PEN Afrikaans, with the support of PEN International, presented a panel discussion on the multilingual poetry anthology ConVerse at Tuin van Digters (Garden of Poets), an annual poetry festival hosted by the Breytenbach Centre in Wellington.
“Under no circumstances should writers have to fear retribution in the form of physical violence in any manner or form. Such reprehensible threats have no place in a society that values freedom of expression as a constitutional right.”
“Violence and senseless killing amounts to the most serious attack on the freedom and respect owed to all human beings who should be allowed to express themselves freely in their daily lives, not least of all writers and all who cherish the value of the written word in expressing the full scope of human experience.”
“PEN Afrikaans supports press freedom and acknowledges the watchdog role of the media as a vital part of a healthy democracy.”
PEN Afrikaans and PEN South Africa strongly object to the proposed cancellation of additional TV news bulletins in other indigenous South African languages on SABC News (DStv channel 404) from 1 April 2015.
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