Jonathan Shapiro, more commonly known as Zapiro, has been named the 2012 recipient of the International Publishers Association (IPA) award for Freedom to Publish. He’ll receive it for his exemplary courage in upholding the freedom to publish whatever he wants, basically.

Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states:

Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

One would be forgiven for thinking that didn’t apply in South Africa lately.

IPA President, YoungSuk “YS” Chi, will present the award to Zapiro during the closing ceremony of the 29th Congress of the International Publishers Association, taking place at the CTICC on 14 June 2012.

Zapiro has an extremely rich publishing history, although he actually studied architecture at the University of Cape Town.

He also has a rich array of awards including a Journalist of the Year Award, as well as becoming the first cartoonist to win a category prize in the CNN African Journalist of the Year Awards back in 2001.

Bjørn Smith-Simonsen, chair of IPA’s Freedom to Publish Committee:

Shapiro has had the enormous courage to draw and publish essential and often controversial, political cartoons in newspapers and books for many years now. He has also been remarkably consistent in his fight for freedom of expression during the apartheid era and in the years since it ended. He has been criticized and publicly intimidated in South Africa, and has even received death threats. The defamation lawsuit initiated against him by the country’s president is set to begin on 25 October 2012.

Despite the lawsuit, Jonathan Shapiro is not afraid. In fact, he is one of the brave voices speaking out against the dangers of corruption and authoritarianism, thus using with courage – through subversive humour – his right to freedom of expression and freedom to publish. Jonathan Shapiro exemplifies everything that the IPA Freedom to Publish prize stands for.

We therefore call for Jonathan Shapiro’s acquittal and on his government to stop using defamation lawsuits as a tool to stifle freedom of expression, and in this regard to uphold Article 16 of the South African Constitution, Article 12 of the 2002 Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression in Africa, and Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Shapiro said of the award:

It is an honour to receive such a meaningful award, one that has previously been given to courageous writers and activists under threat all over the world and to receive it right now in South Africa is of particular significance to me. The African National Congress, the very movement that brought democracy to South Africa, now as the ruling party responds to criticism by curtailing the spread of information and by stifling freedom of expression. Journalists, whistle-blowers, corruption-busters, cultural activists and even judges have been targeted. Politicians who demand that artists and writers conform will find that many of us consider it our duty to be patriotic sceptics.

If you’d like to attend the event, email Cheryl Marsh. The event takes place at the CTICC on 14 June 2012 at 16h00.

[Source: Bizcommunity]