- Target:
- The Greek Ministry of Education
- Region:
- GLOBAL
- Website:
- dekata.wordpress.com
A Greek Court has recently decided to force the withdrawal from the National
School Library system of the National Award novel, “Zig-zag Through the Bitter
Orange Trees” by Ersi Sotiropoulos, as the result of a lawsuit initiated by the
extreme-right politician K. Plevris against the Greek Ministry of Education.
The court’s decision, based on the judge’s opinion that the book “contains
passages clearly pornographic and vulgar,” is a monument of extreme
conservatism, and is viewed by Greek intellectuals as an unprecedented attack
on reason, freedom of speech and the independence of artistic creation and
education.
Find out more about the book here.
Η Κοινωνία των (δε)κάτων καταγγέλλει την παρέμβαση της δικαιοσύνης στην
απόσυρση από τις Σχολικές Βιβλιοθήκες του βραβευμένου με το Κρατικό Βραβείο
μυθιστορήματος της Έρσης Σωτηροπούλου «Ζιγκ-ζαγκ στις νεραντζιές» ως ωμή
παρέμβαση στο έργο της λογοτεχνίας και της εκπαίδευσης και ως πράξη
λογοκρισίας. Ζητά από το Υπουργείο Παιδείας να χρησιμοποιήσει κάθε νόμιμο
μέσο για την αναστολή της εφαρμογής της πρωτοφανούς αυτής δικαστικής
απόφασης προκειμένου να διαφυλάξει την ελευθερία της έκφρασης και το κύρος
των Γραμμάτων και της Παιδείας. Με την πράξη αυτή η Δικαιοσύνη,
ποινικοποιώντας την τέχνη του λόγου, μας επιστρέφει στον μεσαίωνα.
Αθήνα, 17 Απριλίου 2008
(Aκολουθούν 19 υπογραφές μελών)
Ενώστε τη φωνή σας με τη δική μας: Υπογράψτε και προωθήστε αυτό το
ψήφισμα.
---------------------------------
The "(de)kata Society" denounces the interference of the Greek courts leading
to the withdrawal from the National School Library system of the National
Award novel, "Zig-Zag Through the Bitter Orange Trees" by Ersi Sotiropoulos, as
an act of interference in the literary process and the educational system and as
an act of censorship. The Society demands that the Ministry of Education appeal
this unprecedented judicial decision and use every legal means to block its
enforcement in order to ensure the protection of freedom of expression and the
sanctity of the arts and education. With this act, the justice system, by
criminalising the art of writing, is throwing us back to the Middle Ages.
Athens, 17 April 2008
(Signed by 19 members of the society)
Join your voice with ours: sign this petition and forward it on.
You can further help this campaign by sponsoring it
The Freedom of Speech Under Threat (Greece) petition to The Greek Ministry of Education was written by Dinos and is in the category Civil Rights at GoPetition.