[vc_row full_height=”yes” content_placement=”middle” css_animation=”fadeIn” css=”.vc_custom_1532521019562{background-color: #ffffff !important;background-position: center !important;background-repeat: no-repeat !important;background-size: cover !important;}”][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”78192″ img_size=”full”][vc_custom_heading text=”Kieran Etoria-King, the second Tim Hetherington fellow, speaks about his time as the editorial assistant, and the opportunities it’s given him” font_container=”tag:h2|text_align:center|color:%23000000″][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
“It made it on the front cover of the magazine so that was a big, proud moment,” said former Index editorial assistant Kieran Etoria-King, talking about his interview with stage star and model Lily Cole.
Etoria-King, now a graduate trainee at Channel 4, was the 2016/7 Tim Hetherington fellow at Index, a programme for journalism graduates from Liverpool John Moores University and backed by the Tim Hetherington Trust.
During his time as the second LJMU/Tim Hetherington fellow, Etoria-King worked on four issues of the magazine and on the website throughout the year, as well as interviewing Cole.
“My proudest moment editorially was the commissioning, when I got to the point where I felt like I was able to bring in ideas,” Etoria-King said. “I saw a picture of some North Korean art, and when I saw that I became fascinated by these amazing North Korean paintings I’d never seen before. I pitched that idea, and then went out and found someone, BG Muhn, who is an expert on the subject, and was able to write a really good piece about it. That was probably the first moment where I felt like, ‘yeah, I can contribute to this and able to bring stuff to the table’. It was like the first or second piece from the front in that issue so that was amazing.”
Etoria-King has taken the skills learned at Index into his new role. He said: “The confidence that I can bring ideas to the table has been a huge help.”
“Anywhere you go in the media, people are gonna be fascinated by the work Index does, even if they haven’t heard of it, when you tell them what it is, they’re gonna be fascinated.”
Talking about what he learned during his year on the editorial team, he said: “They really helped me really refine what to put in applications, refine my skills and how to pitch myself. You couldn’t really ask for a better introduction [to media], because you’ve got so much experience there in Sean, Rachael and Jemimah, Jodie and the whole organisation. Being such a small team you have a lot of input, and your presence is really valued and your input is really valued.”
[/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_single_image image=”94174″ img_size=”large” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center”][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/4″][vc_icon icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-quote-left”][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”3/4″][vc_custom_heading text=”Anywhere you go in the media, people are gonna be fascinated by the work Index does”][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_column_text]
The fellowship was set up in memory of Tim Hetherington, a photojournalist from Liverpool. He is best known for his work covering soldiers and conflicts including Afghanistan and Libya. His photography was celebrated for focusing on individuals’ experiences, not just the war zones.
Hetherington’s assignments took him from the UK to Africa where he lived and worked. He also studied US fighting forces for a year in Afghanistan from 2007 to 2008, which led to the Oscar-nominated film Restrepo and Infidel photo book. He also worked in Libya, where he sadly lost his life in 2011 from a mortar attack during the country’s civil war.
“Tim spent his whole life challenging limitations on expression,” said Stephen Mayes of the Tim Hetherington Trust, including a period of time spent as an investigator for the United Nations Security Council’s Liberia Sanctions Committee.
“The opportunity to introduce new talent to work in this vital field is unmissable and we wholeheartedly join with LJMU and Index to promote the values of free speech and political expression.”
The Tim Hetherington fellow works on the award-winning Index on Censorship magazine and website as the editorial assistant with opportunities to do a range of tasks including interviews and podcasts.
Rachael Jolley, editor of Index on Censorship magazine, tells The Guardian that recent restrictions “appear to be part of a worrying trend in China to be more restrictive about how sex is portrayed in books, and what is ‘allowed’.
“Book fairs are the last places we expect to see censorship, so it is worrying that we are seeing the new Murakami novel removed from the Hong Kong book fair’s booths. Book fairs are where people go to see a range of writing and we would call on the directors to make sure that they resist bids to censor which pieces of writing are on show,” said Jolley. Read the full article.
Update: Since publishing this article, Index on Censorship has been informed that Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara has also been released, having spent two nights in prison. He said that during hisdetention he was hit so hard “as if to break the spine“.
The plan was clear: cover yourself with excrement, hold a sign demanding “Free art. No to decree 349” and be visible. But on the afternoon of Saturday 21 July, only Yanelyz Nuñez stood on the steps of the National Capitol Building in Havana, her body smeared with human faeces and her eyebrows furrowed in anger over the arrest of her colleagues for protesting against new legislation restricting the private display of art without government approval. The law threatens fines, raids and the loss of licenses for self-employed workers who solicit artists that lack approval from the Ministry of Culture.
Among those arrested for protesting were artists Amaury Pacheco, Soandry del Río, Iris Ruiz andLuis Manuel Otero Alcántara. Otero Alcántara and Nuñez are the founders of Cuba’s Museum of Dissidence, a website and public art project that won Index’s 2018 Freedom of Expression Arts Award. The Museum of Dissidence works to reclaim the meaning of the word “dissidence” and support a new generation of artists dedicated to empowering marginalised communities, challenging repression and defending freedom of expression.
All of those arrested were accused of public disorder with Otero Alcántara facing an additional charge of aggression. All were released on the same day except Otero Alcántara who remains in detention. As Nuñez said on Facebook on 23 July, Otero Alcántara is expected to remain at the Vivac detention centre for five to six more days. After speaking with authorities she noted that “they did not talk to me at all about a trial or about what crime he was accused of”.
“Index denounces the arrest and continued detention of Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara for peacefully protesting in favour of free expression,” said Perla Hinojosa, fellowships and advocacy officer at Index on Censorship. “Despite the repercussions and lack of dialogue, the group’s actions were successful because if you have the government’s attention, you’re probably stirring something up in them that makes them feel threatened.”
On 22 July Otero Alcántara, Nuñez, Ruiz, Pacheco and Cuban artist Tania Bruguera published an open letter calling on the government institutions to engage in a dialogue with independent artists, seeking a voice in discussions on the cultural policy which so deeply concerns their line of work. On 23 July Nuñez delivered a legal writ to Havana’s Provincial Court demanding to know more about Otero Alcántara’s case within 72 hours.
In May 2018 Otero Alcántara and Nuñezorganised the first #00Bienal de la Habana, a ten-day independent art biennial including over 170 artists and creators from within and outside Cuba. For this, Otero Alcántara was imprisoned under the pretence of illegally possessing construction materials. The suppression of independent art has only worsened under Cuba’s new president, Miguel Díaz‑Canel, who succeeded Raúl Castro in April 2018. [/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:1532445359224-5021f869-3d4a-0″ taxonomies=”7874″][/vc_column][/vc_row]
Malaysian cartoonist Zunar is facing charges under a colonial era Sedition Act. (Photo: Sean Gallagher/Index on Censorship)
Nine banned books. Nine charges of sedition carrying the maximum penalty of 43 years imprisonment. Countless attacks, raids and arrests. These were the consequences of Malaysian cartoonist Zunar’s cartoons and tweets decrying government scandals and misdealings under former prime minister Najib Razak.
Under Razak, Malaysia’s “Man of Steal,” Zunar published volumes of cartoons criticising the prime minister and his wife for their lavish lifestyle and corrupt rule at the expense of the Malaysian people. The government justified its crackdown on his works early on, reasoning that they “influence the public to revolt against the leaders and government policies” and are “detrimental to public order” in 2010.
A travel ban was placed on Zunar on 24 June 2016. In 2015, he was charged under Malaysia’s Sedition Act, a 1948 remnant of British colonial rule used by the Malaysian government to silence dissenting voices like Zunar’s. He now awaits four days in court, starting 30 July.
The cartoonist was still in the process of mounting a constitutional challenge to the Sedition Act for these charges when opposition leader Mahathir Mohamad toppled PM Najib Razak in national elections on 9 May 2018. The same day, the new government lifted the travel ban on Zunar and has placed one on the former PM while investigating his role in Malaysia’s global corruption scandal, 1MDB.
For the first time in two years, Zunar could travel to London last week, where he met with ARTICLE 19 and Amnesty International officials. He continues to challenge his travel ban because the old government cited “special reasons,” not law, to justify it. With his challenge active until the travel ban trial on 22 October, Zunar emphasised “I want to do this because I think I am being victimised but I also want the court to make a ruling that no government can use this [justification] anymore, including the new government. [Otherwise] they may use this again in the future for the activists the government doesn’t like.”
The government has faced ongoing international pressure from organisations like Index and ARTICLE 19 as well as UN Special Rapporteur on cultural rights, Karima Bennoune, to drop the sedition charges against Zunar. On 13 July, the Malaysian Attorney General’s Chambers (AGC) announced that they will begin a review of all ongoing sedition cases, citing the strength of the cases and evidence as determinants of whether the charges will be upheld.
In the meantime, Zunar has vowed to continue cartooning and advocating for the repeal of the very laws that silence him and other government critics in Malaysia: the Sedition Act, the Printing and Press Act and the Fake News Act. Despite national celebration of the new government, he remains skeptical. “It’s too early to put any hope on what they say because I think new governments always makes good promises but they need to abolish [the Sedition Act] because this is what the promise during the election campaign was” he said.
Zunar spoke with Index’s Shreya Parjan about the current status of his case.
Index: You’ve faced the current set of sedition charges since 2015. How have you appealed and challenged them since then? How does your current appeal differ from that of your case in 2010?
Zunar: It was started in 2010, yes, I was arrested around that time but they didn’t charge me for that so 2010 is different. I have few other sedition charges, okay so 2010 one, 2015, 2016 two times but the only one they charged was in 2015. This is the one they’ve got me in court for. The others they just investigated and arrested and I spent time in police lockup for other cases but only one they are really bringing to court.
The [2015] charge is still going on, the next court date is 30 July. This is very long, from March 2015 until now, the court is still unable to start because at the same time when they brought me to court, my staff and several activists who have been charged with sedition, we filed suit to challenge the constitutionality of the sedition act. The separate court had to deal with that first.
And finally, early this year, the court has made a decision that our challenge is irrelevant and so there’s no issue. So finally, now the court is going to start and also now its a new date: on 30 July. But we have to also understand that politically, and now we have a new government, all my charges were brought by the old government, so we’ll see what happens on the 30 of July.
Index: Since the Attorney General’s Chamber announced on 13 July that they will be reviewing all ongoing sedition cases, what expectations do you have for your own case?
Zunar: Now, the new parliament session just started today [16 July] and I have to wait and see. It’s too early to put any hope on what they say because I think new governments always make good promises but they need to abolish [the Sedition Act] because this is what the promise during the election campaign was. But just a few days ago, another activist was challenged under Sedition so this is why I say it’s important to see the action rather than the words now.
Index: What changes in the environment for free expression do you anticipate seeing under PM Mahathir Mohamad?
Zunar: I have to say that until they [abolish] it, I’m still concerned. If they’re really serious, they will abolish this law and several laws. If they really want to abolish the Sedition Act together with other laws related to freedom of expression, freedom of speech, they at least need to suspend it first before they continue. They have to show that “we are really serious, that we have to do it, but for the time being, why don’t we suspend theis law first.” For me, if you really have a political will to do it, you have to show it. But I don’t know, it’s too early to say. Until they do it, I cannot say anything about it and there’s no positive sign for it.
The other law also involved in this is the Printing and Press Act, the law the government widely used to control the media. There’s also the Fake News Act, which was introduced just before the previous election, and the Official Secrets Act. Two of these laws were used against me and the other two were used against activists who tried to expose or tried to reveal corruption or wrongdoing by the government so the government has to, if they’re serious about freedom of expression, they have to abolish these laws.
There’s some talk of review, but I say no, there’s no excuse, they have to go for it. We have to wait for the parliament, whether this will be done in this parliament session which is going to make their decision over one month. We have to wait for this to see whether this new government is really serious about it or if they might use it again.
Index: What has the former government’s crackdown on those you worked with (publishers, webmaster) looked like? What implications could the new government’s review of your case have for them?
Zunar: There was an incident where the police arrested me when I did an exhibition in October 2016 and they took all the artwork and also 1300 books. I filed a suit against them and the case will be heard during the trial which is over four days: 30 July-2 August. At the same time, two of my assistants have been charged and their charges still continue and there’s no sign that the government will drop the charges. They have been charged with obstructing the police officers from carrying out their job. I think they had one court session last week so they still continue. There’s no sign that the government will drop the charge.
Previously, three of my printers have been raided under the Printing and Press Act and they were given a very strong warning that if they print my book again, they will be charged under Sedition and their licenses will be revoked. Also, my webmaster was investigated under the Sedition Act, my office has been raided several times and my sales assistants have been arrested.
What the police did is use a culture of fear. They create fear. They go and they didn’t really bring these guys to court, but they use harassment and the law that they will be charged if they continue, to scare people. But because we have a new government, so far there are no cases like that, so I think that the situation is maybe changing, I don’t know.
Index: What role do you see your cartoons playing in your advocacy for the repeal of the Sedition Act and other legislation that has constrained your work in the past?
Zunar: I think in my recent trip to London [last week] I spoke to ARTICLE 19 and Amnesty International and I hope for them to make a statement. It’s good for international organisations to give pressure to the government during the parliament session to abolish these outdated laws.
My cartoons reflect the issues of a country during that time, any time. If I want to do the same level of cartooning, the one I did during the previous government is a different type of cartoon. Now I can do more reminding and giving pressure to the government in a positive manner. Because in Malaysia right now, we just chose a new government, everyone is very happy, the people are very happy, this is what they expect and at the same time, civil society and activists like me have to remind the government that winning doesn’t mean you win everything or everything already changed.
So many things need to be done to keep the promises [that were made during the election]. As a cartoonist, we simply have to wait for the issues. Like during the parliament, if they don’t act, we have to come up with a cartoon to show that this is what you promised and you are not fulfilling your promise.
Talking about levels, previously what I did was to fight through cartoon. This is one level up from what normal cartoonists do around the world. Normal cartooning around the world is to criticise the government of the day. That is for those who think that the government is a bit undemocratic. Last time, what I did was fight through cartoon. But now, the people of Malaysia did win and there’s so much hope for this new government and they’re very positive about it. I cannot simply come and fight through cartoon again at this time.
Now I have to do positive cartoons reminding and being a watchdog for the government. I think changing the mindset is very important also. It’s not about changing individuals, you have to change the mindset in the society, to show that cartoons can do the job too. In terms of what I’m going to do, I think I need to go along with this achievement and be a watchdog to the government, which is a totally different role of cartooning compared to the one I did with the last government.[/vc_column_text][vc_media_grid element_width=”3″ grid_id=”vc_gid:1532428297196-711fc435-d06c-1″ include=”101641,101640,101642,101636,101635,101639,101638,101637″][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row full_width=”stretch_row_content”][vc_column][three_column_post title=”Malaysia” full_width_heading=”true” category_id=”130″][/vc_column][/vc_row]
