PEN America

Months after the Leander Independent School District in Texas made headlines for banning a slate of books and graphic novels from its secondary school curriculum, the Austin-area district released its decisions on an additional set of titles. Thirteen books are to be removed from schools, with an additional six titles suspended until further notice.

Governments across the globe are arguing for new powers to regulate the internet within their countries’ borders for national security, economic health, and other fundamental reasons. Much of this new negotiation for control is occurring between governments and the technology corporations that host and arbitrate online public discourse. Still other aspects of this renegotiation involve who controls how the global internet functions at a basic level.

The international community must speak with a unified voice against Lukashenka’s attacks on civil society by condemning these disturbing raids, calling for the release of journalists and activists, and holding accountable the Belarusian politicians and security forces who are responsible for these abuses.

The new report outlines the legal mechanisms that the Turkish government has used to silence writers, activists, artists, academics, and creative professionals over the past five years.

PEN America – along with Consumer Reports, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Access Now, and others – launched the Dark Patterns Tip Line, a website where anyone can share examples of the websites that confuse and coerce us into making decisions or agreeing to terms that we wouldn’t otherwise.

“To protect the victims and ensure their voices are not silenced, social media companies must actively discourage abuse and hold abusive users accountable – but in ways that do not themselves infringe on freedom of expression.”

During 2020, according to data collected for PEN America’s Freedom to Write Index, at least 273 writers, academics, and public intellectuals in 35 countries – in all geographic regions around the world – were in prison or unjustly held in detention in connection with their writing, their work, or related activism.

Fiaduta was detained in Russia, reportedly by the Belarusian KGB. Fiaduta is being detained without access to legal counsel or medical care and no charge against him is listed.