Freedom for Dawit! Freedom of the Press!
Theatre Direction / Website / Grafic Design
Human Rights Art Project. This press freedom and human rights art project consists of a two-day art installation in public space, a theater performance and a public literature reading with a statement/reflection on the current development of press freedom. The reason for this is the alarming restriction of press freedom and the threat to journalists in many parts of the world, increasingly also in Europe. Democracies must take more active action against this development and raise everyone's awareness of the fact that press freedom is an indispensable asset for any democratic society. The right to freedom of the press and freedom of expression is enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights and has constitutional status in Austria. Human rights and freedom of the press are inextricably linked; they contribute to the creation of an open, informed and just society. Their protection is a joint task of politics, the media and society. The project “Freedom for Dawit! Freedom of the press!” takes up this topic in an exemplary manner. It focuses on the fate of the Swedish-Eritrean journalist and writer Dawit Isaak, a globally iconic prisoner of the press' lack of freedom. He will be 60 years old on October 27 this year. Dawit was arrested on September 23, 2001. For 22 years he has been isolated from the outside world - “subject to incommunicado detention” - in Eritrea: without trial, without consular and legal support. It is a case of enforced disappearance and the location of his detention is kept secret. A prison guard who fled Eritrea in 2010 reported that Dawit was still alive at the time and was being held in solitary confinement in a shipping container. There is information that he is still alive. Dawit Isaak is a political refugee from Eritrea who was granted asylum and Swedish citizenship in Sweden. After the Eritrean war of independence, Dawid returned to Eritrea to work on the country's democratic development. In 2001, some members of the Eritrean government published a letter calling for free elections. Only the independent newspapers reported on this. The government under dictator Isayas Afewerki then abolished freedom of the press in the country and arrested many journalists, including Dawit.
Das Projekt wird finanziell gefördert von:
Dawit oder jedes Jahrhundert hat seine Fratze
2024 - Theatre Piece
Autor & Veranstalter: Wolfgang Martin Roth
Theater-Regie: Luzie Kurth
Hörspiel-Regie: Leonhard Koppelmann
Hörspiel-Sprecher: Tesfai Berhane
Bildgestaltung: Lars Borges
Uraufführung: 10. Dezember 2024 im Schauspielhaus Wien
x