the Right to Write
Do you have the courage of your convictions?
Writing challenges and contests are commonplace to writers (and seen by many readers) on a vast spectrum of platforms, but what if you faced real challenges? Not the dreadful search for the “perfect” writing software, distractions like social media and household chores, or even the horror of writer’s block - no, real challenges.
Imagine, if you can, this one. Before putting words to the page, what if … you had to survive a couple of poisonings and were then regularly followed by the not-so-secret police. And once your adrenaline surged enough to keep you awake a few nights, the police arrest you on a false charge, take you to a secret court, charge you with treason, and then find you guilty. Sentenced to 25 years in prison, you then find yourself limited to 1 1/2 hours each day when you are allowed to write from your cell in solitary confinement. Ample time to choose your words thoughtfully. Think that might cramp your style, break your creative flow, maybe just a little bit?
So how does anyone, made of the same flesh and bones as you and me, write so passionately and articulately from the horrors of a Russian Gullag that they might win a Pulitzer Prize? Everyone knows what white privilege is; Few of us can even conceive of writing privilege.
We take it for granted, like pushing the “brew” button again on a Nespresso machine. Freedom of expression? Think what you like, and tap it out on your keyboard. Hit send, pat yourself on the back, and wipe your furrowed brow of the sweaty testament to your brave words and indomitable spirit.
I will admit to the stupidity of actually wondering out loud: “Why don’t more of the Russian people speak out and protest the repressive Putin regime?” And Vladimir Kara-Mursa answered my idiocy perfectly.
In one of his Washinton Post columns, he wrote: “Some people in the West are asking why more Russians aren’t protesting against Putin and his brutal war. Perhaps a more apt observation would be that — given the circumstances and the cost — so many Russians are. According to human rights groups, since Putin invaded Ukraine, nearly 20,000 people have faced police detention across Russia for antiwar protests. Not a week goes by without another arrest, indictment, or sentencing of antiwar protesters. Artists and journalists, politicians and priests, lawyers and police officers, students and railroad workers: Russians of different backgrounds and vocations have refused to become silent accomplices to Putin’s war, even at the cost of personal freedom.”
My bad, how clueless can you be? Vladimir Kara-Murza, the writer-author-journalist who is now in a Siberian prison, is suffering from nerve damage from his poisonings and lacking adequate medical care. He sleeps on a miserable bed that automatically folds into the wall after eight hours. He has only a cement stool to sit on. He will die there unless some miracle of a prisoner exchange occurs. Somehow, Mr. Murza persevered. He was recently awarded the Pulitzer Prize for commentary for 2024.
I share the link to his Washington Post columns not just because they are poignant and noteworthy. I share them because one of the men running for President of the United States is threatening, no promising, that he will treat journalists in a similar fashion. And they won’t be alone; any critic, anywhere, anybody.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/05/06/vladimir-kara-murza-pulitzer-prize-commentary/
The International Buck stops (hopefully) in Ukraine. It’s time to hurt Putin and the oligarchs more, much more because the only thing they can count is money. Confiscation of the $300 billion in frozen Russian Assets is on the table. The U.S. is committed, but the E.U. must agree. If you have a moment, please drop E.U. President Ursula von der Leyen a line at ec-president-vdl@ec.europa. Or try the general contact address, which promises a response within three days! https://european-union.europa.eu/contact-eu_en
How brave must you be to put your words out here in public? What’s the real risk - a little embarrassment or, worse, the anonymity of being ignored? Ego bruises are invisible outside the realm of your thin skin. But what if …
Thank you, Dante, for another powerful call to integrity.
The cruelty is the point for Fascism.