More than 25 leading whistleblowing and free expression organistions are calling for one of Europe’s largest fishing companies to drop its punitive legal action against an Icelandic visual artist.
The artist, who goes by the name ODEE, has created a series of works drawing attention to alleged corruption committed by the Icelandic firm Samherji. The case centres on practices to secure fishing quotas in Namibia that were
revealed in 2019 by the whistleblower,
Jóhannes Stefansson, and is known as the #Fishrot Scandal.
The organisations stand by ODEE and his artistic freedom of expression – which allows us to consider and examine moral and ethical choices, as well as how power works and affects us, whether it is political, social, or economic.
A
letter signed by 27 whistleblowing and free expression organistions sets out how whistleblowers and artists share common ground in holding truth to power and confronting and exposing challenging issues in the public interest.