10 Dec 20 | Opinion, Ruth's blog
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”115786″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes”][vc_column_text]Today we once again marked Human Rights Day. A day that gives us an opportunity to reflect on how far we’ve come as a society of nations and yet how far we still have to go before the aspiration of protected human rights is universally applied.
On the 10th December 1948, 72 years ago, the UN General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In theory, the UDHR gives everyone of us, wherever we live, an expectation of minimum rights. It outlines a framework of what we as citizens can and should expect from our political leaders. And it sets the rules for nation states about what is and is not acceptable.
As Eleanor Roosevelt stated when she addressed the UN Assembly on that fateful day:
“We stand today at the threshold of a great event both in the life of the United Nations and in the life of mankind, that is the approval by the General Assembly of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights recommended by the Third Committee. This declaration may well become the international Magna Carta of all men everywhere. We hope its proclamation by the General Assembly will be an event comparable to the proclamation of the Declaration of the Rights of Man by the French people in 1789, the adoption of the Bill of Rights by the people of the United States, and the adoption of comparable declarations at different times in other countries.”
Index lives and breathes the UDHR. Our fight against censorship is based on Article 19 of the Declaration. We exist to promote and defend the basic human rights that were espoused that day.
Unfortunately, we remain busy.
There are still too many daily examples of egregious breaches of our basic human rights throughout the world. Index was established to provide hope to those people who lived in repressive regimes, so that they knew their stories were being told, not to be a grievance sheet but rather a vehicle of hope. But too many repressive governments are ignoring their obligations and persecuting their citizens. And too many democratic governments seemingly believe that the spirit of the UDHR (never mind their own legal frameworks) don’t necessarily apply to them.
This year alone we have learnt of the appalling Uighur camps in Xinjiang province, China; we’ve seen the Rohingya denied the right to vote in Myanmar; we’ve watched in horror as Alexander Lukashenko attempted to fix his re-election and then tried to crush the opposition in Belarus. We’ve seen journalists arrested in the USA for covering the Black Lives Matter protests; human rights activists imprisoned in Egypt and dancers arrested in Iran for daring to dance with men.
When you see the scale of the battles ahead in the fight to defend our human rights it is easy to feel overwhelmed. But there are things that each one of us can do to make a difference. As we approach the end of 2020 we’re asking you to send a message of hope to six people who are currently imprisoned for exerting their rights to free speech. Included in our #JailedNotForgotten campaign are the following brave individuals:
- Aasif Sultan, who was arrested in Kashmir after writing about the death of Buhran Wani and has been under illegal detention without charge for more than 800 days;
- Golrokh Emrahimi Iraee, jailed for writing about the practice of stoning in Iran;
- Hatice Duman, the former editor of the banned socialist newspaper Atılım, who has been in jail in Turkey since 2002;
- Khaled Drareni, jailed in Algeria for ‘incitement to unarmed gathering’ simply for covering the weekly Hirak protests that are calling for political reform in the country;
- Loujain al-Hathloul, a women’s rights activist known for her attempts to raise awareness of the ban on women driving in Saudi Arabia;
- Yuri Dmitriev, a historian being silenced by Putin in Russia for creating a memorial to the victims of Stalinist terror and facing fabricated sexual assault charges.
We may not be able to send a message to every person currently being persecuted for exercising their right to free expression, but we can send a message of hope to Aasif, Golrokh, Hatice, Khaled, Loujain and Yuri. We will use our voices as much as possible to try and ensure they are not still in prison for the 2021 World Human Rights Day.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][/vc_column][/vc_row]
09 Dec 20
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”115833″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes”][vc_column_text]Index produces regular podcasts on freedom of expression issues around the world.
We have a regular podcast series called What the Fuck!? in which a guest – a free speech activist, celebrity, politician or someone in the news – tells listeners what is making them angry in the world and the words they say when they do.
What the Fuck!? guests come from across the full range of opinion on the key freedom of expression issues shaping the modern world. Each guest talks about the work they are currently doing or admire relating to artistic, academic, media or religious freedom.
We then move on to a current situation affecting freedom of expression that fills them with horror and why. The podcast ends with our guests telling us your favourite sweary expression and why it makes them feel the way it does.
We also publish a quarterly podcast to mark the launch of the latest issue of Index on Censorship magazine where we interview some of our writers and contributors about what is going on in their part of the world.[/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”115824″ img_size=”full” onclick=”custom_link” img_link_target=”_blank” link=”https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/index-on-censorship-magazine-what-the-f-k-podcast/id1001981183?itsct=podcast_box&itscg=30200″][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”115827″ img_size=”full” onclick=”custom_link” link=”https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbmRleG9uY2Vuc29yc2hpcC5saWJzeW4uY29tL3Jzcw”][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”115826″ img_size=”full” onclick=”custom_link” img_link_target=”_blank” link=”https://open.spotify.com/show/77TFEOwqLkgmAzeNSPAxBu?si=HoLIxNpzRumkvi9OrPRSzw”][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/4″][vc_single_image image=”119099″ img_size=”260×260″][/vc_column][vc_column width=”3/4″][vc_column_text]Index on Censorship podcast episode 18
A panel of people who all once called Hong Kong home share their thoughts and experiences on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the handover from Britain to Beijing. On the panel are Benedict Rogers, the CEO of Hong Kong Watch, Hong Kong journalist Kris Cheng, Mark Clifford, President of the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong, Evan Fowler, a writer and researcher on Hong Kong and China, and activist and author Nathan Law. The discussion is chaired by Index on Censorship’s editor-in-chief, Jemimah Steinfeld, who has lived in China.
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/4″][vc_single_image image=”116406″ img_size=”260×260″][/vc_column][vc_column width=”3/4″][vc_column_text]Index on Censorship’s What the Fuck!? podcast episode 17
Index’s editorial assistant Benjamin Lynch talks to comedian and author Andrew Doyle about his new book, Free Speech and Why It Matters. They discuss incitement and his thoughts on why President Donald Trump shouldn’t have been removed from Twitter, as well as the state of free speech on the left and right.
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/4″][vc_single_image image=”116390″ img_size=”260×260″][/vc_column][vc_column width=”3/4″][vc_column_text]Index on Censorship’s What the Fuck!? podcast episode 16
Index’s associate editor Mark Frary talks to Richard Ratcliffe, the husband of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who has been in prison in Iran for the past five years. He talks about the end of her house arrest, what has got her through solitary confinement and the attitude of the British government to her case and other Britons imprisoned in the country.
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/4″][vc_single_image image=”116343″ img_size=”260×260″][/vc_column][vc_column width=”3/4″][vc_column_text]Index on Censorship’s What the Fuck!? podcast episode 15
Index’s Benjamin Lynch talks to author, historian and modern China expert Jeff Wasserstrom about why China censors, the Chinese Communist Party’s growing influence and what their censorship policies mean for the rest of the world.
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/4″][vc_single_image image=”116312″ img_size=”260×260″][/vc_column][vc_column width=”3/4″][vc_column_text]Index on Censorship’s What the Fuck!? podcast episode 14
Index’s Mark Frary talks to actor and barrister Shereener Browne about the drill music scene and her fight to stop censorship of the genre by the government and Metropolitan Police. She talks about how the black community has been singled out by the authorities and how banning the music, which often has violent lyrics, does not solve the problem of gang violence. (Drill extracts by Chi Smurf and Yamaica.)
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/4″][vc_single_image image=”116275″ img_size=”260×260″][/vc_column][vc_column width=”3/4″][vc_column_text]Index on Censorship’s What the Fuck!? podcast episode 13
Index’s Mark Frary talks to Rahima Mahmut, Uighur singer and UK project director of the World Uyghur Congress. She discusses why the world is afraid of China’s power and the plight of the Uighur people. She also talks of the importance of cultural memories, including song and poetry, and her concerns for the future.
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/4″][vc_single_image image=”116239″ img_size=”260×260″][/vc_column][vc_column width=”3/4″][vc_column_text]Index on Censorship’s What the Fuck!? podcast episode 12
Index’s Mark Frary talks to Dr Tunc Aybak, programme leader of the international politics degree at Middlesex University, about the trials of Alexei Navalny in Russia, Putin’s Palace and the golden toilet brush revolution. He discusses political technology and the state of the media in the country.
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/4″][vc_single_image image=”116179″ img_size=”260×260″][/vc_column][vc_column width=”3/4″][vc_column_text]Index on Censorship’s What the Fuck!? podcast episode 11
Index’s Benjamin Lynch talks to youth activist Thay Graciano, co-founder of Skaped, about the importance of young activism and people self-censoring themselves on US college campuses, as well as the problems caused by Jair Bolsonaro in her birth country of Brazil. She also talks of working with arts organisations in Belarus.
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/4″][vc_single_image image=”116125″ img_size=”260×260″][/vc_column][vc_column width=”3/4″][vc_column_text]Index on Censorship’s What the Fuck!? podcast episode 10
Index’s associate editor Mark Frary talks to groundbreaking electro-pop artist LAYKE, who has worked with Snoop Dogg and is an activist fighting for LGBTQIA+ rights. We discuss racial equality in a Black Lives Matter world, the task facing Joe Biden, growing up in Texas and her pansexuality.
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/4″][vc_single_image image=”116142″ img_size=”260×260″][/vc_column][vc_column width=”3/4″][vc_column_text]Index on Censorship’s What the Fuck!? podcast episode 9
Index’s associate editor Mark Frary talks to Kirstin McCudden, managing editor of the US Press Freedom Tracker ahead of the inauguration of Joe Biden as 46th President of the United States. McCudden talks about attacks on the press during the Black Lives Matter protests, the storming of the US Capitol and Donald Trump’s legacy.
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/4″][vc_single_image image=”116144″ img_size=”260×260″][/vc_column][vc_column width=”3/4″][vc_column_text]Index on Censorship’s What the Fuck!? podcast episode 8
Index’s head of content Jemimah Steinfeld talks to freelance journalist and Index contributor Issa Sikiti da Silva ahead of the upcoming Ugandan presidential elections which are expected to return President Yoweri Museveni to power once again. Issa talks about the role of social media and the future of the free press in the region.
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/4″][vc_single_image image=”116145″ img_size=”260×260″][/vc_column][vc_column width=”3/4″][vc_column_text]Index on Censorship’s What the Fuck!? podcast episode 7
Index’s editorial assistant Benjamin Lynch talks to Director of International Campaigns for Reporters Without Borders, Rebecca Vincent.
She shares the stories and cases that continue to motivate her today, including the time she was kicked out of Azerbaijan as well as the importance of the Julian Assange case.
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/4″][vc_single_image image=”116146″ img_size=”260×260″][/vc_column][vc_column width=”3/4″][vc_column_text]Index on Censorship’s What the Fuck!? podcast episode 6
Index’s associate editor Mark Frary talks to singer, poet and writer Amyra about her collaboration with the Tongue Fu collective.
Amyra talks about Black Lives Matter and her anger over the lack of resources for women, especially women of colour. She talks about how she wants her work to be empowering to others and why she wrote the children’s book Freedom, We Sing.
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/4″][vc_single_image image=”116147″ img_size=”260×260″][/vc_column][vc_column width=”3/4″][vc_column_text]Index on Censorship’s What the Fuck!? podcast episode 5
Index’s head of content Jemimah Steinfeld talks to Tom Grundy, the editor-in-chief and co-founder of Hong Kong Free Press.
Grundy talks about how Hong Kong has changed since the publication was founded, media freedom in the shadow of China’s National Security Law and the challenges that his journalists work under to get the news out with many critics of the Chinese Communist Party being jailed.
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/4″][vc_single_image image=”116148″ img_size=”260×260″][/vc_column][vc_column width=”3/4″][vc_column_text]Index on Censorship’s What the Fuck!? podcast episode 4
Index’s associate editor Mark Frary talks to Dr Emese Pásztor, director of the Political Freedoms Project at the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union.
Pásztor talks about the Hungarian government’s ban on the freedom of assembly, making it against the law to make political protests. The ban comes as Viktor Orban’s majority government is trying to make changes to the country’s constitution which requires families to bring up their children “in a Christian spirit” and which only protects an individual’s rights to self-determination if they live their lives as their biological sex dictates.
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/4″][vc_single_image image=”116149″ img_size=”260×260″][/vc_column][vc_column width=”3/4″][vc_column_text]Index on Censorship’s What the Fuck!? podcast episode 3
Index’s associate editor Mark Frary talks to punk, poet and activist Penny Rimbaud, who founded anarchistic punk band Crass in the 1970s.
He talks about why the battle isn’t against Donald Trump but against all American presidencies and why the British are the most repressed in the world. He says the Sex Pistols and the Clash were only playing at being angry.
He says everyone should change their name and why his poetic namesake is the inspiration behind his new work.
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/4″][vc_single_image image=”116150″ img_size=”260×260″][/vc_column][vc_column width=”3/4″][vc_column_text]Index on Censorship’s What the Fuck!? podcast episode 2
Index’s associate editor Mark Frary talks to actor Natalia Tena, known for playing Nymphadora Tonks in the Harry Potter movies as well as Lana Pierce in the YouTube science fiction series Origin and Osha in Game of Thrones.
Tena talks about female genital cutting, a practice that affects millions of girls and women around the world, and why she is walking the Santiago de Camino for The Orchid Project.
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/4″][vc_single_image image=”116151″ img_size=”260×260″][/vc_column][vc_column width=”3/4″][vc_column_text]Index on Censorship’s What the Fuck!? podcast episode 1
Index’s associate editor Mark Frary talks to photographer and artist Alison Jackson, who is renowned for her explorations into how photography and the cult of the celebrity have transformed our relationship to what is ‘real’.
She talks about her latest work, a sculpture of President Donald Trump in a compromising position with Miss Universe, the US elections and the very real challenges of artistic censorship.
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row full_width=”stretch_row_content_no_spaces”][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”115815″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” onclick=”custom_link” img_link_target=”_blank” link=”https://indexoncensorship.libsyn.com/website”][/vc_column][/vc_row]
01 Dec 20 | India, Iran, Media Freedom, News and features, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_hoverbox image=”115781″ primary_title=”Aasif Sultan” hover_title=”Aasif Sultan” hover_background_color=”black” el_class=”text_white”]Aasif covers human rights for the Kashmir Narrator and was jailed for two years in August for alleged involvement in “harbouring known terrorists”[/vc_hoverbox][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_hoverbox image=”115782″ primary_title=”Golrokh Emrahimi Iraee” hover_title=”Golrokh Emrahimi Iraee” hover_background_color=”black” el_class=”text_white”]Jailed for six years in 2016 for writing about the practice of stoning in Iran and “insulting Islamic sanctities”[/vc_hoverbox][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_empty_space][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_hoverbox image=”115743″ primary_title=”Hatice Duman” hover_title=”Hatice Duman” hover_background_color=”black” el_class=”text_white”]Hatice Duman is the former editor of the banned socialist newspaper Atılım, who has been in jail in Turkey since 2002[/vc_hoverbox][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_hoverbox image=”115783″ primary_title=”Khaled Drareni” hover_title=”Khaled Drareni” hover_background_color=”black” el_class=”text_white”]Khaled was jailed for three years in Algeria in August for covering the Hirak protest movement[/vc_hoverbox][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_empty_space][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_hoverbox image=”115780″ primary_title=”Loujain al-Hathloul” hover_title=”Loujain al-Hathloul” hover_background_color=”black” el_class=”text_white”]Loujain is a women’s rights activist known for her attempts to raise awareness of the ban on women driving in Saudi Arabia, where she remains in jail[/vc_hoverbox][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_hoverbox image=”115741″ primary_title=”Yuri Dmitriev” hover_title=”Yuri Dmitriev” hover_background_color=”black” el_class=”text_white”]Yuri has been targeted for his work in identifying the graves of victims of Stalinist terror and has been jailed on baseless charges of sexual assault by the authorities[/vc_hoverbox][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_empty_space][vc_column_text]2020 has been a terrible year for the world.
Unfortunately, for some human rights activists, free speech supporters and journalists, 2020 is just yet another year they have spent in prison, incarcerated on trumped-up charges for speaking out against the actions of authoritarian regimes.
As 2020 comes to a close, we want them to know that no matter how long they have been in jail, they have not been forgotten.
We have chosen six people whose plights must not be forgotten as part of our new #JailedNotForgotten campaign.
Early in 2021, we will send cards containing messages of support from the Index team but we are also asking for you to stand in solidarity with them. Please use the form below to personalise your message to the chosen six:
- Aasif Sultan, who was arrested in Kashmir after writing about the death of Buhran Wani and has been under illegal detention without charge for more than 800 days;
- Golrokh Emrahimi Iraee, jailed for writing about the practice of stoning in Iran;
- Hatice Duman, the former editor of the banned socialist newspaper Atılım, who has been in jail in Turkey since 2002;
- Khaled Drareni, jailed in Algeria for ‘incitement to unarmed gathering’ simply for covering the weekly Hirak protests that are calling for political reform in the country;
- Loujain al-Hathloul, a women’s rights activist known for her attempts to raise awareness of the ban on women driving in Saudi Arabia;
- Yuri Dmitriev, a historian being silenced by Putin in Russia for creating a memorial to the victims of Stalinist terror and facing fabricated sexual assault charges.
Add your message of support using the form below.
You can also sign up to receive our weekly newsletter, which features news relating to freedom of expression issues around the world. You do not need to sign up to this to send a message. [/vc_column_text][gravityform id=”50″ title=”false” description=”true” ajax=”false”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”115746″ img_size=”full” onclick=”custom_link” link=”http://www.indexoncensorship.org/donate”][/vc_column][/vc_row]
27 Nov 20 | Opinion, Ruth's blog
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”115674″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]This week marked the launch of a sixteen-day UN campaign to eliminate gender-based violence. As part of the global solidarity movement they want to turn the world orange. In the 21st century this campaign should not be necessary, but we see daily examples across the world of how women are being singled out for violence, whether state-sanctioned or by non-state actors or even in people’s homes.
When someone talks about violence towards women it is easy to assume they are talking about domestic violence, after all across the world 243 million women and girls were abused by an intimate partner last year.
Closer to home there were over 200,000 incidents of domestic abuse logged by the police in 2019/20 in England and Wales alone. My friend Jess Phillips, the MP for Birmingham Yardley, every year on International Women’s Day, reads the names of those women who have been murdered in the UK by their partner – this year she read out 108 names.
Jess uses her voice for the women who no longer have one.
But violence against women isn’t only an issue of domestic violence. We’ve seen too many examples where violence against women, whether threats or actual violence, is used as a tool to try and silence them, to ensure that their voices aren’t heard.
Last month a survey published by Plan International found that 59% of women interviewed had been subjected to some form of abuse online. These statistics alone are enough to bring about a chilling effect for women who want to participate in public discourse but it’s compounded when you consider some of the highest profile academics, campaigners and journalists who have been murdered, imprisoned or threatened in recent years:
- Kylie Moore-Gilbert, accused of espionage by the Iranian regime and finally released this week after two years in prison;
- Loujain al-Hathloul, a women’s rights activist in Saudi Arabia who has been imprisoned for the last two years.
- Maria Ressa, the investigative journalist from Rappler, hit with fines and criminal charges for her work;
- Daphne Caruana Galizia, a campaigning Maltese journalist assassinated on 16 October 2017;
- Berta Cáceres, a leading Honduran environmental activist murdered in her home on 2 March 2016.
These women represent untold others, whose stories we simply don’t know – yet. That in itself is heart-breaking.
Our job at Index is to keep shining a spotlight on what is happening across the world, to make sure that as many people’s stories as possible are told. To empower them, to fight with them and to support their families. To make sure that no one is silenced because of the fear of violence.
We were launched nearly 50 years ago – but there is still so much work to do.
For more information on Orange the World see https://www.unwomen.org/en/news/in-focus/end-violence-against-women[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][three_column_post title=”You may also want to read” category_id=”41669″][/vc_column][/vc_row]
