FEATURED
The enforced silence of Afghanistan’s women
Taliban-enacted "vice and virtue" laws have taken away both voices and human rights
By Mark Stimpson
NEWS
LATEST FROM INDEX ON CENSORSHIP
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Modi’s plans to muzzle India’s internet
The Indian government may have withdrawn the latest version of its Broadcasting Services (Regulation) Bill, but Modi still intends to bring his onl...
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The great X-odus
People are leaving X by the droves and with good reason. But it still has many strengths, not least in connecting Index to dissidents
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The painful death of Syria’s independent media
A number of independent media outlets opened in the wake of the Arab Spring but lack of funding and poor governance has seen them fold
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Why Project 2025 is a threat to a free media
A prototype for Donald Trump in power will restrict local independent journalism
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MAGAZINE
LATEST ISSUE: VOLUME 53.02 SUMMER 2024
The final cut: How cinema is being used to change the global narrative
The Summer 2024 issue of Index looks at how cinema is used as a tool to help shape the global political narrative by investigating who controls what we see on the screen and why they want us to see it. We highlight examples from around the world of states censoring films that show them in a bad light and pushing narratives that help them to scrub up their reputation, as well as lending a voice to those who use cinema as a form of dissent. The issue contains stories ranging from India to Nigeria, giving us a global insight into the starring role the film industry plays in global politics.
Outside of our special report, Katie Dancey-Downs investigates book banning in UK school libraries, Laura Silvia Battaglia speaks to the director of a Palestinian theatre company about the harsh reality of life in Gaza and Ugonna-Ora Owoh warns of the queer Ghanaians being persecuted under new anti-LGBT+ laws. Elsewhere, Simon James Green speaks out about his experience of book banning, Anmol Irfan discusses Muslim influencers who are creating a misogynistic subculture online and Can Dündar explains the importance of exiled journalists working together.
ARTISTIC FREEDOM
UNCENSORED ARTWORK
Index commissions censored and exiled artists and illustrators from around the world
INDEX WRITERS
Jemimah Steinfeld
CEO[ba_post_list order="DESC" posts_number="4" include_categories="42893" show_date="on" date_format="d M y" list_type="grid" items="2" item_spacing="11px"...
Jemimah Steinfeld
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Turkey’s elections: “No rule of law anymore”
The country’s human rights landscape has disintegrated since Erdogan took over in 2003
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Don’t give up on Myanmar
The country has a vibrant future believes author Oliver Slow, despite the military junta's attacks on dissent
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Censoring Roald Dahl is not the answer, just a problem
Rewording Dahl's classics sets a worrying precedent. Instead of censoring his works we should invest in promoting new, diverse talent
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Hong Kong’s travesty of a show trial begins
The Hong Kong 47 are now on trial. There is nothing free or fair about this
Katie Dancey-Downs
Assistant Editor[ba_post_list include_categories="42894" order="DESC" posts_number="4" show_date="on" date_format="d M y" list_type="grid" items="2" item_spacing="11px"...
Katie Dancey-Downs
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Why we need Banned Books Week more than ever
In just one year, book bans in the USA have increased by a third – largely targeted at works containing content on LGBTQ+ rights, race and racism, ...
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Turkey and Thailand: Two elections, different outcomes
One poll remains deadlocked while another has seen the population vote for a change of direction
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The daily risks taken by Afghanistan’s female journalists
Life for women in the media has been bleak since the Taliban takeover, and experts don’t see that changing anytime soon
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The shock waves from Turkey’s Twitter restriction
Criticism of the Turkish government in the wake of this week's deadly earthquakes led to the blocking of the social media platform
Martin Bright
Editor at large[ba_post_list include_categories="42895" order="DESC" posts_number="4" show_date="on" date_format="d M y" list_type="grid" items="2" item_spacing="11px"...
Martin Bright
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Sir Salman Rushdie wins Freedom to Publish Award
Author says has freedom of expression has never been under greater threat in the West in his lifetime
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New play gives a voice to the forgotten Crimean Tatars
The powerful work tells the stories of indigenous Tatar dissidents and their families on the Russian-occupied peninsula
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Journalism is at risk from the National Security Bill. We’re fighting back
Imagine a country where the authorities target investigative journalists as spies, and outlaw news and campaigning organisations that receive forei...
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Mikhail Gorbachev: the Soviet leader who learned to love freedom of expression
The former president, who has died at the age of 91, wrote presciently in the pages of Index on Censorship
Francis Clarke
Editorial Assistant and 2022-23 Tim Hetherington Fellow[ba_post_list include_categories="42896" order="DESC" posts_number="4" show_date="on" date_format="d M y" list_type="grid" items="2" item_spacing="11px"...
Francis Clarke
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Argument for urgent intervention in Jimmy Lai case laid bare in new report
Pressure on UK government to intervene in Lai case highlighted in a new report, which exposes the destruction of media freedom in Hong Kong
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Defying the Taliban – A stark reminder of the collapse of Afghan women’s rights
Last Thursday, human rights organisation Anotherway Now hosted a screening of the Sky News documentary ‘Defying the Taliban: women at war in Afghan...
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Bunker Cabaret: From the bomb shelters of Kyiv to Somerset House
Ukranian collective explores the making of art in time of war
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Seeing Auschwitz is a timely reminder of the importance of documenting atrocities
A new exhibition in London takes a different viewpoint on the horrors of the Holocaust
Jessica Ní Mhainín
Head of Policy and Campaigns[ba_post_list include_categories="42898" order="DESC" posts_number="4" show_date="on" date_format="d M y" list_type="grid" items="2" item_spacing="11px"...
Jessica Ní Mhainín
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Yulia Tsvetkova’s hunger strike: “I have reached a dead end”
Index award-winner calls on her supporters not to waste any more time "on the farce called Russian justice"
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New report on protecting the media against Slapps
What measures can be introduced to protect journalists facing vexatious legal actions?