Kharkiv & Iran Turkey, Sansal & Assange: The Campaigns of PEN Berlin
Overview of ongoing and concluded campaigns
[2024/25]
Free Boualem Sansal!
DLF Kultur, March 4 2025: »Members of the writers’ association PEN Berlin demonstrated in front of the Algerian trade fair stand for the release of Boualem Sansal, the French-Algerian writer who has been on a hunger strike for almost three weeks. (…) For Daniel Kehlmann, one of the most successful novelists in the German-speaking world, solidarity is self-evident. [He] speaks of a harmless sentence with serious consequences.«
MORE ON THE »FREE BOUALEM SANSAL« CAMPAIGN
[2025]
Fundraising campaign for independent media in Turkey
Journalism is not a crime. And not for nothing.
Noone but the people of Turkey can fight the battle for press freedom, freedom of expression, democracy and the rule of law. But we can stand by their side. This is why PEN Berlin is launching a fundraising campaign to support independent media outlets in Turkey.
[2023–25]
Free Free Toomaj, Free Saman!
The rapper Saman Yasin, who comes from the Kurdish part of Iran, had been imprisoned since October 2022 for writing lyrics critical of the regime. Joachim Helfer, board member of PEN Berlin, said: »(…) Iut it shows that international solidarity and commitment to human rights can make a difference.«
MORE ON THE »FREE TOOMAJ, FREE SAMAN« CAMPAIGN
[2022/23]
Fire Trucks for Kharkiv
PEN Berlin spokesperson Deniz Yücel and co-initiator Liane Bednarz handed on 7 January over urgently needed supplies to our Ukrainian colleague, writer, musician, and German Peace Prize laureate Serhij Zhadan. (…) With the second delivery on April 2023, the campaign »Fire trucks for Kharkiv« collected donations in the amount of 196,554.85 (one hundred and ninety-six thousand five hundred and fifty-four!) Euros.
MORE ON THE CAMPAIGN »FIRE TRUCKS FOR KHARKIV«
[2022/23]
Free Julian Assange!
Finally – Julian Assange, the longest serving political prisoner in the Western world, is free and on his way home to Australia. PEN Berlin welcomes the release of its honorary member with great relief. (…) The fact that, after all these years of overzealous prosecution, a deal had to be struck to allow the US to »save face« does not bode well for the state of press freedom in the Western world.