22 Sep 2016 | Awards, Fellowship, Fellowship 2016, Middle East and North Africa, mobile, News and features, Yemen
Credit: Ruins campaign. Bani Waleed, September 2016
On 3 September 2016, a group of Houthi rebels convened a meeting at al-Najah School in the al-Haima district of Bani Waleed, a local witness told Murad Subay, street artist and winner of the 2016 Index on Censorship award for arts, that the men entered the school without permission.
“We are not with any of the warring parties – we are caught in the middle,” the witness said.
Soon after, the school was destroyed in an airstrike carried out by the Saudi Arabian-led military coalition, killing one disabled student and adding 1,200 to the more than 3.4 million already forced out of education in the country as over 3,600 schools have been forced to close in the course of the war.
“Can you imagine? These are the soldiers of the wars to come,” Subay told Index. “Without education, these children could become tomorrow’s fighters and tools in the hands of extremists.”
At dawn on 4 September Subay travelled to Bani Waleed to create a mural on what remained of al-Najah.
Credit: Ruins campaign. Bani Waleed, September 2016
“When we got there I asked some of the students what they were going to do now that their school was destroyed and some told me they will go to Sanaa while others said they will travel to surrounding villages,” Subay said. “But it will be much more difficult for the 400 girls who attended the school because traditions in Yemen mean they will not be able to travel alone, making it impossible for them to go to other villages to study.”
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Murad Subay is the 2016 Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Arts Award-winner and fellow. His practice involves Yemenis in creating murals that protest the country’s civil war. Read more about Subay’s work.
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Destroying schools isn’t a big deal for the warring parties, the artist added. “Some of the children of those leaders who shout ‘death to America’ are studying at the best universities in the world, including in the USA, while each bombed school in Yemen – especially big ones like al-Haima – will take years to rebuild.”
The situation is made even more difficult in a time of war when resources and building materials are almost impossible to come by. “Even if the West stopped supplying weapons to Saudi Arabia today and patted themselves on the back saying ‘we are doing good’, Saudi Arabia already has enough to wage wars for another 150 years if it wants.”
If there is any hope for peace to prevail and schools, hospitals and other buildings belonging to the people are to be rebuilt, countries like Britain and America should take a step further and tell Saudi Arabia “to show restraint”, Subay said.
“While Saudi Arabia is doing the majority of the destruction, all sides of the war in Yemen must take responsibility.”
Credit: Ruins campaign. Bani Waleed, September 2016
Credit: Ruins campaign. Bani Waleed, September 2016
Credit: Ruins campaign. Bani Waleed, September 2016
The mural completed on 4 September depicts a child holding a hand grenade in place of a book, with the words “Children without schools” painted in English and Arabic.
When painting with fellow artists from the Ruins campaign – set up in May 2015 in collaboration with fellow artist Thi Yazen to paint on the walls of buildings damaged by the war – on 25 August, the group were arrested and interrogated by a local militia.
“They asked us to sign a letter with our fingerprints promising that we would not return again without permission,” Subay explains. “I actually did have permission from a local tribal leader but they wouldn’t listen.”
The artists were told if they returned they would be punished.
“My friends were very afraid and some of them said even with permission they would not return,” Subay said. “It was a strange situation for them.”
Subway himself isn’t put off and is already looking forward the next Ruins campaign, wherever that may be.
The last time he spoke with Index, Ruins had just completed a series of murals in front of the Central Bank of Yemen to represent the country’s economic collapse. Soon after the murals were finished, Houthi rebels defaced two out of the three works of art, writing “Samidoon” (صامدون), meaning “steadfast”, which is one of their slogans.
Assessing the situation in Yemen and the many different sides of the conflict, Subay said: “It is very difficult. Every night we hear airstrikes here and there, but we go on with our lives.”
“But any day when I can paint is a good one.”
Nominations are now open for 2017 Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Awards and will remain open until 11 October. You can make yours here.
Winners of the 2016 Freedom of Expression Awards: from left, Farieha Aziz of Bolo Bhi (campaigning), Serge Bambara — aka “Smockey” (Music in Exile), Murad Subay (arts), Zaina Erhaim (journalism). GreatFire (digital activism), not pictured, is an anonymous collective. Photo: Sean Gallagher for Index on Censorship
Ryan McChrystal is the assistant online editor at Index on Censorship
21 Sep 2016 | Magazine, mobile, News and features, Volume 45.02 Summer 2016 Extras, Youth Board
In the latest issue of Index on Censorship magazine, The Unnamed: Does anonymity need to be defended?, Index’s contributing editor for Turkey, Kaya Genç, explores anonymous artists in Turkey. In the piece the artists discuss how vital anonymity is in allowing them to complete their more controversial work. The Index on Censorship youth advisory board have taken inspiration from this piece for their latest task, in which they investigate anonymous art around the world.
Keizer by Constantin Eckner
Ants feature in Keizer’s work to sybolise “the forgotten ones, the silenced, the nameless, those marginalised by capitalism”. Image: Keizer
Prior to the January 25 Revolution political street art was anything but common in Egypt, yet it has proliferated in public spaces in the aftermath of the revolution. One of the most productive street artists in Cairo is Keizer, who has gained popularity and notoriety in recent years. Like Banksy and other street artists, he uses the well-known stencil technique to empower his fellow countrymen, and people in general, with his thought-provoking work. He likens people to ants, which are featured in most of his graffiti. Keizer explains on his Facebook account that the ant “symbolises the forgotten ones, the silenced, the nameless, those marginalised by capitalism. They are the working class, the common people, the colony that struggles and sacrifices blindly for the queen ant and her monarchy.”
Asked about the reason for protecting his identity, Keizer said: “I am very concerned over my safety and the repercussions of street art which I’ve already had a taste of, especially with this current regime. Including death threats,
Egyptian street artist Keizer has gained popularity in recent years. Image: Keizer
my twitter account was hacked twice. In the past five years of working on the street I’ve been caught once. I came out of it with a few bumps and bruises, nothing major. I consider myself lucky that I came out one day later.
“You can imagine that being caught here is very different than being caught in Europe. There is no proper procedure and that makes you a victim of the person handling you, and the uncertainty of what comes next. Graffiti is a grey area here, they don’t have any definition or classification for it in the books, so they make it up as they go along, taking you for the fear ride. It’s all under vandalism, so they can make it look small or escalate it to exaggerated levels. For instance, you can be dubbed as a political traitor; it can be considered racketeering; they can glue your name to any political movement unpopular with the people…etc.”
Tall walls, low profiles: Icy and Sot by Layli Foroudi
Icy and Sot describe themselves as stencil artists from Tabriz, Iran. As for their identities, they reveal only that they are brothers, born in 1985 and 1991. Their work is created under pseudonyms in countries around the world, including Iran, USA, Germany, Norway, and China, on legal and illegal walls as well as in galleries.
The anonymous duo, who paint on themes like human rights, censorship, and justice, say that charges against artists in Iran make going public risky.
“Pseudonyms help us to keep a low profile,” the brothers explained in an interview with ArtInfo, “Being arrested in Iran is completely different, because they charge you with crimes that you have not even committed, like Satanism or political crimes.”
Their work often uses striking human faces in black and white to make statements about politics and the environment, to call for peace, and to direct messages at the government of Iran. In 2015, Icy and Sot used their art to protest for freedom of expression in Iran, prompted by the arrest and 18-month imprisonment of Atena Farghadani, an Iranian artist who was detained for publishing a cartoon that satirised the Iranian government as animals. In solidarity, they stenciled a tribute piece depicting Farghadani with a backdrop of protesters on a wall in Brooklyn.
Maeztro Urbano’s fight to change a criminal image by Ian Morse.
In the most recent data, Honduras has the highest homicide rate in the world, with 84 intentional homicides per 100,000 people in 2013. The prominence of drug trafficking and ubiquity of poverty does not improve its reputation.
To some Hondurans, their country’s international image has done nothing but hurt citizen’s attempts to improve daily life in the country’s bustling cities and lively cultural centers. Maeztro Urbano and his friends became the face of an urban street art project to disrupt the atmosphere of crime and reveal another side of the country outside of the headlines.
His projects range from adjusting street signs promoting gender equality to vandalising billboards with corrupt politicians, to wall graffiti showing the effect of violence on children. Working his day shifts in the advertising industry, Maeztro Urbano said he wants to contribute more to his country than proliferating consumerism.
“Change should start within society. With each individual,” El Maestro – as he is also called – told The Creators Project. “To have respect for the lives of others, to respect the right to sexual diversity, to a better education.”
“If we don’t change that as a society and as individuals, we will never be able to change as a country.”
Assailants in Honduras have not been very hospitable to those reporting on crime or those wishing to express their identity. Faced with police harassment and shootings from unknown attackers, Maeztro Urbano chooses to wear a mask while he works to spread messages of hope around the country.
Bleeps.gr: Over a decade of political artivism in Athens by Anna Gumbau.
Bleeps.gr is one of Greece’s most prominent street artists, having painted murals on the streets of Athens for over 10 years. Image: Bleeps.gr
“I have been radically oriented to the political discourse, utilising the public sphere, and I am not afraid or discouraged”, Bleeps.gr, one of the most prominent Greek street artists, told Index.
Bleep.gr has been designing murals, that are mostly critical of the austerity policies imposed to Greece, on the streets of Athens for over 10 years. The Greek social turmoil has had a strong influence on his artwork, not only in his scenes, but even in his methods. “I buy very cheap materials and can’t afford those impressive equipment to create a mural”, he said in an interview with Street Art Europe.
Bleeps.gr chooses to use a pseudonym as an attempt to challenge “the institutionalised perception of the identity”, he told Index. While he is not afraid of the state authorities, he points at art institutions, such as galleries, exhibitions and festivals, who reject and exclude his art. “Most of the censorship I have received has come from other artists, especially the ones related to systemic initiatives, who in the past years have removed all of my works from the city center” he said. Greek political street artists often suffer from the exclusion of art galleries and exhibitors; in the summer of 2013, the CRISIS? WHAT CRISIS? street art festival in Athens, which celebrates the value of street art in the current political happenings, invited 20 artists from different European countries but failed to invite any Greek artists.
Nevertheless, Bleeps.gr stresses the fact that the internet “has provided a virtual field of allocation”, and most of the political street art discourse happens there.
Bleeps.gr highlights the mechanisms of such institutions to “absorb street artists” and make them become part of the art “business”, adding: “the majority of them nowadays serve gentrification policies and turn policies and turn political art into a spectacle for tourist pleasure”.
King of Spades by Sophia Smith-Galer.
When it comes to anonymous artists, the art tends to speak far louder than any speculation into the artist themselves. This anonymous artist in Lebanon is no Arab Banksy that lurks tantalisingly close to the limelight; this artist could quite literally be anyone, and the lack of anybody claiming the piece as their own is revelatory of the grave reality of artists in developing countries that test the patience of despots and tyrants.
Despite its tired and no longer relevant label “Paris of the Middle East”, even the dazzlingly artistic city of Beirut, Lebanon, can’t quite get away with hanging something like this banner, depicting the late Saudi Arabian monarch King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz as a brutal King of Spades. Shortly after its creation in 2013, the Lebanese state prosecutor ordered an investigation to reveal the source of these posters after complaints from Saudi Ambassador Ali Awad Asiri.
It seems that nobody got caught, and nor do I particularly want to dwell on what would have happened to the artist if they had. But in the Middle East, such a daring artistic expression must be forbidden fruit in a region of gagged political artistry; demonstrated no better than in this mysterious artist who gambled with the assumed impunity of that gentleman with the bloodied scimitar.
Dede Bandaid by Shruti Venkatraman.
One of Dede Bandaid’s most well known works, a missile target painted in the middle of a large car park, a reference to the Gaza conflict in 2014. Image: Dede Bandaid / Wikicommons
Dede Bandaid is an anonymous Israeli artist who has added colour to Tel Aviv’s streets with thought provoking and politically relevant street art. His artistic career began in 2000 during his compulsory military service, and most of his earlier pieces demonstrated a clear anti-establishment sentiment. His more recent works, following the end of his stint in the military, aim to communicate social and political messages. One of his most well known works is a missile target painted in the middle of a large car park, a reference to the Gaza conflict in 2014.
Dede enjoys using public spaces as a canvas as this approach allows freer and more controversial expression, while also being accessible to and viewable by a larger audience especially when the street art is photographed and its images are circulated online. He also makes use of traditional symbols of peace, like the white dove, and frequently incorporates Band-Aids that represent healing and remedy in his artwork, with “Bandaid” being the pseudonym he signs on all his pieces. Over time, Dede’s style has evolved from stencilling to free-hand painting and collage and he interestingly also exhibits certain pieces in galleries across the world.
Cabbage Walker in Kashmir by Niharika Pandit.
A pheran-clad man walks around with a cabbage on a leash in the neighbourhoods of Srinagar, Kashmir. This performance act that he presents is inspired by Chinese artist Han Bing’s “Walking the Cabbage” social intervention work. While Bing chose to walk the cabbage to reflect on the changing values in the Chinese society, where once cabbage was a subsistence food product but is now only embraced by the poor, in Kashmir, this anonymous artist aims to normalise the cabbage walking to show the absurdity of militarisation in the region. Both the performances employ cabbage as an element of satire to expose the irony inherent in what how elitism and militarisation come to be normalised in societies across the world.
The Kashmiri Cabbage Walker writes on his blog, “I as a Kashmiri am willing to recognise walking the cabbage as part of the Kashmiri landscape but I will never accept the check posts, the bunkers, the army camps, the torture centers, the barbed wire, the curfews, the arrests, the toxic environment of conflict and war, as part of the same.”
This performance artist chooses to remain anonymous as it helps in focusing on the message and not the messenger. The Kashmiri Cabbage Walker says that he represents all Kashmiri lives under militarisation thereby revealing the artist’s identity becomes unimportant here.
Cracked pavements in Budapest by Fruzsina Katona.
Anonymous volunteers have joined the satirial political party the Two-Tailed Dog party (MKKP) to paint cracked pavement on the streets of Budapest. Image: Fruzsina Katona
Anonymity does not necessarily mean that one is trying to hide his or her identity. Sometimes the identity of the person is utterly irrelevant. In Budapest, several anonymous volunteers are painting the streets of the city.
The pavement on the streets of the Hungarian capital are falling apart, ruining the image of the city and endangering those who walk on it. Authorities are known to do very little to fix the problem, but something had to be done. Hungary’s satiric political party, the Two-Tailed Dog party (MKKP) called for action and its artsy, anonymous volunteers started colouring the cracked pavement pieces resulting in dozens of cheerful spots across the city.
Unfortunately, there are some who find quarrels in a straw, and the police were called on the ad-hoc artists while they were peacefully decorating the pavement in a touristic neighbourhood. Now the volunteers are being prosecuted with vandalism.
But we still do not know their identity or how many of them are out decorating. All we know is that now we look at colourful patches of pavements while running our errands, instead of the sad and ugly cracked pavements.
15 Sep 2016 | Bahrain, Bahrain Letters, Campaigns, Campaigns -- Featured
Nabeel Rajab, Bahrain Center for Human Rights, – winner of Bindmans Award for Advocacy at the Index Freedom of Expression Awards 2012 with then-Chair of the Index on Censorship board of trustees Jonathan Dimbleby
Rights groups wrote to the governments of 50 states urging them to publicly call for the release of Bahraini human rights defender Nabeel Rajab, who faces up to 15 years’ imprisonment for comments he made on Twitter. Last week, Bahrain brought the new charge of “defaming the state” against him, after an op-ed was published under his name in The New York Times.
The letter from 22 NGOs, including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, urges the 50 governments to “speak out on Bahrain’s continued misuse of the judicial system to harass and silence human rights defenders, through charges that violate freedom of expression.”
Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei, Director of Advocacy, BIRD: “The Bahraini state is an enemy to the internet and free speech and must be condemned as such by the international community. Bahrain is committing a crime by prosecuting human rights defenders. A strong, clear message can save Nabeel Rajab from a 15 year prison sentence.”
Among those addressed are the governments of France, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States. While the US State Department called for Nabeel Rajab’s release on 6 September, other governments have not done so. The 50 states addressed in the letter are all previous signatories of statements at the United Nations criticizing Bahrain’s ongoing human rights violations and calling for progress.
The Foreign & Commonwealth Office has
urged “the Bahraini authorities to respect the rights of all its citizens, and call on them to protect the universal rights of freedom of expression.”
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Prince Zeid bin Ra’ad Al-Hussein, used his opening statement at the 33rd Human Rights Council this week to raise concern over Bahrain’s harassing and arresting human rights defenders. He cautioned Bahrain: “The past decade has demonstrated repeatedly and with punishing clarity exactly how disastrous the outcomes can be when a Government attempts to smash the voices of its people, instead of serving them.”
Nabeel Rajab, the President of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, has been held in pre-trial detention since 13 June. During this time he has been held largely in solitary confinement, and his health has deteriorated as a result. Since 2011, Nabeel Rajab has faced multiple prosecutions and prison sentences for his vocal activism. He was subjected to a travel ban in 2014 and has been unable to leave the country.
In his current trial, Nabeel Rajab faces charges including “insulting a statutory body”, “insulting a neighbouring country”, and “disseminating false rumours in time of war”. These are in relation to remarks he tweeted and retweeted on Twitter in 2015 relating to torture in Bahrain’s Jaw prison and the role of the Saudi Arabian-led coalition in causing a humanitarian crisis in Yemen.
Most recently, on 5 September Rajab was charged with “deliberate dissemination of false news and spreading tendentious rumours that undermine the prestige of the state and its stature” for an op-ed he wrote to the New York Times. In it, Rajab asked the US authorities: “Is this the kind of ally America wants? The kind that punishes its people for thinking, that prevents its citizens from exercising their basic rights?”
Husain Abdulla, Executive Director, Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain: “This has been another test for Bahrain’s attitude to free expression and it failed it once again. Bahrain has zero respect for free speech. Nabeel Rajab should never have been prosecuted, it is that simple. We want to see the international community take public action against Bahrain’s flagrant disregard of human rights.”
Bahrain was named an Enemy of the Internet by Reporters Without Border in 2014 and is a bottom scorer in Freedom House’s Freedom of the World report. Both RSF and Freedom House are signatories of today’s letter to 50 states.
Nabeel Rajab’s next court session has been set for 6 October, when he is expected to be sentenced.
Background
NGOs and others have been urging action on Nabeel Rajab’s case since he was imprisoned in pre-trial detention in June.
The Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy wrote to British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson on 7 September urging public action on Nabeel Rajab.
On 2 September, 34 NGOs wrote a letter to the King of Bahrain calling for Nabeel Rajab’s release.
In August, as part of an initiative organised by Index on Censorship, leading writers wrote a letter to British Prime Minister Theresa May asking the UK government to call on Bahrain, their ally, to release Nabeel Rajab. They included playwright David Hare, author Monica Ali, comedian Shazia Mirza, MP Keir Starmer and Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka.
Bahrain: Prominent rights activist charged for New York Times letter
Bahrain delays court date for human rights campaigner for third time
Index award winners and judges call for release of Bahraini campaigner
5 Sep 2016 | Bahrain, Campaigns, Campaigns -- Featured, Middle East and North Africa, mobile, Statements
Nabeel Rajab during a protest in London in September (Photo: Milana Knezevic)
On Monday, 5 September a Bahraini court delayed the trial of Index award-winning human rights campaigner Nabeel Rajab for a third time. The new trial date is now 6 October 2016.
“Once again, Bahrain’s repression of freedom of expression is on display for all the world to see. Nabeel has committed no crimes. He is held for expressing opinions that people around the world take for granted. We ask Bahrain to end its judicial harassment of Nabeel and renew our call for UK Prime Minister Theresa May to urge Nabeel’s release,” Jodie Ginsberg, CEO, Index on Censorship said.
Rajab faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted of spreading “false or malicious news, statements, or rumours” under article 133 of Bahrain’s penal code; a further two years imprisonment if convicted under article 215 of the penal code for “offending a foreign country [Saudi Arabia]” for tweets related to the Saudi-led war in Yemen and an additional three-year sentence if convicted of “offending a statutory body” under article 216 of the penal code for comments criticising conditions in Bahrain’s Jau prison.
In addition to these charges, he may also face a trial on charges of “spreading false news” for similar statements made during televised interviews last year. That case has not yet been referred to court, but is believed to have served, among others, for his arrest on 13 June.
Arrested on 13 June 2016 at his home, Rajab was held in filthy conditions and solitary confinement that have exacerbated heart and other health issues. Originally scheduled to appear in court on 12 July, the case was moved to 2 August when it was rescheduled for 5 September.
Recent coverage of Nabeel Rajab’s case
Bahrain: Protesters celebrate Nabeel Rajab’s birthday and call for his release
Index award winners and judges call for release of Bahraini campaigner
Groups urge Bahrain to release prominent human rights defender
Who is Nabeel Rajab?
