ALT After much thought, and with great regret, I am resigning my membership of the SoA. When my friend and co-author - a writer, bookseller, publisher and cultural advocate - has his premises ransacked by police and is dragged away in handcuffs in front of his 11-year-old daughter, then dumped in a cell while police confiscate hundreds of books imported from global corporate and independent publishing houses on the absurd accusation of incitement, and my own trade union turns its back, I cannot let it stand. Your statement added insult to the injury. It omits mention of my friend’s name, his identity, his location, his bookshop, the identity of those arresting and abusing him and the facts of what took place. I would have hoped my trade union would have taken this opportunity to illuminate the evils of state censorship and defend those who seek to practise freedom. Instead, it obscured understanding of the issues with platitudes and irrelevant assertions. It was an abject failure. The po