25 May 2017 | Campaigns, Campaigns -- Featured, Media Freedom, media freedom featured, Statements
Index on Censorship condemns the attack by Republican congressional candidate Greg Gianforte on the Guardian’s reporter Ben Jacobs.
The Guardian reported that Ben Jacobs, a political reporter, was asking Gianforte about the Republican health care plan when the candidate “body-slammed” the reporter.
Gianforte has been charged with misdemeanour assault after slamming the reporter to the floor on the eve of Montana’s special election, breaking his glasses and shouting, “Get the hell out of here.”
The attack on Jacobs is the latest in a string of incidents in which journalists have been physically or verbally targeted in the United States. A recent report by Index – It’s Not Just Trump: US Media Freedom Fraying at the Edges – showed how widespread the threats to a free press have become in the country.
24 May 2017 | Art and the Law, Artistic Freedom, News and features
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Earlier this month Index on Censorship reported on the Glasgow School of Art’s censoring of master of fine arts student James Oberhelm’s work, which the school deemed to contain “inappropriate content”. This was the first and only time a work of art has been censored in the history of the MFA course.
The work, “Effects” [The Enthronement], is an installation dealing with the geopolitics of the Middle East, specifically the centenary of the Sykes-Picot Agreement.
Duncan Campbell, the Irish Turner Prize winner and former student of the Glasgow School of Art, told Index: “In appropriating such demanding representations there is a difficult discussion about responsibility, accountability, and answerability to be had. If an MFA interim show isn’t the place for this, I don’t know where is.”
The school disagrees. In response to a Freedom of Information request by Scottish Pen for “all correspondence, information or documents held by the GSA regarding the decision to remove the piece… as well as the grounds for its removal”, the school said: “The [senior management team] decided that this particular film should not be shown and that the student be supported in moving forward in terms of professional practice and understanding the implications of their work including the presentation of online sources.”
The film in question was a showreel of two videos issued by Al Hayat, Isis’ media branch, in 2014, showing the dismantling of the border between Iraq and Syria as well as an execution sequence, which Oberhelm sourced from the public domain and included in the artwork.
Oberhelm maintains that the response to the FOI request represents a lack of transparency and told Index that his repeated requests to have the reasons for the decision to censor his work in writing, although promised, have been repeatedly denied.
The flyer for masters student James Oberhelm’s banned artwork “Effects” [The Enthronement]
On 11 April Oberhelm was informed via email that his work “is now going to be reviewed by the ‘Prevent Concerns Group’”.
The school’s Prevent Concerns Group consists of 17 executive and non-executive members, made up of senior staff members including the director, the deputy director and the head of the school of fine art. It is “responsible for the strategic development and implementation of measures to meet the Prevent Duty”.
The UK government’s Prevent strategy for safeguarding communities against the threat of terrorism has been criticised by, among others, Index over concerns it undermines the value of freedom by feeding “the very commodity that the terrorists thrive on: fear.”
During a chance encounter on the street with MFA course director Henry Rogers on 26 April, Oberhelm was given insufficient information on the reasons for the artwork’s removal from the course’s interim show. The encounter followed immediately after Rogers’ meeting with Alistair Payne, the head of the school of fine art at the Glasgow School of Art, during which Rogers was informed of the decision about the installation’s viability for exhibition. Rogers then informing Oberhelm that “the decision is no”
In the moments it took for the pair to walk to the JD Kelly building, a number of points were raised, including Prevent. No great amount of detail was given, but it was hinted that Prevent could be, although wasn’t definitely, the basis for the decision.
Rogers also mentioned that an “ethics form” may have been necessary for the work to be shown, but he seemed unsure. “I informed him that I had not been told that an ethics form was required and that I had completed a risk assessment form,” Oberhelm told Index.
The conversation ended with Oberhelm’s request for a written statement explaining the terms under which the work had been censored, which Rogers said would have to be submitted in writing. Oberhelm’s written request was then forwarded to Alistair Payne the following day. During another meeting between the two on 27 April, Oberhelm was told he would receive the minutes of the meeting during which the decision was made. As of yet, the school has not obliged with either any written explanation or the minutes, negating a basic requirement for institutional transparency.
Since Index published the news of the censoring of Oberhelm’s work, the school hasn’t provided us with any further information, despite our requests, and has not granted us an interview.
“[T]he initial FOI has been answered as have follow up questions and that the GSA has nothing to add to this,” a spokesperson for the school told us.
Campbell told Index: “Given the highly consequential decision they have made, I find GSA’s explanation for the removal of James Oberhelm’s artwork inadequate. An honest statement of the committee’s opinions and objections would have at least given everyone affected something to respond to. By being so wilfully non-committal they might as well have offered no explanation at all.”
Campbell is one of many leading contemporary artists who has studied at the Glasgow School of Art and was the fifth artist who studied at the school, and the fourth artist to take part in the school’s MFA programme, to win the prestigious Turner Prize.
When Campbell won in 2014, the director of the school, Tom Inns, said: “This is a great accolade both for Duncan and for The Glasgow School of Art … Duncan and all the previous GSA winners and shortlisted artists are a great inspiration to the current generation of students and the wider visual art community here in Glasgow.”
But given that Campbell’s Turner Prize-winning work, It For Others, contains an image of IRA volunteer Joe McCann, one has to wonder whether the work Inns offered “warm congratulations” for in 2014 would be censored by the school under Prevent if the artist was an MFA student today. After all, Northern Irish dissident republicans do still pose a threat of terrorism, including in Glasgow.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_basic_grid post_type=”post” max_items=”4″ element_width=”6″ grid_id=”vc_gid:1495703925212-684dd380-cb38-4″ taxonomies=”8964, 7516″][/vc_column][/vc_row]
24 May 2017 | Artistic Freedom, Digital Freedom, News and features, Press Releases
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Leading international freedom of expression organisation Index on Censorship has joined the Banned Books Week Coalition as the first international member of this US-based alliance.
Banned Books Week was launched in the United States in 1982 in response to a sudden surge in attempts to have books removed or otherwise restricted in schools, bookstores and libraries. More than 11,300 books have been challenged since 1982 according to the American Library Association, a key member of the coalition.
Each year a host of events are held across the United States such as author readings in bookshops, libraries, and schools, as well as panel discussions and webinars.
“Index is excited to be joining the coalition as the first non-US member. We have been publishing work by censored writers from around the world for 45 years and – given all that is happening on the global political stage – it feels more important than ever to be highlighting censorship and demonstrating just what it means when books are banned,” said Jodie Ginsberg, CEO of Index on Censorship.
The theme of this year’s Banned Books Week will be “Our Right to Read.” Index plans to host a number of events in the UK during Banned Books Week, which runs from September 24-September 30, 2017, as well as participating in events in the United States.
“We are very excited to have the Index on Censorship join the coalition,” said Charles Brownstein, Chair of the Banned Books Week Coalition and Executive Director of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. “Their work not only aligns with our mission, but will bring an international perspective and awareness to our annual celebration of the freedom to read.”
Other members of the coalition include American Booksellers for Free Expression, American Library Association, American Society of Journalists and Authors, Association of American Publishers, Association of American University Presses, Authors’ Guild, Dramatist Legal Defense Fund, Freedom to Read Foundation, National Coalition Against Censorship, National Council of Teachers of English, People For the American Way, PEN America, and Project Censored.
Notes to editors
- Index on Censorship is a London-based non-profit organisation that publishes work by censored writers and artists and campaigns against censorship worldwide. Since its founding in 1972, Index on Censorship has published some of the greatest names in literature in its award-winning quarterly magazine, including Samuel Beckett, Nadine Gordimer, Mario Vargas Llosa, Arthur Miller and Kurt Vonnegut. It also has published some of the greatest campaigning writers from Vaclav Havel to Elif Shafik.
- The Banned Books Week Coalition is an alliance of diverse organisations joined by a commitment to increase awareness of the annual celebration of the freedom to read. The Coalition seeks to engage various communities and inspire participation in Banned Books Week through education, advocacy, and the creation of programming about the problem of book censorship.
For more information, please contact [email protected][/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_basic_grid post_type=”post” max_items=”12″ style=”load-more” items_per_page=”4″ element_width=”6″ grid_id=”vc_gid:1496677220501-32171f66-62cb-4″ taxonomies=”4513, 5844″][/vc_column][/vc_row]
