On 3 May 2019 borkena published an open letter to Ethiopia’s prime minister from Solomon Hailemariam, author and PEN Ethiopia founder, who said he had left the country in 2015 after repeated attacks on himself and the writers’ organization.
The letter form matters. Exile writers testing whether Abiy Ahmed’s early openings included literary freedom, not only party reshuffles, put accountability in public where communiqués could not hide it.
PEN cases are a thermometer for civic space. When novelists and essayists are hunted, the problem is not hurt feelings. It is state tolerance for intimidation.
Kept as rights/media archive, the open letter is a named demand from Ethiopia’s literary world to a government that still prefers applause abroad to protection at home.
Sources: borkena
