Zunar is best known for his provocative cartoons that lampoon issues of high-level abuse of government power and corruption. His portraits are published both in books and on the Malaysiakini news website, one of the country’s few independent news publications. Malaysian police and authorities have claimed on several occasions that Zunar’s cartoons are “detrimental to public order” and run afoul of the country’s sedition law.

The latest legal threat against Zunar comes amid a government crackdown on dissent, a heavy-handed response to the long-ruling United Malays National Organization’s waning popularity and legitimacy, a theme that Zunar’s cartoons have frequently portrayed. The cartoonist has been temporarily detained twice–in 2010 and 2015–on accusations of sedition in relation to his cartoons. At least five of his cartoon books, compilations of original contents and his work previously published online, have been banned or confiscated by authorities. His Kuala Lumpur-based office and those of the printers who produce his volumes have been raided several times.

Despite these threats, Zunar continues to draw, challenging the same forces that seek to silence him. He currently faces nine counts of sedition and up to 43 years in jail in connection with nine critical tweets, including one with an embedded cartoon portrait of Prime Minister Najib Razak acting as a court judge, that he posted on February 10, 2015, in connection with a court decision to jail the country’s main opposition leader on sodomy charges. Zunar’s sedition trial is scheduled for late 2015.

Zunar is the first full-time cartoonist to receive the Committee to Project Journalists’ International Press Freedom Award. While the attack on the staff of Charlie Hebdo in Paris in January 2015 showed the risks some cartoonists face in reprisal for their work, the legal harassment Zunar endures is indicative of the type of threats that outspoken satirists contend with around the world. CPJ highlighted these threats in its 2015 report, “Drawing the Line,” in which Zunar’s cartoons and case were featured.

In 2011 and 2015, Human Rights Watch honored Zunar with its Hellman/Hammett Award. In 2011, he was also the recipient of the “Courage in Editorial Cartooning Award” by the Washington-based Cartoonist Rights Network International.

Image and text reposted from CPJ.org

Featured readers will include Israel Centeno, Kayhan Irani, Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo, and Nathalie Handal. 

The event will also feature the work of visual artists  Arahmaiani, Zunar, Owen Maseko, Chaw Ei Thein, Issa Nyaphaga and others. (Please note that artwork by Kardash Onnig will not be featured.)

Free and open to the public. Seating is limited–please RSVP

Readers:

Israel Centeno (Caracas, 1958) has published thirteen books, mostly novels, but also short fiction and poetry. His books include the novels Calletania (Monte Ávila, 1992; Periférica, 2010), Exilio en Bowery (Troya, 1998; Nuevo Espacio, New Jersey, 2000), El Complot (Alfadil, 2002), and Bajo las hojas (Alfaguara, 2010). He has published two books of short stories: El rabo del diablo y otros cuentos (Eclepsidra, 1993) and Criaturas de la noche (Alfaguara, 2000, 2011). He currently lives, with his wife and two daughters, in Pittsburgh, where until 2013 he has been Exiled Writer in Residence in City of Asylum. Sampsonia Way has published his novel The Conspiracy in an English translation by Guillermo Parra.

Nathalie Handal is the author of numerous books, most recently Poet in Andalucía; Love and Strange Horses, winner of the 2011 Gold Medal Independent Publisher Book Award; and the W.W. Norton landmark anthology Language for a New Century: Contemporary Poetry from the Middle East, Asia & Beyond. Her plays have been produced at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Bush Theatre and Westminster Abbey, London. Her poetry, stories and literary travel articles have appeared in Vanity Fair, Guernica Magazine, the Guardian, the Nation, and other publications. Handal is a Lannan Foundation Fellow, winner of the Alejo Zuloaga Order in Literature 2011, and Honored Finalist for the Gift of Freedom Award, among other honors.

Kayhan Irani was born in Bombay, India and was raised on the mean streets of Queens, NYC. She is an Emmy award winner, a Fulbright Fellow and a Theater of the Oppressed trainer.  Kayhan loves playing theater games.

Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo was born in Havana in 1971 and came to the US in March 2013. In Cuba he published the narratives Collage karaoke (2001), Empezar de cero  (2001), Ipatrias (2005) and Mi nombre es William Saroyan (2006). His novel, Boring Home, was censored by the Letras Cubanas publishing house in 2009 and then published by Garamond (Paris, 2009) and El Nacional (Caracas, 2013). In Cuba he was an independent journalist and photographer. He is the webmaster of the blogs Lunes de Postrevolución and Boring Home Utopics and the founding editor of the magazine Voces. He contributes columns to Diario de Cuba (Madrid, Spain), Sampsonia Way (Pittsburgh, Penn.), and El Nacional (Caracas). In 2014 OR Books published his anthology of new Cuban narrative writing, Cuba in Splinters.  He is a visiting fellow at Brown University for the current academic year. Restless Books will publish his book of photographs and essays, Abandoned Havana, this October.

The focus of the Arab Documentary Photography Programme is to support compelling non-stereotypical and unconventional visual documentation of important social issues and narratives relevant to the Arab region. The ADPP will also explore ways by which such a body of work will reach out to wider audiences and engage with them in a compelling and impactful ways. Photographers may propose to work in a range of non-fiction narrative styles, from classic documentary photography to more experimental visual storytelling, and may propose to include audio and video elements.

Call closing: 15 April 2014

Please consult the Grant Guidelines before applying.  http://www.arabculturefund.org/grants/special.php?id=6&section=guidelines Applications are accepted only through the online application available on the AFAC website.  http://www.arabculturefund.org/grants/special.php?id=6

Queens Museum – Open A.I.R. & fD present Kumbia Queers with Que Bajo: Redefining Cumbia, Love and Latinamericanidad

Mar 6 2014, 6:00pm – 8:00pm

An open conversation with the members of Kumbia Queers and Que Bajo regarding cumbia, gender and love in Latin America. Followed by an acoustic set by the Kumbia Queers.

Guests: Kumbia Queers (Argentina-Mexico), Gecko Jones (NYC-Colombia-Puerto Rico), and Uproot Andy (NYC-Canada)

Moderated by: Santo Padre (Mexico-NYC)

Free & Open to the Public

America is a continent marked by migration of bodies, ideas and ideals. It is a region politically divided into countries named and formed by Europeans, mostly man, mostly white or after gold. The vast richness of the continent has attracted people from all over the world for centuries, making it difficult to establish an identity that we can call our own. How does culture shape what we believe, see and hear?

Cumbia began as a slave movement in the Caribbean, and has recently been redefined and reseen by independent musicians across the world. The Kumbia Queers, Gecko Jones and Uprooot Andy are part of this redefinition.

But music is not only music, it implies politics, divisions, and struggles. The Kumbia Queers are the first band in Latin America to produce love songs from girls to girls, and the first openly queer band in the masculine domintated punk-rock scene. This has allowed a redefinition of gender, sexuality, and love as political action.

Through this off track academic presentation, we intend to discuss contemporary Latin American and American issues like womanhood, gender, and slavery.

About the Panelists:

Kumbia Queers are a group of cumbia-punk-rockers that started eight years ago in Argentina. It formed in the underground circles of Argentina, and is formed by independent punk-inspired artists. The group has become an international phenommenon that has led them to growing tours in Europe and the Americas; an edition of their first album in Japan; a documentary film to be released in Chile, and other international presentations in major festivals like Fusion (Germany) and Vive Latino (México). The seven girls that make up Kumbia Queers are also involved in other bands, and independent art movements across the world.

Gecko Jones and Uproot Andy are celebrated internationally for their cumbia production in New York. They are all part of the cultural shift provoked by the redefinition of cumbia. They have hosted Que Bajo for 5 years, a series of parties in New York hosting diverse musicians from Latin America, Africa and other regions of the world.

Santo Padre is a Mexican queerist who develops inter-American projects that allow dialogue, in hopes of democracy and freedom. She is the co-founder of agite y sirva, the traveling videodance film festival in Mexico, and is currently an honorary member of La Pocha Nostra, the performance group founded and directed by Guillermo Gomez Peña.

Co-Presenters:

This program is part of  Queens Museum’s Artists Services program, Open A.I.R. It is made possible by a generous grant from The Scherman Foundation’s Katharine S. and Axel G. Rosin Fund. Public Events at the Queens Museum are supported in part by The Kresge Foundation, Surdna Foundation, and The David Rockefeller Fund. Additional support provided by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

Founded in 2008 by Uproot Andy and Geko Jones, the NYC tropical dance party Que Bajo has been influential in changing the sound NYC nightlife. The residents’ now widely known remixes and productions mix the folkloric music of Latin America with modern electronica. Initially intended as an outlet for this new sound (often known as Tropical Bass), Que Bajo has increasingly become a showcase for an ever evolving array of new musical trends emanating from around the globe. Nominated for ‘Best Party’ in the 2010 Paper Magazine Nightlife Awards and named by Timeout NY as NYC’s Top Latin Underground Party, Que Bajo continues to host many of the young artists and DJs on the cutting edge of these new sounds. 2013 saw the launch of Que Bajo Records releasing a steady stream of remixes and club edits that give the now famous party its signature sound.

The Acquittal by Shahid Nadeem // reading directed by Dan Friedman

Saturday, February 22 at 5:00pm // Admission is free. Reservation required.
To make your reservation call 212-941-1234 or email boxoffice@allstars.org

The Castillo Theatre invites you to a reading of The Acquittal by the award-winning playwright, Shahid Nadeem, (translated from Urdu by Tahira Naqvi). The reading is being directed by Castillo’s artistic director Dan Friedman and will be held on Saturday, February 22 at 5:00 p.m.

Shahid Nadeem is considered Pakistan’s foremost playwright and is the executive director of Ajoka Theatre located in Lahore. Ajoka was recognized witt a 2012 Otto Rene Castillo Award for Political Theatre. Nadeem is a socially and politically engaged artist who was imprisoned in 1969, 1970 and 1978 for his writings and opposition to military rule. Nadeem was adopted as a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International and while he was in exile he worked for Amnesty as its International Campaign Coordinator in London and as Asia-Pacific Communications Officer in Hong Kong. Nadeem has won numerous theatre and writing awards including President of Pakistan’s Pride of Performance Award, as well as the Gursharan Singh Award for Theatre Commitment in India (2005). Nadeem is currently in the U.S. as a fellow with the National Endowment for Democracy.

The Acquittal, originally written in 1987 while Nadeem was in exile in London, is the story of four women from various social strata who find themselves in the same prison cell under General Zia-ul-Haq’s Hudood Ordinances.

The reading will be followed by a conversation with the playwright

We, the anonymous members of Pussy Riot, would like to say many thanks to all the people who have supported us, those who demanded the release of our members, those who sympathised with us and sympathised with our ideology. We are very grateful to all of you; we deeply appreciate and respect everyone who has contributed to the Pussy Riot campaign.

Our joint efforts were not in vain: Vladimir Putin had to bend under the pressure of the international community and let Nadia and Masha free. Thus, 23 December was a real celebration for us – the liberation day of prisoners of conscience and the liberation of the entire Pussy Riot.

But the amnesty is certainly not the end of our dreams. We demand real justice: that is, the complete abolition of the verdict and the recognition that the entire criminal case against Pussy Riot was illegitimate.

We hope that justice will be restored on 21 February, the anniversary of our teasing performance in Christ the Saviour Cathedral, with the song “Mother of God, put Putin away!”

We are very pleased with Masha and Nadia’s release. We are proud of their resistance against the harsh trials that befell them, and their determination by all means to continue the struggle they had started during their time in the colonies.

Unfortunately for us, they became so carried away with the problems in Russian prisons that they completely forgot about the aspirations and ideals of our group – feminism, separatist resistance, the fight against authoritarianism and personality cults, all of which caused their unjust punishment.

It is no secret that Masha and Nadia are no longer members of the group, and will no longer take part in radical actionism. Now they are engaged in a new project, as institutionalised advocates of prisoners’ rights.

But such advocacy is hardly compatible with radical political statements and provocative works of art – just as gender conformity is not compatible with radical feminism.

Institutionalised advocacy can hardly afford a critique of fundamental norms and rules that underlie modern patriarchal society. Being an institutional part of society, such advocacy cannot go beyond the rules set forth by this society.

Yes, we have lost two friends, two ideological teammates, but the world has acquired two brave human rights defenders – fighters for the rights of Russian prisoners.

Unfortunately we cannot congratulate them in person because they refuse to have any contact with us. But we appreciate their choice and sincerely wish them well in their new career.

At the moment we are witnessing an outrageous collision: even though Nadia and Masha are the focus of the media and the international community and crowds of journalists heed their every word, so far no one is listening to them.

In almost every interview they repeat that they have left the group, that they are no longer Pussy Riot, that they act in their own names, that they no longer engage in radical art activities. However, headlines are still full of the group’s name, all their public appearances are declared as performances of Pussy Riot, and their personal withdrawal from Pussy Riot is treated as the termination of the entire collective, thus ignoring the fact that, at the pulpit of Christ the Saviour Cathedral, there were not two but five women in balaclavas, and that the performance in Red Square had eight participants.

The apotheosis of this misunderstanding was the announcement by Amnesty International of Masha and Nadia’s appearance in Barclays Center in New York as the first legal performance of Pussy Riot.

Moreover, instead of the names Nadia and Masha, the poster of the event showed a man in a balaclava with an electric guitar, under the name Pussy Riot, while the organisers smartly called for people to buy expensive tickets.

All this is an extreme contradiction of the very principles of the Pussy Riot collective: we are an all-female separatist collective – no man can represent us either on a poster or in reality. We are anti-capitalist – we charge no fees for people to view our artwork, all our videos are distributed freely on the web, the spectators at our performances are spontaneous passersby, and we never sell tickets to our “shows”.

Our performances are always illegal, staged only in unpredictable locations and public places not designed for traditional entertainment. The distribution of our clips is always through free and unrestricted media channels.

We are anonymous because we act against any personality cult, against hierarchies implied by appearance, age and other visible social attributes. We cover our heads because we oppose the very idea of using female faces as a trademark for promoting any sort of goods or services.

The mixing of the rebel feminist punk image with the image of institutionalised defenders of prisoners’ rights is harmful to us as a collective, and harmful to the new role that Nadia and Masha have taken on.

Hear them finally!

Since Nadia and Masha have chosen not to be with us, please, respect their choice. Remember, we are no longer Nadia and Masha. They are no longer Pussy Riot.

The campaign “free Pussy Riot” is over. We, as an art collective, have an ethical right to preserve our art practice, our name and our visual identity, distinct from other organisations.

Image and text re-posted from Guardian.com

The Levermore Global Scholars Program is partnering with freeDimensional to bring guest speaker Ademola Bello, an international artist, to campus.

Thursday, December 5, 2:00–3:00 p.m

Location: Campbell Lounge, Room 1

About the Artist:

Ademola Bello is a Nigerian playwright, journalist, and novelist who has used his plays and dramatic writing to give a voice to oppressed communities and speak truth to power around the world. He will share his international journey, experiences, and struggles to use the arts as a tool for social change.

His play The Black Cockerel was produced in June 2009 at Out North Theatre in Anchorage, Alaska. He received a Residency to Eugene O’Neill National Playwrights Conference in Waterford, Connecticut, and also won both the Audience and Panelist Choice Awards at the Last Frontier Theatre Conference in Valdez, Alaska for his play The Blackguard Prince. His plays have enjoyed staged readings at New York Actors Studio, Lark Play Development Center, and Frederick Loewe’s Room. He has been profiled in American Theater Journal and has appeared as a guest on ESPN Outside the Lines. Mr. Bello recently finished a thriller novel titled A Prisoner from Cell 7 and is currently working on a new play entitled Change: A Comedy in Two Acts. His work has been featured in New York Amsterdam Newspaper, Anchorage Press Newspaper, Real Clear World, Encyclopedia Britannica, and The Huffington Post. He holds an M.F.A. from New York University and is completing a second master’s degree at Columbia University’s School of Journalism. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild of America and lives in Brooklyn, New York.

For more information, please contact:

Peter DeBartolo
Administrative Director
Levermore Global Scholars
p – 516.237.8627
e – pdebartolo@adelphi.edu

On November 13 & 14, fD in partnership with El Centro Cultural de Espana in Mexico is hosting a two day consultation meeting on free expression and cultural rights in Mexico and Central America. 45 representatives from the arts, culture and human rights sectors will attend the consultation to exchange experiences, issues and problems, and mechanisms of support as they relate to different forms of creative activism.

What: 2-day consultation / workshop with artists, culture workers and activists from Mexico and Central America

Why: Objectives:

• to collectively explore local/regional issues and situations of danger to artists and culture workers whose work is linked to social justice and free expression
• to collectively identify strategies for a) protection from threats in advance of a controversial cultural manifestation; b) strategies to protect the artists or culture worker from danger following actual threat or harm; c)  strategies for identifying safe havens to remove the artist or cultural worker from danger; d) creating networked support to offer legal, financial, psycho-social and other assistance; e)  creating networked support for supporting the artist or cultural workers’ continued work in the community
• to collectively adapt, re-write and own a version of freeDimensional’s ‘Advo-kit’ (a DIY manual for protecting artists and culture workers in distress) tailored to the local and regional contexts in Mexico and Central America
• to seed the development of local and regional artists safety support networks that can be activated to serving the needs of individuals and communities under threat

How:  freeDimensional uses grassroots methods to bring local partners together who have a natural complementarity yet may not normally work together to form a cross-sector support network for endangered artists and cultural workers.  Starting with a series of in-depth local visits and meetings, key actors are identified including: arts collectives, individual artists, activist groups, human rights defenders, free speech NGOs or social movements. Taking into consideration the compounded effects of varying forms of repression on identity groups such as LGBT, women, indigenous peoples, youth or others, follow up consultation meetings highlight the issues, topics and themes relevant to the local situation and create a space for participants to brainstorm local/regional options, possibilities and safety mechanisms.  This inclusive process aims to connect and catalyze a regional network inclusive of artists, culture workers, journalists, human rights defenders, social justice movements, indigenous communicators, arts educators, etc. that can be mobilized to deliver holistic support to those who need it.  At the end of the process, a tangible deliverable will be a version of fD’s Creative Safe Haven Advo-kit adapted and re-worked to directly address culture worker safety and readiness in relation to local and regional contexts.

Check in for updates to follow.

Press Release: 30 October 2013

Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) is encouraged by the decisions passed on Wednesday 30 October 2013 by the Constitutional Court in two constitutional matters brought before it challenging the constitutionality of some offensive provisions of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act.

In the case of Mr Tendai Danga, the Constitutional Court struck off the matter from the court roll after the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) withdrew the charges preferred against the Bulawayo resident. Tendai Danga faced charges of undermining authority of or insulting President Robert Mugabe in contravention of Section 33 (2) (a) (ii) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act (Chapter 9:23) in a matter that commenced more than two years ago.

The State, represented by Mr Uladi from the NPA was quick to concede that the facts in the original matter did not disclose the offense of insulting the President.

This prompted Deputy Chief Justice Luke Malaba to issue a stern warning to the NPA to review similar cases and to ensure that only deserving cases were brought to the Constitutional Court. He admonished the NPA against prosecuting matters in which statements were uttered in drinking halls and other social places, as the pursuit of such frivolous matters only served to bring disrespect on the Office of the President.

This comes in the wake of close to 80 similar cases which are currently pending before the Constitutional Court and other subsidiary courts of the land. Since 2010, there has been a dramatic increase in the arbitrary application of Section 33 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act (Chapter 9:23), where individuals have been charged with allegedly “insulting or undermining the authority of the President”.

Prosecutors had claimed that Danga, who was represented by Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, had questioned the integrity of the Zanu PF leader as President of the Republic of Zimbabwe.

In the other matter, the Constitutional Court on Wednesday 30 October 2013 declared as unconstitutional Sections 31 (a) (iii) and 33 (a) (ii) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act (Chapter 9:23) as they were in contravention of Sections 20 (1), 19 (1) and 18 (1) of the former Constitution of Zimbabwe.

In a unanimous decision in the matter of Owen Maseko v the Attorney General, SC60/11, the Constitutional Court granted a consent order stating that the State represented by Mr Chris Mutangadura of the NPA had not shown that Sections 31 (a) (iii) and 33 (a) (ii) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act (Chapter 9:23) are not in contravention of Sections 20 (1), 19 (1) and 18 (1) of the former constitution.

In an order handed down by DCJ Malaba, the highest court asked Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa to appear before the highest court on 20 November 2013 to show cause why Sections 31 (a) (iii) and 33 (a) (ii) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act (Chapter 9:23) should not be declared to be in contravention of Sections 20 (1), 19 (1) and 18 (1) of the former Constitution of Zimbabwe.

Maseko, who was also represented by ZLHR, petitioned the Constitutional Court seeking an order to declare as unconstitutional laws infringing on artists’ rights to free expression and freedom of conscience, particularly freedom of thought as guaranteed in the Constitution. The visual artist was arrested in March 2010 and charged with contravening Sections 31 (a) (iii) and 33 (a) (ii) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act (Chapter 9:23) for staging an exhibition in Bulawayo depicting the 1980s Matabeleland massacres known as Gukurahundi carried out by a crack military unit on the instructions of the government. Maseko was accused of undermining the authority of or insulting the President and causing offence to persons of a particular race or religion. His exhibition, which showcases paintings that explored the torture and massacres that characterized the civil unrest known as Gukurahundi, was forcibly shut down.

For more information visit: www.zlhr.org.zw

Image reposted from TheGuardian.com

Arts/Rights/Justice Working Group presents UN Special Rapporteur on Cultural Rights Report on The Right to Freedom of Artistic Expression & Creation – October 2 – Brussels

The presentation of the UN Report, “The Right to Freedom of Artistic Expression and Creation” at the European Parliament in Brussels on 2^nd October 2013, from 11:30-14:30 in the Paul Henri Spaak Building, Room P5B001.  Presenting the report will be its author, Mme Farida Shaheed, UN Special Rapporteur in the field of Cultural Rights.

The United Nations established the UN Special Rapporteur in 2009. Ms. Farida Shaheed’s UN Special Report was formally presented to the UN on 31st May 2013. The EU Working Group on Arts and Human Rights (ARJ)* invites members of the European Parliament and the European Commission, selected foundations, NGOs, artists and experts to join in the discussion.  A copy of the Report can be found here.

 
The European Parliament already recognises artists as a category of human rights defenders. Recent highly visible events such as the incarceration of the Chinese visual artist Ai Wewei or of the Russian music group Pussy Riot have brought the vulnerability of artists to the public eye. Indeed, discussions about artists as human rights defenders have taken place relatively recently in the European Parliament and the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights. Artists are an ‘early and easy target’ for governments seeking to increase repression. Closer to home, we see increasing numbers of cases in Members and candidates of the EU. From censorship to beatings, imprisonment and death we have documented stories of the silencing of artists who wish to highlight injustice through song, writing or image.

Freedom of expression is the cornerstone for protecting artists. States that inhibit freedom of expression often curtail other related human rights: freedom of association, freedom of assembly or the right to gather with others, freedom of association or the right to join unions or professional associations, freedom of movement or the right to travel in and outside the country, the right to access information, the right to defend a cultural identity.