Romaissaa Benzizoune
English PEN
London, England
My name is Romaissaa Benzizoune and I am a freelance writer and an almost-senior at Gallatin, pursuing a concentration called “Resistance Writing.” Working at the headquarters of the human rights literary organization PEN International seemed like a natural fit for me. PEN has countless ongoing campaigns internationally in defense of the “freedom to write, freedom to read,” in addition to an array of writing prizes that they distribute every year. English PEN specifically hosts writers in residence, funds the translations of different works into English, campaigns for reform of the UK visa system, and fights on the front lines of half a dozen other issues. It is their Writers at Risk program, which “campaigns on behalf of writers and other literary professionals who are unjustly persecuted, harassed, imprisoned, and in the most extreme cases murdered in violation of their right to freedom of expression,” that I will work with this summer.
During my day-to-day work, I will research and monitor PEN’s cases of concern around the world; additionally, I will draft digital communications, assist in the facilitation of Writers at Risk’s various events, and do general logistical tasks. Of course, I don’t have a complete picture of what my experience there will be, especially given how tied it is to current events around the world, but I’m very much looking forward to it.
I was drawn to this project because, for selfish reasons, the freedom of expression is the one that interests me most. In the realm of human rights, freedom of expression is the one I can see myself working to defend, because it offers a lot of opportunity for affecting change in ways that are not necessarily legal. It is also one that has attracted much controversy over the years, controversy that has played out on the margins of some of my own identities (as a writer, as a Muslim, as an Arab), and I am really interested in learning about the ways that English PEN addresses such controversy. There must be specific perks and challenges with working in such a large international organization, and I am also interested in exploring the way that these play out in a human rights context.