Leena Manimekalai / Indian Filmmaker
"Censorship is an insult to a thriving society and it feels like it’s mutilating my organs. It ceases my being. Religion, State, Caste, Culture, Gender, Language, and every other institution are monstrous agents of censorship."
Ricardo Gonzalez / Cuban Writer
"Under the name Hombres Sin Rostro [Men with No Faces], my collection of poems, short and secret, escaped the prison in a cigarette box."
Javier Sicilia / Mexican Poet
“The brutal murder of my son Juan Francisco joins so many young men and women who likewise have been murdered throughout the country, not only because of the war launched by President Calderon’s government against organized crime, but also because of the rotting heart that has seized the unjustly named political class and the criminal class...”
Yoani Sanchez / Cuban Blogger
“One of the personal costs I have paid for writing my vignettes of reality has been this: I’m not able to leave my country.”
Liao Yiwu / Chinese Writer
“The police told me that if I publish more of my work abroad, it won’t be easy- [they said] if you do it again, you will be disappeared for quite a while, you’ll get put away for as long as Liu Xiaobo.”
Allaa Abdel Fattah / Egyptian Blogger
SujeethG / Tamil Rapper
“I don’t think anyone can escape politics, not someone from my generation or background. So when I realized my talent for rapping, I wanted to make an impact on the Tamil-speaking people who number about 80 million worldwide.”
Salome / Iranian Rapper
“So I can perform, but I cannot have an official concert with my posters outside and tickets. I can perform among my friends at parties, at events that don’t need permission from the government.”
Israel Centeno / Venezuelan writer
“We, as Venezuelans, have a long history of impunity, and while the judicial system does nothing, recidivism grows shameless and exponentially.”
Raymund Villanueva / Filipino Writer
“The Philippines has been described as the most dangerous country for journalists. Under the 15-month-old government five journalists have been killed.”
Mesfin Negash / Ethiopian Journalist
“We hear how Gaddafi was a dictator, how Mugabe is a dictator. The Ethiopian regime, in some instances, is worse than them!”
Gioconda Belli / Nicaraguan Writer
"Speaking truth to power is what we writers have to do because history has taught us that however long it takes, people sooner or later, listen and act."
This selection compiles 2011’s must-read Daily Posts in Sampsonia Way. Here you’ll read the first-hand experiences of musicians, writers, bloggers, filmmakers and journalists that are struggling to speak their minds. Great readings for the holidays. Click on an image to go to its original article.
