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16. international literature festival berlin 7.–17.09.16 For more information about the venues and times of the worldwide readings see www.worldwide-reading.com LifeandFreedomforAshrafFayadh Worldwide Reading on 14th January, 2016 The appeal is signed by: Algeria Yahia Belaskri, Rachid Boudjedra, Yasmina Khadra, Mohamed Magani, Habib Tengour | Argentina Gabriela Cabezón Cámara, Oliverio Coelho, Diego Fonseca, Mariana Chiesa Mateos, Alberto Manguel, Sylvia Molloy, Samanta Schweblin, Luisa Valenzuela | Australia Brian Castro, Peter Goldsworthy, Gail Jones, Thomas Keneally | Austria Josef Haslinger, Gerald Jatzek, Elfriede Jelinek, Peter Stephan Jungk, Peter Pabisch, Robert Schindel, Raoul Schrott | Bahrain Fareed Ramadan | Belgium Stefan Hertmans, Jan de Leeuw | Bolivia Rodrigo Hasbún, Edmundo Paz Soldán | Brazil Rafael Cardoso, João Paulo Cuenca | Bulgaria Tzveta Sofronieva | Canada Émile Martel | Chile Marina Arrate, Jorge Baradit, Roberto Castillo Sandoval, Larissa Contreras, Alejandra Costamagna, Ariel Dorfman, Mauricio Electorat, Carla Guelfenbein, Rafael Gumucio, Ana Harcha Cortés, Carlos Labbé, Luis López-Aliaga, Lina Meruane, Mónica Ríos, Pablo Simonetti, Alejandro Zambra, Raúl Zurita | China Ming Di | Colombia Héctor Abad, Juan Álvarez, Piedad Bonnett, Juan Cárdenas, Luis Fayad, Laura Restrepo, Robert Max Steenkist | Croatia Marko Pogacar, Delimir Rešicki, Dubravka Ugresic | Cuba Anna Lidia Vega Serova | Denmark Janne Teller | Egypt Alaa Al-Aswany, Mohamed Salmawy, Ahdaf Soueif | Ethiopia Maaza Mengiste | Finland Jörn Donner | France Marie Darrieussecq, Bernard Noël, Florence Noiville, Nicole Cage (Martinique) | Germany Carmen-Francesca Banciu, Marica Bodrozic, Knut Boeser, Mirko Bonné, Alida Bremer, Hans Christoph Buch, Tanja Dückers, Hatto Fischer, Werner Fritsch, Jochen Gerz, Renate Hürtgen, Rüdiger Görner, Susanne Goga-Klinkenberg, Kurt Groenewold, Jan Groh, Durs Grünbein, Maik Hamburger, Rolf Hosfeld, Sabine Kebir, Dieter Ingenschay, Hendrik Jackson, Freya Klier, Sibylle Knauss, Marie-Luise Knott, Ursula Krechel, Judith Kuckart, Stan Lafleur, Christoph Leisten, Jürgen Lodemann, Herta Müller, Brigitte Oleschinski, Elisabeth Plessen, Marie Pohl, Jürgen Rennert, Joachim Sartorius, Ute Scheub, Wolfgang Schiffer, Elke Schmitter, Peter Schneider, Jenny Schon, Lorenz Schröter, Christa Schuenke, Tom Schulz, Rajvinder Singh, Klaus Staeck, Kanta Stanchina, Stefanie von Steinaecker, Leander Sukov, Yoko Tawada, Hans Thill, Uwe Timm, Stefan Weidner, Herbert Wiesner, Gisela von Wysocki | Greece Yiorgos Chouliaras, Amanda Michalopoulou, Sarah Thilykou | Hungary György Dalos, Andras Petöcz, István Vörös | Iceland Sjón | India Keki Daruwalla, Namita Gokhale, Kiran Nagarkar, Nilanjana S Roy | Iran Amir Hassan Cheheltan,Negin Ehtesabian, Farshid Shafiei, Mansoureh Shojaee | Ireland John Banville, Gabriel Rosenstock | Israel Amir Or | Italy Stefania Battistella, Patrizia Cavalli, Beppe Costa, Antonio della Rocca, Ortensia Visconti, Zingonia Zingone | Lebanon Rawi Hage, Iman Humaydan | Libya Ashur Etwebi | Lithuania Kornelijus Platelis | Luxembourg Jean Portante | Macedonia Lidija Dimkovska | Mexico Homero Aridjis, Chloe Aridjis, Alberto Chimal, Ana Clavel, Jennifer Clement, Verónica Gerber Bicecci, Yuri Herrera, Laia Jufresa, Rafael Lemus | Morocco Mahi Binebine, Laila Lalami | Myanmar Nyein Way | Netherlands Geert Mak | New Zealand Patricia Grace, David Howard, Lloyd Jones, C.K. Stead | Nigeria Obi Nwakanma, Wole Soyinka, E. E. Sule | Norway Jostein Gaarder, Paal-Helge Haugen, Sverre Henmo, Erling Kittelsen | Oman Badria Al-Shihi | Pakistan Raza Rumi | Palestine Hanan Awwad, Liana Badr, Adania Shibli | Panamá Carlos Wynter Melo | Peru Richard Parra, Alejandro Sánchez-Aizcorbe, Mario Vargas Llosa | Poland Uri Orlev | Romania Corina Bernic, Mircea Dinescu, Norman Manea | Russia Viktor Jerofejew, Viacheslav Kuprianov, Mikhail Ryklin | Saudi Arabia Ahmed Almulla | Serbia Dragana Mladenovic, Jovan Zivlak | Slovenia Aleš Debeljak, Aleš Šteger, Slavoj Žižek | South Africa Achmat Dangor, Eugene Skeef, Ivan Vladislavic | Spain Lolita Bosch, José Ovejero, Juan Cruz Ruiz, Miquel de Palol, Marta Sanz Pastor | Sudan Jamal Mahjoub | Sweden Bengt Berg, Alida Bok, Moni Nilsson, Göran Rosenberg, Annika Thor | Switzerland Adolf Muschg, Ilma Rakusa, Peter Stamm | Syria Hala Mohammad, Samar Yazbek | Turkey Nedim Gürsel, Orhan Pamuk, Elif Shafak, Ece Temelkuran | UK Martin Amis, Timothy Garton Ash, Priya Basil, Carol Birch, Paul Ginsborg, Ian McEwan, Tim Parks, Don Paterson, Eurig Salisbury, Owen Sheers, Dorothea Smartt, George Szirtes, Irvine Welsh, Robert Williams | Ukraine Andrei Kurkov, Ostap Nożak, Ostap Slyvynsky | United Arab Emirates Nujoom Alghanem | Uruguay Claudia Amengual, Fernanda Trías | USA Akwasi Aidoo, Rae Armantrout, Charles Bernstein, Susan Bernofsky, Neeli Cherkovski, Noam Chomsky, Peter Cole, Edwidge Danticat, Michael Day, Jeffrey Eugenides, Edward Hirsch, Adina Hoffman, Fady Joudah, Wayne Koestenbaum, Paul Michael Lützeler, Michael Palmer, Francine Prose, Sapphire, Eliot Weinberger | Zimbabwe: Chirikure Chirikure PEN International, Jennifer Clement, Eugene Schoulgin, Gloria Guardia, Hori Takeaki, Jarkko Tontti, Carles Torner and Salil Tripathi | PEN African Writers Abroad, UK | PEN Afrikaans, Marga Stoffer, Izak de Vries | PEN Australia/Melbourne, Christine McKenzie, Judith Rodriguez | PEN Austria, Helmuth Niederle | PEN Bangladesh, Syeda Aireen Jaman | PEN Bolivia, Biyú Suárez C. | PEN Bosnia and Herzegovina, Nedzad Ibrahimovic | PEN Bulgaria, Boyko Lambovski | PEN Cambodia, Heng Sreang | PEN Canada, Brendan de Caires | PEN Català, Carlota Sas | Independent Chinese PEN, Bei Ling, Meng Lang, Xie Di | Taipei Chinese PEN | PEN Colombia, Carlos Vasquez, Ruben Dario Florez, Luis Fayad | PEN Croatia, Nadežda Čačinovič, Tomica Bajsić | PEN Denmark, Per Øhrgaard, Mille Rode | PEN Eritrea in Exile, Dessale B. Abraham | PEN Esperanto, Chiara Macconi | PEN Estonia, Kätlin Kaldmaa, Igor Kotjuh, Kai Aareleid | PEN Finland, Jarkko Tontti, Sirpa Kähkönen, Marianne Bargum, Iida Simes, Johanna Sillanpää | PEN Flanders, Natalie Ariën, Sven Cooremans, Maarten Inghels | Pen France, Jean-Luc Despax | PEN Center of German-Speaking Writers Abroad, Gabrielle Alioth | PEN Ghana, Frankie Asare-Donkoh | PEN Great Britain, Cat Lucas | PEN Guatemala, Carlos René García | PEN Haiti, Jem Milcé | PEN Honduras, Dina Meza | PEN All India Centre, Ranjit Hoskote | PEN Italy/Trieste, Antonio della Rocca | PEN Langue d'Oc, Miquèl Décor | PEN Lebanon | PEN Melbourne, Christine McKenzie, Judith Rodriguez | PEN Mexico, Magali Tercero | PEN Mexico/San Miguel, Anthony Cohan, Lucina Kathmann | PEN Myanmar, Ma Thida, Zarchi Oo | PEN Netherlands, Manon Uphoff, Aleid Truijens | PEN New Zealand, Jackie Dennis | PEN Nigeria, Olúwáfirópò Ewénlá | PEN Norway, Hege Newth Nouri | PEN Palestine | PEN Peru, Tulio Mora | PEN Poland, Anna Nasilowska | PEN Portugal, Teresa Salema Cadete | PEN Puerto Rico, Andrés Candelario, Miriam Montes Mock, Rosa Margarita Hernández, Melvin Rodríguez-Rodríguez, Helga Umpierre, Lauribel López Viera, Francisco González | PEN Romania, Magda Carneci | PEN Russia, Ekaterina Turchaninova | PEN Serbia, Vida Ognjenovic | PEN South Africa, Lindsay Callaghan | PEN Spain, Rogelio Lugo | PEN Suisse Romand, Nguyên Hoàng Bao Viêt | PEN Sweden, Ola Larsmo, Elnaz Baghlanian | PEN Switzerland-Germany (Swiss-German Pen), Michael Guggenheimer | PEN Turkey, Zeynep Oral, Tarık Günersel | PEN Ukraine | PEN USA, Elliot Vredenburg | PEN Wales Cymru, Menna Elfyn, Owen Sheers | Hellenic Authors' Society Appeal for a worldwide reading on 14th January, 2016 The international literature festival Berlin (ilb) calls on all individuals, institutions, schools and media outlets that care about justice and freedom to participate in a worldwide reading of selected poems and other texts in support of Ashraf Fayadh, on 14 January 2016. Ashraf Fayadh, a 35 year-old Palestinian poet and art curator, who lives in Saudi Arabia, has been sentenced to death by a Saudi court on 17 November 2015 for the “crime” of apostasy. He was denied access to a lawyer throughout his detention and trial. Fayadh has been a key figure in taking Saudi contemporary art to a global audience. Chris Dercon, the director of Tate Modern, and a friend of the poet, described him as “someone who is outspoken and daring.” Besides renouncing Islam, Fayadh also stands accused of blaspheming and promoting atheism through his collection of poetry, Instructions Within, published in 2008. Fayadh has asserted that the poems are “just about me being [a] Palestinian refugee … about cultural and philosophical issues. But the religious extremists explained it as destructive ideas against God.” The charges, coupled with the lack of due legal process, show that it is not Fayadh who is guilty but rather Saudi Arabia that is once again guilty of disregarding human rights and the rule of law. In various surveys the kingdom continually ranks as one of the least free countries in the world. According to Human Rights Watch, Saudi Arabia’s ever more repressive laws now criminalize free expression and give the authorities excessive police powers that are not subject to judicial oversight. Ashraf Fayadh’s case is not the story of one man, but a symbol for all the victims of a deeply repressive regime that is supported by Western governments who claim to value freedom and democracy above all. Right now Saudi Arabia sits on the UN Human Rights Council, a body whose members are supposedly those who uphold the highest standards of civil liberties. Saudi Arabia is there since 2013 thanks to secret vote-trading deals conducted with the UK, as revealed by Wikileaks. Other Western countries keep weapons and legitimacy streaming towards Saudi Arabia in order to keep oil flowing towards themselves. Caught in the current are ordinary people like Ashraf Fayadh, whose rights go unheeded in the kingdom and abroad. Amidst all the recent outrage expressed by Western leaders against IS, in the rhetoric of war and threats of retribution, there has not been a word about Saudi Arabia’s role in helping to promulgate the virulent form of Islam practiced by IS. There is no doubt about the overlaps in their ideology: both certainly endorse lashing or beheading (on the latter front Saudi Arabia actually outdid IS in the last year) anyone who does not share their views. With this worldwide reading, we demand that the UK and US governments intervene on behalf of Ashraf Fayadh as a first step towards pressuring Saudi Arabia to raise its human rights standards. We further demand that the United Nations suspend Saudi Arabia from the Human Rights Council until its abysmal record on upholding civil liberties improves. We also call on Western governments, especially in the UK and the US, to acknowledge the problems inherent in maintaining cozy, unquestioning relations with a country renowned for systematic human rights abuses. Please contact the ilb if you would like to participate. worldwidereading@literaturfestival.com © Ashraf Fayadh, via Instagram ©JanCabula

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