"A world of genocidal warfare and conspiracy theories cries out for literature that embodies respect for human values and human dignity." -- Protest letter to the Swedish Academy against its choice of Peter Handke for the Nobel Prize in Literature documentcloud.org/documents/6552…
The letter, from 10 human rights groups that focus on Bosnia and genocide, was issued on Nov. 15 and states: "It is beyond comprehension why the Nobel Prize Committee of the Swedish Academy should have chosen to honor a writer notorious for his intellectual support for genocide."
The letter asks that Peter Handke, in his Nobel acceptance speech on Dec. 10 in Stockholm, "apologise to the victims of genocide in Srebrenica and Bosnia and Herzegovina for having used his literary skills to deny their experience."
The letter concludes: "If Handke is unwilling to do so, the [Nobel] Committee should insist that he relinquish the prize. That would be the honourable and appropriate course of action for you to take." documentcloud.org/documents/6552…
The Swedish Academy, in its Nobel selection, ignored the voices and views of the people who survived the genocide that Handke dismisses in his books on Bosnia. Let's all listen to these voices -- they're *far* more important than literary critics in Sweden, Germany or Austria.
Here's Aleksandar Hemon, the Bosnian-American novelist and essayist: "Any survivor of genocide will tell you that disbelieving or dismissing their experience is a continuation of genocide. A genocide denier is an apologist for the next genocide." nytimes.com/2019/10/15/opi…
And here's Sasa Stanisic, the Bosnian-German author who as a child fled his hometown of Visegrad as Serbs took violent control in 1992: "I had the good fortune to escape what Peter Handke fails to describe in his texts." dw.com/en/sasa-stanis…
Or listen to Emir Suljagic, a Srebrenica survivor who wrote this to the @NobelPrize organization after it asked its followers if they had read Handke's books: "No, we were busy looking for our families and friends buried in mass graves he denied existed."
@NobelPrize Or listen to Edin Hajdarpasic, a Bosnian-American professor who wrote that Handke had an "obsession with valorizing Serb nationalism and relativizing its violence" -- and that the Nobel Prize organization has valorized Handke's ranting as great literature.
@NobelPrize I could go on. The point is that the diversity-challenged Swedish Academy does not seem to have consulted the primary sources on what happened in Bosnia -- the people who survived and witnessed the war. They know, firsthand, that Handke's writing amounts to genocide denial.
@NobelPrize Here's Aida Sehovic, who fled Banja Luka as a teenager. Her open letter to the Swedish Academy makes a key point: "Only those who have the privilege of not being directly affected and offended by Handke’s claims can insist on valuing his work and ignoring his poisonous output."
@NobelPrize Sehovic's letter has the kind of info I don't think the Swedish Academy has a clue about. "With a
population of more than 100,000, we were too many to kill at once," she notes. Her family was cleansed. Serbs took their homes, dynamited their mosques (some built 500 years ago).
population of more than 100,000, we were too many to kill at once," she notes. Her family was cleansed. Serbs took their homes, dynamited their mosques (some built 500 years ago).
@NobelPrize Here's her letter. The @NobelPrize organization has suggested that we take the time to read Peter Handke's books. I've got a better idea -- let's read primary sources on the Bosnia genocide. How about that, Nobel Foundation and Swedish Academy? static1.squarespace.com/static/5506d90…
@NobelPrize Sehovic asks the Swedish Academy -- asks all of us -- to understand the threat of annihilation: "Imagine if Handke's written words contributed to a sense of your erasure -- of your family's, your city's, and that of your daughters and sons. Would you still have rewarded him?"
@NobelPrize You never know who reads your tweets. In the one-in-a-million chance this is being read by one of the 19 men and women who selected Handke for the Nobel (14 members of the Swedish Academy and 5 external specialists), please know that you can undo what's been done. Please read on.
@NobelPrize There's a good chance that all it will take to reverse this terrible decision is for one juror to step out in public and say it was wrong. The edifice of injustice created by the selection of Handke is vulnerable. It would not withstand the force of open dissent from within.
@NobelPrize The Swedish Academy is a troubled entity (there was no literature prize in 2018 due to a sexual abuse scandal). It is not a monolith that can crush those who dissent. There would be broad support in Sweden and worldwide if a juror acknowledged the truth that an error was made.
@NobelPrize How do you want to live the rest of your life? What do you want to be known for? The Nobel Prize Award Ceremony takes place on December 10. You have the time and the power to correct a historic injustice before it happens.
