To set an example against the violent suppression of freedom of speech, Reporter without Borders (RWB) and DDB Hamburg developed The Weapen - the "weapon" for freedom of information. At the beginning of 2016, 144 limited edition pens were produced - symbolizing the 144 journalists that were killed pursuing stories in 2015.
The pens were made from fired-off bullet casings: the bullets are mounted, engraved and stored in ammunition boxes by hand. The Weapen is available in the RWB online shop and 100% of the proceeds will be invested in RWB projects.
Renowned journalists like Giovanni di Lorenzo (Chief Editor, Die Zeit), who was voted as Germany's second most important opinion leader by GQ in 2016, Georg Mascolo (Head of the Reasearch Cooperation of NDR, WDR and Süddeutsche Zeitung), Peter-Matthias Gaede (Journalist, Gruner + Jahr), Jörg Quoos (Chief Editor of the FUNKE editorial team in Berlin), Gemma Pörzgen (freelance Journalist and author) and Jonas Wresch (freelance photographer) have already supported the project by using the pen as a tool for the fight for freedom of information. The thoughts they wrote down with THE WEAPEN are now published as CLPs, print and online banners and are shared on social networks. They describe what personal freedom of information means to them and why they think it is in danger.