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Dear Friend,
Governments around the world are using the crisis of COVID-19 to consolidate control, silence critics and enact repressive measures that encroach on free speech and civil liberties. Whether in China, India, Iran, Hungary, or right here in the United States, we’re witnessing disturbing patterns of scientists and health care workers being muzzled or punished for speaking out, new restrictions on the press and journalism, and the invocation of emergency powers lacking checks and balances. As we move toward a world that may include mass surveillance of our movements and contact tracing, transparency, legal oversight, and sunset provisions will be essential to ensuring that we don't enter into a new "forever war" against contagion that leaves our freedoms as casualties.
PEN America is at the forefront of spotlighting and pushing back against encroachments on free speech amid the pandemic through advocacy, campaigning, and member mobilization. I hope you’ll consider supporting PEN America this Giving Tuesday Now with a gift so that we can continue championing the freedom to write. And right now, your gift will be MATCHED dollar-for-dollar up to $100,000, through Wednesday, May 6.
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