It is not often these days that a movement, an institution or an organisation, which the world simply cannot do without, is missing. This is also true within the human rights field. The rights are already here, and so the main task is the implementation of these rights in daily life.
When we contributed to the creation of Freemuse in 1998, this seemed to be the exception to the rule. Freedom of speech was an integral part of human rights law and had been since the previous century but it was more or less tied to the written word. The musical expression had been almost forgotten in human rights work.
In 1997, we planned the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights in Denmark and decided to put focus on those who often play in solidarity with others, namely the musicians. So the Institute for Human Rights was the facilitator and co-organiser of the world’s first conference on music and censorship with the support of the Danish Ministry of Culture. Not only was it a success, it was also an eye-opener to the necessity of establishing a real forum for this important work. Thus Freemuse was born. Freemuse began as a part of the Human Rights Institute but went on to become an independent, international organisation.
Freemuse had a competent board and group of staff to begin with, which of course is alpha and omega for any new enterprise. Marie Korpe has deftly secured an economical and substantial foundation that has enabled the organisation to take on a number of worthy activities.
Freemuse has also succeeded in creating a very impressive professional network as well as producing a number of agenda-setting reports. Freemuse was among the first to focus on the situation in Afghanistan with the report “Can you stop the birds singing?” that became a prototype for the reports to come and which documented the regime’s censorship on music, which was unknown in many countries all over the world.
For 10 years, Freemuse has been a driving force in the debate on music censorship in South Africa, Cuba, China, Belarus and many, many other countries. An organisation that was lacking in the world community was created, and the Danish Institute for Human Rights is proud to have contributed to the upholding of this human rights perspective in the Freemuse board as well as in the international community.
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