134 Iranian writers declaration (October 15, 1994)

On Wed, 05 Feb 1997 22:41:01 -0800, Sam Ghandchi <samg@netcom.com>
wrote:

>Rahim Bajoghli wrote:
>>
>> Dear all,
>>
>> Here is a copy of the "134 Iranian writers declaration". Please sign your
>> name at the end of this text to support the Iranian writers.
>>
>> October 15, 1994
>> Tehran, Iran
>>
>>                  "The Text of 134" Writers
>>
>> We are writers...
>>
>>    But problems which have arisen in the contemporary history of our
>> society as well as other societies have distorted the image of the writer
>> in the eyes of the state, certain sectors of society and even in the eyes
>> of the writers themselves. Consequently, the identity of the writer, the
>> nature of his/her work, and even the collective presence of writers have
>> all been subjected to undue attack.
>>
>>    It is our duty, therefore, as writes of Iran, to explain the nature of
>> writing as a cultural enterprise, and the reason for our collective
>> presence.
>>
>>    We are writers. By this we mean that we write our feelings,
>> imagination, thoughts and scholarship in various forms and publish them.
>> It is our natural, social and civil right to see that our writing -- be
>> it poetry or fiction, drama or film-script, research or criticism, or the
>> translation of works written by other writers of the world -- reach the
>> public in a free and unhampered manner. It is not within the capacity of
>> any person or organization to create obstacles for the publication of
>> these works, under whatever pretext these may be. Free judgment and
>> criticism, however, are open for all, after the publication of such
>> works.
>>
>>    When the struggle against the obstacles of writing and publishing
>> exceeds our individual power and capacity, there remains no other
>> alternative for us except to encounter these difficulties in a
>> collective-professional manner. In other words, in order to achieve
>> freedom of thought, expression and publication, and in order to campaign
>> censorship, we have to exert our efforts together. We believe, therefore,
>> that:
>>
>>    Our collective presence with the aim of creating a professional
>> writers association in Iran is the guarantee of our individual
>> independence, because a writer should be free in the creation of his/her
>> work, the criticism and analysis of works by other writers, and in the
>> expression of his/her beliefs. His/her cooperation and agreement with the
>> common problems of all writers do not mean that s/he should be held
>> responsible for the individual problems of other writers. Similarly, the
>> responsibility of personal, political and social thoughts and actions of
>> each writer belong only to that particular writer.
>>
>>    Nevertheless, the writer here is looked upon not because of his
>> profession as a writer, but because of his alleged association or assumed
>> connection with parties, groupings, or factions; judgment is passed upon
>> him/her on the basis of these assumptions. As a result, it seems that the
>> collective presence of writers in a cultural-professional organization
>> will be seen as equivalent to membership in a political party or advocacy
>> of a particular political agenda.
>>
>>     Governments and their dependent institutions and groupings
>> customarily evaluate a writer's work on the basis of their own
>> bureaucratic mechanisms and policies. Relying upon these arbitrary tools,
>> they attribute the collective presence of writers to certain political
>> tendencies or to internal and external conspiracies. Certain individuals,
>> institutions and groups related to the government even exploit these
>> arbitrary interpretations in order to vilify, humiliate, and threaten
>> writers.
>>
>>     We hereby emphasize that our principal goal is the removal of all
>> obstacles on the road to freedom of thought, freedom of expression and
>> freedom of publication; we emphasize that any other interpretations of
>> our aim would be incorrect and stress that the responsibility for these
>> misinterpretations lies with those who have wrongly identified our goals.
>>
>>    The responsibility of any text lies with the person who writes and
>> signs it freely. Therefore, the responsibility of whatever is written and
>> signed and published inside or outside Iran, in agreement or disagreement
>> with us -- the writers of Iran -- lies only with those who have signed
>> such a writing.
>>
>>    There is no doubt that the right to analyze and evaluate all works of
>> literature and scholarship is one that all should enjoy; the critical
>> analysis of works by writers is the prerequisite for the promotion of
>> national culture. Spying into the private life of a writer as
>> justification for the criticism of his/her works is tantamount to
>> intrusion into his/her privacy; condemning a writer on the basis of their
>> moral and ideological convictions is contrary to the principles of
>> democracy and the ethics of writing. Defending the human and civil rights
>> of every writer is, under all circumstances, the professional duty of all
>> writers.
>>
>> To sum:
>>
>> Our collective presence is the guarantee of our individual independence;
>> the private thought and action of one writer has nothing to do with the
>> assembly of writers: this is what we mean by the democratic outlook of an
>> independent, professional organization.
>>
>> Although it may seem a tautology, we reiterate: We are writers; look upon
>> us as writers; consider our collectively as the professional presence of
>> Iranian writers.
>>
>> Signed:
>>
>> Jahangir Afkari, Masood Ahmadi, Shahim Ahmadi, Mashiyyat Alaiee, Ghazaleh
>> Alizadeh, Maftoon Amini, Seyyed-Abdollah Anwar, Shiva Arastooee,
>> Amir-Hossein Aryanpour, Hassan Asghari, Dariush Ashoori, Hooshang
>> Ashourzadeh, Mohammad Baharloo, Mihan Bahrami, Reza Baraheni,
>> Mohammad-Reza Bateni, Simin Behbahani, Bahram Beyzaiee, Bizhan Bijari,
>> Mohammad Biyabani, Shapour Bonyad, Reza Chaychi, Amir-Hassah Cheheltan,
>> Simin Daneshvar, Ali-Ashraf Darvishiyan, Khashayar Deyhimi, Mahmoud
>> Dowlatabadi, Shirin Ebadi, Asghar Elahi, Soodabeh Fazaeli, Hadi
>> Ghebraiee, Mehdi Ghebraiee, Koorosh Hamekhani, Khosrow Hamzavi-Tehrani,
>> Esmail Hemmati, Hooshang Hessami, Ghaffar Hosseini, Ali-Reza Jabbari,
>> Jahed Jahanshahi, Kamran Jamali, Hashem Javadzadeh, Mohammad
>> Javaherkalam, Reza Joolaiee, Shapour Jorkesh, Mehrangiz Kar, Manouchehr
>> Karimzadeh, Medya Kashigar, Bizhan Kelki, Ziyaeddin Khaleqi, Azim
>> Khalili, Mohammad Khalili, Mohammad-Taqi Khavari, Ali-Asghar Khobrezadeh,
>> Abootorab Khosravi, Mohammad-Rez!
>>  a Khosravi, Lili Golestan, Hooshang Golshiri, Sima Kooban, Jafar
>> Kooshabadi, Mansour Kooshan, Abdollah Kosari, Shahla Lahiji, Shams
>> Langaroudi, Ahmad Mahmoud, Elham Mahvizani, Shahriyar Mandanipour, Ali
>> Masoumi, Mohsen Mihandoost, Ahmad Miralaiee, Jamal Mirsadeqi, Abbas
>> Mokhber, Mohammad Mokhtari, Kiyoumars Monshizadeh, Shahin Moqarrabin,
>> Hamid Mossadeq, Javad Mojabi, Mohammad Mohammad-Ali, Mahmou Motaqedi,
>> Keyvan Narimani, Gholam-Hossein Nasiripour, Jamshid Navaiee, Saroora
>> Nayyeri, Nazenin Nezam-Shahidi, Siroos Niroo, Mansour Ojie, Azita
>> Qahraman, Mehdi Qarib, Mohammad Qazi, Changiz Pahlavan, Rooieen Pakbaz,
>> Ali-Reza Panjaiee, Baqer Parham, Shahrnoush Parsipour, Hassan Pasta,
>> Ahmad Pouri, Hassan Pouyan, Mohammad Pourandeh, Akbar Radi, Esmail Raha,
>> Ebrahim Rahbar, Nosrat Rahmani, Fariborz Raiesdana, Morteza Ravandi,
>> Moniroo Ravanipour, Qasem Roubin, Kazem Sadat-Eskkavari, Abdurrahman
>> Sadriyyeh, Mohammad-Taqi Salehpour, Emran Salahi, Gholam-Hossein Salemi,
>> Fereshteh Sari, Faraj Sarkuhi, Jalal Sattari, Sanaz !
>>  Sehhati, Mohammad-Ali Sepanlou, Ali-Reza Seyfaddini, Admad Shamloo,
>> Mohammad Sharifi, Behrouz Tajvar, Admad Tadayyon, Farzaneh Taheri,
>> Farrokh Tamimi, Goli Taraqqi, Masood Toofan, Mohammad Vejdani, Hamid
>> Yazdanpanah, Ebrahim Younesi, Abbas Zaryab-Kheiee.
>>
>> Copies of the above text have been sent to more than forty Iranian
>> periodicals, the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, the Press
>> Service of the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRNA), International PEN
>> Headquarters (including natiobal centers worldwide), and other writers'
>> organizations worldwide.
>>
>> The signatures are being kept by those who collected them.
>>
>>     Once again, we the undersigned, express our great concern for the
>> life of Mr. faraj Sarkuhi and his brother in Iran. We, support the
>> declarations made in the statement by 134 Iranian writers on October 15,
>> 1994. We invite all writers, intellectuals and peace loving people around
>> the global to voice their support for the Iranian writers who are
>> currently experiencing political repression and jail in Iran.
>>
>> 1- Rahim Bajoghli
>> 2- Sam Ghandchi
     3- Hallaj Zarrin