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Critical Minds, Critical Times: UNESCO World Press Freedom Day

Critical Minds for Critical Times: The media’s role in advancing peaceful, just and inclusive societies is the theme of UNESCO’s main celebration of this year’s World Press Freedom Day, May 3rd. The event will take place in Jakarta, Indonesia, from May 1-4.

The program of the four-day conference has been designed to raise awareness of the importance of free and fact based journalism in promoting peace and justice, and supporting the efficiency, accountability and inclusiveness of institutions, in line with the Sixteenth United Nations Sustainable Development Goal. The event is organized with the Government of Indonesia and the Indonesian Press Council.

“SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOAL 16:Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels.” United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Division of Sustainable Development MORE

The May 3 celebration will be opened by Jusuf Kalla, Vice President of the Republic of Indonesia, and Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO. It will feature a plenary session on Quality journalism: a public good for just, peaceful and inclusive societies and six parallel sessions on subjects spanning media and information as a bulwark against hate speech, inclusiveness and gender equality, and violent extremism. A specific session will be dedicated to Press Freedom in Southeast Asia.

In the evening of May 3 Ms Bokova will award the 2017 UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize to Dawit Isaak, the imprisoned Eritrean-born journalist who will be represented by his daughter, Bethelem Isaak, during a ceremony that will be hosted by Joko Widodo, the President of Indonesia.

“Dawit Isaak (born 28 October 1964) is a Swedish-Eritrean playwright, journalist and writer, who has been held in prison in Eritrea since 2001 without trial and is considered a traitor by the Eritrean government. Amnesty International considers him a prisoner of conscience and has called for his immediate and unconditional release. For years, he was the only Swedish citizen held as a prisoner of conscience. He is now joined by the Swedish citizen and publicist Gui Minhai who was abducted by Chinese agents from Thailand in October 2015 and has been held prisoner in China since that time.” Wikipedia MORE

Dawit Isaak story, Free Dawit

The morning of May 4 will be dedicated to a second plenary session entitled Spotlight on investigative journalism: Perspectives from Southeast Asia and beyond. It will be followed by six parallel sessions on subjects including the impact of fake news on journalism, journalists’ safety and internet universality.

Artistic freedom, a principle enshrined in UNESCO’s Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, will be the focus of three sessions on May 2 and 4.

Notable speakers to address the conference will include José Ramos-Horta, Former President of Timor-Leste and 1996 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Richard Gingras, Vice President of News at Google, and Oscar Cantu Murguia, editor of Norte, the Mexican newspaper that had to close down operations this month following the killing of one of its journalists.

The main concerns and principles expressed during the four-day conference will be reflected in a declaration, the Jakarta Declaration, that participants are expected to adopt at the close of the event.

Also in Jakarta on May 3 and 4, Hong Kong Baptist University will host a conference about academic research into issues pertaining to the safety of journalists with participants from many countries.

Some thirty partners are contributing to World Press Freedom Day 2017 in Jakarta with events that will feature training sessions, workshops and roundtable discussions and are expected to draw more than 1,200 participants.

Approximately eighty other Press Freedom events are being organized around the world this year and leading news organizations including Al Jazeera, El Pais and Rappler will host dedicated blogs and feature special content for World Press Freedom Day. An awareness-campaign has been launched with the Cartooning for Peace Network( link is external) to raise visibility on the importance of freedom of expression through a series of press cartoons.

– except where indicated, post is courtesy of UNESCO

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A Madwoman, A Madonna, A Medusa – poem


What’s it to me? …
A knotted and nasty old poet of introverted time
wearing five-dollar sweats
dressing in black on black like a fly
with silver earrings tinkling softly in the winter breeze
What’s it to me? …

A Madwoman, a Madonna, a Medusa
Traipsing neighborhood streets, city parks and country lanes
Nibbling on sharp yellow cheese and glossy red apples
Sitting down on some wayward curb to sigh in wonder at
noisy birds and children, wizened old men, whiskered grandmothers
Dogs walking their humans by the side of the road
Feral cats scratching out a living of pigeon stuffed with stale bread

Muttering, muttering, whispering, watching, writing
Writing long poems and short about what it was to be us
through clocked days trapped in pointless, punctilious youth
Enjoying now the wild, gnarly randomness of life
and the music of our dusty blue souls jingling as we walk …
What’s it to me? What’s it to this so lately untamable me?

© 2013, poem and illustration, Jamie Dedes, All rights reserved

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SUNDAY ANNOUNCEMENTS: Calls for Submissions, Contests, Events and other News and Information

CALLS FOR SUBMISSIONS

Opportunities Knock

ARTFUL DODGE (Ohio), a publication of The College of Wooster with support from The Ohio Arts Council, publishes American fiction, poetry and narrative essay and contemporary literature in translation.  Guidelines are HERE.  

THE BeZINE submissions for the May 2017 issues (theme: Honesty and Transparency, the Post-truth Era) should be in by May 10th latest.  Publication date is May 15th. Poetry, essays,fiction and creative nonfiction, art and photography, music (videos), and whatever lends itself to online presentation is welcome for consideration. Please check out a few issues first and the Intro./Mission Statement and Submission Guidelines. Email submissions to bardogroup@gmail.com

3 ELEMENTS REVIEW is an online zine publishing poetry, fiction and nonfiction quarterly. Today is the last day to submit for the summer issue but submissions for the fall issue open tomorrow (May 1) and extend through July 31.  As of today the three elements for the fall issue have not been announced. Submission guidelines HERE.  

ZYMBOL, Hybrid Literature for Surreal Brains, publishes books (effective 2018) and a magazine. Of the magazine this press writes: “Zymbol magazine is published on an annual basis and we are open to all genres and styles of writing. Each edition will have a small section dedicated to the our symboilst and surrealist roots, but will also publish general poetry, fiction, memoir, flash and mixed-genre work.” Details HERE.

KILLING THE BUDDHA is an online zine featuring religion, culture and politics. “It began on November 13, 2000, when Peter Manseau and Jeff Sharlet invited readers who are both hostile and drawn to talk of God to join them in building an electronic Tower of Babel, a Talmudic cathedral of stories about faith lost and found. They named it after a saying of the Chinese Buddhist sage Lin Chi.” Genres they lean toward publishing include “reportage, essays, criticism, rants, prayers.” They are disinclined to publish poetry and fiction. Details HERE.

ANTÍPHON, providing a showcase or the best in contemporary British and international poetry has an open call for submissions (though May 31) for issue 21.  Details HERE.

CHERRY TREE, A National Literary Journal @ Washington College welcomes submission of “poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction and literary shade.” Reading period is three months only from August 1 through October 1. Payment is $20 and 2 copies.  Submission guidelines HERE.

WRITER’S ALLIANCE OF GAINSVILLE [WAG] fosters creative expression through the written word has an open call for submissions through May 31, 2017  for its eighth annual edition of Bacopa Literary Review, an international print journal. Prizes are one $400 prize in each for a flash story, poetry, literary fiction, and creative nonfiction. There is a submission fee of $3. All published authors receive a copy of the print journal and will also be promoted online after publication. Details HERE.

THE SOUTHHAMPTON REVIEW a publication of Stony Brook Southhampton (graduate arts campus, MFA program in New York), will open for reading from August 15 – October 15. This pubication features fiction, poetry, nonfiction, plays and screenplays, and art (fine art, photography, cartoons, illustration). Details HERE.

CONTESTS

  • Red Hen Press, 2017 BENJAMIN SALTMAN POETRY AWARD , $3,000 and four-week residency. Deadline: October 31 Details HERE.
  • Red Hen Press, 2017 RED HEN PRESS FICTION AWARD, $1,000 and publication. Deadline: August 31. Details HERE.
  • The Idaho Prize for Poetry is an annual, national competition offering $1,000 plus publication by Lost Horse Press for a book-length poetry manuscript. Manuscripts are accepted for review through May 15 and the winner announced on August 15. Details HERE.
  • Spokane Prize for Short Fiction,Willow Springs Books, in collaboration with Lost Horse Press, invites submissions for The 2016 Spokane Prize for Short Fiction: $2,000 plus publication by LOST HORSE PRESS/Willow Springs Books. Submission deadline: June 1, 2016 Details HERE.

EVENTS

  • NaPoWriMo, 30 poems in 30 days: The theme for May is a story a day. Check it out HERE.
  • CATSKILL INTERPRETIVE CENTER BOOK FAIR, free event on Saturday June 24, 2017 from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. CATSKILL INTERPRETIVE CENTER 5096 NEW YORK 28, MOUNT TREMPER, NY, 12457 Details HERE.
  • LOST HORSE PRESS is pleased to present PIE & WHISKEY & MOTHERS: Reading, Pie Eating, Whiskey Drinking & Book Signing featuring Kate Lebo & Sam Ligon Saturday, 13 May 2017 • 1 pm • Sandpoint Library Rude Girls Room
    Free Admission • Everyone’s invited! Spokane, Washington Details HERE.

“The chamber choir, for which I sing, along with two other local choirs (Stannington Mixed and Thurgoland Community Choir) and the talented Inyerface Arts musicians and soloists, are performing John Rutter’s Requiem as the core of a concert on Saturday, 27th May at the magnificent Victoria Hall in Sheffield. It would be very much appreciated it if you were able to share this amongst your friends, who might enjoy an amazing choral experience … Thank you.” John Anstie (My Poetry Library), is a singer, musician, poet and a member of The BeZine core team.

Kudos

NEWS and OTHER INFORMATION

BONUS

If you are reading this post from an email subscription, you’ll likely have to link through to view this video of Stephen Fry reading John Keats’ Ode to a Nightingale:

Stephen Fry’s The Ode Less Traveled is one of The Poet by Day recommended reads. In it encourages delight in writing poetry and offers some fine tools to build the confidence in aspiring poets, introducing metre, rhyme, form, diction and poetics.

The recommended read: On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century by Timothy Snyder. Left, right or center – American or not – it’s a must read.

THE WORDPLAY SHOP: books, tools and supplies for poets, writers and readers

ABOUT THE POET BY DAY

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“BROKEN HOMES,” Single Moms, Remarkable Sons … Gill Scott-Heron, jazz poet

Gill Scott-Heron (1949-2011), American jazz poet, spoken-word poet, muscian and author
Gill Scott-Heron (1949-2011), American jazz poet, spoken-word poet, musician and author

“All I really want to say
Is that the problems come and go
But the sunshine seems to stay . . . “

My son sent me On Coming from a Broken Home (an excerpt from the album, I’m New Here) for Mother’s Day in 2011.  Since then I publish some version of this piece every two years. I think Gil Scott-Heron’s message here is important. 

Gil Scott-Heron died around this time in 2011. He’d started out fiery and angry. Some will remember his forceful The Revolution Will Be Televised and other such works. He was always an artist of political integrity. It showed in actions such as refusing to perform in Tel Aviv because “we do not like wars.”  Over time his style mellowed, but his ideals remained.

Gil Scott-Heron is considered by many to be the grandfather of rap and the father of political rap.  Famously, he didn’t accept those titles; he was critical of young rappers, felt they needed to study more, to promote change and not perpetuate the status-quo.  He is quoted in ChickenBones: A Journal as saying …

“They need to study music. I played in several bands before I began my career as a poet. There’s a big difference between putting words over some music, and blending those same words into the music. There’s not a lot of humor. They use a lot of slang and colloquialisms, and you don’t really see inside the person. Instead, you just get a lot of posturing.”

In the poem shared today it’s interesting to see what Heron does with his personal experience.  I like that there’s nothing of the victim mentality in this piece. I like the way he talks of dealing with life as it is. I appreciate that he points out that single-parent homes are not always the result of abandonment but are often made so due to parents who were lost in war or in jobs as police officers, firefighters or pilots.

“They lost their lives, but not what their lives stood for.” 

On Coming From a Broken Home (video below, escerpt from I‘m New Here) is a good example of how art can explain, validate and give us new perspectives … perhaps even encourage us to talk with one another. The piece is from Gil Scott-Heron’s last studio album, I’m New Here. It came out in 2010 not long before he died.

As always if you are viewing this post from an email, you will have to click on the link to this site to see and hear the piece.

Header photograph/Heron at the WOMARD festival in Bristol England, 1988 by Robman94 under CC BY SA 2.0 license.