MCLC: book fair supporting censorship (1)

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: martin winter (dujuan99 at gmail.com)
Subject: book fair supporting censorship (1)
***********************************************************

Yes, it's good there is some debate. I just read the article in The
Guardian by Richard Lea again, with the online comments. When you see the
words "lifted out of poverty by the CCP", is it really worth reading on?
But yes, the situation in China is very complicated. That guy should read
some Chinese literature before he opens his mouth. But he mentioned
Orwell's 1984, and Margaret Atwood is there at the bottom of the Guardian
page, because she pulled out of a Dubai book fair in 2009 in solidarity
with banned writers. I wrote a blog post about Liao Yiwu, banned and other
writers, 1984, The Handmaid's Tale etc. last month:

http://erguotou.wordpress.com/2012/03/06/liao-yiwu-in-taiwan-america-europe
/

Someone sent me the letter below yesterday, thought it would be worth
forwarding.

 
Martin

=========================================================

Open Letter to the British Council on the London Book Fair
April 15, 2012

Dear Madams/Sirs

It has come to our attention that for this month¹s London Book Fair that
you have invited the Administration of Press and Publication of the
People¹s Republic of China (GAPP-PRC), which has long banned the works
written by a large number of dissident writers, among them Dr. Liu Xiaobo,
laureate of the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize and the former and honorary
president of Independent Chinese PEN Centre. The GAPP-PRC has carefully
selected 181 publishers and 31 official writers to present its own
achievement in government-approved and censored literatures.

In order to give English authors and readers a broader understanding of
the situation of Chinese literature and Chinese writers, we would like to
name only a few writers whose works ave been completely banned and who had
to serve in prison for their writings in China. Like Liu Xiaobo, they have
lost their freedom to write as well as their personal freedom, which is
why we believe they need all more the support from the British Council. We
hope that through your support to introduce, cite and spread their
literary works - fiction, verse and prose, as well as their writings which
have been labelled and condemned as crimes - to their British colleagues
and the British public. Among them are many PEN members and honorary PEN
members, including the literary critic and poet Liu Xiaobo, presently
serving his 11-year imprisonment, and his wife Liu Xia, a poet who has
been held under house arrest for a year and a half; Zhu Yufu, a writer
recently sentenced to seven years in prison mainly for a poem he wrote
after his release from a 9-year imprisonment; Yang Tongyan(aka Yang
Tianshui), a novelist and poet serving his 12-year sentence in jail after
a previous 10-year imprisonment; Shi Tao, a journalist and poet serving
his 10-year imprisonment; Nurmuhemmet Yasin, an Uighur novelist and poet
serving his 10-year imprisonment; Tan Zuoren, an environmentalist and
writer serving his 5-year imprisonment; Zhang Jianhong (aka Li Hong), a
poet and novelist who died soon after his release on medical parole after
suffering complete paralysis due to his stay in prison; Dr. David Tsui
(aka Xu Zerong), an Oxford scholar who was released last year after
serving 11 years in prison; Yu Jie, an author who has been forced to take
asylum in the United States this year after he was silenced by brutal
beatings and tortures for his book for a period of over one year; Liao
Yiwu, a poet and author who has been forced into exile in Germany last
year; Zhou Qing, a writer of Munich City whose works have been banned in
China; Jiao Guobiao, a Beijing-based author whose works have been banned
in China, Ma Jian, a London-based novelist, and Bei Ling, a Germany-based
poet and publisher, both of whom were denied entry to China last year, and
many others. Particularly, we wish British and international writers and
visitors of the London Book Fair to hear the voice of Ms. Woeser, a
Tibetan writer restricted at her home in Beijing, to help the general
public understand the tragic events of continuous and large-scale
self-immolations in Tibet, while dozens of Tibetan writers and scholars
who have raised their voice about the political situation in Tibet, have
been imprisoned there, including Domal Kyab, Tashi Rabten, Jangtse Donkho,
Buddha, Kalsang Jinpa, Dokru Tsultrim, Kunchok Tsephel Gopey Tsang and
Kunga Tseyang. In PEN¹s case lists alone there are over 40 writers
imprisoned in China for their writings.

The British Council has emphasized that the Chinese writers are being
invited for their writings in and about China, in order to broaden the
understanding of Chinese literature in Britain and to promote cultural
exchange between the two countries. We cannot but ask: to understand
Chinese literature, should the British people rely on the recommendations
by the Chinese government alone? Is there no need to learn about the
authors who will never be able to get a recommendation from the government
and whose works have been banned in China? Should Václav Havel have been
ignored because he was imprisoned while his works had been banned by the
former Czechoslovakian authorities? Should Joseph Brodsky¹s creations not
have been considered a part of Russian literature when he was jailed in
the former Soviet Union or after he was forced into exile? Should Sir
Ahmed Salman Rushdie no longer be able to promote cultural exchange
between the United Kingdom and India? We believe that such a view, which
the British Council is now running the risk of emphasizing, is unfair to
the many writers who have been banned, imprisoned in, or exiled from
China. London is the birthplace of PEN International. It is in the British
tradition of humanism to be concerned about all the writers who are
politically persecuted and to promote their release from prison. It is on
this basis that we sincerely request the British Council to draw attention
to the situation of the writers whose works are banned in China.

We have also noted that you are using the term "Chinese literature". As
the official, government approved writers generally represent the
government, the official literature allowed by GAPP-PRC is only a very
limited part of Chinese literature, mainly representing so-called
"socialist literature with Chinese characteristics". It cannot but reflect
far less than a full view of Chinese literature. Chinese literature must
include independent literature, beyond official censorship and banning,
heretical literature, underground literature, prison literature and exile
literature. Therefore, please do not support the Chinese government¹s
GAPP-PRC¹s misleading presentation for British authors and readers.

A society where writers have lost their human rights and professional
freedom under the conditions restricted by their government is not a free
society. If the British Council wishes to promote an authentic cultural
exchange in a free and civilized way, please do not disregard the
independent writers whose works are dedicated to shaping a Chinese civil
society, especially those who has lost freedom and whose works have been
banned by GAPP-PRC to present at the Book Fair.

We are looking forward to hearing from you.
Kind regards,

Signed by 

Independent Chinese PEN Centre
German PEN Center
Center PEN Swiss Romand
San Miguel PEN Center
Portuguese PEN Center
PEN The Netherlands
Lithuanian PEN Centre
Sydney PEN Center
PEN Centre for German-speaking Writers Abroad
PEN Canada
Centre Québécois du PEN
Uyghur PEN Center
PEN Esperanto, Writers in Prison Committee (WiPC)
PEN Flanders Center, Board member Geertrui Daem, head of WiPC Xavier
Roelens, members Prof. Joris Gerits, Frank De Vos and Hilde Keteleer
Dr. Bashabi Fraser, Edinburgh Napier University, Member of Scottish PEN
Center
Ulrich Schreiber, Director of International Literature Festival, Berlin
Prof. Gereon Sievernich, Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin
Beijing Spring
Qi's Cultural Foundation
Tendency Inc. (Publisher, Taiwan)
Trieste PEN Centre
Hong Kong Journalists Association
China Eweekly (Initiatives for China)
For more information, contact
Independent Chinese PEN Center (ICPC)

1) Tienchi Martin-Liao, President,
Tel: +49 176 5472 3721
<applewebdata://8C3123C3-A693-4A40-81E8-9FE7918A8F8F>, +49-176 5472 3721(m)
email: tienchimartin at gmail.com
<applewebdata://8C3123C3-A693-4A40-81E8-9FE7918A8F8F>
2) Patrick Poon, Executive Secretary
Tel: +852-94173765 <applewebdata://8C3123C3-A693-4A40-81E8-9FE7918A8F8F>
email: poonkarwai at gmail.com
<applewebdata://8C3123C3-A693-4A40-81E8-9FE7918A8F8F>
3) Yu Zhang, Coordinator of Press & Translation Committee
Tel: +46-8-50022792 <applewebdata://8C3123C3-A693-4A40-81E8-9FE7918A8F8F>
email: yuzhang08 at live.se
<applewebdata://8C3123C3-A693-4A40-81E8-9FE7918A8F8F>,
icpc.members at gmail.com
<applewebdata://8C3123C3-A693-4A40-81E8-9FE7918A8F8F>
Websites: http://www.chinesepen.org/english and http://www.liuxiaobo.eu/