15 Apr 19 | Americas, Awards, Awards Update, Cameroon, Colombia, Europe and Central Asia, Fellowship, Fellowship 2019, Middle East and North Africa, News and features, Turkey, United Kingdom
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
In this special edition of the Index on Censorship podcast, we celebrate the winners of the Freedom of Expression Awards 2019. Mimi Mefo, a leading voice in exposing the mistreatment of Cameroonian journalists, talks about press freedom in her country; Ritu Gairola, from Cartoonists Rights Network International, discusses why it is effective for cartoonists to use humour to convey political messages; Carolina Botero, from Fundación Karisma, reveals the online threats we should all know about; and Zehra Dogan*, a Kurdish painter and journalist, opens up about finding the courage to continue her work during her imprisonment.
Afterwards, we catch up with Terry Anderson, deputy executive director of CRNI, to learn more about threats to cartoonists worldwide.
The podcast can also be found on iTunes.
*Dogan is translated in this podcast.
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_media_grid grid_id=”vc_gid:1555324949603-c84b4543-4915-2″ include=”105878,105879,105880,105881,105882,105883,105884,105885,106029,106030,106031,106032,106033,106034,106050,105875,105874,106051,106052,106053,106054,106055,106056,106057,106058,106059,106060,106063,106064,106065,106066,106067,106068,106069,106070,106071,106075,106076,106077,106078,106079,106080,106081,106082,106083,106084,106085,106086,106087,106088,106089,106090,106091,106092″][/vc_column][/vc_row]
09 Apr 19 | Awards, Fellowship, Fellowship 2019
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_video link=”https://youtu.be/sjaKFw-3zlo”][vc_column_text]Released from prison on 24 February 2019, Zehra Doğan is a Kurdish painter and journalist who, during her imprisonment, was denied access to materials for her work. She painted with dyes made from crushed fruit and herbs, even blood, and used newspapers and milk cartons as canvases. When she realised her reports from Turkey’s Kurdish region were being ignored by mainstream media, Doğan began painting the destruction in the town of Nusaybin and sharing it on social media. For this she was arrested and imprisoned. During her imprisonment she refused to be silenced and continued to produce journalism and art. She collected and wrote stories about female political prisoners, reported on human rights abuses in prison, and painted despite the prison administration’s refusal to supply her with art materials.[/vc_column_text][vc_basic_grid post_type=”post” max_items=”12″ style=”load-more” items_per_page=”4″ element_width=”6″ grid_id=”vc_gid:1554821547002-a0e21804-7cf1-1″ taxonomies=”22555″][vc_custom_heading text=”2019 Fellows” font_container=”tag:h2|text_align:center” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][awards_fellows years=”2019″ color=”#db3b65″][/vc_column][/vc_row]
04 Apr 19 | Awards, Fellowship, Fellowship 2019, News and features
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_video link=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjaKFw-3zlo”][vc_column_text]As an artist, imagine yourself in a city destroyed by war. Can you think about anything other than portraying the destruction you see around you?
“This picture has crossed the line between art and criticism.”
These words belong to the judge who gave me a prison sentence for a picture I painted.
The limits of art, which the artistic world has not been able to agree upon for centuries, have apparently been figured out by the decision of a Turkish court.
It is not only art that has had boundaries drawn around it in Turkey: the things that can be said between friends, the topics you can write about, and the concepts you can debate at school with your students have all been limited by the authorities. And those who reject these limitations find themselves in prison. Journalists who reject these limitations and this “freedom of expression” either lose their jobs, their freedom, or their lives. Women who come out against the repression of the patriarchal order face more difficulties today than ever. The same is true for Kurds who want to express their identities. Kurds who do not fit into the moulds shaped for them by the authorities face house raids, arrests and even death.
Turkey’s prisons are filled with artists, intellectuals and politicians, because we reject these limits forced upon our freedom of expression and we will continue to reject them. There are thousands of prisoners on hunger strike, following the example of member of parliament Leyla Guven. Many are critically ill, please share their story.
Although they are trying to restrict our freedom of expression in the prisons through the books they refuse to give us and the letters they find “suspect”, there are countless inmates who have overcome this situation through their own productivity. I dedicate this prize to them.[/vc_column_text][vc_basic_grid post_type=”post” max_items=”10″ element_width=”6″ grid_id=”vc_gid:1554466636823-9cb9bc90-7b9d-7″ taxonomies=”8935″][/vc_column][/vc_row]
