Showing posts with label freedom of speech. Show all posts
Showing posts with label freedom of speech. Show all posts

UEL PEN 2015 - Setting The Tone

Posted: Friday, 16 October 2015 by Unknown in Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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Hello and welcome to a new year of UEL English PEN, the final straw that broke the back of student apathy on campus. At our first official meeting (and chance to swap summer stories) we opened the floor to our members, new and old, to have a discussion about the direction that UEL PEN will take this year. In between some incredible poetry from our feature act Spike Zepheniah Stevenson and host of talented open mic’ers, we concluded that through its social media and regular poetry readings, UEL PEN will be a hub for engaged students to organise, learn, and rejuvenate, providing an online and offline space for blistering poetry, challenging debate, and active organising and campaigning.

In the face of increased pressures on students from our overtly financially driven university, to the genuinely Orwellian on-campus thought-policing and physical policing sanctioned by Conservative governmental policy, UEL PEN aims to battle back against the creeping attacks on fundamental freedoms students are supposed to have at university. We believe that our students should feel free to exercise their freedoms to write and read without university officials looming overhead who will be forced to report students who are “vocally or actively opposing fundamental British values” under the government’s new Prevent programme. Apart from the obvious reasons of being unimplementable, lamentable and widely accepted by education professionals to be a threat to independent thought, Prevent presumes that “British values” are anything but subjective, and formed in the public consciousness, which as any student will tell you, is not one codified viewpoint.    
 
Students should even feel safe in their right to offend with free speech, while wilfully misattributing the well-known aphorism “I disagree with what you say, but I defend to the death your right to say it” to Voltaire, and thus offending humanities lectures the world over. Freedom of speech is not a political or legislative game to be played out by politicians, vice-chancellors and assorted middle-management others, it is the bedrock of a worthwhile education and fulfilling university experience. When the Home Secretary proudly proclaims at a gathering of the party of government, “Students, yes, overstayers, no, and the universities must make this happen”, it implies that these institutions, apparently grounded in the pursuit of knowledge and self-betterment, may be forced to act upon this government’s worst political scapegoating tactics. Apart from being clearly detrimental to students, the xenophobic positions of Tory party policy (in reference to migration and counter-extremism especially) will disproportionately affect international students in a number of ways, and unless Theresa May clarifies the vague wording of her speech, international students (who can be categorised as economic migrants) may face effective deportation at the end of their degrees. UEL PEN will fight for cohesion and community on campus, where a diverse group of students is essential to any real university experience.

Right, now that my anti-governmental rant is out of the way, back to UEL PEN updates! On September 25th we held our first open mic event of the year, “UEL PEN: Set The Tone” at the UELSU, with over 40 dedicated listeners who may or may not have been there primarily for free pizza, but definitely reaped the benefits of experiencing our feature act, poet and illustrator Spike Zepheniah Stevenson who read and sung a selection of poems dealing with everything from our reliance on ever-atomising technology, and the never-ending stream of iPhones (“Technophobe”), to “Drawing A Crowd” where Spike sketched our wonderful audience while introducing himself in flawlessly uptempo rap, with ad-libbed lines for added effect. As always, our open mic'ers surprised, inspired and brought their best. Alongside original pieces, we had a reading of Sarah Kay’s legendary spoken word piece “If I Had A Daughter” that brought some screw-faces and odd noises of approval from the crowd, in between the tears of course. 

Lastly, since this is being posted on Blog Action Day 2015, we’d like to take this opportunity to vocalise our support for Raif Badawi, joint recipient of the PEN Pinter Prize 2015, and imprisoned blogger in Saudi Arabia. First arrested in June 2012, Raif Badawi has been fined £175,000, sentenced to 10 years in prison and 1000 public lashings, for insulting Islam and founding a liberal website, Free Saudi Liberals. He is currently still in prison, his second bout of public flogging has been repeatedly postponed after his health has seriously deteriorated. As part of English PEN, we continue to call for Badawi's sentence of flogging to be overturned immediately, as well as for his conviction to be quashed and for him to be released unconditionally.

Onwards and upwards,
Peace,

UEL PEN

 


  

Atheistic Freedom of Speech in Educational Institutions

Posted: Friday, 11 April 2014 by Unknown in Labels: , , , , , , ,
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­­"We're having a religious related talk, at about 4 pm, do you wanna join?"

We all exchanged looks and shook our heads at the same time. "Sorry mate," one of us said, "we're not religious."

His face dropped for a second, but then his smile was back. "Right, right, sure thing! Sorry for bothering!"
No pushing; no trying to convince us; no telling us we should find God or faith. Respectfully backing down from our group. Key word: respect.

In this world burning with hatred, consumerism, emotional scarring, and unstable powers radiating more than a burnt out supernova, where do you find respect? You don't always find it walking down the street, or with peers. You tend to grasp it and then someone says something about your beliefs, your gender, your sexuality – or lack thereof – and it's gone.

Some time ago, the non-religious students from the London South Bank University’s Atheist Society put up a modified version of Michelangelo’s iconic “Creation of Adam”. The piece featured the Flying Spaghetti Monster, the “deity” of the eponymous Church. According to The Independent, the installation “came about as a humorous response to the teaching of intelligent design in American schools in 2005”. The poster was taken down for being “religiously offensive”.

Freedom of expression, right? Respect for other people’s beliefs, right? Well, no, it seems.
It is absolutely fine, even encouraged, to stick traditionally religious posters up. It’s alright to invite people to talks about religion. It’s alright for people to chastise their peers for engaging in sexual intercourse before marriage, and justify it with “it’s a sin, you will be punished”. It’s alright for people to sneer at a satirical representation of prophets – not even offensive, just a pamphlet of sorts. It’s okay to express yourself however you want.

Except it’s not; not when it is not in line with the standard religious practices. So, someone handing out religious texts and books, even when you explain you don’t want one – is acceptable. Photoshopping a satirical deity on the image of a fresco is condemnable and should be punished.

There is a shameless expression of double standards pummelling people everywhere. In an ever-shifting, adapting, struggling-to-be-kind world, how can we still rely so much on oppression? An allegedly welcoming city such as London should not have these problems.

Ideally, no place in the world should have this problem, but it is beyond unattainable. So, one would argue, let’s start with a smaller, ‘democratic’ part of the world. Let’s teach it, let’s nourish it and most of all, let’s reinforce it time and again. In theory, anyway. In practice, things are different. In practice, I would be sneered at for my lack of belief. I would be asked to bring forward tangible paperwork to prove evolution (I have been asked that before and laughed endlessly.)

If universities can’t provide a safe environment for their students to express beliefs, as well as themselves, what else have we got? Usually, a little after essential formative years, yet not fully moulded adults, this is a time to allow ourselves to shape our identities further. Oppressing us will do nothing else than function as a prime example of reverse psychology. Foucault phrases it as such: "Where there is power, there is resistance [...]”

Universities: allow your students to think and choose for themselves. Allow them to put the Flying Spaghetti Monster up. You allow them to put Jesus up. It’s a belief. It’s a conviction, and it’s a choice.

There has been great progress in allowing people to declare and stand by their gender, their sexuality, etc. Yes, religious issues go back in time. Yes, it is difficult to make a point in a country that is still ambiguous about its secularity. But we need to try.

Don’t call people out because they don’t believe in what you do. Equally, don’t pick people up on their beliefs. Stay out of it. In time, people will learn to stay out of your business as well.


Be fair. Weigh your choices, and in case of indecision, keep weighing. Both as a person and as an institution ran by people.

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By contributing writer, Jo Lazar, as part of our Year 2 Creative & Professional Writing degree Work Experience module.

Journalistic integrity: a thing of the past?

Posted: Thursday, 20 March 2014 by Unknown in Labels: , , , , , , , , , , ,
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In a society where journalists and their sources are scrutinized for going against the current of propaganda and government control, how can we know there will be any truth left for us down the road? Free speech and freedom of the press. These are two things that may very well be fictional in the future. With the influential and life changing actions of Edward Snowden, Britain and the U.S have banded together to make the line between “terrorism” and “journalism” almost indistinguishable. The UK Terrorism Act of 2000, originally implemented to protect our country from radicals has now got the public and it’s governments guessing between journalists and terrorists. This act defines terrorism as an act or threat “designed to influence the government”, that “is made for the purpose of advancing a political, religious, racial or ideological cause” and "that would pose a “serious risk” to the health or safety of a section of the public." The UK government have persisted with the line that this risk is present with the disclosure of any “classified” documents. The act also states “the government” can mean a government of any country; in this incidence, namely the US. Subsequently, the British government has opened investigations into anyone who previously worked with Snowden, and used this as a pretext to enter the Guardian’s offices and demand the destruction of their Snowden-related hard drives. David Miranda, assisting journalist Glenn Greenwald (former Guardian worker), was travelling through Heathrow airport, and detained for nine hours under the Terrorism Act under schedule 7, back in August 2013. This compels all those who fall under it to tell all information they know and to pass on any documents they possess. Snowden passed on “thousands of files” to Miranda v(who since wrote many stories concerning the UK and US authorities and their surveillance systems.) These were systems that gave the UK and US full monitoring of it’s citizens through the company GCHQ), and he has since attempted to speak out against this gross misconduct through the UK legal system. However, he was rewarded with a blatant ignorance to any freedom of expression in the European convention on human rights. What does this mean for us?
If the UK legal system is now flexing it’s muscles to take away our information, force us to give up passwords, and destroy our documents, what does this mean for our sources? What does this mean for our “permitted” content? If those with truthful information are being stopped at our front door and 'frisked,' how do we know any information we do manage to receive hasn't already been tainted in order to protect the government’s view of “truth”? Many associates of Edward Snowden have been advised by their legal aids not to return to the United Kingdom, for fear of being stripped of all viable sources in a similar manner to David Miranda. Several of these people work for The Guardian. Even Jesselyn Radack, Snowden’s US legal advisor, was recently detained concerning Snowden and Julian Assange (another famed “whistle blower”). These detainments under schedule 7 are risking the people, their sources and their integrity. “Terrorism” is the conviction these truth-seekers must live with, now restricting their free movement across international borders. Guardian reporter Sarah Harrison lives in fear of this particular schedule, as it constricts her movements, her voice, and her ability to travel home. She states: “Schedule 7 is not really about catching terrorists, even in its own terms. The Miranda judgment states that it has, in this case, “constituted an indirect interference with press freedom” and is admittedly “capable, depending on the facts, of being deployed so as to interfere with journalistic freedom.” Officers can detain someone not because they suspect them of being involved in terrorist activities, but to see “if someone appears” to – even indirectly – be facilitating the bizarre definition of terrorism used in the act.” No longer are we protected, no longer do we receive these acts such as the Terrorism Act of 2000 for “national security”, no longer are the people the priority. These acts are being created and even twisted, among legal officials, to protect the government and their preaching laced with hypocrisy. Illegal activity is OK, as long as you’re a government with enough manpower to dehumanize those who will speak against you. We expect our governments to work for the best interest of their countries, but what country puts the distribution of the truth and hard facts into the same definitions that they consider to be “terrorist activity”? The most harm caused in connection to both Snowden and Assange has been caused by the UK and US governments trying to cover up the blatant violations of human rights they have been so easily committing. In a day and age that we believe freedom of speech and information to be at it’s best, we live shrouded in falsified fear of those who actually uphold their integrity as journalists, rather than their devotion to a botched system.

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 By Catherine Watson, contributing writer, as part of our Year 2 Creative & Professional Writing degree Work Experience module.

New event coming up!

Posted: Thursday, 23 January 2014 by Mandy in Labels: , , , , , ,
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20th February 2014
5pm-7pm
Student Union Lounge, Docklands Campus

A Open Mic and Performance Poetry night to raise awareness of imprisoned and executed gay rights activists, bloggers, journalists and writers.

Theme: LGBTI (but in the interests of freedom of speech and inclusion, other themes are welcome too!)

We'll have a very exciting Feature Act for you: Michelle Madsen, founder and host of Hammer and Tongue London, part of the UK’s largest slam poetry network!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJwqERcUWOQ

OPEN MIC SLOTS: to book yours in advance, please email Jack on u0710321@uel.ac.uk - there are limited free-for-all spaces available, so do ensure you book in advance! And do tell us your act- whether it's poetry, prose extract, non-fiction, comedy or music - the more diverse the better, and all are welcome
Your piece must be no more than 2-5 minutes in length.

We'll also be screening a moving short film about an African LGBTI activist, and holding an Empty Chair section too, where we'll read out some pieces by imprisoned or executed activists and writers, in order to release their work into the world. Get ready to punch the air with passion at their beautiful words.

£2 entry fee: In return for this, you will receive a raffle ticket for our book raffle at the end of the evening. Prizes guaranteed.

This event comes only a few days before the Sochi Olympic Games closing ceremony in Russia. Since May 2012, when President Putin returned to office, he has introduced a series of new gagging laws that seriously threaten freedom of speech and LGBTI rights within Russia, and that have already led to many, many hate crimes, censorship and murders. In advance of our event, here is one of the small ways you can help: click on this link and sign up to PEN International's Thunderclap initiative to create a Twitter storm around Putin's account during the opening ceremony - they do all the hard work on your behalf: https://www.thunderclap.it/projects/8086-pen-sochi-olympics-campaign

Be sure to 'follow' @uelPEN and @LGBT_UEL for updates on Twitter, and have a ponder at UEL PEN's blog: http://uelenglishpen.blogspot.co.uk/

A UEL English PEN Society event, in collaboration with UEL LGBT Society.

 Check out our event on Facebook! See you there!

UEL English PEN Launch Party

Posted: Sunday, 13 October 2013 by Mandy in Labels: , , , , , ,
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On Tuesday, the 8th of October, UEL English PEN hosted our official launch party at the Student Union lounge located on Docklands campus. After hours of food shopping, organizing the lounge and trying to make our projector work, we were ready to open the doors to the public at our scheduled 5pm time.

We were amazed at the amount of people who turned up, just as much as they were amazed at the amounts food and drinks we provided. We wanted to make everyone feel comfortable and it worked. We equipped the lounge with English PEN flyers, our ‘lucky book dip’ and we were also holding a raffle where winners received one of the amazing books we had on the display.

After a short introduction we invited Julia Zimmer, PEN’s events and development officer, who explained what English PEN does internationally, how big the organisation is and what we can do to help.
This followed by a short movie about what freedom of speech actually is and then continued with Tim Atkins, reading a powerful piece by a member of Pussy Riot.

After a short break, it was time for an open mic night! We encouraged students to come and read their work and were surprised at the amounts of people that shared their amazing writing. Among the pieces, we also had a privilege to hear a piece written by one of our classmates, who visited Turkey over the summer and shared the horror stories of the riots – her story is so moving English PEN asked to publish it on their website! You can read the piece here if you haven’t already.

We were also proud of everyone else who read their brilliant work which varied from political to comical. We’d like to thank every single one of them – you made us laugh, think and be creative!
The night finished with an announcement of the winners of our book raffle, which made everyone walk out happy and excited.

Again, we’d like to thank everyone who participated in any way in our launch – we never expected that amount of people and we were really humbled by your positive feedback. We promise to hold these nights more often as they bring us and our ideas closer together. Check out the pictures from the launch on our Facebook page!

Hope you are all having an amazing weekend,
UEL English PEN Society.