European & International Booksellers Federation Reaffirms Support for Freedom of Speech

At its annual conference in Brussels earlier this month, the European & International Booksellers Federation (EIBF) reaffirmed its “absolute” belief in and support for freedom of speech, of publishing, and of bookselling.

In a statement, EIBF noted that since its last meeting in London in April 2014, “too many tragic events have taken place in various countries and, very sadly, the number of writers, journalists, and bloggers who have been sentenced or murdered for expressing their views is increasing.”

Among the list of victims cited by EIBF are:

• Nobel Prize-winning Chinese poet Liu Xiaobo, who, since 2008, has been serving an 11-year prison sentence for his dissident writings.
• Raif Badawi, a Saudi blogger who received 1,000 lashes and a sentence of 10 years in prison in May 2014 for criticizing Saudi Arabia’s clerics; the sentence was recently upheld by Saudi Arabia´s Supreme Court.
• Bangladeshi writer and blogger Ananta Bijoy Das, who was killed on May 12, 2015, by religious extremists for his secular writings.
• The Charlie Hebdo tragedy in Paris in January, which shocked the world and was unanimously condemned by the book and press communities.

The EIBF statement continued:

“Books convey culture and culture empowers citizens. Booksellers stand for diversity of expression so that everyone can be properly educated and informed.

“Freedom of expression is a fundamental democratic principle, which must be respected in all circumstances. It is the backbone of publishing and bookselling and booksellers defend and support it in the strongest terms.”