Burkinabe rapper and activist with Le Balai Citoyen, Smockey, became the inaugural Music in Exile Fellow at the Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Awards in April 2016.
It initially sounded like a joke; gradually it got serious and then tragic. A decade and a half later, it is catastrophe.
In the short three months since the Index on Censorship Awards, the 2016 fellows have been busy striking for stronger freedom of expression around the world
Today is Nelson Mandela International Day, a day to remember Mandela’s achievements in democracy, human rights and peace. Holly Raiborn
Yassin Juma is an extraordinary journalist, who has taken great personal risk to get the story of what is happening in the war that is being waged in Somalia against Al-Shabaab
Demonstrations are being held in Brussels, Luanda, Pretoria and Paris to mark one year since the arrest of an Angolan book club’s members.
One of the great difficulties with satire is that often those who actually get it are those who are already on board with the message.
A conference followed by a day of performance to consider hip hop’s role in revolutionary social, political and economic movements across the world.
On World Press Freedom Day, Index Youth Advisory Board calls for the release of imprisoned journalists in Eritrea and urges the government to end its persecution of media workers
Some of the worst countries for religious freedom are Burma, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, China, Eritrea, Iran
Freedom of expression in Africa. Index on Censorship covers free speech, freedom of religion, artistic freedom on the continent of Africa.