Letter: It is expression that might offend someone who we consider to be "marginalized, embattled and victimized".

PWN: What do you mean by "expression that violates the acceptable"?

Violates the acceptable? What can this possibly mean? In this exclusive interview, the Letter explains itself.

We "don't believe in censoring expression" they write, BUT we are against "rewarding" "expression that violates the acceptable".

Following the lead of Francine Prose, Michael Ondaatje, Peter Carey and Teju Cole, the 145 writers below signed a letter protesting the PEN award for "courage and freedom of expression" to Charlie Hebdo, the French satirical magazine whose staff was massacred by Islamists in Paris in January.

"'Marginalized, embattled and victimized?' Sounds like you're talking about the French cartoonists who were murdered by Islamists. Being dead - that's pretty f-ing victimized, isn't it?

No, that's not it. According to our high-minded 145 writers, the victimized are "a population that is shaped by the legacy of France’s various colonial enterprises, and that contains a large percentage of devout Muslims, Charlie Hebdo’s cartoons of the Prophet must be seen as being intended to cause further humiliation and suffering."

But wait! Even the most ignorant have heard by now that Charlie Hebdo was a practitioner of "“equal opportunity offense", right? That they were even more offensive, if possible, to the Pope. (Just spend a couple minutes with devout French Catholics and you'll know what I mean.)

Yes, but that is no excuse. Because (as Orwell could not have said better himself) "in an unequal society, equal opportunity offence does not have an equal effect".

Well obviously. Some people get murdered for joking around. But that's not what your 145 meant.

No. They meant: Some targets of mockery are OFF LIMITS!

Off limits? But why? What's wrong with satirizing religious fundamentalism as intolerant and violent? (the cartoonists' murder kind of proved their point, non?)

Because: "Power and prestige are elements that must be recognized in considering almost any form of discourse, including satire."

Really? But what about people with guns who scare the crap out of people with pens? Don't they have power?...

Nuh Uh. In the correct version, they can only be "victimized".

Tell me, what is one supposed to do with the inconvenient fact that the murderers, not just in the Charlie Hebdo massacre but in the Vincennes, Toulouse, Copenhagen and many other murders, all came from this population which, according to the 145, is "victimized"? Are we not allowed to say that either?

"Our concern," say the correct-thinking 145, "is that, by bestowing the Toni and James C. Goodale Freedom of Expression Courage Award on Charlie Hebdo, PEN is not simply conveying support for freedom of expression, but also valorizing selectively offensive material: material that intensifies the anti-Islamic, anti-Maghreb, anti-Arab sentiments already prevalent in the Western world."

So the 145 are not really upset about offending the religious? They're worried about fanning anti-Arab sentiments in the Western world?

That's what the 145 says in their letter.

Well I got news for you: it wasn't the cartoons that did it. It was the F-ing murder of the cartoonists! A lot of people think that's unacceptable!

Well if the cartoonists hadn't been offending people with guns they wouldn't have been murdered in the first place!

Isn't that the reason for the PEN Award? That they had the courage to publish even though they knew they were threatened by people with guns?

Sure, maybe, but our irreproachable 145 point out they were the wrong people with guns. It should have been the Far Right that murdered the cartoonists. THAT would have been a good story. One we could get behind. But this? This is just...inconvenient.

So: Charlie Hebdo's unforgivable crime was getting murdered by Islamists?

Absolutely! Read the Guardian article by Francine Prose. She explains it really well. It is "the narrative" of their murder that is offensive.





"The narrative of the Charlie Hebdo murders – white Europeans killed in their offices by Muslim extremists – is one that feeds neatly into the cultural prejudices"

Let me get this right - it is the narrative of the murders that is the problem? Not the murders?

Yes! The 145 are writers. They care about narrative.

So the 145 writers below have taken a stand - not for freedom of expression, not for courage in the face of death threats, not for solidarity with our fellows who have been murdered - but for the concept of the right "narrative"?

Yeah! Francine was very clear about the cause for her protest.

Theoretical question. What happens to the narrative if the writers murdered by Islamists are not western?

You mean like Bangladeshi bloggers hacked to death for being secular? Or Pakistani, Saudi, Egyptian or Turkish writers killed or threatened with death for "blasphemy"? Or satirists who go into exile out of fear? Or little girls who...

Yeah, for example

That's not on the list. The 145, you know, they live mostly in America. They know what they know.

More...

For writers who actually care to know what Charlie Hebdo mocked, see the Le Monde article: Non, Charlie Hebdo n'est pas obsédé par Islam - (in French)

For writers interested in learning about Charlie Hebdo's constant engagement against racism, here's the head of SOS Racism's ardent defense of Charlie Hebdo and his outrage at those who falsely accuse Charlie Hebdo of racism.

For a rational discussion of freedom of speech, see Adam Gopnik's excellent essay in the New Yorker : PEN Has Every Right To Honor Charlie Hebdo)

For more on Francine Prose see informative The Nation article by Katha Pollit: Charlie Hebdo Deserves Its Award For Courage In Free Expression. Here's Why.

For an outstanding analysis of the "myths" (nice word for lies) surrounding Charlie Hebdo and a much needed expose of the hatchet job the Francine Prose and Garry Trudeau perpetrate against the dead cartoonists (and the facts), see Jeffrey Goldberg's piece in The Atlantic Monthly, on The Dangerous Myths Surrounding Charlie Hebdo.

For historical perspective, see Amanda Foreman's fascinating account of a similar episode in 1933, Charlie Hebdo and a Rubican Moment for Free Speech in the Wall Street Journal

List of writers who signed the Letter against recognizing the courage of Charlie Hebdo.

Chris Abani

Leslie Absher

Elizabeth Adams

Gabeba Baderoon

Deborah Baker

Russell Banks

Susan Bell

Naomi Benaron

Helen Benedict

Cara Benson

Charles Ramírez Berg

Susan Bernofksy

Eric Bogosian

Donald Breckenridge

Ami Sands Brodoff

Karen Brown Brooks

Janet Burroway

Helene Cardona

Peter Carey

Bryn Chancellor

Carmela Ciuraru

Patricia Clark

Tony Cohan

Teju Cole

Michael Cunningham

Emily M. Danforth

Tod Davies

Siddhartha Deb

Junot Díaz

Erin Edmison

Brent Hayes Edwards

Brian T. Edwards

Deborah Eisenberg

Hedi El Kholti

Trey Ellis

Eve Ensler

Elizabeth Enslin

Barbara Epler

Jennifer Cody Epstein

Ali Eteraz

Percival Everett

Marlon L. Fick

Boris Fishman

Stona Fitch

Peter H. Fogtdal

Seánan Forbes

Ashley Ford

Linda Nemec Foster

Lauren Francis-Sharma

Ru Freeman

Nell Freudenberger

Molly Friedrich

Joshua Furst

Gretchen Gerzina

Keith Gessen

Francisco Goldman

Conner Habib

Jessica Hagedorn

Katheryn Harrison

Jonathan T. Hine Jr.

Edward Hoagland

Laura Hoffmann

Nancy Horan

Marya Hornbacher

Sandra Hunter

Megan Hustad

Randa Jarrar

T. Geronimo Johnson

John Keahey

Uzma Aslam Khan

Dave King

Gilbert King

Robert Spencer Knotts

Ruth Ellen Kocher

Nancy Kricorian

Amitava Kumar

Rachel Kushner

Amy Lawless

Zachary Lazar

Jonathan Lee

Katherine Leiner

Ted Lewin

Ed Lin

Michael Lindgren

Julie Livingston

Craig Lucas

Ann Malaspina

Charlotte Mandell

C. M. Mayo

Patrick McGrath

Clarissa McNair

Deena Metzger

Thais Miller

Kyle Minor

Rick Moody

Skye Moody

Lorrie Moore

Dolan Morgan

James McGrath Morris

Idra Novey

Stephen O’Connor

Joyce Carol Oates

Peter Orner

Michael Ondaatje

Raj Patel

Chris Pavone

Francine Prose

Marcus Rediker

Adam Rex

Clay Risen

Roxana Robinson

David Roediger

Paul Rome

Mark Rotella

Gina Ruiz

Steven Schroeder

Sarah Schulman

Taiye Selasi

Danzy Senna

Kamila Shamsie

Jeff Sharlet

Wallace Shawn

Matthew Shenoda

Nancy Shiffrin

Russell Shorto

Charles Simic

Tom Sleigh

Holly Goldberg Sloan

Alexis M. Smith

Jill Smolowe

Linda Spalding

Scott Spencer

Emily Gray Tedrowe

Roy A. Teel Jr.

Michael Thomas

Ted Thompson

Kathleen Tolan

Joanne Turnbull

Chase Twichell

Padma Venkatraman

Jasmine Dreame Wagner

Eliot Weinberger

Jon Wiener

G. K. Wuori

Dave Zirin