The James Joyce Ramble announces 2004 Human Rights Dedication

Injustice may pain the body, mind and heart, but the soul shall heal all of these.

Indifference—to not care, to just stand by, to look away—this bleaches

the soul entirely and justice disappears, leaving the rest as invisible. W. Santiago

In 1989 the James Joyce Ramble added to its mission the effort to make people aware of human rights. Because of its namesake and because writers and free thinkers are frequently targeted by authoritarian regimes that are intolerant of criticism and democratic ideals, The Ramble petitioned on behalf of such writers and free thinkers as Vaclav Havel, Xu Wenli, Aung San Suu Kyi, Wei Jingsheng, Ismail Besikci, Daw San San New, Ngwang Choephel and several Guatemalan journalists. In 2002 the race dedicated the race to Daniel Pearl, a Wall Street Journal foreign correspondent who was kidnapped and murdered by Pakistani extremists. For last year’s 20^th anniversary, Xu Wenli accepted the Ramble's invitation to be the Grand Marshall as it dedicated the race to incarcerated Maldives journalists. All of these free thinkers have honored its mission and have encouraged the organization to continue sponsoring individuals who have invariably suffered official state and military-enforced sanctions, imprisonment, house arrest, censorship, and personal loss, humiliation, torture and injury merely for exercising speech and expressing ideas.

This year the James Joyce Ramble is acting on behalf of Fessahaye Yohannes, editor and co-founder of the weekly newspaper Setit. In the East African nation of Eritrea, his newspaper and other independent press outlets championed the right to freedom of thought and opinion and provided a forum for critics of the country's increasingly repressive government. Through its exploration of social issues confronting the country - such as poverty, land and housing concerns, the lack of democracy and justice, and the plight of handicapped war veterans, Setit probed the boundaries of the government's tolerance for alternative viewpoints. The government responded by detaining Yohannes and other leading independent journalists and banning all non-state print media outlets. None of those detained have been taken before a judge, provided legal counsel, or officially charged with an offense. The detained journalists, held now for more than two years, staged a hunger strike in March 2002 to protest their detention. In response, officials transferred the detainees to secret locations. None have been heard from since.

Amnesty International considers Joshua and the other detained journalists to be prisoners of conscience and seeks their immediate and unconditional release from detention. the Ramble joins Amnesty International and all human rights organizations in petitioning on behalf of these Maldives writers/publishers and their right to practice speech common to journalists without the threat of harassment, threat, intimidation, reprisals, punishment, arrest, torture or imprisonment by the Maldives state.