vapaa sana

Kuva Leon Cogniet'n teoksesta the massacre of the innocents

Matteo Stocchetti: Freedom of expression and genocide

How can freedom of expression stop an ongoing genocide? What are ways of exercising this freedom that can stop the...

/ 18 December 2024
Minna Castren

Minna Castrén: Promoting literature and reading is a fight for freedom of expression

Minna Castrén’s text is only in Finnish and Swedish.

/ 15 July 2024

Matteo Stocchetti: Freedom of expression is not enough

To strengthen democracy, we need communicative competences. The idea that freedom of expression is one of the fundamental democratic freedoms...

/ 3 April 2024
kirjailija Laura Lindstedt

Laura Lindstedt: The writer’s freedom of expression in a world dominated by spectacle

What comes to mind from the words “writer’s freedom of expression”? Do you think of imprisoned, exiled or murdered writers,...

/ 28 February 2024
Janne Huuskonen

Janne Huuskonen: The authorities must respect the law

Freedom of expression allows criticism of those in power. Politicians have a broad right to freedom of expression, perhaps even...

/ 1 February 2024
Romahtanut silta Kiovassa

Peter Mickwitz: A trip to Ukraine

The last week of October I travelled to Kyiv, Ukraine together with representatives for the Nordic PEN centres, PEN Berlin,...

/ 22 November 2023
Pirita Näkkäläjärvi saamenpuvussa Eduskuntatalon edustalla

Pirita Näkkäläjärvi: Hate Speech and Indigenous People Sámi

Freedom of speech of indigenous peoples and hate speech towards indigenous peoples has not been widely studied. Academic literature on...

/ 6 February 2023
Ukrainalainen toimittaja Nataliya Teramae

Nataliya Teramae: The Shell of a Snail

Read the Essay by Nataliya Teramae in Ukrainian. When you emigrate to a foreign country, you automatically start looking for...

/ 9 November 2022
Suomen PENin johtokunnan jäsen Joy Hyvärinen

Joy Hyvärinen: Does Finland need a commission on freedom of expression?

The freedom of expression commission appointed by the Norwegian government in 2020 has recently published its report (read the report...

/ 29 August 2022
Suomen PENin puheenjohtaja Peter Mickwitz kirjahyllyn edessä

Peter Mickwitz: Örnulf Tigerstedt, right-wing radical and president of PEN Finland

Panem et Circenses. Let me toast to your freedom your eight-hour workday, your cultivated soul, your progress and your other...

/ 20 August 2022
Judyth Hill

Judyth Hill: Wage peace

Author and active PEN International member Judyth Hill is visiting Finland’s PEN 5-11.5. In addition to his commitment to freedom...

/ 6 May 2022
Nataliya Teramae kesäisessä järvimaisemassa

Nataliya Teramae: How we brought up a dictator

Artists do have the gift of prophesying. For Ulf Stark’s book ‘The Dictator’ Linda Bondestam created a picture of a...

/ 31 March 2022

Samay Hamed: For the last American soldier

For the last American soldier: Goodbye General Greet your daughter from the girls of Kabul Tell her about the colorful...

/ 1 September 2021
Kansainvälisen Valko-Venäjän kulttuuriviikon punavalkoinen logo

Siarhej Budkin: 35 000 shots in 10 months

Shot 1 The border between two countries. A plot of land in the borderland is well ploughed to see whether...

/ 5 July 2021
Turmenistanilais-ruotsalaisen kirjailija Ak Welsaparin kasvokuva

Ak Welsapar: Love in Lilac

A novella The sun rose higher and in the lilac garden everything was painfully familiar. Arslan had only to close...

/ 24 June 2021
Pilapiirtäjä Kianoush Ramezani seisoo ulkona silmä kiinni taustallaan sininen taivas, jolla on muutamia vaaleita pilviä

Kianoush Ramezani: Freedom after Expression: a new challenge

In 2006, I was invited to give a speech about Muhammad Cartoons and freedom of speech, at the Central European...

/ 24 November 2020
Puertoricolainen Alejandro Diaz on kuvan vasemmassa laidassa hattu päässään.

Ale Díaz: My Odyssey in the Migration System

My name is Alejandro Díaz Ortiz, I am a Puerto Rican artist, musician, songwriter, graphic designer and a filmmaker who...

/ 14 October 2020
Hondurasilainen ihmisoikeusaktivisti Erlin Mejia kulkee pyörätuolissa kahden mellakkavarusteisen poliisin välistä.

Claudia Morales: Erlin Mejía – Walking the refugee’s destiny

Erlin Armando Mejia Andino landed in Sweden three years ago, he is a 25 years old Honduran-born human rights activist...

/ 17 September 2020
Joonas Maristo

Joonas Maristo: Sananvapaus ja vastuu – tutkijan paikka vapaana?

Koronakriisi on opettanut meille ainakin kaksi asiaa. Ensinnäkin, maailma voi muuttua ja sitä voidaan muuttaa hyvin nopeasti. Toiseksi, kriisin vaikutukset...

/ 15 May 2020
Judyth Hill

Judyth Hill: The Hand That Holds the Pen Can Rock the World

I believe in Writers. Because we can speak softly and loudly and not carry a big stick. Because we can...

/ 19 April 2020