Authors Stand Up for Free Speech and Forests

Without the freedom to express ourselves, the power of words - stories, news articles, poems, speeches or songs - is lost. That’s why over 200 authors from around the world, have signed a pledge to support free speech and stand up for forests. Will you join them?

Author Pledge Hero
https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/BookShelvesByBarronWebsterOnFlickrCreativeCommonsBY-NC-SA-v2.png, Without the freedom to express ourselves, the power of words - stories, news articles, poems, speeches or songs - is lost. That’s why over 200 authors from around the world, have signed a pledge to support free speech and stand up for forests. Will you join them?

The Pledge

The pledge follows two multi-million dollar lawsuits filed by Resolute Forest Products, a Canadian company, to silence Greenpeace and Stand.earth’s exposure of its controversial logging in the boreal forest:

"We believe that industry and governments also play a vital role in being vigilant against attacks on freedom of speech.

We pledge to defend:

  • Freedom of speech as a pillar of democratic and peaceful societies
  • The right of individuals to organize and protest without intimidation
  • Those who peacefully protect the world’s forests

The right of individuals to speak out is the backbone of accountability in any community. We will not allow peaceful dissent to be shut down by corporate lawsuits designed to bully and intimidate. With voices from all over the world, we will not be silenced."

Authors Supporting the Pledge

J.M. Coetzee
Author of Disgrace. Nobel Prize Winner

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Margaret Atwood
The Handmaid's Tale

"The endings of The Handmaid's Tale, 1984 and Brave New World are written. Ours is not. This is a chance to stand up for freedom of speech, the freedom to advocate for change, and the freedom to question authority, and to strengthen their protection under law. As a society, we need a positive outcome to this story."
Margaret Atwood joined more than 100 authors pledging to protect free speech and the people who protect forests.
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Stephen Fry
Comedian and Author of More Fool Me: A Memoir

"Speaking as a serial blasphemer, I take freedom of speech very seriously. It’s not just about the satisfaction you get from speaking your mind, it’s also about telling uncomfortable truths that need to be heard, and Greenpeace has been incredibly successful at exposing what the powers that be want to keep secret. But this case goes beyond Greenpeace to threaten every whistle-blower and watchdog with information that the rich and powerful want suppressed. I’m worried, and I think you should be too."
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Michelle Alexander
Author, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness

"The right to speak truth to power is the foundation of democracy and must be vigilantly protected and defended. Now more than ever. "
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Yann Martel
Author, Life of Pi

"Ultimately we all benefit from free speech. If Resolute Forest Products manages to shut Greenpeace up with its heavy-handed legal tactics, we ALL lose. This is not just a question of preserving our environment but our civil society."
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Rebecca Solnit
Author, Men Explain Things to Me

"There is no free society without free speech, and when we say that we mean free as in freedom, as in liberty. But lawsuits that make speaking up unaffordably expensive are one way to quash that liberty arising from the free exchange of words, ideas, beliefs, truths. I’m proud to stand with Annie Leonard and Greenpeace for the liberty of speaking up for the climate, the natural world, and all of us who depend on it. "
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