Open Letter: In Defence of Freedom of Expression

The following is an open letter written and signed by over 60 editors and representatives of Europe’s leading cultural and opinion journals supporting the freedom of expression in Ukraine. The letter will be published Monday December 2nd via Norwegian daily press, Ukrainian press as well as on the portal Eurozine (www.eurozine.com). It will be sent as well to press across Europe. The letter was prepared and signed during the 25th Annual Meeting of European Cultural Journals currently being held in Oslo, Norway.

New Eastern Europe, along with partners Krytka (Ukraine) and Res Publica Nowa (Poland) led the efforts to draft the letter of support on behalf of European journals and editors. Please find the text in its entirety below.

In Defence of Freedom of Expression

We, as representatives of Europe’s leading cultural and opinion journals gathered in Oslo at the 25th Eurozine meeting, strongly condemn the unjustified and unprovoked use of force to limit freedom of expression. Early Saturday morning, non-violent demonstrators in Kyiv, Ukraine were beaten by masked riot police.

The use of force rarely prevails. We affirm this simple truth today as the Ukrainian public stands threatened by violence. The lack of a clear and united response not only hurts the Ukrainian people but undermines democratic values and institutions. In an integrated world there should be no peripheries. Today, Ukraine is at the centre of Europe.

Regardless of our ideological standpoints or political involvement, we strongly support the value of public debate and dialogue.

Therefore we call on all democratic institutions to support the rights of protesters to assemble freely and express their opinion in the public sphere.

Signed in Oslo, at the 25th European Meeting of Cultural Journals on the subject “Making a Difference. Opinion, debate and activism in the public sphere”, Nov 30th, 2013.

Samuel Abraham, Kritika & Kontekxt, Slovakia
Emica Antončić, Dialogi,  Slovenia
Carlos Benguigui, Sens Public, France
Nadine Blanchard, Eurozine,  Germany/Austria
George Blecher, Writer, USA
Mika Buljevic, Booksa,  Kulturtreger, Croatia
Oliver Carroll, openDemocracy,  United Kingdom
Jill Cousins, Europeana Foundation,  UK/Netherlands
Göran Dahlberg, Glänta,  Sweden
Carole Dely, Sens Public,  France
Osman Denitztekin, Varlik,  Turkey
Slavenka Drakulic, Writer, Sweden/Croatia
Marc Duenas, Transfer, Catalonia
Walter Famler, Wespennest, Austria
Asle Finnset, STREK magazine, Norway
Rasmus Fleischer, copyriot, Sweden
Oksana Forostyna, Krytyka,  Ukraine
Carl Forsberg, Nätverkstan, Sweden
Andrea Fredriksson-Zederbauer, Wespennest,  Austria
Carl Henrik Fredriksson, Eurozine,  Sweden/Austria
Dessy Gavrilova, Time to Talk,  Red House, Bulgaria
Filippo Giannuzzi, Fondazione Giuseppe Di Vagno,  Italy
Ansgar Gilster, Osteuropa, Germany
Kalle Hein, Akadeemia,  Estonia
Christian Höller, Springerin,  Austria
Eva Karadi, Magyar Lettre Internationale,  Hungary
Martti-Tapio Kuuskoski, Nuori Voima,  Finland
Christoph Laimer, dérive,  Austria
Thomas Lemaigre, La Revue nouvelle, Belgium
Irena Maryniak, Writer and translator, UK
Trpimir Matasović, Zarez,  Croatia
Estera Miočić, Lettera internazionale, Italy
Katerina Mishchenko, Prostory, Ukraine
Stefan Mörchen, Mittelweg 36,  Germany
Klaus Nellen, Transit/IWM,  Austria
Remi Nilsen, Le Monde diplomatique (Oslo),  Norway
Magnus Nome, openDemocracy,  UK/Norway
Janne Nygård, Syn og Segn,  Norway
Renata Obadálková, RozRazil,  Czech Republic
Marc-Olivier Padis, Esprit, France
Antonia Plessing, Eurozine,  Austria
Wojciech Przybylski, Res Publica Nowa, Poland
Elke Rauth, dérive,  Austria
Adam Reichardt, New Eastern Europe, Poland
Iwona Reichardt, New Eastern Europe,  Poland
Almantas Samalavicius, Kulturos barai,  Lithuania
Obrad Savic, Belgrade Circle Journal,  Serbia
Thorsten Schilling, Federal Agency for Civic Education,  Germany
Isabelle Schwarz, Netherland
Marek Seckar, Host, Czech Republic
Paul Stepan, Eurozine,  Austria
János Széky, Élet és Irodalom, Hungary
Märt Väljataga, Vikerkaar,  Estonia
Boris Vezjak, Dialogi, Slovenia
Judith Vidal-Hall, Publisher, UK
Gottfried Wagner, Austria
Simon Worthington, Mute,  UK
Gaby Zipfel, Hamburger Institut für Sozialwissenschaften, Germany
Mykola Riabchuk, Krytyka,  Ukraine
Karolina Wigura, Kultura Liberalna,  Poland
Zuzana Wienk, Aliancia Fair-play, Slovakia
Tatiana Zhurzhenko, University of Vienna,  Austria

Eurozine is a network of Europe’s leading cultural journals, counting over 80 partner publications published in 34 countries in 32 languages.

source: NeweasternEurope