The international literature festival berlin (ilb) invites intellectuals, authors and artists, cultural institutions, schools and universities, radio- and television channels to participate in a worldwide reading on April 23rd 2012, the World Book Day. With the reading and a minute of silence the dead shall be commemorated, solidarity with the opponents of the Assad regime shown and the hope for a free, democratic and secular Syria expressed. Especially now, after achieving a fragile truce, a noticeable sign from artists and intellectuals is more urgent than ever!
APPEAL
The international literature festival berlin (ilb) invites intellectuals, writers, artists, cultural institutions, schools, universities, radio- and television channels to participate in a worldwide reading on April 23rd 2012, the World Book Day. With the reading and a minute of silence the dead shall be commemorated, the solidarity with the opponents of the Assad regime shall be shown and the hope for a free, democratic and secularSyria shall be expressed. Especially now, after achieving a fragile truce, a noticeable sign from artists and intellectuals is more urgent than ever!
Content of the reading will be the diary of Syrian author Samar Yazbek, who has documented the events of the past year since the beginning of the revolt and written the enclosed plea which has induced us to write this appeal. The texts from the diary for the reading will be provided by the author through the festival. They are available in Arabic, English, French and German.
To the peaceful demonstrations at the beginning of the past year the government reacted with the militarisation of the cities, terror and murder. With this it launched the revolts within the communities and a split between society and army. Soldiers who refused to follow the command to murder civilians had to desert and founded the Free Army of Syria with the goal to protect the citizens.
For month the security forces deploy heavy artilleries for their campaign of destruction. Cities are besieged and looted, women raped and their corpses thrown into the night, young people put into prison, tortured and killed. According to human rights activists, since the beginning of the protests almost 10000 men and women have been killed. WhileSyria’s civilisation and culture with its unique history is standing on the edge of an abyss, the world is largely contenting itself with watching TV news about Assad’s campaign. The event on the World Book Day shall break this silence with a demand for the demission of Assad and a plea for freedom and democracy in a secular Syria.
Attached you can find texts about Syria by other artists.
Aufruf Samar Yazbezk (Englisch)
Aufruf Weltweite Lesung (Englisch)
SIGNATORIES
Youssef Abdelke (Syria) | Gabriela Adamesteanu (Romania) | José Eduardo Agualusa (Angola) | Alla Al-Asswani (Egypt) | Gamal Al-Ghitany (Egypt) | Amal Al-jubouri (Iraq) | Homero Aridjis (Mexico) | Paul Auster (USA) | Carmen-Francesca Banciu (Germany) | Russel Banks (USA) | Hoda Barakat (Lebanon) | Salim Barakat (Sweden) | Priya Basil (UK/ Germany) | Jeanne Benameur (France) | Christian Boltanski (France) | Hans Christoph Buch (Germany) | Javier Cercas (Spain) | Amir Hassan Cheheltan (Iran) | Noam Chomsky (USA) | Bora Cosic (Serbia) | Lidija Dimkovska (Macedonia) | Irene Dische (Germany/ USA) | Ariel Dorfman (Chile) | György Dragomán (Hungary) | Sezer Duru (Turkey) | Yasmine El Rashidi (Egypt) | Shamsur Rahman Faruqi (India) | Carlos Franz (Chile) | Nadine Gordimer (South Africa) | Juan Goytisolo (Spain) | Carla Guelfenbein (Chile) | Nedim Gürsel (Turkey/ France) | Lars Gustafsson (Sweden) | Kevin Hart (USA/ Australia) | Ala Hlehel (Palestine) | Sonallah Ibrahim (Egypt) | Vörös István (Hungary) | Elfriede Jelinek (Austria) | Viktor Jerofejew (Russia) | Elias,Koury (Lebanon) | Haris Lavianos (Greece) | Alisa Lebow (UK) | Thomas Lehr (Germany) | Literaturzentrum Hamburg) | Jonathan Littell (USA) | Jamal Mahjoub (Sudan/ UK) | Issa Makhlouf (Lebanon) | Norman Manea (Romania/ USA) | Alberto Manguel (France/ Canada) | Monika Maron (Germany) | Tienchi Martin-Liao (China/ Germany) | Angeles Mastretta (Mexico) | Carmelo Militano (Canada) | Quim Monzó (Spain) | Michael Moore (USA) | Gunilla Palmstierna-Weiss (Sweden) | Barbara Papadopoulou (Greece/ Germany) | Andras Petöcz, (Hungary) | Elisabeth Plessen (Germany) | Poets Circle Athens (Greece) | Moritz Rinke (Germany) | Tomas Salamun (Slovenia) | Boualem Sansal (Algeria) | Rafik Schami (Germany) | Karl Schlögel (Germany) | Peter Schneider (Germany) | Hermann Schulz (Germany) | Eduardo Sguiglia (Argentina) | Adania Shibli (Germany/ Palestine) | Samuel Shimon (UK/ Iraq) | Dino Siotis (Greece) | Wolfgang Sofsky (Germany) | Stead (C.K. (New Zealand) | Zakaria Tamer (UK) | Fairooz Tamimi (Jordan) | Janne Teller (Denmark/ USA) | Annika Thor (Sweden) | Tinos International Literary Festival (Greece) | Mario Vargas Llosa (Peru) | István Vöros (Hungary) | Peter Wawerzinek (Germany) | Irvine Welsh (UK) | Herbert Wiesner (P.E.N.-Center Germany) | Samar Yazbek (Syria) | Razan Zeitouneh (Syria) | Jovan Zivlak (Serbia) | Sabah Zouein (Lebanon)
TEXTS
Excerpt – Samar Yazbek: “A Woman in the Crossfire: Diaries of the Syrian Revolution” (English)
Excerpt – Samar Yazbek: “Feux croisés: Journal de la révolution syrienne” (French)
PARTICIPANTS
Bayreuth (Universität Bayreuth) | Berlin (internationales literaturfestival berlin) | Innsbruck (Freies Radio Innsbruck) | Kiel (Ulrike Göking/ Kieler Operntreppe) | Lübeck (Frauke Kässbohrer) | Rostock (Hartmut Möller und Christophe Bresoli/ für Musik und Theater Rostock und Universität Rostock)