Highlights from #PENgala and the award to Charlie.
… Read the restNeil Gaiman @neilhimself 16 hours ago
Gerard Biard, Charlie Hebdo editor in chief, gets a standing ovation at the #PENgala. This was how his speech ended.
BGrueskin @BGrueskin 16 hours ago
“Fear is the most powerful weapon they have. We must disarm them” #CharlieHebdo #PENgalaJoel Simon @Joelcpj
Moving to see #CharlieHebdo honored at #PENgala
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The Guardian’s report on the PEN gala and the award to Charlie Hebdo is – predictably – much nastier than the Times’s. The Guardian throws them under the bus in the first sentence.
Charlie Hebdo magazine received a controversial freedom of expression award from American PEN on Tuesday night despite the vocal opposition of many of its own high-profile members.
That’s not only nasty, it’s bad writing – it sounds as if “members” of Charlie Hebdo vocally opposed the award. Hacks. But let’s focus on the nasty – they have to inform us instantly that the award is “controversial” and that many important people were vocally opposed. They have to load the dice, poison the well, frame the story.
… Read the restAccepting
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Good; that’s exactly what I was hoping for – a loud standing ovation. The New York Times reports that’s what Charlie got.
Two members of Charlie Hebdo, the French satirical magazine, took the stage to a thundering standing ovation at PEN American Center’s literary gala on Tuesday night, capping a 10-day debate over free speech, blasphemy and Islamophobia that started in the cozy heart of the New York literary world and spread to social media and op-ed pages worldwide.
Good. I was afraid the misinformed and self-righteous protesters would make enough of a dent that the reception would be shamingly, painfully tepid, which would have been dreadful.
… Read the restAccepting PEN’s award for “freedom of expression courage,” the magazine’s top editor,
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The Pen gala is just about to start. #PENgala.
… Read the restGuus Valk @apjvalk 2m2 minutes ago
PEN-voorzitter Andrew Solomon op #PENgala : “The suppression of controversial ideas does not result in social justice.” #CharlieHebdoKarin Karlekar @karinkarlekar 4m4 minutes ago
Stirring opening speech by @Andrew_Solomon at @PENamerican #PENgala on behalf of defending #freeexpression at home and abroad.Tina Susman @tinasusman 5m5 minutes ago
At #PENgala, PEN prez Andrew Solomon opens event with rousing defense of Charlie Hebdo and its “mission of satirizing sacred targets.”Electric Literature @ElectricLit 7m7 minutes ago
.@Andrew_Solomon addresses “the whale in the room.” “We defend free speech above its content.” #PENgalaRachel Zucker @rachzuck 9m9 minutes ago
“Muteness is more toxic than speech.” Andrew Solomon
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A press release from Save the Children:
The United States continues its descent in the global rankings of best and worst places for mothers, slipping to 33rd out of 179 surveyed countries, reveals Save the Children’s new report, “State of the World’s Mothers 2015: The Urban Disadvantage.” Norway rose to the top of the list, which was released today, while Somalia remained last for the second year.
32 countries do better than we do.
That could be all right – somebody has to do best, and it’s not written in the stars that it should be the US. But we’re a very rich country, so, really, if we’re that far down the table…we’re doing something wrong. Not that we … Read the rest
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According to the UN, more than 200 of the girls rescued from Boko Haram are visibly pregnant.
The UN Population Fund (UNFPA) said that 214 of the rescued girls were “visibly pregnant”, according to the International Business Times.
The online magazine said the claims followed reports that women and girls kidnapped by the insurgents were routinely raped and forced to marry their abductors.
…
Turai Kadir, who helps in the internally displaced people camps in the city, said the former hostages were “not in great condition”. “All of them are traumatised,” she added.
So that’s their lives ruined.
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Tweets from #PENfest
… Read the restSascha Freudenheim @SaschaDF 22 hours ago
The inimitable @monaeltahawy at #PENfest, @PENamerican. #Egypt #WomensRightsHarlem Stage @MyHarlemStage 3 hours ago
Come to “In and Out of Africa” w/ writers from Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, Cote d’Ivoire & more | May 9 | #PENfest http://bit.ly/1GG1c2vReinhard Lamsfuss @rlamsfuss 3 hours ago
SOS Racisme #France called #CharlieHebdo “the greatest anti-racist weekly in the country.” http://ln.is/www.thenation.com/bl/HMx7Y … #PENfestPENamerican @PENamerican 5 hours ago
“If you make the effort to understand, to really understand what the cartoon is about, you won’t be offended” —Jean-Baptiste Thoret #PENfest“We have nothing against religion. We fight against the political use of religion. That’s not the same” —Gérard Biard #PENfest #CharlieHebdo
“I must assure you
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The Guardian tells us about the people replacing the boycotters at the PEN gala this evening.
… Read the restNow award-winning fantasy novelist Gaiman, acclaimed cartoonist Bechdel, Maus creator Spiegelman, Reading Lolita in Tehran author Azar Nafisi and American author and journalist George Packer have been named as new hosts at the event, which PEN confirmed would have heightened security. French-Congolese novelist Alain Mabanckou, meanwhile, will present the award to Jean-Baptiste Thoret, the Charlie Hebdo member of staff who arrived late to work on 7 January, missing the attack that killed 12 people.
Mabanckou told the Guardian he had decided to present the award because “I’m a big reader of Charlie Hebdo, because I know that it’s not a racist magazine. I decided
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Originally a comment by veil_of_ignorance on A new way to weasel.
Two things:
(1) It was indeed absurd and cynical how Western governments (and their MENA allies including the KSA) have exploited the CH massacre for empty lip service to free speech. However, this is a common phenomenon which is not limited to CH. We see it anytime when the political agenda allows it: from Raif over Pussy Riot to Liu Xiaobo. This does not mean that those people do not deserve to be honored or are some kind of neoliberal US-imperialist fifth column. Or to inverse the argument: the fact that Edward Snowden is now best friends with Putin – not due to the latter’s universal commitment to … Read the rest
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CNN ran a solemn backgrounder piece yesterday explaining Why Islam forbids images of Mohammed aka Why images of Mohammed offend Muslims. (It has more than one title, don’t ask me why.)
(CNN) Violence over depictions of the Prophet Mohammed may mystify many non-Muslims, but it speaks to a central tenet of Islam: the worship of God alone.
No doubt it does, but so what? A central tenet of Islam may be relevant to Muslims (or it may not; it should be up to them), but it’s not relevant to anyone else. By the same token, a “central tenet” of Catholicism is not relevant to non-Catholics. It’s not even relevant to many Catholics, and it’s certainly not relevant to everyone … Read the rest
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From one of the worst piece on Charlie Hebdo and PEN to one of the best: Michael Moynihan at the Daily Beast.
On January 7, Jean-Baptiste Thoret was ambling toward the office, late for an editorial meeting—he’s a French film critic, after all—when 12 of his colleagues at the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo were being cut to ribbons by AK-47 fire. A fraternal team of semi-illiterate religious fanatics, Chérif and Saïd Kouachi, both Paris-born, casually returned to their getaway car, congratulating themselves for having avenged their aggrieved prophet. As a digestif, an accomplice was across town, preparing to murder Jewish shoppers at a kosher supermarket.
It helps to know how to write, doesn’t it, particularly on this subject. It’s … Read the rest
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Well this is a novel way to crap on Charlie Hebdo – fully seeing what’s wrong with all the cries of “racist!” from people who have no French and no knowledge of French culture and no willingness to listen to people who do – and coldly deciding to crap on Charlie anyway, because bafflegab.
It’s Joshua Furst in The Forward.
… Read the restWhen I heard that the writers Deborah Eisenberg, Teju Cole, Peter Carey, Michael Ondaatje, Rachael Kushner and Taiye Salasi had publically withdrawn from their roles as table hosts for PEN America’s annual gala in protest over the organization’s decision to award Charlie Hebdo the Freedom of Expression Courage Award, my first reaction was to cringe at the spectacle of
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A lot of Nepalese people go abroad to work, to places like Saudi Arabia and Qatar. After the earthquake, many of them very naturally wanted to go home to help family and friends. But there’s a catch…
… Read the restHundreds of thousands of Nepalese construction worker have been unable to go home, unable to check on their families and homes after last month’s massive earthquake. That’s according to the International Trade Union Confederation or ITUC. These are migrants working in Gulf states, and their jobs are controlled by a contract system that requires them to remain in the country where they’re employed for two years. Under the system of sponsorship called kefala, you can’t enter the country or leave it without
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Islamic State (IS) has said that it was behind the attack on a Prophet Muhammad cartoon contest in the US state of Texas.
It said that “two soldiers of the caliphate” carried out the attack at a conference centre near Dallas.
My first thought was to wonder why they would demand credit for such a failure.
My second thought was how stupid am I. That’s exactly what I thought about the embassy bombings, too, and it turned out to be a staggeringly stupid thing to think. The fact that one adventure goes badly means nothing. It sure as hell doesn’t mean that the next one won’t go swimmingly.
… Read the restCorrespondents say that it is
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… Read the restRencontre, lors du concert anniversaire des 30 ans de RSF, avec ces “monuments” qui ont marqué notre histoire, WU’ER KAIXI, leader du mouvement de Tiananmen, SHIRIN EBADI, Prix Nobel de la Paix 2003 et le créateur du slogan “Je suis Charlie”, JOACHIM RONCIN, le Président de RSF, ALAIN LE GOUGUEC, et l’artiste engagée JEANNE CHERHAL. Tous ont apporté leur soutien à RAIF BADAWI
A meeting, during the 30th anniversary concert for Reporters Without Borders, with these “monuments” who have marked our history: Wu’er Kaixi, leader of the Tiananmen Square movement; Shirin Ebadi, Nobel Peace Prize winner 2003; the creator of the “Je suis Charlie” slogan, Joachim Roncin; the president of RSF, Alain Le Gougec; and
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There’s a film about Taslima; it won an award. Well we can’t have that, can we.
Trinamool Congress Lok Sabha MP from Basirhat, Idris Ali has termed exiled Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen as a ‘loose charactered woman’ on Sunday.
“Taslima Nasreen is a loose charactered woman who plays the communal card. People who support her, eventually end up spreading communal tension,” said Ali. He also targeted author Salman Rushdie saying, “Rushdie was barred from entering West Bengal as this is a secular state and communal elements like him should be kept at bay.”
The communal card, for heaven’s sake. It’s Idris Ali and people like him who are doing that, not Taslima.
… Read the restThis apart, he lashed out at the
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House Republicans vote to punish the women of DC.
Late Thursday night, the House of Representatives voted in favor of “H.J.Res. 43: Disapproving the action of the District of Columbia Council in approving the Reproductive Health Non-Discrimination Amendment Act of 2014.” If enacted, the legislation would make using employer-based health insurance for in vitro fertilization or birth control pills a fireable offense in Washington, D.C.
So women can have that kind of insurance, I guess, but if they use it, they can be fired. Mind you, people can be fired for any reason or no reason anyway, but there was a law making an exception of this very thing, which the Republicans voted to overturn.
… Read the restWhen I entered the
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Padraig Reidy drew up a little list of talking points for the Garland shootings, to save everyone some effort.
Geller’s organization is racist, people have every right to this that and the other, people don’t have the right to kill.
The last two are less obvious and less invoked.
… Read the rest8. The people who attempt to shoot others for drawing cartoons do not do so in order to combat Islamophobia. If anything, they do so to encourage Islamophobia. Jihadists and Caliph-chasers have a vested interest in division between Muslims and non-Muslims
9. Well-meaning though it may be, casting jihadist attacks as a symptom of “Muslim anger” is to buy into stereotypes of Muslims as irrational and violent, and ignore the
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More on Mayweather’s history of beating up women and the way people are hiding it so that other people will pay lots of money to watch him punch a man.
… Read the restIgnore the police reports, the court records, and his own plea deals, he says into the camera lens, never an ounce of doubt on his face, because there are no pictures. It’s a cliché of Internet life—pics or it didn’t happen—and one that Mayweather has leveraged into making it okay for millions of sports fans to plunk down $100 to watch him fight Manny Pacquiao without an ounce of doubt about putting money directly in the pocket of a misogynist.
To Rachel Nichols: “Once again, no pictures.
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Originally a comment by AJ Milne on Refrain from laughter.
Philosophical documents on laughter, religious statements and mandates forbidding laughter–all these provide instructions on how and when and how hard to laugh. They designate the proper attitude one should take toward laughter, because laughter is our last “sense” to capitulate to authority…
… Imagine, then, being firmly seated in a position of authority and knowing that at any second the power to control and direct could be cut short by the lowliest peon–not with a Molotov cocktail or an Uzi automatic, but with riotous laughter…
(Barry Sanders, from Sudden Glory: Laughter as Subversive History.)
… I figure it should be entirely unsurprising, whenever ‘prophets’ or the authorities who … Read the rest
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