FEATURED
Elif Shafak on divisive language
Following the Charlie Hebdo attacks in 2015, the best-selling Turkish novelist wrote for Index about how writers are staying silent on their self-censorship
By Elif Shafak
NEWS
LATEST FROM INDEX ON CENSORSHIP
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How did you do in our banned books quiz?
Were you one of the five winners in our year-end competition? Find out the answers to those fiendish clues
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Index on Censorship welcomes the release of Palestinian human rights defender and lawyer Diala Ayesh
Ayesh was released from administrative detention on 14 January 2025 by Israeli authorities
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Nominate a champion for Index on Censorship’s 2025 Freedom of Expression Awards
Tell us who you think should win in the fields of arts, campaigning and journalism around the world
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Saudi Arabia’s hosting of the 2034 World Cup is just another attempt at sportswashing
Undemocratic states that seek to exploit soft power to hide their human rights abuses should be condemned, not celebrated
UNSUNG HEROES
An evening of music and poetry in solidarity with censored musicians
With music and poetry by Uyghur musicians Rahima Mahmut and Shohrat Nur, and Belarusian poet Hanna Komar. Final act will be Sola Akingbola and the Eegun Rhapsodies.
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MAGAZINE
LATEST ISSUE: VOLUME 53.04 WINTER 2024
Unsung heroes: How musicians are raising their voices against oppression
Music has been described as a “cultural universal” – a practice found in all known human cultures and societies. While anthropologists still scratch their heads over exactly where the concept originated, evidence indicates that humans have used musical instruments for an astonishing 40,000 years.
During an excavation in 1995 in Slovenia, researchers discovered a bear’s femur bone with holes in it and concluded that it could be an ancient flute.
Humans have always found ingenious ways to make music, and it’s not difficult to see why. It is one of the most powerful forms of self-expression, capable of eliciting both intense happiness and sadness in the listener. It is used to celebrate, lament, respect and enrage, and its endless genres, styles and instruments form a core part of countries’ unique cultural heritages.
But despite its universality, music is being silenced globally. Religious extremism, political factions, racism and nationalism are all driving forces, stopping it being performed, produced and listened to. In this issue we explore how music bans have been weaponised to silence communities and erase histories.
ARTISTIC FREEDOM
UNCENSORED ARTWORK
Index commissions censored and exiled artists and illustrators from around the world