Category Archives: Freedom

The European Court of Human Rights, ECHR found in a judgment published on Tuesday that four citizens of North Macedonia of Roma origin were discriminated against in 2014 when border authorities prevented them from leaving their own country.

The first incident had happened on November 29, 2014 at Skopje airport when the first plaintiff, named as Ms. Memedova, was prevented from departing to Germany, where she said she was going to visit her son.

The second plaintiff, named as Ms. Kurtishova, was prevented from flying from the same airport on June 19 the same year. The other three plaintiffs, a married couple named as Abazov and Abazova and their driver, named as Memedovski, were rebuffed at the Tabanovce border crossing with Serbia on March 4, 2014.

The ECHR found that the first four plaintiffs had been discriminated against and that their rights to freedom of movement and freedom to choose ones own residence within a states territory, as well as freedom to leave any country, including ones own, had been violated.

It also found that North Macedonia violated the European Convention on Human Rights provision prohibiting discrimination on any ground such as sex, race, colour, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, association with a national minority, property, birth or other status.

The court however found that the case brought by the fifth plaintiff, the driver of the married couple, was inadmissible.

The judgment, which was reached on October 3 has been already appealed by the government of North Macedonia.

Strasbourg ordered the country to pay for plaintiffs costs and expenses plus compensation of 3,000 euros and 4,100 euros to the first and second plaintiffs respectively, for suffering non-pecuniary damage such as distress and frustration, stemming from the actions of the state authorities.

An additional joint sum of 5,900 euros is to be paid to the third and fourth applicants, the married couple.

The easing of the visa regime for travelling into the Schengen Zone for most of the Western Balkan countries in 2009 resulted in a surge of asylum requests by people from the region to the more developed European countries.

Many people coming from impoverished regions in the Balkans used the novelty to travel and ask for asylum in countries with long asylum procedures like Germany, Belgium and Sweden. Even if eventually turned down and ordered to return, during their prolonged stay they would receive state benefits far surpassing what they would earn or receive in welfare payments in their home countries.

The situation caused these countries to increase the pressure on the Balkan states to do more to prevent these people from reaching their borders, and also to introduce or consider introducing protective mechanisms to suspend visa-free travel.

North Macedonia started boosted checks on departing passengers at its borders in 2011 after a memo from the Interior Ministry that ordered the strengthening of the controls during exit from the territory of Republic of Macedonia of organised groups, potential asylum seekers, citing article 15 of the Border Control Law as a legal basis.

But human rights groups and later the State Ombudsmans office, as well as the Constitutional Court, determined that this article contained no basis for border services to prevent their own citizens from exiting the country, except if they were found to be a threat to national security, public policies, international relations or public health.

In June 2014, the then Interior Ministry spokesperson, Marija Jakovlevska, told BIRN that during 2012 and 2013, the border authorities prevented the exit of 15,590 citizens.

Subsequent unofficial data and research by human rights groups in the country has suggested that the countrys impoverished and marginalised Roma population was the most common target for border turnbacks.

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North Macedonia Curbed Roma Citizens' Freedom of Movement ... - Balkan Insight

NCT 127 have never been a group that you could describe as meek, but on their latest comeback their fifth album Fact Check they sound more confident than ever. Check the facts, go check that, they challenge in the title tracks chorus, almost daring you to tell them anything thats come before (boasts about iconic status, likening themselves to Banksy and claiming a spot next to the Mona Lisa) is inaccurate.

When we heard Fact Check, we thought, Oh this is a song we should do because its a song that we will probably be able to perform really well, rapper Johnny explains as NME meets eight of the groups nine members at SM Entertainments headquarters in Seoul (Taeil is sitting out promotions as he recovers from an injury). The song itself has Afrobeats so it has a lot of energy, so the people watching would have a lot of fun listening to it as well.

We always have confidence while going into the recording booth, but this time the beat itself, too it gives you those vibes, Jaehyun adds. Listening to our members chants or ad libs, they all gave the confident energy.

NCT 127 will continue to spread that energy as they kick off their new world tour in Seoul in November with a whopping six shows at KSPO Dome. Before that, though, watch NMEs In Conversation video interview with the group above as they discuss the idea of being limitless, share the stories behind some of the songs on Fact Check and reflect on what makes NCT 127 so special.

NME: Fact Check contains the idea of being limitless, which is something that comes up a few times in your back catalogue. How does the idea of limitlessness motivate you or help in pushing you forwards?

Mark: Well, I think when it comes to the concept of being limitless, it goes back to how we first originated. Its in our roots NCT, like the brand itself, was always aiming for having infinite possibilities and being basically limitless. So I think that term really suits our music and our concepts very well. I think were still striving for that. Whether it be our style, aesthetics or just our music and our performance, were always pushing forward and broadening boundaries. So, yeah, were limitless.

Do you feel like that concept gives you more freedom as a group than if you didnt have it?

Jaehyun: What I think is that if you have more freedom, then you also have more responsibility. So I think that also relates to the limitless thing, because we do feel limitless but that also follows [with] more strict stuff. So we are limitless, but that also has a lot of responsibilities to it [like] not getting [things] wrong while performing. We all have our positions while dancing but you shouldnt get it wrong.

In Fact Check theres also the lines I am the art and Hang me in the Louvre what moment from NCT 127s story so far do you think is deserving of a spot in the Louvre?

Johnny: Well, thats my part, so thanks for bringing that up. I would have to say the beginning, like Limitless, when we first showed ourselves to the world as a limitless concept. So the song Limitless by NCT 127 would be the song the art to put in the Louvre, Id say.

One of my favourite songs on the album so far is Love Is A Beauty. The Korean title translates to Star Poetry or Stars Poetry, which sounds very romantic but I believe its actually about your experiences as a group. How does that Korean title relate to the stories that youre telling that song? Doyoung:I really like the lyrics of (Love is a beauty). In the lyrics, theres ametaphoricallinethat expressessparkling nine stars. I dont know if Taeil intended it, but it has the vibe of telling the story thatweve become the stars. Also, when our fans look at us, they look at usas iftheyre looking atthe stars. So the songs we sing feel like a gift for our fans. I really like the lyrics of (Love is a beauty) in that sense. Mark and Taeyong, you worked with Taeil on writing that song. What were your inspirations or intentions behind Love Is A Beauty?

Mark: Well, for me, I didnt really discuss with Taeil about how I pictured our members, the nine of us, to be stars. I didnt really get that idea. I guess we each had our own different interpretations. So, for me, I feel like the title of the song really just mapped out how I should write this what do I think of love? How do I think of it as beautiful? I realise that love does not really come easy, but loving you is easy for me. That was what I thought was beautiful and thats how I wrote my part.

Taeyong: I actually dont know about love, but when I go out with my team and see our fans, NCTzens, [in] that time Im learning a lot of some kind of love. So I wanted that attitude, that kind of emotion in the lyrics.

In Je ne sais quoi, theres the line We got the sauce What is the 127 sauce? What does each of the members bring to it to make 127 what it is?

Johnny: I mean, you could say that NCT 127s kind of like a four-course meal because each member brings something else to the table. I think thats what makes a team a team and each one of us really has a different story, a different background and a different thing they do bring to the table.

Mark: Im more of a ranch.

Johnny: Well, are you?

Mark: There are hot sauces, theres ranch

Johnny: But actually, how every member is so different makes NCT 127 so special, in my opinion.

Mark: We can fit anyones taste too because we have that many different sauces.

Johnny: For example, I think each member has a different taste in music like each and everyone likes different types of music. But in the end, we do make one sound together and that just brings a bunch of genres together to make NCT 127.

When you guys are starting work on a new album, do you go back and look at your last release to evaluate the things that you did well and what you want to work on and improve? If so, what were your conclusions from 2 Baddies and Ay-Yo that you brought into Fact Check?

Mark: One thing that I remember is this is just a detailed part is for example, we had a song called (Gold Dust) in the 2 Baddies album.. right? For a second, I questioned myself but it sounded so good when we did it a concert so we were like, We should have another song like . I think that kind of made Love Is A Beauty for this album. We really do evaluate and reflect on what we had, not even just on the previous album but like, even to the Sticker album to the Kick It album. I remember being in the car with Johnny after we finished our recording and we really compared together and were like, This ones good, this ones similar to that. So I think its an ongoing process.

One of the exciting things about NCT 127 is how you have this very experimental side but have still been able to become so big. Last year, you headlined the Olympic Stadium here twice. What are your memories of those shows? Yuta:I was very proud of the fact that we were able to perform at such a huge stadium in Korea.Also, as a multinational group and a Japanese myself, when we were doing the other dome tour (in Japan), the members complimented me a lot that I did exceptionally well. On the other hand, because this time we performed it at significantKoreanspots, I could truly feel that the members felt this true happiness rising from deep inside them. Of course I had that same feeling of joy but it was just very heart-warming to witness the members feeling something beyond that. Taeyong: When that concert got to the end, I saw Doyoung crying. I thought the members are really important to me in that time so I want to protect them. Im really proud of our team too.

You celebrated your seventh anniversary together earlier this year. How would you say NCT 127 has evolved in that time as a group and where do you want to go next? Doyoung:Weve grown up, as you see now. Wevematureda lot, right?Not just appearance wise, but when we look back at our debut, it feels like we were almost babies. I think weve grown so much. Especially in terms of mindset or what weve learned throughout our career, those piled up over the past 7 years. Even times when its physically tiring, we learned to rely on each other emotionally which had a healthy impact on the group.

The rest is here:

NCT 127: We are limitless but that freedom also has a lot of ... - NME

A federal judge will hear arguments on Monday in a lawsuit filed by professors and students at New College of Florida against a new state law that attempts to squelch progressive subject matter, including critical race theory or gender studies, plus diversity efforts in public universities.

At issue before U.S. District Judge Mark Walker in Tallahassee will be a motion to block implementation of the law pending a ruling on the groups constitutional challenge to it in whole or part.

Represented by an organization dubbed NCF Freedom Inc., the group alleges in a complaint filed in August that SB 266, passed earlier this year, imposes viewpoint-based discrimination against protected speech in violation of the First Amendment and is unconstitutionally vague under the Due Process Clause of the Fourth Amendment, in that it fails to sufficiently specify what behavior will draw punishment.

The complaint names as defendants Manny Diaz Jr., state commissioner of education and a member of the university systems Board of Governors, and other top state education officials including Richard Corcoran, newly installed as president of New College with pay package worth at least$1.3 million per year.

In a reply brief filed on Sept. 29, those defendants argued the state is justified in exerting control over general education courses that university students are obliged to take.

This case is ultimately not a fight about academic freedom versus orthodoxy over the classroom. This is a fight over who controls the curriculum at public universities professors or the public bodies who fund and govern public universities and who are ultimately accountable to the voters, the states Sept. 29, 98-page brief argue.

The case law and common sense hold that universities control their own curriculum. But plaintiffs want to usurp that authority and claim an unprecedented right to teach whatever they want in any course they want.

The law in question, SB 266, championed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, made sweeping changes to higher education governance in Florida, including blockingstate or federal funds for diversity initiatives (sometimes referred to as DEI, for diversity, equity and inclusion) or application of critical race theory. The measure also specifies that university presidents have the last word on personnel matters, abrogating the professors employment contracts arbitration option.

In addition, the law references certain language used in undergraduate courses: General education core courses may not distort significant historical events or include a curriculum that teaches identity politics or is based on theories that systemic racism, sexism, oppression, and privilege are inherent in the institutions of the United States and were created to maintain social, political, and economic inequities.

SB 266 followed passage of the Stop WOKE, or Individual Freedom, Act in 2022 to restrict conversations about race and gender in schools and workplaces. Judge Walker, who also heard that case, found that law unconstitutional in August 2022.

The lawsuit implicates SB 266s application throughout the university system but centers on New College, a public, small honors institution in Sarasota formerly known as a beacon of progressivism. DeSantis is turning the institution into a Hillsdale of the South, referring to the private Christian Hillsdale College in Michigan.

As Salon reported of citadel of conservatism Hillsdale last year, Its campus features prominent statues of Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, its curriculum leans heavily into the Western canon of Great Books, and it describes itself as a trustee of modern mans intellectual and spiritual inheritance from the Judeo-Christian faith and Greco-Roman culture.'

DeSantis ousted the sitting board members and replaced them with conservative activists including Christopher Rufo, who was behind the anti-CRT (critical race theory) movement. The governors board and Corcoran are even promoting intercollegiate athletics as a draw for conservative students.

The lawsuit argues the law is overbroad and has a strong likelihood of deterring speech which is not properly subject to the law including discussion of almost all controversial historical, political, and social topics, many of which are vital to the unimpeded flow of ideas in a free society.

The complaint also targets new restrictions on tenure protection for faculty, arguing the law will chill free inquiry plus classroom instruction and debate between students in class. The United Faculty of Florida, which represents university faculty, filed a separate 35-page complaint on Aug. 4 in state circuit court in Leon County over the tenure restrictions.

The professor-and-student plaintiffs complained in their lawsuit that SB 266 is interfering with their right to teach and study important social problems, including systemic racism and the role gender differences play in society. CRT, for example, is an academic study of manifest institutional racism in America, including residential redlining, segregation, and voting restrictions.

As far as the states brief in the NCF Florida case is concerned, these represent new, controversial theories.

As relevant here, SB 266 regulates curriculum, not day-to-day classroom speech. In other words, the university is charged with ensuring that certain core classes are not approved if they would include the divisive and/or discriminatory content prohibited by the statute; but plaintiffs remain free to express or receive those viewpoints in other classes, it reads.

The control over classes is quintessentially the universitys authority. As such, plaintiffs do not experience any injury under the First Amendment by having to direct certain viewpoints toward upper-level classes, it adds.

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Academic freedom or state control: Court hearing will consider blocking key higher ed law in FL - Florida Phoenix

Rushdie was honoured "for his resolve, his positive attitude to life and for the fact that he enriches the world with his pleasure in narrating.

Author Salman Rushdie called for the unconditional defense of freedom of expression on Sunday (22 October) as he received a prestigious German prize that recognizes his literary work and his resolve in the face of constant danger.

The Indian-born British-American author decried the current age as a time when freedom of expression is under attack by all sides, including from authoritarian and populist voices.

He made his remarks during a ceremony in St. Paul's Church in Frankfurt, where he was honoured with the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade for continuing to write despite enduring decades of threats and violence.

In August 2022, Rushdie was stabbed repeatedly while on stage at a literary festival in New York state.

Rushdie has a memoir coming out about the attack that left him blind in his right eye and with a damaged left hand. Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder will be released on 16 April. He called it a way to answer violence with art.

The German prize, which is endowed with 25,000 euros, has been awarded since 1950. The German jury said earlier this year that it would honour Rushdie "for his resolve, his positive attitude to life and for the fact that he enriches the world with his pleasure in narrating.

Continued here:

Salman Rushdie calls for defense of freedom of expression as he receives German prize - Euronews

Hence the grotesque coalition that the Russians and Chinese are assembling. Its members have next to nothing in common. Some are Marxists, some Islamists, but all resent what they see as Western, liberal arrogance, and exult in the belief that a reckoning is nigh.

Wars proliferate at precisely such times. When the dominant powers have their hands full, revanchists seize their chance. Think, for example, of how Italy joined two world wars (one on each side) because it spotted opportunities in the chaos.

Now think of all the groups across Asia and Africa which have so far been held in check by the awareness that there is a policeman on the beat. If Putin manages to hang on to conquered territory in Ukraine, it will be seen as a definitive defeat for the West, a Suez-level reversal, inciting not only a Chinese grab for Taiwan, but a series of unrelated conflicts.

Already, we can see what happens when the policeman is distracted. Turkey, a Nato ally, is picking fights with Europe while flirting with autocratic neighbours. India, until last year the great hope of the democratic world, treats with amused contempt the accusation that it ordered the assassination of a Canadian citizen, while Canadas allies, desperate for Indian support against Putin, play the episode down.

The war in Gaza leaves the West further overstretched, to the giddy delight of Russian state media. One Moscow newspaper calls it a gift from heaven, reporting that ammunition destined for Ukraine was being diverted to Israel. Another likens the Israeli response to the Nazi siege of Leningrad. For 18 months, Israeli politicians chose not to condemn Russias invasion of Ukraine. Now they see how Putin repays them.

Perhaps the most remarkable fact about the Hamas attack is that, according to British, American and Israeli intelligence sources, Iran was blindsided by it. On one level, that might not make much difference. Tsarist Russia was blindsided by Gavrilo Princips assassination of Franz Ferdinand in 1914, but still felt it had to join the war. Nonetheless, it is a reminder that Irans unpopular regime is aware of its limitations.

The West, after all, still enjoys a massive military advantage. The Nato allies, alongside Ukraine and Taiwan, Japan, Australia and South Korea, are collectively far stronger than the illiberal regimes gathering under the Sino-Russian aegis. Only three per cent of the enormous US defence budget is being spent on supporting Ukraine.

Indeed, in purely martial terms, Russias alienation of Israel, with its advanced drones and cyberwar capabilities, more than makes up for the Western alienation of some Arab states. (I stress some: the Gulf monarchies are privately being more helpful than we might suppose from their rhetoric.)

No, the real issue is one of self-belief. Suez marked the end of British prestige, even though our Armed Forces were vastly superior to Egypts, because we lacked domestic will and international support.

Today we see precisely the same absence of confidence. We see it, on the one hand, in Donald Trumps petulant isolationism, which Putin believes to be his route to victory. And we see it, on the other, in the readiness of Leftists to make excuses for almost any movement that proclaims itself anti-Western.

I have observed before that anti-colonial feeling is stronger today around the world than it was when colonialism was a recent memory. Its growth owes a great deal to the way identity politics has spread from the US to the rest of the world, encouraging others to reimagine history as a morality play in which white men are the baddies.

The tendency is not wholly new. Salman Rushdie, as a Left-wing writer, initially supported the 1979 Iranian revolution on anti-colonialist grounds. Of course, it counted for nothing in the eyes of the ayatollahs.

Forty-five years on, this readiness to indulge anti-Western illiberalism has spilled out of campuses and become the default attitude of a generation.

Look at the youthful crowds who marched after Hamass abominations. Secularists cheering theocrats, anti-racists backing anti-Semites, feminists overlooking the murders of mothers and babies, supporters of mass immigration to their own countries outraged that Jewish refugees had found a haven in Palestine.

Victimhood has become the supreme virtue, the moral get-out clause that justifies every crime. Frame your struggle as resistance to Western imperialism and you can get away with all manner of atrocities.

The tragedy is that Western Leftists are getting what they claim to want namely the end of a unipolar world. Trust me, they wont like it when it happens.

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It's Cold War II, and the enemies of freedom are lining up to forge a new world order - The Telegraph

The House Freedom Caucus is urging Republican leaders to remain in Washington until a new speaker is elected, adding that it must be someone not part of the swamp.

The House Republican Conference must remain in Washington, D.C. until a new speaker of the House is elected. Republican leadership should have kept Republicans in Washington over [last] weekend, the group said in a statement.

The group said the work is not done, adding that they are starting at ground zero after Rep. Jim Jordan, R- Ohio, removed himself from the race after failing to get enough votes.

Jordan is now the third candidate to unsuccessfully run for the position after Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., was pushed out in a historic vote.

Nine candidates have since joined the race - Reps. Jack Bergman, Byron Donalds , Tom Emmer, Kevin Hern, Mike Johnson, Dan Meuser, Gary Palmer, Austin Scott, and Pete Sessions.

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Freedom Caucus Urges GOP Leaders To Remain in Washington ... - The Messenger

If youve been to a Georgia Southern Eagles home football game, there has been one constant before the games, and thats Freedom the Eagle taking flight.Now, hes being immortalized with his own merchandising line.It is a site thats been seen for the last 17 years at Paulson Stadium and other venues where the Georgia Southern Eagles have played a football game.Freedom the eagle flying in the air for all to see.Now the iconic 20-year-old bird is being celebrated with his own line of merchandise which can be found at Southern Exchange now and eventually the Georgia Southern University bookstore.We know that Eagle Nation loves Freedom and supports Freedom but we really didnt know how a line would do," said William Martin, owner of Southern Exchange. "But the response has been incredible on social media since we posted it and since Athletics posted it.The merchandise is not only paying tribute to Freedom, but its helping out a good cause as a portion of the proceeds from the sales go to the Universitys Wildlife Center and caring costs for Freedom.I think its a worthy cause and it allows people to become and develop an even more intimate relationship with their mascot and more importantly one could argue our national symbol," said Steve Hein, executive director of the Georgia Southern Wildlife Center for Education and Freedom's handler.Heins truck with the tailgate down and Freedom in the back has been a fixture at Georgia Southern football games for 17 years now, so much of a fixture that its even incorporated into a t-shirt with this new Freedom collection.That was one thing we definitely wanted to do when we first started designing for it," said Martin. And we had Steve come out, we took some photographs of the back of the Scout with Freedom in it and just kind of ran with it from there.Right now, the new Freedom merchandise is available at Southern Exchange in Statesboro and on their website. It will eventually be available at the Georgia Southern campus bookstore.

If youve been to a Georgia Southern Eagles home football game, there has been one constant before the games, and thats Freedom the Eagle taking flight.

Now, hes being immortalized with his own merchandising line.

It is a site thats been seen for the last 17 years at Paulson Stadium and other venues where the Georgia Southern Eagles have played a football game.

Freedom the eagle flying in the air for all to see.

Now the iconic 20-year-old bird is being celebrated with his own line of merchandise which can be found at Southern Exchange now and eventually the Georgia Southern University bookstore.

We know that Eagle Nation loves Freedom and supports Freedom but we really didnt know how a line would do," said William Martin, owner of Southern Exchange. "But the response has been incredible on social media since we posted it and since Athletics posted it.

The merchandise is not only paying tribute to Freedom, but its helping out a good cause as a portion of the proceeds from the sales go to the Universitys Wildlife Center and caring costs for Freedom.

I think its a worthy cause and it allows people to become and develop an even more intimate relationship with their mascot and more importantly one could argue our national symbol," said Steve Hein, executive director of the Georgia Southern Wildlife Center for Education and Freedom's handler.

Heins truck with the tailgate down and Freedom in the back has been a fixture at Georgia Southern football games for 17 years now, so much of a fixture that its even incorporated into a t-shirt with this new Freedom collection.

That was one thing we definitely wanted to do when we first started designing for it," said Martin. And we had Steve come out, we took some photographs of the back of the Scout with Freedom in it and just kind of ran with it from there.

Right now, the new Freedom merchandise is available at Southern Exchange in Statesboro and on their website. It will eventually be available at the Georgia Southern campus bookstore.

Read more here:

Statesboro: 'Freedom' the Eagle now has his own merchandise - WJCL News Savannah

Beyond Utopia, a new documentary, follows a family who has escaped what some describe as a maximum security prison: North Korea.

They get help from an underground railroad funded by a South Korean church. Its pastor,Seungeun Kim, travels to Vietnam and Laos to personally aid refugees, even though hes been warned that he could be kidnapped and turned over to North Korea. He has liberated over 1,000 North Koreans since 2000. The movie, available in special screenings on Oct. 23 and 24, ahead of its official release on Nov. 3, examines the lengths people will go to in order to attain freedom.

Most Westerners know little about North Korea or what its like to live in or leave the rigid country. Beyond Utopia shows the lengths defectors are willing to go to experience freedom.

Sue Mi Terry, a former CIA analyst who appears in the documentary, says its difficult for Westerners to understand the most isolated country on the planet. The dynastic regime tries to prevent information from getting in or out. The movie doesnt linger on brutalities such as the torture of dissidents, but it doesnt shy away from them, either. As a counterweight to the grim scenes, the films center features the humanity of Mr. Kim and the family.

He is one person. They are one family, says director Madeleine Gavin. But in that, there is the hope of what can come.

Beyond Utopia follows a family who has escaped what some describe as a maximum security prison: North Korea.

After the Ro family crosses a river into China, they furtively travel to Thailand via Vietnam and Laos. If caught, theyll be sent back. At one point, the six refugees enter a Vietnamese rainforest at night. To avoid being spotted, theyre careful not to shine their flashlights upward. The group includes two young girls, who take turns piggybacking on their father. The childrens 80-year-old grandmother stoically staggers up a slick mountainside.

When people see Grandma going through the jungle, they cant believe [it], says the documentarys director, Madeleine Gavin, in a video call. Her life has been one of endurance.

Most Westerners know little about North Korea or what its like to live in or leave the rigid country. Beyond Utopia shows the lengths defectors are willing to go to experience freedom.

Beyond Utopia focuses on an underground railroad funded by a South Korean church. Its pastor, Seungeun Kim, travels to Vietnam and Laos to personally aid refugees, even though hes been warned that he could be kidnapped and turned over to North Korea. He has liberated over 1,000 North Koreans since 2000. The movie, appearing on 700 screens in special Fathom Events screenings on Oct. 23 and 24, followed by a regular release on Nov. 3, examines the lengths people will go to in order to attain freedom.

This film definitely stopped me in my tracks when I watched it, says Meira Blaustein, documentary programmer and co-founder of the Woodstock Film Festival in New York, where the movie unanimously won the jury award for best documentary. Its heartbreaking but also inspiring. ... The people in it are all in pursuit of liberty and democracy. I am so impressed by this filmmaker and what she has taken upon herself with this film. It could not have been easy to make.

A few years ago, Ms. Gavin was offered an opportunity to adapt Hyeonseo Lees bestselling memoir, The Girl With Seven Names: A North Korean Defectors Story, into a movie. When the director began research about North Korea, she came across videos that brokers in Mr. Kims underground railroad had filmed inside the secretive country. They compelled Ms. Gavin to broaden the scope of her movie, which also includes Ms. Lee.

When I found this hidden camera footage that was being smuggled out of the country, I realized how much we didnt know, she says. There were 26 million people who we had never had an opportunity to hear from.

Courtesy of Roadside Attractions

Seungeun Kim (left) and Hyukchang Wu, a relative of the Ro family, talk together in the documentary Beyond Utopia.

Sue Mi Terry, a former CIA analyst who appears in the documentary, tells the Monitor that its difficult for Westerners to understand the most isolated country on the planet. The dynastic regime tries to prevent information from getting in or out. The movie doesnt linger on brutalities such as the torture of dissidents, but it doesnt shy away from them either. As a counterweight to the grim scenes, the films center features the humanity of Mr. Kim and the family.

He is one person. They are one family. But in that, there is the hope of what can come, says Ms. Gavin.

Years ago, Mr. Kim was working as a missionary in China when he fell in love with a defector from North Korea. The snag? He had to figure out how to smuggle his now-wife into South Korea. He parlayed the knowledge he gained into founding the underground railroad with a route that goes through China.

The Bible [tells us] we need to help the people in the lowest place and hungry and the poor, he says via a translator on a video call. As I pray, I actually go rescue those people in need.

The documentary tells another story in parallel to the Ro familys odyssey. Defector Soyeon Lee, now living in South Korea, is trying to extract her teenage son from the communist country in the north.

Beyond Utopia shows the reality of human rights violence that is happening in the 21st century, she says via a translator on a video call. She adds that Kim Jong Uns regime is very conscious of how the world perceives it. There was a video that Pastor Kim actually smuggled out from North Korea of a public execution. So when this video was getting widely [seen] in the world, actually North Korea stopped public execution.

The regime is more careful now to conceal its brutal punishments, she says. Beyond Utopia also illustrates how the government controls its populace through brainwashing. For example, children are taught that Americans are cold-blooded killers. When the grandmother in the Ro family met Ms. Gavin and her film crew at a safe house, she was confounded that they were so nice to her.

She was grappling with her feelings in meeting us and getting to know us versus what shes believed and known for 80-plus years, says the director.

During layovers at safe houses in Vietnam and Laos, the Ro family gapes at a running shower inside a bathroom. In their North Korean village, theyd always hauled water from a river and poured it into a caldron at home. When the two young girls taste chocolate and popcorn for the first time, their eyes dance with delight. Defectors who make it across the Thai border spend months living in a facility where they unlearn North Korean propaganda and are taught how to live in the West.

Its not just an easy thing to suddenly feel free, says Ms. Gavin. Freedom allows you to get to know yourself and others and connect. That is a process for a lot of North Korean defectors.

The director and the participants in the documentary believe that the increased flow of information from outside North Koreas borders will ultimately be the regimes undoing.

Thats why there is edict out right now saying ... You have to be careful of the southern wind, says Dr. Terry, the former CIA analyst. Im not saying this is something thats going to happen in a decade, but I remain hopeful that one day we can free North Koreans and there will be a unified Korea.

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Escaping North Korea: 'Beyond Utopia' documents one path to ... - The Christian Science Monitor

Penguin Random House and We Need Diverse Books are currently accepting applications for their annual Creative Writing Awards. Amid the nationwide rise in book banning, the 2024 program will also include the inaugural Freedom of Expression Award, which offers college scholarships of up to $10,000 each to five public U.S. high school seniors who are taking a stand against censorship. Applicants for the new award are asked to write about one banned book that changed their life and why.

In addition to receiving scholarships, winners will participate in a development week hosted by Penguin Random House, featuring virtual meetings with editors, networking opportunities, career panels, and fireside chats with authors, capped off by a virtual awards ceremony.

PRHs Creative Writing Awards were founded in 1993 and are administered by Scholarship America; WNDB entered the partnership in 2019. Over the years, the program has awarded more than $2.9 million to public high school students for original compositions across genres and formats. Categories include the Michelle Obama Award for Memoir, the Amanda Gorman Award for Poetry, the Maya Angelou Award for Spoken Word, and the Fiction/Drama Award.

The cut-off for applications is January 16, 2024, or when 1,000 submissions have been received. Winners will be announced next June. For more information, click here.

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PRH, WNDB Launch Freedom of Expression Award - Publishers Weekly

CARBONDALE Dr. Jeffrey Burgin, SIU vice chancellor for student affairs, told those at the Carbondale Branch of the NAACPs 46th annual Freedom Fund Banquet that we must make some collective changes or suffer the consequences.

The Carbondale Branch NAACP hosted the 46th Freedom Fund Banquet on Sunday, Oct. 23 at the Civic Center in Carbondale.

The founders of the NAACP had an altruistic idea of eradicating inequality, Burgin said.

The theme of the banquet was Thriving Together: In Movement. In Culture. In Community.

Burgin told the crowd they need to challenge themselves to change their way of thinking.

Dr. Linda Flowers addresses the Carbondale community at the 46th Freedom Fund Banquet hosted by the Carbondale NAACP on Sunday, Oct. 23 at the Carbondale Civic Center.

He asked the crowd, Who was the greatest basketball player of all time, the GOAT?

The crowd shouted several answers: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michael Jordan, Steph Curry, LeBron James.

Burgin then asked why every name was of a player from the NBA. He named some basketball players who never went to the NBA.

Volunteers and members of the Carbondale NAACP prepare to serve food to those attending the 46th Freedom Fund Banquet on Sunday, Oct. 23 at the Carbondale Civic Center.

We must be more vigilant and pour into our young people, Burgin said. We cant wait on other people to make Carbondale better, we have to do it for ourselves.

He used the story of Stone Soup to show how a community often has what it needs to meet challenges to improve.

Carbondale community leaders attend the Carbondale Branch NAACP 46th Freedom Fund Banquet on Sunday, Oct. 23 at the Carbondale Civic Center.

In the story, a group of travelers become stranded in a town and need food. The townspeople say they do not have enough food to help. One of the travelers asks for a pot to make soup. He adds a magic stone to the pot, but says the soup would be better if someone added potatoes. One by one, the residents of the town add to the pot to create wonderful soup.

Burgin said we have more resources than at any other time, adding we should support Carbondale Warming Center, Jackson CEO and other local groups.

Members of the Carbondale community attend the Carbondale Branch NAACP 46th Freedom Fund Banquet on Sunday, Oct. 23 at the Carbondale Civic Center.

We must be willing to offer all we are to change our community and better our world, Burgin said.

The master of ceremonies was Abigail Cook, Miss Juneteenth of Southern Illinois 2023. Cook is a senior at Murphysboro High School. She was invited to speak by Anna Jackson, chairperson of the Freedom Fund Banquet.

Angela Travis said the banquet means a lot to her.

Its just people coming together, all ranges of people, Travis said.

She said its important to come together and remember those who fought for justice, including the people who lost their lives.

Elva Painer said it is important to come together with people of different backgrounds, different politics and aspirations.

Madlynn Walker was at the banquet with her son and parents, Mr. and Mrs. Khalliq.

Carbondale Mayor Carolin Harvey speaks at the Carbondale Branch NAACP 46th Freedom Fund Banquet on Sunday, Oct. 23 at the Carbondale Civic Center.

I come every year. I started coming as a small child, Walker said. Its a family tradition.

She added that this gives her young son exposure to a group singing Lift Every Voice and Sing.

Melissa McCutchen, NAACP second vice president, recognized the recipients of the Dr. Seymour Bryson Scholarship: Christopher Burnside, a student at Missouri Baptist University, and Leah Radney, a student at Ball State University.

The Carbondale NAACP banner.

Linda Flowers, Carbondale Branch of the NAACP president, recognized new life members of the organization and invited those who were not NAACP members to join.

During the event, Alexis Estes, owner of Lexys Art Room, painted a large picture to represent the banquet. The picture, featuring different-colored flowers representing the people at the banquet, was auctioned.

Jackson County States Attorney Joe Cervantes bought the painting. He plans to hang it in the lobby of his office with a plaque recognizing Estes.

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Carbondale branch of NAACP hosts 46th Freedom Fund Banquet - The Southern