19 Oct 2011 | Europe and Central Asia, Index Index, minipost
Members of the Russian artist group VOINA were arrested yesterday. Russian police, allegedly posing as German television journalists, arrested and detained Natalia Sokol along with her two-year-old son overnight at a police station in Moscow. Sokol’s requests to speak to her lawyer were rejected. On the same night, plain clothes police tried to break into the apartment of another VOINA member, Leonid Nikolayev. Only weeks ago, all charges against the group were dropped by an investigations committee. Read more about the political street art that has taken Russia by storm in the latest issue of the magazine, The Art Issue, which explores censorship in the contemporary art world.
19 Oct 2011 | Europe and Central Asia, Index Index, minipost
Twitter CEO Dick Costolo has stressed the need to keep freedom of speech as a priority, even in times of civil unrest. Speaking at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco on Monday, Costolo stood by the decision not to suspend the service or reveal user identities to authorities in the wake of the UK riots this summer. Talks between representatives from Facebook, Twitter, BlackBerry Messenger and Home Secretary Theresa May during the riots caused speculation that the government would try to temporarily suspend the digital networks.
19 Oct 2011 | Africa, Index Index, minipost
A parliamentary seminar to discuss proposed changes to Sudan‘s press law was subject to a heated debate about pre-publication censorship on Monday. During the seminar, a leading member of the ruling National Congress Party (NCP), Fathi Shilah, described press censorship as an act of backwardness regardless of the authority that implements it. The current press law in the country, passed in 2009, has been heavily criticised by journalists who claim the law only appears to create a free press. Newspapers are confiscated and censored by security authorities aiming to prevent publication and large financial penalties can be handed to journalists.
19 Oct 2011 | Events
Date: Tuesday 8 Nov
Time: 6.30pm
Venue: Free Word Centre, 60 Farringdon Road EC1R 3GA
To attend please RSVP to jo[at]indexoncensorship.org
The UK’s greatest political cartoonist, Martin Rowson has been lampooning the good, the great and the downright scurrilous in the pages of award-winning Index on Censorship magazine since 2001, and is a regular contributor to the Guardian and the Independent On Sunday. From Tony Blair and obscenity to Twitter and super-injunctions, Rowson’s satirical series is an unparalleled commentary on the highs and lows for freedom of expression over the past ten years.
This is a rare opportunity to buy an original Rowson cartoon and support the work of Index on Censorship in the fight for freedom of expression.
The auction will be hosted by Radio 4’s Laurie Taylor. There will be a drinks reception for guests.
View the catalogue for the auction here:
