Mondo
Stand up for Freedom
Amnesty International is campaigning for the Burmese comedian Zarganar at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
“Edinburgh Festival is this great celebration of freedom of expression, a lot of people going around questioning governments, society and being a bit risqué and the biggest threat to them is that maybe nobody will come see their show,” says John Watson Amnesty International Programme Director.
On August 17 the Edinburgh Festival Fringe will play host to the Amnesty International 13 annual Stand up for Freedom Show. It is a fundraiser for the human rights organisations that is also part of a wider campaign that this year is fighting for the release of the Burmese comedian and activist Zarganar, who has been imprisoned by the Burmese government since 2008.
This famous Burmese comedian and activist is serving a 39 year sentence for criticizing the government for the manner in which they handled relief efforts for victims of Cylone Nargis.
“The Zargana case is particularly relevant to the festival, because here you have a comedian who has made fun of the government and has been thrown into jail for it,” says Watson.
“While people are enjoying that experience we take the opportunity to remind them that not everybody around the world gets to enjoy this kind of freedom of expression,” he adds.
Every year the show spotlights the case of a different activist imprisoned for speaking out against a government. At the show, spectators are invited to “act now” and to join a letter writing campaign or petition on behalf of the activist.
In 2007 Amnesty International campaigned for Uwin Tin, another Burmese activist, and in September of 2008 he was released after 19 years of detention for peacefully advocating democracy, says Amnesty International.
“But some of them have not been released, we campaigned for a Chinese journalist, Shi Toa, who is still incarcerated, so you can’t simply say that if we highlight a case they get released but I think that we can make a real contribution to a wider campaign effort,” explains Watson.
To find out more about the different festivals taking place across Europe this summer click here.
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