Authors show anger

Press, 14 January 1986, Page 6

Authors show anger

NZPA-AP New York Shouts from authors twice interrupted the American Secretary of State, Mr George Shultz, yesterday as he told an international conference of writers that the Administration of President Ronald Reagan was “on your side” regarding freedom of expression. “I am proud to represent an administration that more than any other in this century has resisted the intrusion of Government into the lives of its citizens,” said Mr Shultz while addressing the forty-eighth international PEN congress. "No person has ever been

denied admission to the United States for his or her beliefs,” Mr Shultz said. He finished the address saying “don't be so surprised by the fact that Ronald Reagan and I are on your side.” The president of the PEN American Centre, Mr Norman Mailer, criticised the audience and said they were denying Mr Shultz the same right of freedom of speech that they wanted. “I would like to apologise personally to him for the silly, bad feelings evidenced tonight,” Mr Mailer said.

A group of 66 PEN members signed a letter con-

demning the secretary’s appearance.

“The Administration you represent has done nothing to further freedom of expression, whether at home or abroad,” the letter said. “ ... Your Administration supports Governments that silence, imprison, even torture their citizens for their beliefs. “For this reason, it is particularly distressing that a congress whose theme is ‘The writer’s imagination and the imagination of the state,’ should begin by compromising that independence,” the letter ended.