Suzanne Nossel Examines the Role of Art in Opposing Autocracy

Suzanne Nossel (’97), Chief Executive Officer of PEN America, authored an opinion for Foreign Affairs outlining steps the U.S. could take to fortify global protections for artistic freedom (“The Real Culture Wars | How Art Shapes the Contest Between Democracy and Autocracy,” Feb. 29). “The United States and its allies can harness the power of culture as a bulwark against authoritarianism. . . . More funding is needed for existing global networks that protect artists in the real and online worlds, fend off lawfare used against them, sustain them when government repression dries up their income, and secure foreign visas for them when exile becomes their only viable option. Democracies should throw their weight behind efforts at the United Nations to adapt and extend to artists, writers, intellectuals, and culture makers the kinds of international norms and regimes that world bodies … have put in place to safeguard journalists and human rights defenders.”

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