The Death of Tkachenko and International PEN updates

international | rights, freedoms and repression | other press

Saturday December 22, 2007 11:03

by C Murray

What is happening in relation to Linguistic rights and Access to Education.

The area of linguistic rights and access to education from grassroot mobile library services
through to prisoner's rights has always been a concern of the International Pen Union.
Often the media, expecially in Ireland, would tend to ignore many of the press releases
which along with Reporter's Sans Frontieres, IFEX, and other NGO groups have consistently
attempted to highlight the dangers to the lives of writers in War regions and to those who
advocate basic human rights to dignity and right of access to education.

Alexander Tkachenko RIP

The illustration is of Alexander Tkachenko who died recently in Russia, he was Secretary General
of Russian Pen and had a lifetime commitment to education in Poetry and literature, as well
as working on the Pasko case. Amnesty Intl. called Pasko the 'Third Prisoner of Conscience'
since Sakharov and Nitkitin:-

http://www.bellona.org/english_import_area/internationa...pasko

Tkachenako had been given permissions by the military court to participate in the defence
of Pasko, who subsequently got a four year prison term and labelled a traitor.

Info on Tkachenko;- http://www.penrussia.org/n-z/al-tka.htm

Some of the areas where PEN, RSF and Amnesty cross and coincide are in the areas of rights
and dissemination of information to increase inter-cultural understanding and access to education
of all. This starts at school access and moves on up towards mobile library access, to
ensuring translation services are writer-led to defending the rights of people to freedom of expression
within their culture. The areas that PEN focussed on in 2006 were; Iran,Gambia, Burma, Uzbekistan.

The Norwegian Ossietzky prize was awarded to the dissident Radio Station: The Democratic Voice
of Burma- info on Burma and access to this info can be got through Amarc/ASEAN/ISIS women.

http://www.indymedia.ie/article/84470
http://www.indymedia.ie/article/83876

There are many projects and committees at work globally .

Translation and Linguistic Rights Committee http://www.diversity.org.uk
Writer's For Peace Committee. http://www.penslovenia-zdriezenje.si
Women's Writer's Committee http://www.ipwwc.org
Writers In prison's Committee.

Each of these has issued a report on 2007 and developments in the areas they represent.

International programmes re access to education and increasiong reading;-

Malawian PEN.
Ugandan PEN
Zambian PEN

International programmes re : Community Access and Library Projects:-

Guinean PEN
Somali Speaking PEN.

Finally This year saw some remarkable developments and work across cultures that
united activists from Mexico to Palestine and NYC:-

http://www.friendsofbradwill.org
and IFEX/AMARC will add in link later.

and from Manila to Iran and into the European Feminist Forum, where issues of migrancy
gender equality and war became part of the agenda through consistent campaign using
community access tools such as IMC/CIM and Community Radio.

http://www.indymedia.ie.article/83914
http://www.isiswomen.org
http://www.europeanfeministforum.org

Changes to the equality agenda have included highlighting the problems within the EU in relation
to sustainability in African nations and in agigtating for proper representation of women's
community and political voices. This has happened at UN by consistent campaign to ensure
that Gender equality and rights to access for women show themselves through measurable
change and not lip-service by National Governments. The work of some Irish Groups in this
area will become more evident quite soon .