What is a pen center. PEN Center. The main scandal of the writers has acquired the scale of the movement. Provocative activity of Parkhomenko

Sergei Parkhomenko was expelled from the Moscow Russian PEN Center for life. They voted unanimously, among those who voted - the bard Alexander Gorodnitsky, who explained that Parkhomenko "tired everyone."

What did the St. Petersburg PEN club think about the incident?

The split in the Russian PEN Center in Moscow happened a long time ago, when Lyudmila Ulitskaya and many others left it. But the current problem is that the last general meeting, held on December 15 last year, was falsified at the Moscow Russian PEN Center - the same one, the recording of which appeared on the Web.

The bottom line is that a falsified Charter is posted on the website of the Moscow Russian PEN Center, from the text of which several very important points were omitted regarding the method of electing the chairman of the executive committee of the Moscow Russian PEN and its members. The original Charter says that the candidature of the chairman is nominated by the executive committee, but the general meeting can also propose it, the same applies to the members of the executive committee - their candidacies can also be nominated by the general meeting. This is what disappeared from the site. Sergei Parkhomenko began to talk about exactly this - that during the general meeting the hall was not allowed to nominate candidates. A group led by Marina Vishnevetskaya wanted to propose for voting the candidacies of Yevgeny Sidorov or Alexander Arkhangelsky for the post of chairman of the PEN Center, so they were not allowed to do this, they fell to the ground, as they say. And on this occasion there was a terrible scandal.

We watched this recording in St. Petersburg, and the Executive Committee of the St. Petersburg PEN Club wrote a corresponding statement that before a new meeting is held - without violating the Charter - our St. Petersburg PEN Club ceases all contacts with the Moscow PEN Center. Sergei Parkhomenko told this whole story quite openly.

And after Parkhomenko called on the human rights (!) Moscow Russian PEN Center to write a petition to pardon Oleg Sentsov, the Moscow executive committee, headed by Yevgeny Popov, became brutalized and dissociated himself, by the way, St. Petersburg Popov - Valery, as a member of the executive committee, also dissociated himself.

They dissociated themselves from the letter on Sentsov, and yesterday, apparently believing that this was not enough for the state to pat them on the heads, they also made this completely ugly decision to expel Sergei Parkhomenko from the Moscow Russian PEN Center for life and issued a “severe warning” to Marina Vishnevetskaya.

Today, Lev Rubinstein came out of the Russian PEN Center in protest,” says Chizhova.

At the same time, no one leaves the St. Petersburg PEN club, a year ago, when the Moscow Russian PEN Center tried to expel Ulitskaya and 8 other people, they stated their position that they did not agree with this. Today, Konstantin Azadovskaya, Yakov Gordin, Natalia Sokolovskaya expressed their position with disagreement on the exclusion of Parkhomenko on the air of Echo of Petersburg.

The PEN Club is an international human rights association founded by John Galsworthy in 1921. P.E.N.: Poets (poets), Essayists (essayists), Novelists (short story writers, in the Russian version - novelists). The capital letters of these words are the same in many European languages, and together they make up the word pen - pen. More complete version: Poets (poets), Playwrights (playwrights), Editors (editors), Essayists (essayists), Novelists (novelists), and currently also journalists, historians, critics, translators, screenwriters, editors, bloggers, publishers - regardless of ethnicity, language, skin color, gender and religion. The main activity of the PEN Club is the protection of writers' rights, the fight against censorship, the fight for freedom of speech, freedom of the individual.

So as not to drag into the new year. A new chapter will already begin there... We still need to somehow complete this part of the epic with the Russian PEN Center, which managed in mid-December to organize, perhaps, the most shameful event in its long history: the falsified elections of its president and executive committee.

For those interested in the sad fate of this “leadership” of the once glorious human rights organization, I recommend that you look at the recently published “Statement” of the executive committee regarding Oleg Sentsov: this

It is characteristic that it does not have a heading - just in case, because without a heading it is not so scary: after all, you would have to choose some meaningful word for it, such as "in defense", "freedom", "justice", "pardon ' or something else so seditious. These writers, apparently, have difficulties with the selection of words. And there is no title - there is no problem with scary words. And in general, there is a chance that no one will notice anything.

The statement opens with the message that “The Russian PEN Center is concerned about the fate of Oleg Gennadyevich Sentsov and asks the President of the Russian Federation and the Russian courts to really contribute to softening the conditions of detention of this film director and writer…”

Bold, right?

Decisively. Human rights. Freedom-loving. "... to contribute to the mitigation of conditions of detention ..." What could be more accurate, more necessary and more timely when describing the case of Oleg Sentsov?

Moreover, as we see, someone else should soften it, for example, the World Wildlife Fund or, say, UNICEF, and the “President of the Russian Federation and the Russian courts” should somehow help. If possible. If they will be so kind, and if it does not complicate.

And then the leadership of the PEN Center in detail, with arguments, mentioning some articles of the Penal Code, explains why it is impossible to pardon Oleg Sentsov. Well, this is so that Their Excellency does not make it difficult for them to search for arguments for refusal. And so, God forbid, not angry.

Such an amazing “rights defense” happened because the Russian PEN Center is very much afraid of troubles from two sides at the same time: in relations not only with their various Excellencies in Russia, but also with the International PEN Club.

The fact is that several dozen members of the PEN Center (in their personal capacity, not on behalf of the organization, of course), as well as an even larger group of writers and historians, published a statement a few days ago demanding a pardon for Sentsov. And the leadership of the Russian PEN Center had to publish a special refutation that it had nothing to do with it, that it didn’t ask anyone for anything, and in general, uncle, please forgive me, it’s not us, it’s them, but we’re nothing like that ...

One can imagine how astonished this trick of the Russian PEN Center is for the world PEN Club, whose main task is to protect freedom of speech and organize actions of solidarity with those who have suffered from its infringement. Well, here the Russian writers' "leadership" has to sit on both chairs at once and carefully squeeze out of themselves drop by drop, through force ... Otherwise, they won't invite you to the world congress, which is good ...

And finally - for those who still care about the elective plot. Two days ago, the current "leadership" of the PEN Center quite coolly posted on its official website a falsified protocol of the meeting, where this leadership was allegedly chosen. By God, they don't have a person there who would explain to them that the use of deliberately false documents about the activities of a legal entity is an act provided for by the Criminal Code. And with every extra false paper that they produce, the pit under their feet only deepens. But adults, some even with some kind of bureaucratic experience. One might think that all this has not been reproduced thousands of times in the histories of all joint-stock companies and cooperatives. But for some reason they hope that it will carry through, that if you are friends with the authorities, then the law is not written.

It contains a huge number of substantive things (just related to the norms of the organization's charter, with the quorum, with the introduction of candidates for the positions of president and members of the executive committee, with the voting procedure, with the counting of votes) - they are simply distorted in cold blood. Which is especially stupid, since the meeting was videotaped in full, which makes it very easy to track how everything really happened.

An international non-governmental organization that brings together professional writers, editors and translators working in various genres of fiction. The name of the PEN club is an abbreviation of the English words "poet", "essayist", ... ... Wikipedia

The PEN Club is an international non-governmental organization that brings together professional writers, editors and translators working in various genres of fiction. The name of the PEN club is an abbreviation of the English words "poet", ... ... Wikipedia

- (Р.Е.N., abbr. from English poets, poets, essayists, essayists, novelists novelists), an international association of writers pursuing humane and human rights goals; founded in 1921 by the English writers J. Galsworthy and C. E. Dawson Scott (Dawson ... ... encyclopedic Dictionary

- (P. E. N. short for English poets, essayists, essayists, novelists novelists), an international association of writers; founded in 1921 by the English writers J. Galsworthy and C. E. Dawson Scott. Pen club management: President ... ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

Pen club, pen club... Spelling Dictionary

- [English] PEN CLUB Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language

Exist., Number of synonyms: 1 organization (82) ASIS Synonym Dictionary. V.N. Trishin. 2013 ... Synonym dictionary

- (P.E.N. International), an international association of writers. The name is composed of the first letters of the English words Poets (poets), Playwrights (playwrights), Essayists (essayists, essayists), Editors (editors) and Novelists (novelists). Purpose… … Collier Encyclopedia

PEN club- PEN club / b, PEN club / ba ... merged. Apart. Through a hyphen.

Books

• Zherebtsova Polina Viktorovna. “My truth,” writes the author of the book, Polina Zherebtsova, “is the truth of a civilian, an observer, a historian, a journalist, a person who, from the age of nine, recorded what was happening by hours and dates, ...
• Ant in a glass jar. Chechen diaries 1994-2004, Zherebtsova Polina Viktorovna. “My truth,” writes the author of the book, Polina Zherebtsova, “is the truth of a civilian, an observer, a historian, a journalist, a person who, from the age of nine, recorded what was happening by hours and dates, ...

The Russian PEN Center is a branch of the international PEN Club. This organization appeared in London in 1921, bringing together professional writers. According to the charter, the members of the club are engaged in monitoring the provision of the right to freedom of speech, protecting the rights of writers, journalists and cultural figures, as well as creative exchange with foreign colleagues. The Russian PEN Center, which became part of the PEN Club, was founded in 1989.

In the first days of the new year, several well-known writers announced their withdrawal from the Russian PEN Center, which unites about 400 people. Among those who left the organization are Boris Akunin and Svetlana Aleksievich, poets Lev Rubinshtein and Timur Kibirov. Several dozen remaining members of the Russian PEN issued a collective statement demanding that a general meeting of the organization be held in Moscow without delay and expressed no confidence in its current Executive Committee.

Provocative activity of Parkhomenko

The next split of the Russian PEN Center began on December 24, 2016. At the end of last year, several dozen members of the organization, among whom was and, turned to Russian President Vladimir Putin with a request to pardon the Ukrainian director Oleg Sentsov. Sentsov was sentenced to 20 years for extremism in the case of the “Crimean sabotage and terrorist group” of the Right Sector organization banned in Russia.

He insisted that the authors of the appeal signed as individuals, and not as members of the Russian PEN Center. Nevertheless, the press service of the PEN Center in an official appeal to the President wrote that the leadership of the organization had nothing to do with the statements of the "group of liberal oppositionists."

He was expelled on December 28 after the release of his column on how the Russian PEN Center carries out its human rights functions. The organization nevertheless expressed its position on the Sentsov case, but the journalist did not like the way she did it.

Nikolai Podosokorsky

publicist, literary critic

I am sure that the decision to expel Sergei Parkhomenko and repress other members of the organization was erroneous, and it may lead to the already voluntary withdrawal from PEN and a number of other well-known writers. Let me remind you that over the past few years, the Russian PEN Center, due to disagreement with the policy of the organization's leadership, such famous writers and public figures as Sergei Kostyrko, Igor Irteniev, Lev Timofeev, Lyudmila Ulitskaya, Natalya Mavlevich, Vladimir Mirzoev, Lyubov Summ, Irina Yasina, Olga Timofeeva, Zoya Svetova, Irina Surat, Boris Khersonsky, Nune Barseghyan, Grigory Revzin, Viktor Shenderovich, Vladimir Voinovich, Sergei Gandlevsky and Dmitry Bavilsky.

The forecast made on January 9 was confirmed the very next day. On January 10, the poet left the Russian PEN Center.

Lev Rubinstein

The leadership of PEN proudly announces that despite the "destructive work of various destructive forces" it was possible to allegedly "avoid a split." No, it didn't. It didn't work at all, alas.

By definition, the PEN Center is a writers' organization, that is, consisting of, as it were, writers. And it is known that no one is as sensitive as a writer (if he is a writer) to questions of language and style, behind which the true essence, the true content (or complete meaninglessness) of any statement is always guessed.

So the split, unfortunately, happened. And he is obvious. And not so much this split went over the surface of ideological or political convictions - which can be different for everyone, and this is normal - as it revealed quite an essential stylistic incompatibility. These same “stylistic differences”, which once, albeit on a slightly different occasion, were brilliantly formulated by Andrei Sinyavsky, at another historical turn and in other socio-cultural circumstances indicated - at least for me - the inappropriateness and painful ambiguity of my very belonging to an organization whose leadership speaks - including on my behalf - to such language.

After the announcement of the withdrawal from the organization, similar statements followed one after another from other well-known and already former participants of the Russian PEN Center.

The writer and poet, winner of the Russian Booker and Big Book awards, joined the PEN Center “only because he was invited by Lyudmila Ulitskaya (ex-vice-president of the organization that left it after a conflict with the ex-president - ed. ), and took this invitation as a kind of obligation. However, now counted impossible to be a member of this organization.

One of the most prolific contemporary Russian writers wrote: “I am a supporter of liberalism and democracy, but I have nothing to do with the Liberal Democratic Party. In the same way, I share the views of the PEN movement, but I ask you not to associate me with the Russian LC in any way. I am no longer in it."

Director of the St. Petersburg PEN Club, writer and laureate of the Russian Booker Elena Chizhova, that the St. Petersburg PEN Club stopped all contacts with the Moscow Russian PEN Center after the decision to expel the journalist from the organization.

On the withdrawal from the organization of the Nobel Prize winner Svetlana Aleksievich reported her friend Rita Kabakova: “From yesterday’s correspondence with Svetlana Aleksievich: “Rita, after they expelled Parkhomenko, I also decided to leave this now strange organization. Today an old friend called me, I had the same feeling. We are more and more we separate more terribly. Now everything can be with us ... Svetlana ".

Varvara Gornostaeva, co-founder of Corpus publishing house wrote that comes out of the Russian PEN Center, "who slowly and surely turned and turned into an exemplary Sovpis, cowardly and servile". In 2013, Gornostaeva had a hope that the PEN Center would become a human rights organization, but soon it “acted exactly like the state: found internal enemies and declared war on them”.

Writer posted a scan of the resignation letter, which also compares the Russian PEN Center with the Union of Writers of the USSR: “The Charter of the Russian PEN Center states: “PEN stands up for the principles of freedom of information within each country and between all countries, its members undertake to oppose suppression of freedom of speech in any form. When I once joined the Russian PEN Center, I joined a human rights writers' organization, and not the Union of Soviet Writers, into which it has now become.

Alexey Motorov, author of books about nurse Parovozov left Russian PEN Club, because "this organization has long been not following the stated goals, the PEN Charter, and even its own charter." “Watching how writers behave, many of whom I considered decent people, is probably not worth it,” he added.

Came out from the writers' association and the Russian-Australian philologist Tatyana Bonch-Osmolovskaya, "since this organization does not fulfill the main task recorded in the Charter of the International PEN Club - to be a human rights writers' organization."

____________________________

President of the Russian PEN Center Evgeny Popov, noted that applies to him "and everything he does with great respect". However, according to Gorodnitsky, the journalist “took a course to denounce the Executive Committee of PEN, accused them of licking the ass of the authorities, said that it was necessary to speak out more radically on various issues, including political ones. The club includes people of different views, often opposite. And Parkhomenko and other people spoke on behalf of the entire PEN. This is wrong,” Gorodnitsky told reporters.

The bard also answered the question about Lyudmila Ulitskaya leaving the PEN Center - she was the vice-president of the organization and brought many new members with her: “I love Ulitskaya very much, she is a wonderful writer. But there were claims against her that she received many journalists, which was not provided for by the Charter. And in 2014, at a congress in Kyiv, she made quite radical statements on behalf of PEN.

Viktor Erofeev, one of the founders of the Russian PEN Center, who together with Lyudmila Ulitskaya was a member of its Executive Committee, and later, in his own words, turned into “PEN dust”, has not yet left the association. But about this. According to him, a split in the once active and well-functioning organization has been outlined for a long time: “... When the situation with Crimea and Donbass arose, it was already clear that the gap could not be stopped at all.”

Viktor Erofeev

writer

It seems to me that since I am one of the founders of the PEN Club, I also need to understand: either leave and thereby it will be clear that we will never gather those people who can return the PEN Center back to us, right? Well, if only angels remain there... The bastards all leave, the angels remain, then it means that we will never cope with the angels. Or leave. Well, in general, time will tell. But this language of war was ugly from the point of view of PEN. Although, I must say that on the other hand, here is such a conversation of the Bolshevik, Bolshevik opposition ... I am not talking about Lyova, but about other native speakers of this language. It also seems untrue to me, because, after all, we are not waiting for the revolution of 1917, we do not need coups.

Also with an open letter to the Executive Committee of the Russian PEN Center