The Nordic countries not only stand out for their fairytale landscapes, northern lights and natural corners where you can get lost. Sweden, specifically, it is also distinguished by opening the world’s first library of banned and censored books, call Dawit Isaak.
–
The concept of this library, and even more your name, it is far from random, and is that Dawit Isaak is a important figure when we talk about freedom of expression. The story of this man it is without a doubt shocking, although not unknown.
–
Dawit Isaak is a Swedish-Eritrean journalist. Imprisoned since 2001 for publishing criticism of the Eritrean regime, still does not have a fair trial.
Dawit Isaak born in Eritrea in 1964, when the war of independence of the country, which lasted 30 years. At 20, and given the critical situation in the country, Isaak decided flee and take refuge in Sweden. After obtaining Swedish citizenship, Isaak returned to Eritrea in 1993, when it had just gained independence from Ethiopia. In his native country he married and had three children.
A late 90s, thanks to the cracks in liberalization and one law authorizing the private press, journalist founded the first independent newspaper in Eritrea, called Sets. Nevertheless, new clashes between Eritrea and Ethiopia forced him to back to sweden again. Even knowing the unstable situation in your home country, Isaak returned to Eritrea in 2001, year in which, following an open letter to the president of the country and his regime published by Sets, Dawit Isaak and the other signatories of the letter were imprisoned. This event triggered a ban on the independent press in Eritrea.
The authorities eritreas Deny Isaak and the rest of journalists the right to be tried by a court unjustly imprisoned, they still remain under bars. The whereabouts exactly the Isaac, Nevertheless, it is unknown.
Dawit Isaak has become a international symbol of the fight for freedom of the press and expression. In 2017, UNESCO awarded him UNESCO / Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize. International Amnesty, for its part, considers Isaak to be a prisoner of conscience, stopped for its Politic ideology Y for exercise your right to express yourself freely.
The Swedish city of Malmö, at South of that country, opened last year the world’s first library of banned and censored books, honoring his name to Dawit Isaak. A denunciation, perhaps, of the repression suffered by thousands of writers, journalists, and individuals for expressing themselves freely. In the library they have placed an empty chair that, as they relate in a post de facebook, they wish that will be occupied by Dawit Isaak one day.
According to library website, “At the Dawit Isaak Library you can find, read and borrow books that you wouldn’t be able to read if someone else had chosen to. The library is open to the public and is housed in the General Archives of the city of Malmö. On our shelves are forbidden books, books that have been burned or censored, all written by people who have been silenced, threatened, imprisoned or forced into exile for their words. ” Y they add: «Through the Dawit Isaak Library, we want to offer an opportunity for the general public and researchers to find and read literature that would otherwise be difficult to access or disseminate. Here you can also find professional literature dealing with topics such as freedom of speech, censorship, artistic freedom, democracy, and more. For us, it is important that Malmö is a city where freedom of expression and artistic expression can take place. A democratic society works best if we can access the widest possible diversity of different ideas and perspectives. “
The library houses both ancient and contemporary works, and each book contains information on why it was censored, where and when. Although part of a initial collection of 1600 works, library Dawit Isaak Look for all kinds of authors that have been banned and censored in different parts of the world. “He would like tell us about books or authors that should be represented in the library Dawit Isaak? Let us know at: [email protected]«
As the narrator of Bartleby, the clerk at the end of the book: “Carrying messages of life, these letters rush to death”. Allow us the license to change those letters referred to by the narrator of Herman Melville’s existential tale, for books, texts, and manuscripts.
The Swedish city of Malmö has wanted to give a second life to all those works that were undoubtedly doomed to death.
–
