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 Armãn
PEN Belarus
PEN Belgium (Dutch speaking)
PEN Bangladesh
PEN Canada
PEN Chile
PEN Croatia
PEN Eritrea in Exile
PEN Estonia
PEN Flanders Belgium
PEN Center of German Speaking Writers Abroad
PEN Greece
PEN Guinea-Bissau
PEN International
PEN Iraq
PEN Jordan
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
Alessandra Allen
Ammar Al-Najjar
Andrej Detela
Ankwasa Harlord
Avery Fischer Udagawa
Awet Fissehaye
Azam Abidov
Bernardus Johannes Odendaal
Bongani Kona
Brendan de Caires
Cagdas Gokbel
Caroline Collingridge
Catrina Wessels
Cecilia Hansson
Cesar Dominguez
Christine McKenzie
Decio Zylbersztajn
Dennis Haskell
Diane Alméras
D.L. Lang
Dominique Gaucher
Dr. Hanan Awwad
Dušan Gojkov
Evelyn Conlon
Fakhri Saleh
Félix Villeneuve
Fiona Graham
Firoozeh Derakhshani
Frederik Verbeke
Gaston Bellemare
Geraldine Mitchell
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
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
Laura Mandolini
Lesley Marshall
Lia Mills
Lindsay J Sedgwick
Lisa Seitz
Lissa Oliver
Lizzie Eldridge
Luis de la Paz
Majid Mirzaei
Marga Stoffe
Maria Karina A. Bolasco
Maria McManus
Marie Phillips
Marit Kapla
Masoud Amini Mostafaabad
Mattia Scarpulla
Mbongeni Khumalo
Mertkan Yılmazer
Michèle Bernard
Miquel Àngel Llauger Rosselló
Miranda Miller
Miriam Calleja Shaw
Mwaniki
Nataša Konc Lorenzutti
Nyamu
Patricia Lee
Paul Julien
Polina Sparks
Pradip Acharjee
Rae Marie Taylor
Rajesh Paul
Regula Venske
Romana Cacchioli
Ron Riddell
Sabrina Tucci
Sadikdalvi
Salah Beddiari
Salam Almohands
Santiago Villafania
Santos Hernández
Sarah Thilykou
Sigrid Bousset
Sinead Feely
Sheila Barrett
S N Johnston
Sugata Choudhuri
Taciana Niadbaj
Tanja Tuma
Theresa Danagher- Smith
Therese Kieran
Tony Mochama
Tomica Bajsic
Uthaya Sankar SB
Valerie Rauzier
Virgil Mihaiu
Viviana Fiorentino
Zeynep Oral
PEN International. (2023, October 20). PEN International Calls for Peace-Dispel all Hatreds.
https://www.pen-international.org/news/pen-international-calls-for-peace-dispels-all-hatreds