L-R Antoine Kaburahe, Melody Patry, Jean-Paul Marthoz, Thierry Chervel, Abdualla Maksour and Rudi Vranckx discuss world wide worries about free reporting
This week’s Difference Day conference in Brussels was all about celebrating press freedom. “Should we instead mourn press freedom?” asked Jean-Paul Marthoz, EU correspondent for the Committee to Protect Journalists.
Journalists and media professionals from across the world attended the World Press Freedom Day event at the Bozar Centre for Fine Arts on 3 May.
Marthoz was joined at the World Wide Worries About Free Press debate by Index on Censorship’s senior advocacy officer Melody Patry, journalist Thierry Chervel, founder and director of Burundi-based newspaper IWACU Antoine Kaburahe, conflict journalist Rudi Vranckx, and Syrian journalist and novelist Abdualla Maksour.
Patry drew attention to the work of those who fight to protect press freedom. She said although she can understand the position of “pessimists among us today”, having “a day to celebrate journalism and the free press already shows that we are attached to the idea that we need to support and protect the standards of journalism across the world, and highlight the work of journalists who are imprisoned and even killed for reporting the news”.
Conflict journalist Rudi Vranckx was less optimistic. He told of how every translator he worked with in Iraq, Syria, Gaza and Egypt has since been forced to flee their home.
Vranckx’s concerns were shared by Maksour who, holding a sign with the Aleppo is burning hashtag, highlighted the situation in Syria, stating that 15 civilians had died there on that morning alone.
“You can’t find a foreign journalist out there because it is very dangerous – they will be arrested or be killed,” said Maksour, adding that the situation prevents us from seeing the real picture of what is going on in Syria.
In an earlier debate, EU Media, Censorship and Propaganda, Patry introduced Index on Censorship’s Mapping Media Freedom project and took part in a discussion with Marthoz, Jakub Kalensky of the East StratCom Task Force and Maria Donde, Ofcom’s international policy manager.
The debate focused on ways to counter propaganda with information that is readily and safely available for anyone, so that people can make up their own mind.
“People, of course, should have access to as wide a range of information as possible, but what’s continually important is for them to have critical understanding to be able to tell the difference between a fabricated, exaggerated, poorly sourced story and what is a credible news source,” Donde said.
Patry, agreeing with Donde, suggested people shouldn’t necessarily believe everything they see on the TV. “Journalists doing a good job, verifying sources, and verifying information is also part of improving the wider environment for press freedom and pluralism in Europe,” she added.
Difference Day showed that press freedom never comes without challenges. It may be time to ask ourselves seriously: is it time to mourn or celebrate?
Difference Day is all about celebrating freedom of the press and freedom of expression.
On the second debate of the day, panelists will discuss Mapping Media Freedom, a project run by Index on Censorship, in a debate titled EU Media, Censorship & Propaganda. MMF shows that press freedom is threatened in many places of the world, including Europe.
The debate will look at the art of journalism in Europe. Participants, including Index’s advocacy officer Melody Patry, will then explore cases and their own experiences about how the mass media are censored by governments and corporations. Issues such as self-censorship, hate speech and propaganda – in particular in the current geopolitical context – will be addressed.
All over the world news reporting is threatened by violence and abuses of freedom of expression. Panelists in this debate will share insights on why important issues and current events are not covered by the mainstream media. The participants will discuss their own experiences and global perspectives on how to preserve the right to publish.
Awards Gala tickets“I may lose my life anytime,” Zimbabwean human rights campaigned Nkosilathi Emmanuel Moyo told Index. At the time he was still hiding in South Africa, having fled after news of his last action went viral – he sent Robert Mugabe a birthday present that consisted of a prison outfit marked ‘crimes against humanity’, plus handcuffs.“I started receiving death threats through anonymous calls. My office and my home were visited by suspected state agents who were looking for me. Then I realised that my life was and is in danger and I went into hiding,” he said.
Born in 1987, the same year Mugabe became president, Nkosilathi Emmanuel Moyo was political from a young age. “It’s more of an inborn thing. I remember when I was growing up at that stage where most kids would be interested in watching cartoons I could be seen watching news from CNN to BBC,” he said.
And Moyo watched as Mugabe, who originally fought for independence and assumed power as Zimbabwe’s anti-colonial hero, imposed an increasingly dictatorial regime. Mugabe’s ruling party, the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF), and Zimbabwe’s security forces, went on to oversee systematic human rights violations. In the post-2000 era, during Moyo’s teenage years, Zimbabwe witnessed unprecedented political violence, leading to an economic freefall, with year-on-year inflation exceeding 1,000%.
Growing up in a small mining town, Moyo saw the young people around him manipulated by politicians to perpetuate this political violence, at the same time that they were pushed to the peripheries of political leadership and policy making. “The youth became ‘willing’ tools of abuse due to economic hardships,” he says, which included “victimising the electorate in election times.” So in 2010, at the age of 23, Moyo set up the Zimbabwe Organization For The Youth In Politics (ZOYP), along with Jasper Maposa, a community leader from his town. “We sought to enculture the youths to resist being used as agents of politically motivated violence,” he said.
ZOYP has now trained a small army of over 2,500 activists, with a new brand of peaceful politics to counter 92-year-old Mugabe’s violent regime. He has also trained 80 human rights defenders in a grassroots programme called the Community Human Rights Defenders Academy, working in remote areas of Zimbabwe.
Now author of four best-selling political books, Moyo has become an important critic of a regime notorious for disappearing, intimidating and arresting dissenting voices – criticism that has not gone unnoticed.
After publishing his book in 2015, Robert Mugabe: From Freedom Fighter to the People’s Enemy, Moyo faced increased state surveillance and death threats. He fled to the Netherlands for three months, staying with Shelter City in Utrecht, an initiative set up to protect human rights campaigners. As soon as he returned to Zimbabwe he published another book, criticising Robert Mugabe’s wife, Grace Mugabe: “Africa’s upcoming first female dictator.”
He’s been arrested in the past for his politics, after organising a youth event where former US Ambassador to Zimbabwe Charles Ray was a speaker. Charged under the Public Order and Security Act – a repressive law used to silence dissenting voices, particularly from civil society organisations and ZANU-PF opposition – he was sentenced to six months in prison, later getting off with a fine.
“My arrest did not come as a shock,” he told Index. And likewise the reaction to Mugabe’s birthday gift is not surprising, but Moyo remains defiant. “I don’t regret what I did, indeed President Mugabe must answer for crimes against humanity which he committed. Justice must prevail in Zimbabwe.”
Moyo has now set his sights worldwide, working to establish an international platform for young with political aspirations. “Looking at what is happening in Burundi, Syria, Uganda only to mention a few, I think there is a need,” he says. “Developing young people in politics is a step towards creating a peaceful world.”
It’s hard for many of us to imagine, but all around the world, people are being intimidated out of playing music. Here is a list of some musicians who have been prevented from expressing themselves freely so far in 2016.
Ahmet Muhsin Tüzer, Turkey
The Turkish musician was denied permission to perform in Portugal by Turkey’s Directorate of Religious Affairs, according to several news media, on 1 March 2016. His performance at the Serralves Museum in Porto had been approved by Turkey’s Cultural Ministry before the Diyanet, Turkey’s religious enforcement authority, overruled their decision.
Bangy (CedricBangirini), Burundi
Cedric Bangirinama, known as Bangy, was arrested on 27 January 2016 by Burundi’s national intelligence service for statements he made on his Facebook account that were insulting to the head of state. The musician was held for three weeks and eventually released on 16 February 2016.
Elawela Balady, Egypt
A concert scheduled for 24 January 2016, celebrating the fifth anniversary of the Egyptian Revolution, was to forced to cancel by the country’s Ministry of State of Antiquities. The event was to feature Elawela Balady and had received approval from the Ministry of Culture to hold the show in Cairo’s Prince Taz Palace. The band that was set to play have contributed to political and social awareness through their music.
Art Attack, Kenya
Art Attack, a Kenyan band who campaign for LGBT rights in the country and other African nations, faced censorship after the Kenyan Film and Classification Board banned their video in February for its remix of Macklemore and Ryan Lewis’s song Same Love. The decision was made because the video “does not adhere to the morals of the country”, Kenyan newspaper The Star reported. The video includes powerful images of LGBT protests and homophobic news headlines from the country.
Salar Aghili, Iran
Salar Aghili was banned from performing at Iran’s Fajr International Music Festival and from appearing on Iranian television because of his appearance on a Persian-language satellite channel based in London. Ali Jannati, minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance, said earlier this month that “artists shouldn’t give any interviews to foreign satellite channels”.
Index on Censorship has teamed up with the producers of an award-winning documentary about Mali’s musicians, They Will Have To Kill Us First, to create the Music in Exile Fund to support musicians facing censorship globally. You can donate here, or give £10 by texting “BAND61 £10” to 70070.
