Spokesman Books

PEN Turkey under investigation for ‘insulting the state’ English PEN is concerned that our sister organisation PEN Turkey is facing a preliminary criminal investigation as a result of critical comments about the ongoing prosecution of pianist and composer Fazıl Say . Six members of the PEN Turkey board ( President Tarık Günersel , Vice-President Halil İbrahim Özcan , General Secretary Sabri Kuşkonmaz , Treasurer Tülin Dursun , and board members Zeynep Oral and Mario Levi ) and poet and critic Nihat Ateş (who uploaded the content to the PEN Turkey website) were called in for questioning today by the Istanbul Public Prosecutor’s Office. In June 2012, PEN Turkey’s website carried a statement condemning the prosecution of the musician Fazil Say for religious defamation, in which the centre stated that ‘the international community has been put on alert in the face of fascist developments in Turkey’. Depending on the outcome of the investigation, PEN Turkey board members may face

Dear RToP Community, This message is to inform you that the Russell Tribunal on Palestine NY Session will be broadcasted on FSTV. FSTV will broadcast four 2-hour segments that were produced by Deep Dish TV. Each broadcast will be repeated several times, starting in January. Also, the FSTV broadcasts will be carried on as many as 200 public access stations, including MNN in New York. The schedule is below. We hope you can tune in! Russell Tribunal on Palestine - New York Session Broadcast Schedule on Free Speech TV Dish Network Channel 9415 (satellite) DirecTV Channel 348 (satellite) The Tribunal will be broadcast in four 2-hour blocs Russell Tribunal on Palestine - New York - Program #1 Premiere Monday January 28, 10pm ET Repeats Tue Jan 29 at 1pm ET, Wed Jan 30 at 10am ET, Thursday Jan 31 at 3am ET, Saturday Feb 2 at 4pm ET, Monday Feb 4 at 4am ET Russell Tribunal on Palestine - New York - Program #2 Premiere Monday February 4, 10pm ET Repeats Tue Feb 5 at 1pm

WAIHOPAI SPYBASE PROTEST January 18-20, 2013 The Kim Dotcom saga has certainly put the NZ Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) and its Waihopai spy base smack bang into the glare of the spotlight. Not coincidentally this is happening in the same year that the Government has got New Zealand back into ANZUS in all but name. NZ has hosted its first visit from a US Defense Secretary for 30 years and he offered to base US marines here. For the first time since the 1980s, American troops have trained here; NZ troops have trained in the US; and NZ warships have taken part in US-led naval exercises. How ironic that all this was happening at the same time as the country was celebrating the 25th anniversary of our nuclear free law. The public face of New Zealand’s role as an American ally is the NZ military presence in Afghanistan. But New Zealand’s most significant contribution to the global American warfighting machine is, and has been for more than 20 years, the Waihopai e