非漂 [Fēi Piāo] Quote of the Week: “An Expanded Capacity for Empathy”

. . . I began thinking one of literature’s tasks was to give voices to the voiceless, and to humanize people . . . so my first book of stories, The Refugees, worked exactly in that register, trying to humanize the Vietnamese people. But eventually I realized that this was a task that was doomed … Continue reading 非漂 [Fēi Piāo] Quote of the Week: “An Expanded Capacity for Empathy”

Burn the books and bury the scholars! 焚書坑儒!

Geremie Barmé takes a look at the recent decision of Cambridge University Press to reinstate content deleted from the online version of its China Quarterly available in China: Chinese censorship has come a long way. During his rule in the second century B.C.E., the First Emperor 秦始皇 of a unified China, Ying Zheng 嬴政, famously quashed … Continue reading Burn the books and bury the scholars! 焚書坑儒!

One Last Ride aboard Kenya’s “Lunatic Express”

Writes Thomas Bird from Kenya (Lunatic Express), where the China-built new Nairobi-to-Mombasa railway looks set to render the Victorian-era line redundant: “Belt and Road Cooperation for Common Promutual Benefit,” proclaims a large street sign suspended above Beijing’s ever-congested second ring road. China is investing massively in its 21st-century reimagin­ing of the Silk Roads, even if the … Continue reading One Last Ride aboard Kenya’s “Lunatic Express”

穆拉特詹·萨本主: “我的父亲与新闻自由正在土耳其受审”

我的父亲与新闻自由正在土耳其受审 — 欧洲,别撇开眼睛! 12 名《共和国报》受押采编人员法庭受审,警醒各方: 民主与人权正陷入四面楚歌 原文发表于 英国 《卫报》2017 年 7 月 24 日 (英文全文在此) Muratcan Sabuncu(穆拉特詹·萨本主)撰文 (Muratcan Sabuncu 为土耳其《共和国报》总编 Murat Sabuncu 的儿子,以及法国的索邦人权协会会长) 这个故事想必大家都熟悉,有个暴君身着盛装在大道上游行,臣民都在曲意奉承他,突然有个小孩子大声疾呼:“皇帝并没穿什么衣服呀!”。这孩子就像当下土耳其同样正直敢言的人。谁说出真相,谁才是爱国忠良,才称得上国家良知,因为他们拨开乌云,让蒙在阴霾下的人重见天日。 家父,Murat Sabuncu(穆拉特·萨本主),直言勿讳,担任 Cumhuriyet (《共和国报》) 日报总编,持异见之声,却广受赞誉,在土耳其媒体中,实属罕见。他与11名 Cumhuriyet 同僚,九个月羁押期刚满,将于周一 [7 月 31 日]在伊斯坦布尔接受法庭审理。 在押仅满五个月,Cumhuriyet 新闻工作者及该报社其他从业人员才获悉他们所面临的指控。罪名是与恐怖组织有关联,有可能被判处7.5到43年监禁。然而,翻开起诉书,内容仅仅是报刊标题、消息、报道、专栏和推文。由此可见,新闻业和新闻自由才是此案真正的受审者。 Cumhuriyet 自 1924 年在土耳其创刊以来一直坚持倡导民主共和、世俗主义等价值观念。该报新闻工作者坚称其批评文章,旨在对抗危机,维护秩序,为效忠祖国之根本。连同家父在内,他们让公众认识到,诚实准确与公平是如何被颠倒的。他们深信消息通畅可以开阔公民视野,使其三思而后做决断。显然,从家父及同僚们笔尖流露出的是他们的报国精神与爱国情怀。 我父一贯执笔支持民主,正义与良知。他曾反对1997年土耳其军方利用 “备忘录” 逼迫亲伊斯兰政府下台的;反对头巾禁令;不支持以反对世俗主义为借口解散执政的 “正义与发展党”的企图;以及反对 2016 年 7 月 15 日未遂政变的图谋。小时候,我记得父亲密切关注过刺杀赫兰特·丁克(Hrant Dink)编辑的事件以及随之而来的谋杀审案,并去锡利夫里 (Silivri) 监狱探望朋友,记者纳迪姆·塞内尔(Nedim Şener),他在额尔古纳昆(Ergenekon)案中被捕并遭到指控。我父亲深知异见记者要冒失业,入狱和死亡的危险,他曾经向我调侃道,从 Cumhuriyet … Continue reading 穆拉特詹·萨本主: “我的父亲与新闻自由正在土耳其受审”

Turkey’s Purge: Kurdish Suffer along with Suspected Gülenists

In Amid Turkey’s Purge, a Renewed Attack on Kurdish Culture, Patrick Kingsley reports from Diyarbakir: Across southeast Turkey, where most people are Kurdish, Mr. Erdogan’s government fired over 80 elected mayors and replaced them with state-appointed trustees. Here in Diyarbakir, the spiritual capital of Turkish Kurdistan, the trustee not only fired most of the city’s … Continue reading Turkey’s Purge: Kurdish Suffer along with Suspected Gülenists

Hundreds of Turkish Journalists in Jail or on the Run

The Hürriyet Daily News English edition reports: Some 123 Turkish journalists are fugitives abroad, while 159 of them were in jail as of the end of April, according to a report by the Turkish Journalists Association (TGC).  The Freedom of Expression and Press report, which was made possible by the European Union, said 46 new investigations were … Continue reading Hundreds of Turkish Journalists in Jail or on the Run

Quote of the Week: Qui a peur du wolof?

Si tout écrivain entretient des rapports orageux avec les mots, dans le cas de l'auteur africain, c'est sa langue d'écriture qui est tout entière problématique. On m'a ainsi demandé d'abord: 《Pourquoi ecrivez-vous en français?》, puis après la parution de mon roman Doomi Golo: 《Pourquoi écrivez-vous en wolof?》   (Senegalese author Boubacar Boris Diop in Le dilemme … Continue reading Quote of the Week: Qui a peur du wolof?

Ahmet Ümit Translation Forum: No Chinese Presence?

A one-day symposium titled “Translating Ahmet Ümit into Foreign Languages” will be held on April 7 in Istanbul at Okan University’s Beyoğlu campus. The symposium will be attended by 11 translators from various countries, according to a report in Hurriyet Daily News. For a Turkish writer of fiction, Ümit (阿赫梅特·乌米特) has been fairly widely translated … Continue reading Ahmet Ümit Translation Forum: No Chinese Presence?