The Federation of Screenwriters in Europe (FSE) expresses its full support to the statement issued by the Writers Guild of America following the removal of a Jimmy Kimmel Live! rerun by ABC.
WGA wrote:
“The right to speak our minds and to disagree with each other – to disturb, even – is at the very heart of what it means to be a free people. It is not to be denied. Not by violence, not by the abuse of governmental power, nor by acts of corporate cowardice.
As a Guild, we stand united in opposition to anyone who uses their power and influence to silence the voices of writers, or anyone who speaks in dissent. If free speech applied only to ideas we like, we needn’t have bothered to write it into the Constitution. What we have signed on to – painful as it may be at times – is the freeing agreement to disagree.
Shame on those in government who forget this founding truth. As for our employers, our words have made you rich. Silencing us impoverishes the whole world.”
Writers do no just entertain. We reveal. We provoke. We expose. We create mirrors and inspirations for societies.
Our work is at the heart of a living democracy.
Speak up!
Solidarity is not dangerous. It is necessary.