As
soon as Donald Trump was elected president I donated to Planned Parenthood and
joined the ACLU.
When he was inaugurated, I joined PEN America!
I never gave an organization $125 in one shot before – unless there was something attached to it like a dinner. In this case, what I received back, was the good feeling of supporting an amazing organization that has been on the front lines of protecting writers and advocating for the First Amendment. Whether you chose to join them or donate funds or to support their case, it’s important you know that such an organization exists and learn about the role they play in keeping a part of America alive that needs a lot of help now.
When he was inaugurated, I joined PEN America!
I never gave an organization $125 in one shot before – unless there was something attached to it like a dinner. In this case, what I received back, was the good feeling of supporting an amazing organization that has been on the front lines of protecting writers and advocating for the First Amendment. Whether you chose to join them or donate funds or to support their case, it’s important you know that such an organization exists and learn about the role they play in keeping a part of America alive that needs a lot of help now.
PEN
America, the largest of over 100 centers of PEN International, has been working
for over 90 years to “ensure that people everywhere have the freedom to create
literature, to convey information and ideas, to express their views, and to
make it possible for everyone to access the views, ideas, and literature of
others."
PEN
America says it “stands at the intersection of literature and human rights to
protect open expression in the United States and worldwide. We champion the freedom to write, recognizing
the power of the word to transform the world.
Our mission is to unite writers and their allies to celebrate creative
expression and defend the liberties that make it possible.”
PEN
offers not only moral inspiration and advocacy, it offers these programs and
services.
·
Access
to an international community of writers, editors, translators and readers.
·
Literary
awards that bestow recognition and prize money.
·
Holds
a festival each spring to showcase the works of writers across the globe in a
multi-cultural celebration of the written word.
·
Provides
a forum for authors of children’s and YA books to discuss censorship and
diversity.
·
Publishers
PEN America: A Journal for Writers and Readers
·
Runs
a prison writing program.
·
Provides
financial assistance to professionally published writers and editors facing
acute financial crisis.
To
really understand the essence of PEN, look no further than an excerpt from its
chapter:
“PEN
stands for the principle of unhampered transmission of thought within each
nation and among all nations, and members pledge themselves to oppose any form
of suppression of freedom of expression in their country or their community.
“PEN
declares for a free press and opposes arbitrary censorship in time of peace. It
believes that the necessary advance of the world toward a more highly organized
political and economic order renders free criticism of governments,
administrations, and institutions imperative.
And since freedom implies voluntary restraint, members pledge themselves
to oppose such evils of a free press as mendacious publication, deliberate
falsehood and distortion of facts for political and personal ends.”
PEN
America launched a toolkit for writers and readers for defending free
expression. It notes the warning signs
of an emerging autocracy and of what we should be vigilantly on the watch for. Examples of tell-tale indications that a free
writer is in danger include:
·
Having
a leader or government condemn the press and limit its access.
·
Limiting
the freedom to gather peacefully.
·
Curtailing the freedom to criticize government.
·
Allowing or promoting the use of government surveillance of citizens, including
journalists and writers.
·
Limiting transparency of government deliberations, decisions, and spending, thus making it
more difficult for citizen journalists to assess government actions and
participation in life.
PEN
America urges all Americans to speak out and protect free expression. It outlines a 10-step process, including
these steps:
·
Lobby
your representatives in Congress to protect your First Amendment rights.
·
Launch
a petition.
·
Read,
share, and support the writings of others that expose government abuses.
·
Educate
yourself about First Amendment protections.
·
Mount
or join a resistance event.
·
Protect
yourself against, government surveillance or hacking.
·
Learn
how to ID false news and disinformation; help others to do so.
·
Exercise
your right to free speech by using the power of words to counter
disinformation, hate speech, and moves against free speech.
For
more information on how you can contribute to one of the most important American
institutions, consult:
“There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written. That is all.”
--Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891)
“To read without reflecting, is like eating without digesting.”
--Edmund Burke
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