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Theme: Russia

Editorial

PEN/Opp explores russia

The headlines in the Swedish newspapers are at the time of writing dominated by the news that Swedish Neo-Nazis have...

Text: Ola Larsmo December 19 2013
Article

Gulag is alive and well in Mordovia

Everyone knows who the members of Pussy Riot are, and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova’s letter from the prison camp IK-14 was published worldwide. However, the Stalinist legacy in Russian prisons is still a...

Text: Pyotr Verzilov December 19 2013
Article

Freedom of speech—the Russian way

Government censorship is one of the oldest and most effective tool to control people's opinions and thoughts. Easiest...

Graphic: IKI IKE December 19 2013
Article

The king of Chechnya

Russian journalist Alex Tor specializes in Chechnya and Ingushetia in the North Caucasus, which have a history of war and violence. He has, among other things, written about corruption, refugees, and...

Text: Alex Tor December 19 2013
Article

Putin's fight for “traditional values”

“Traditional values” may sound like something harmless and old fashioned, until one realises that they are the opposite of the rights that are the foundation of modern democracy. Maria Chichtchenkova...

Text: Maria Chichtchenkova December 19 2013
Fiction

Notes from the provincial town of N

Anyone who believes that today's Russia is on the wrong track also hopes for political alternatives. However, the Russian opposition has often been fragmented, and how do you protest against a...

Text: Igor Saveliev December 19 2013
Poetry

So here we are

“It is only this generation of 20- and 30-year-olds that are able to write about the conditions here and now, and view the Soviet Union as a purely historical era,” writes critic Natasha Perova...

Text: Irina Bogatyreva December 19 2013
Poetry

Day of rage

The poet Kirill Medvedev is today considered to be one of the most promising poets of his generation. He was also one of the activists who openly protested the trial of Pussy Riot last year, when he...

Text: Kirill Medvedev December 19 2013
Poetry

From the cycle of poems “Cognitive capitalism”

Alexander Skidan (born in 1965) is one of Russia's most critical social poets. His poetry often emanates from the complex interplay between ethics, aesthetics and politics. In this newly written poem...

Text: Alexander Skidan December 19 2013
Article

What is the literary scene in russia like today?

In the past, the state made sure that life was difficult for writers in Russia. However, in contrast to journalists, Russian writers are today freer to write about what they want. Natasha Perova...

Text: Natasha Perova December 19 2013
Article

Russia in between security and democracy

Following 9/11, crucial social issues are often described as a choice between security and threat, rather than between freedom and oppression. This is the case also in Russia. There are, however...

Text: Johan Öberg December 19 2013
Article

What happened to the multinational Russia?

Nationalism grows increasingly stronger in Russia and it is a fact that xenophobia is gaining grounds in society today. “It is no longer just skinheads and radicalised young men shouting: ‘Attack the...

Text: Natalya Afanasyeva December 19 2013
Article

Islands of an archipelago

What is the best way to deal with the memory of the Great Terror? The famous journalist Yelena Rubinova has visited two of the places where the memory of Stalin's terror is still an open wound, like...

Text: Yelena Rubinova December 19 2013

Theme: #10 2013

Fiction

Iran: The day we pack our bags

For many years, author Roya Zarrin held a popular yoga class in her hometown in Iran. But since it was also a place where forbidden literature could be discussed fairly openly, it attracted the...

Text: Roya Zarrin October 24 2013
Fiction

Egypt: The fanatic heart

The situation in the divided Egypt is full of uncertainty—also for those living in the midst of the crisis like author Somaya Ramadan: “How do you act on the courage of your own convictions if you do...

Text: Somaya Ramadan October 24 2013
Article

Belarus: A renaissance generation on the run

The well-educated are among the first to leave a repressive dictatorship. In countries like Belarus or Eritrea, the escalating oppression cuts holes in the very fabric of society. How are these to be...

Text: Pavel Marozau October 24 2013
Article

Sierra Leone: Reading yourself—and the other

Freedom of speech is also about being given access to literature itself. “Alphabetization” is not just about cracking the reading code—it also about getting a hand to reach the higher branches in the...

Text: Mohamed Sheriff October 24 2013
Poetry

Syria: Curses

Put on your clothes and leave You can walk out naked if you wish The blood of the dead that does not disturb your sleep...

Text: Amira Abul Husn October 24 2013
Fiction

Syria: The barricades

The woman with the expressive face There she stands with a look of intense surprise on her face on an ordinary morning...

Text: Hazim Alazmah October 24 2013
Poetry

Syria: Die from the stabs of despair

1 Yesterday evening I wrote a short poem about a mortar shell and hoped that it would fly off to neverwhere. When the...

Text: Ali Safar October 24 2013
Poetry

Syria: Cowboys, gangsters and pirates

When I was a child I hated Hollywood films I hated watching violence and police chases I hated films about famous...

Text: Lina Tibi October 23 2013
Fiction

Syria: Thirteen scenes from hell

Scene 1 “Look at those aged female paratroopers—they get promoted and are now called lionesses, the armed forces’...

Text: Housam Al-Mosilli October 23 2013
Article

USA: Larry Siems about NSA and digital surveillance

What kind of harm really comes from the surveillance exposed by Edward Snowden and other activists? We need to know more, says Larry Siems, writer and director of PEN America's Freedom to Write...

Text: Larry Siems October 23 2013

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