{"id":57409,"date":"2015-05-04T12:00:12","date_gmt":"2015-05-04T11:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=57409"},"modified":"2015-05-05T21:24:42","modified_gmt":"2015-05-05T20:24:42","slug":"145-pen-writers-thus-far-have-objected-to-the-charlie-hebdo-award-not-just-6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2015\/05\/145-pen-writers-thus-far-have-objected-to-the-charlie-hebdo-award-not-just-6\/","title":{"rendered":"145 PEN Writers (Thus Far) Have Objected to the Charlie Hebdo Award \u2013 Not Just 6"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"nous<\/a><\/p>\n

30 Apr 2015 – <\/em>Contrary to media accounts claiming that only 6 PEN members have objected to the group\u2019s decision to bestow Charlie Hebdo with an award<\/a>, the actual number is currently 145 PEN members (6 writers scheduled to be\u00a0table<\/em>\u00a0heads\u00a0<\/em>at this year\u2019s event have withdrawn, and the list includes writers who have served as table heads at prior events). Below is the letter drafted by several of the objecting writers, along with the current full list of signatories:<\/p>\n

* * * * *<\/p>\n

April 26, 2015<\/p>\n

In March it was announced that the PEN Literary Gala, to be held May 5th 2015, would honor the magazine Charlie Hebdo with the PEN\/Toni and James C. Goodale Freedom of Expression Courage Award in response to the January 7 attacks that claimed the lives of many members of its editorial staff.<\/p>\n

It is clear and inarguable that the murder of a dozen people in the Charlie Hebdo offices is sickening and tragic. What is neither clear nor inarguable is the decision to confer an award for courageous freedom of expression on
\nCharlie Hebdo, or what criteria, exactly were used to make that decision.<\/p>\n

We do not believe in censoring expression. An expression of views, however disagreeable, is certainly not to be answered by violence or murder.<\/p>\n

However, there is a critical difference between staunchly supporting expression that violates the acceptable, and enthusiastically rewarding such expression.<\/p>\n

In the aftermath of the attacks, Charlie Hebdo\u2019s cartoons were characterized as satire and \u201cequal opportunity offense,\u201d and the magazine seems to be entirely sincere in its anarchic expressions of principled disdain toward organized religion. But in an unequal society, equal opportunity offence does not have an equal effect.<\/p>\n

Power and prestige are elements that must be recognized in considering almost any form of discourse, including satire. The inequities between the person holding the pen and the subject fixed on paper by that pen cannot, and must not, be ignored.<\/p>\n

To the section of the French population that is already marginalized, embattled, and victimized, a population that is shaped by the legacy of France\u2019s various colonial enterprises, and that contains a large percentage of devout Muslims, Charlie Hebdo\u2019s cartoons of the Prophet must be seen as being intended to cause further humiliation and suffering.<\/p>\n

Our concern is that, by bestowing the Toni and James C. Goodale Freedom of Expression Courage Award on Charlie Hebdo, PEN is not simply conveying support for freedom of expression, but also valorizing selectively offensive material: material that intensifies the anti-Islamic, anti-Maghreb, anti-Arab sentiments already prevalent in the Western world.<\/p>\n

In our view, PEN America could have chosen to confer its PEN\/Toni and James C. Goodale Freedom of Expression Courage Award upon any of a number of journalists and whistleblowers who have risked, and sometimes lost, their freedom (and even their lives) in service of the greater good.<\/p>\n

PEN is an essential organization in the global battle for freedom of expression. It is therefore particularly disheartening to see that PEN America has chosen to honor the work and mission of Charlie Hebdo above those who not only exemplify the principles of free expression, but whose courage, even when provocative or discomfiting, has also been fastidiously exercised for the good of humanity.<\/p>\n

We the undersigned, as writers, thinkers, and members of PEN, therefore respectfully wish to disassociate ourselves from PEN America\u2019s decision to give the 2015 Toni and James C. Goodale Freedom of Expression Courage Award\u00a0to Charlie Hebdo.<\/p>\n

Chris Abani<\/p>\n

Leslie Absher<\/p>\n

Elizabeth Adams<\/p>\n

Gabeba Baderoon<\/p>\n

Deborah Baker<\/p>\n

Russell Banks<\/p>\n

Susan Bell<\/p>\n

Naomi Benaron<\/p>\n

Helen Benedict<\/p>\n

Cara Benson<\/p>\n

Charles Ram\u00edrez Berg<\/p>\n

Susan Bernofsky<\/p>\n

Eric Bogosian<\/p>\n

Donald Breckenridge<\/p>\n

Ami Sands Brodoff<\/p>\n

Karen Brown Brooks<\/p>\n

Janet Burroway<\/p>\n

Helene Cardona<\/p>\n

Peter Carey<\/p>\n

Bryn Chancellor<\/p>\n

Carmela Ciuraru<\/p>\n

Patricia Clark<\/p>\n

Tony Cohan<\/p>\n

Teju Cole<\/p>\n

Michael Cunningham<\/p>\n

Emily M. Danforth<\/p>\n

Tod Davies<\/p>\n

Siddhartha Deb<\/p>\n

Junot D\u00edaz<\/p>\n

Erin Edmison<\/p>\n

Brent Hayes Edwards<\/p>\n

Brian T. Edwards<\/p>\n

Deborah Eisenberg<\/p>\n

Hedi El Kholti<\/p>\n

Trey Ellis<\/p>\n

Eve Ensler<\/p>\n

Elizabeth Enslin<\/p>\n

Barbara Epler<\/p>\n

Jennifer Cody Epstein<\/p>\n

Ali Eteraz<\/p>\n

Percival Everett<\/p>\n

Marlon L. Fick<\/p>\n

Boris Fishman<\/p>\n

Stona Fitch<\/p>\n

Peter H. Fogtdal<\/p>\n

Se\u00e1nan Forbes<\/p>\n

Ashley Ford<\/p>\n

Linda Nemec Foster<\/p>\n

Lauren Francis-Sharma<\/p>\n

Ru Freeman<\/p>\n

Nell Freudenberger<\/p>\n

Molly Friedrich<\/p>\n

Joshua Furst<\/p>\n

Gretchen Gerzina<\/p>\n

Keith Gessen<\/p>\n

Francisco Goldman<\/p>\n

Conner Habib<\/p>\n

Jessica Hagedorn<\/p>\n

Kathryn Harrison<\/p>\n

Jonathan T. Hine Jr.<\/p>\n

Edward Hoagland<\/p>\n

Laura Hoffmann<\/p>\n

Nancy Horan<\/p>\n

Marya Hornbacher<\/p>\n

Sandra Hunter<\/p>\n

Megan Hustad<\/p>\n

Randa Jarrar<\/p>\n

Geronimo Johnson<\/p>\n

John Keahey<\/p>\n

Uzma Aslam Khan<\/p>\n

Dave King<\/p>\n

Gilbert King<\/p>\n

Robert Spencer Knotts<\/p>\n

Ruth Ellen Kocher<\/p>\n

Nancy Kricorian<\/p>\n

Amitava Kumar<\/p>\n

Rachel Kushner<\/p>\n

Amy Lawless<\/p>\n

Zachary Lazar<\/p>\n

Jonathan Lee<\/p>\n

Katherine Leiner<\/p>\n

Ted Lewin<\/p>\n

Ed Lin<\/p>\n

Michael Lindgren<\/p>\n

Julie Livingston<\/p>\n

Craig Lucas<\/p>\n

Ann Malaspina<\/p>\n

Charlotte Mandell<\/p>\n

M. Mayo<\/p>\n

Patrick McGrath<\/p>\n

Clarissa McNair<\/p>\n

Deena Metzger<\/p>\n

Thais Miller<\/p>\n

Kyle Minor<\/p>\n

Rick Moody<\/p>\n

Skye Moody<\/p>\n

Lorrie Moore<\/p>\n

Dolan Morgan<\/p>\n

James McGrath Morris<\/p>\n

Idra Novey<\/p>\n

Stephen O\u2019Connor<\/p>\n

Joyce Carol Oates<\/p>\n

Peter Orner<\/p>\n

Michael Ondaatje<\/p>\n

Raj Patel<\/p>\n

Chris Pavone<\/p>\n

Francine Prose<\/p>\n

Marcus Rediker<\/p>\n

Adam Rex<\/p>\n

Clay Risen<\/p>\n

Roxana Robinson<\/p>\n

David Roediger<\/p>\n

Paul Rome<\/p>\n

Mark Rotella<\/p>\n

Gina Ruiz<\/p>\n

Steven Schroeder<\/p>\n

Sarah Schulman<\/p>\n

Taiye Selasi<\/p>\n

Danzy Senna<\/p>\n

Kamila Shamsie<\/p>\n

Jeff Sharlet<\/p>\n

Wallace Shawn<\/p>\n

Matthew Shenoda<\/p>\n

Nancy Shiffrin<\/p>\n

Russell Shorto<\/p>\n

Charles Simic<\/p>\n

Tom Sleigh<\/p>\n

Holly Goldberg Sloan<\/p>\n

Alexis M. Smith<\/p>\n

Jill Smolowe<\/p>\n

Linda Spalding<\/p>\n

Scott Spencer<\/p>\n

Emily Gray Tedrowe<\/p>\n

Roy A. Teel Jr.<\/p>\n

Michael Thomas<\/p>\n

Ted Thompson<\/p>\n

Kathleen Tolan<\/p>\n

Joanne Turnbull<\/p>\n

Chase Twichell<\/p>\n

Padma Venkatraman<\/p>\n

Jasmine Dreame Wagner<\/p>\n

Eliot Weinberger<\/p>\n

Jon Wiener<\/p>\n

K. Wuori<\/p>\n

Dave Zirin<\/p>\n

________________________________<\/p>\n

Email the author: glenn.greenwald@theintercept.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 firstlook.org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

30 Apr 2015 – Contrary to media accounts claiming that only 6 PEN members have objected to the group\u2019s decision to bestow Charlie Hebdo with an award, the actual number is currently 145 PEN members. Below is the letter drafted by several of the objecting writers, along with the current full list of signatories.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[62],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-57409","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57409","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57409"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57409\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57409"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57409"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57409"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}