PEN congress ends in Tokyo

The 76th Congress of International PEN which convened in the Japanese capital, Tokyo, (September 25-September 30) has ended with a number of resolutions aimed at strengthening the freedom of expression being adopted. Alhaji Abdul-Rahman Harruna attah, Editor of The Mail, who is also the President of the Ghanaian Centre participated in the event at the end of which he was chosen by his peers to be the Secretary of the African regional grouping (Pan African Network - PAN) in the organization and Ms. Moraa Gitaa from Kenya was chosen as the Coordinator. They will be responsible for keeping the African Centres functioning as well as maintaining regular contact with International PEN’s headquarters in London.

International PEN (Poets, Editors and Novelists) is the worldwide community of writers and foremost advocate for free expression. Founded in 1921, its global community of writers now spans more than 100 countries with membership including some of the best known literary minds of the world. John Ralston Saul, President of International PEN, in remarks during the opening of the 76th Congress said “…PEN is not about wealth or conventional power, and does not have an overarching centralized bureaucracy, let alone battalions of soldiers or waves of tax collectors, nevertheless, it carries the weight that it does around the world.”
This is year’s Congress saw a record number of participants, especially from Africa. In one of the main agenda of the Congress itself, a Kenyan born exile in Norway, Ms. Philo Ikonya, was elected to the Board of International PEN, which is the governing body of the organization. Her election was widely popular as she cruised to success in a field that included over ten other no less worthy contestants.
The resolutions adopted included one to the UN urging it to “abandon efforts to prohibit defamation of religions and concentrate instead on respect-based initiatives”.
The Ghanaian Centre with South African, Malawian, Austrian, English, Somali-speaking and Zambian Centres co-sponsored a resolution on South Africa’s controversial “Protection of Information Bill” which “has a number of very worrying aspects.” The Bill proposes that access to information be severely curtailed to protect South Africa’s “national interest” but which actually is a euphemism for taking away the freedoms widely enjoyed in the country following the demise of Apartheid. The resolution therefore calls on the support of all PEN centres and International PEN in opposing the Bill.
This year is also the 50th anniversary of the Writers in Prison Committee of PEN and it was observed with a number of activities including poetry readings, drama and exhibitions. The next Congress will be in the Serbian capital, Belgrade in 2011, to be followed in 2012 in Seoul, the Korean capital. Mindful as ever of its role as a conscience-based organization, the assembly this year made recommendation: “The Assembly of delegates asks that the International PEN Board and secretariat examine means to maximize and modernize the role of congresses and other meetings of PEN International and minimize as much as possible their ecological impact.”