc Lorenzutti
Nici Beech
Nyamu
Ottilie Mulzet
Patricia Lee
Paul Julien
Polina Sparks
Pradip Acharjee
Rae Marie Taylor
Rahshona Ahmedova
Rajesh Paul
Regula Venske
Rene Liebenthal
Rocio Duran-Barba
Rogelio Braga
Romana Cacchioli
Ron Riddell
Sabrina Tucci
Sadikdalvi
Salah Beddiari
Salam Almohands
Sandra Smith
Sanja Pregl
Santiago Villafania
Santos Hernández
Sarah Thilykou
Satoshi Gunji
Sigrid Bousset
Simon Mundy
Simon Robinson
Sinead Feely
Shahzod Kenjaev
Shauna Gilligan
Sheila Barrett
Shuriya Farzana
S N Johnston
Sugata Choudhuri
Susanna Lang
Taciana Niadbaj
Tanja Tuma
Tere Davila
Theresa Danagher- Smith
Therese Hicks
Therese Kieran
Tony Mochama
Tomica Bajsic
Toyanath Ghimire
Uthaya Sankar SB
Valerie Rauzier
Virgil Mihaiu
Viviana Fiorentino
Zedeck Siew
Zeynep Oral