Date: Mon, 31 Jul 1995 14:42:16 From: STEPHEN VAN BREDA Harare, Zimbabwe 28th July 1995. GALZ STATEMENT ON PARTICIPATION AT ZIMBABWE INTERNATIONAL BOOK FAIR The Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe Book Fair Committee stongly condemns the decision of the Zimbabwe International Book Fair trustees to expel GALZ from the 1995 Book Fair. This represents a serious abdication of responsibility and betrays the interests of all Zimbabweans who believe in human rights and freedom of expression, the very tenets the Book Fair professes to uphold. The Book Fair trustees make several points in their statement of July 27 : 1) They repeat without comment or criticism contentious and egregious remarks about homosexuality made by the Zimbabwean Government. 2) They suggest that when the trustees communicated the views of the Government to GALZ and suggested that GALZ consider withdrawing, GALZ "adamantly refused". 3) They claim they were being "used by both the Government and GALZ to achieve their purposes which are far broader than the issue of participation at the fair". 4) This, they say, placed the organisation in "an impossible situation" leading to the expulsion of GALZ. Nothing could be more disingenuous. GALZ applied to be represented at the Book Fair and its application was eventually accepted. The organisers understood fully that GALZ' intention was to advertise its counselling service and literature on the legal and constitutional aspects of the claim to non-discrimination. No objection was raised by the organisers. At no stage was there any intention, as the organisers claim, to advertise a wider agenda. GALZ was "adamant" only in insisting the trustees should resist political pressure and uphold their right to participate. The decision to withdraw GALZ' participation, in possible contravention of a legal contract, was the product of a demand from the Ministry of Information threatening to withdraw future co-operation. This was not "an impossible situation" for the trustees. It was a clear issue of principle. Would the organisers of an event committed to human rights and free expression defend those tenets or would they bow to bullying and intimidation by a government hostile to human rights of any sort ? That they chose the later course, attempting to disguise it as a difficult decision, discloses a complete lack of direction on the part of the trustees and an abject surrender to political pressure which compromises the credibility of the Book Fair. It is one thing that government spokesmen are ignorant of the issues and prejudiced in theur outlook. It is quite another for civil society players such as the Book Fair trustees to repeat government statements as fact and to carry out the wishes of a government department, The Minstry of Information, notorious for managing the flows of news and suffocating dissent. Governments that succeed in bullying one small minority will soon find another to harass. We are sure this is not a policy in which the Book Fair participants wish to collude. This is not an elitist issue. The rights of all are compromised if our voice is silenced. We call upon all civil society organisations to express solidarity with GALZ and for Book Fair participants to make their views known. We welcome any resolution endorsing our right to participate and to be heard. . .