PEN International conference on the Russian-Ukrainian situation

Stockholm, 11th June 2014
PEN International conference
on the Russian/Ukrainian situation
hosted by Swedish PEN

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Russian and Ukrainian PEN affirm their unity against the waves of propaganda destroying the language of publicdiscussion.

At a gathering of writers held in Stockholm by PEN International and Swedish PEN, Ludmila Ulitskaya, vice-president ofRussian PEN, spoke of "the lies poisoning minds which have no other sources of information" and Aleksandra Hnatiuk, fromUkrainian PEN, of "propaganda designed to create enemies."

PEN International has been organizing meetings of writers across Europe bringing together Russians and Ukrainians with theircolleagues from around the world. In times of actual and threatened violence PEN believes that channels of public discussion mustbe kept open. PEN International President, John Ralston Saul, said, "Peace and stability is not about deals done behind closeddoors, but the ability of people to talk to each other in public."

For three months there have been incessant acts of aggression towards Ukraine from the side of the Russian Federation. There hasbeen the illegal annexation of Crimea, which makes us deeply worried about the rights of the Tatar population, and following itarmed groups have created violent disorder in the eastern parts of Ukraine with the goal of destabilizing the country. UkrainianPEN has talked about journalists and citizens being shot, murdered, kidnapped and tortured. Russian PEN points out that suchviolence is dependant upon the co-opting of language: "Words are the only means we have to construct meaning and expressreality. The Russian authorities are currently using words to destroy meaning. It goes without saying that this is a crime againstculture."

PEN is particularly concerned about the tsunami of anti free expression laws emerging in Russia, which include treatinginternational NGO’s as foreign agents; anti-gay laws; a law permitting the blocking of websites without a court order; laws againstdiscussing Russian history; a Religious Defamation law. In the name of security, human rights are being dangerously undermined.

People wonder if we are faced by a war of interests or a war of values, or both. In either case, the only real security lies in openingchannels of free expression. Those on the front lines of this situation are often the journalists, in whatever country. We admiretheir courage and appeal to those under pressure to remember, in Lev Rubinstein’s words, that "propaganda is the collapse oflanguage."

This statement has been written after a series of meetings of Russian and Ukrainians writers, including Alexei Simonov, LevRubinstein, Andrey Kurkov, Myroslav Marynovych, Mykola Riabchuk, Leonid Finberg, and foreign colleagues. Themeetings took place in the cities of Kiev, Bled and Warsaw. The participants in the Stockholm meeting were PEN Centres ofSweden, Norway, Finland, Estonia, Slovenia and Germany.

The statement has been signed by:

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