The International Literature Festival Berlin [ilb] calls to join a Worldwide Reading on September 11, 2019.

Recommended by Alena Makouskaya, Board Member and responsible for the topic Freedom of Expression in the EWC Board.

People of the European Union share their thoughts, comment on different events, write articles and books. When depicting their ideas on paper or voicing their opinions, most people do not think that they can be persecuted, get imprisoned or even lose their lives. The openness and freedom of societies where freedom of speech is regarded as one of the most important values, differ from a real threat these simple notions bear in other states. »Worldwide Reading« is one of the most prominent calls for support of the freedom of expression for writers. That is why I highly recommend participating in the event.

EWC and the Freedom of Expression
The restrictions on the freedom of expression have also many other forms and faces. The existing and strengthening hate-speech against writers in social media discourages them and silences their voices. The so-called »Self-censorship of the market« is also an invisible, but grave problem. More than ever we also need a strong base of facts that would undermine the fake ones in the era of disinformation. It is required to support educational books. Together with EWC members, the EWC Board under the direction of Alena Makouskaya, will develop a strategy to tackle these challenges that European writers have to deal with.

Alena Makouskaya
EWC Board Member

Brussels, 13. July 2019