#BringDannyHome
I’ve always been interested in the news. Not just in what’s happened, but in how it’s reported and why. I’m interested in the stories that don’t get told, just as much as those that do. The first piece I had published was about a newspaper, The Northern Star, which was the paper of the Society of United Irishmen. From its launch in January 1792 until it was forcibly silenced in May 1797 the paper championed the radical political and social ideas of the society. The Dublin Castle authorities believed it to have a malign influence on public opinion and for almost five and a half years the paper was pursued by them with a dedication bordering on zealotry. Trials, arrests without prospect of trial, use of informers, even physical assaults were some of the approaches used by an increasingly desperate administration. Despite the arrest (without charge) of Samuel Neilson, the proprietor and editor, the Northern Star continued to publish until on 19 May 1797 when Crown forces broke into the newspaper’s Belfast office, ransacked the building and smashed the printing presses.
And more than 200 years later administrations around the world continue to attack free speech, continue to try to silence journalists and continue to destroy their means of communication. The threat to journalists and freedom of speech was brought even closer to home on 24 May this year when my friend and journalist Danny Fenster was arrested in Yangon, Myanmar, as he was about to board a flight to return to Detroit to visit his parents. I first met Danny in Dublin in 2005 when he was a student. Even then Danny’s curiosity, his interest in people, his wanderlust and his determination to give a voice to those that don’t have one was apparent. When we lived in Chicago we hung out at gigs and bars and exhibitions and general rambles around the city. Danny was never without at least one book, one notebook and a handful of pens stuffed into his pockets. After years working as a journalist in the United States and later in Thailand Danny is now the managing editor of Frontier Myanmar a weekly publication that is ‘an unbiased voice in transitional Myanmar’.
Danny’s family and the US embassy have had no response from the Myanmar authorities who have ignored repeated requests for information. He is being held in Insein Prison in Yangon, a prison well known for its harsh conditions and the torture of many of those held there. Built over a century ago and designed to house 5,000 inmates it now holds about 13,000. Danny is one of hundreds of political prisoners being illegally held there. Some are foreigners, but the vast majority are locals who have also been unlawfully detained and denied access to lawyers and family members. There is no free press any more in Myanmar, protests have been brutally silenced and thousands have been arrested. Danny, like many journalists who have been arrested, has been charged under the new Article 505(a) of the penal code which criminalises the dissemination of information that could agitate or cause security forces or state officials to mutiny. This is a law created by the leaders of the coup who are desperate to silence all opposition.
I’m most comfortable trying to make sense of the past and sometimes it takes a jolt to remind me to be more present, to see who is being silenced now and why. A free press is vital. Journalists, like Danny, are doing immensely brave work across the world, shining a light on stories that many governments and corporations might rather remained in the shadows. It is vital that the journalists arrested and silenced in countries across the world are not forgotten. They include Danny Fenster in Mayanmar, Roman Protasevich in Belarus, Rabah Kareche in Algeria, Rozina Islam in Bangladesh among many more.
More information on Danny and the efforts to free him can be found here: https://bringdannyhome.com/
