Pressure on Europe’s journalists as they do their jobs saw no let up during the fourth quarter of 2015, according to a survey of verified incidents of violations reported to Index on Censorship’s project Mapping Media Freedom.
Between 1 October and 31 December 2015, Mapping Media Freedom‘s network of 19 correspondents verified 232 reports that were submitted to the database. Each report is reviewed for factual accuracy and confirmed with local sources before an incident is publicly available on the map. The platform — a joint undertaking with the European Federation of Journalists and Reporters Without Borders and partially funded by the European Commission — covers 40 countries, including all EU member states, Albania, Belarus, Bosnia, Iceland, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Norway, Russia, Serbia, Turkey and Ukraine. Since it was launched in May 2014, the map has recorded over 1,300 violations of media freedom.
During the fourth quarter of 2015: 518 media jobs were lost; two media workers reporting on the Syrian conflict were killed in Turkey; 40 reports of physical assaults on media professionals were confirmed; media workers were detained in 26 cases with criminal charges filed in 11 cases; media professionals were blocked from covering a story in 55 verified incidents; and journalists were subject to public denigration in 22 of the verified reports.
Music can unite, divide, incite and even disgust people from all cultures, age groups and backgrounds. As increasing numbers of academic textbooks are labelled with trigger warnings, music has fallen under the same spotlight on campus.
Below, you can find a playlist we’ve curated of different songs, artists or genres that have been censored on campuses across the world.
1) Eminem – My Name Is
One of the all-time kings of controversy, Eminem is an artist whose records include profanity, misogynistic and homophobic slurs, and even the occasional jab at international pop stars. His persona was so detested by some college administrators that in February 2001, the Sheffield University student union banned his music altogether. The university’s radio station and DJs at union’s club nights were instructed not play any of the rapper’s music in order to “create a culture of tolerance, equality and respect”.
2) Robin Thicke – Blurred Lines
Robin Thicke’s Blurred Lines upset many UK students in 2013, resulting in more than 20 student unions banning the song. This was due to its lyrics, which many argued a rape culture by disregarding the idea of consent.
3) Rage against the Machine – Take the Power Back 4) KRS-One – Sound of Da Police
Superintendent John Huppenthal, on behalf of the state of Arizona, issued a “notice of non-compliance” to Tucson Unified School District. Cholla High Magnet School in the school district used the Rage Against the Machine song Take the Power Back in a Mexican-American history class and hip-hop legend KRS-One’s essay on the genre in an African-American-focused English class. After censoring the use of his music, RATM guitarist Tom Morello tweeted that hip-hop is “only dangerous if you teach it right”.
5) Rustie’s song Attak featuring Danny Brown
Due to the perceived increase of the drug MDMA at electronic dance music concerts and festivals, the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, took the decision in November 2013 to ban all EDM events from taking place on campus. Students responded with numerous petitions and organised a flash mob outside the student union in protest.
6) Shokazoba – Chemical Abuse
The performance of an predominantly white afrobeat band, Shokazoba, at Hampshire College, Massachusetts, was cancelled in October 2013 after the selection of the group became controversial. A statement posted on the school’s website said the cancellation was due to “concerns about cultural appropriation and the need to respect marginalized cultures”. The band, who play afrobeat music, were considered “too white”.
7) The Kingsmen – Louie Louie
The 1950s standard Louie Louie was temporarily pulled from performances by a middle school’s marching band in Benton Harbor, Michigan, due to its “sexually explicit lyrics”. The song was eventually allowed, but not before Superintendent Paula Dawning said it wouldn’t be appropriate for Benton Harbor students to play.
8) Bad Religion – The Empire Strikes Back
In October 2015, Biola University in Los Angeles County decided to it would no longer play anything but Christian music in campus coffee shops following a series of complaints, according to The Biola University Chimes, the school’s student newspaper. A senior member of staff told the newspaper at the time: “When we are in a Christian school…we have to kind of walk that line.” In November 2015, the administration began having members of the student government work with the school’s university services to select playlists, according to representative of Biola.
9) Bruno Mars – Locked out of Heaven
Despite it being one of the most popular songs of 2012, Bruno Mars’ Locked out of Heaven found itself onto the no-no list for Garden Spot High School’s marching band programme. The Pennsylvania school had board members who claimed the lyrics of Mars’ smash-hit were “trashy” and “inappropriate” for students.
Index on Censorship has teamed up with the producers of the 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 by texting “BAND61 £10” to 70070 to give £10.
This article was amended on 2 February 2016 to reflect updated information about music playlists at Biola University.
Seymur Hezi was sentenced to five years in prison for “aggravated hooliganism” on 29 January 2015.
On the anniversary of Azerbaijani journalist Seymur Hezi’s sentencing to five years imprisonment for “aggravated hooliganism,” the country’s authorities have continued to target journalists, independent media and human rights activists.
Hezi, who contributed to the Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Award-winning newspaper Azadliq, was sentenced on 29 January 2015. He was arrested on 29 August 2014 following an altercation in which the journalist was defending himself from a physical assault and harassment, according to his lawyers.
Rahim Haciyev, acting editor of Azadliq, told Index in September 2015 Hezi’s prosecution was due to his critical articles of the Azerbaijan authorities in the newspaper, as well as critiques he had made in his online TV programme, Azerbaijan Hour.
Haciyev said Hezi’s health is “very bad” due to the Azerbaijan’s awful prison conditions. Despite this, he said the journalist is working on articles about the country’s recent political history — some of which have been published in Azadliq.
In Hezi’s final statement given during his trial, he noted his belief in the shared struggle “with my dear friends at prison”. He also said: “It is not just a confrontation between the government and the opposition. It is the struggle between the good and the evil.”
After a year activism and journalism dedicated to free expression within the restricting country, not much positive change can be seen. Investigative journalist Khadija Ismayilova remains in jail, doing everything in her power to continue spreading the message of truth and resistance. Human rights lawyer Amal Clooney recently offered to take Ismayilova’s case to the European Court of Human Rights.
Azadliq, which was one of Azerbaijan’s only remaining independent news outlets operating inside the country, was forced to discontinue publishing a daily print edition of the newspaper in July 2014, due to its financial situation. The paper was hit with enormous fines following multiple defamation suits in 2013, and its journalists — including Hezi — have been targeted by authorities with politically motivated charges.
“The repression and detainment of journalists are continuing,” Haciyev said. “[The] government has started to arrest Facebook activists.”
Haciyev said that because the government cannot solve its country’s main problems, they try to create new problems for society through eliminating any chance of other opinions being promoted.
Kunle Olulode, Max Wind-Cowie, Jodie Ginsberg and Shazia Mirza at last night’s debate (Photo: Sean Gallagher / Index on Censorship)
“When I went to the Loaded offices with hairy legs they told me to get out and that I could never be on the cover of the magazine because apparently I’d made an effort with my nails but not my legs,” said comedian Shazia Mirza, at the launch of the latest taboo-themed issue of Index on Censorship magazine.
Do taboos still exist in society today? Are taboo subjects still brushed under the carpet instead of being faced head on? Is comedy a perfect platform to tackle these issues? These were just some of the questions discussed during the evening of discussion and debate.
Chaired by Index on Censorship chief executive Jodie Ginsberg, panellists included Kunle Olulode, director of campaigning charity Voice4Change England, writer and political consultant Max Wind-Cowie, plus comedians Grainne Maguire and Mirza.
The night kicked off with a fast and furious comedy performance from Michele Moran, filled with tales of taboos and secrets.
Wind-Cowie told the audience at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern of his surprise when people reacted to Rupert Murdoch and Jerry Hall’s marriage with jokes and disgust at the thought of older people having sex.
Index on Censorship’s CEO Jodie Ginsberg with comedians Shazia Mirza and Grainne Maguire (Photo: Sean Gallagher / Index on Censorship)
He said: “I think it’s a bit sad because I hope to be an older person one day, and I hope that the older person that I will become will be allowed to have sex with someone. And I hope that when we are having sex they won’t be looking at me and thinking ‘my God you’ve got disgusting’. So I think it’s wrong that it’s something we all laugh at so much.”
Maguire joked to the audience that mental illness was a requirement as a comedian but agreed there was still a lot of stigma around mental health.
“In certain careers you’re supposed to be macho and mental illness is still seen as a sign of weakness. I just think that’s really depressing and sad. I think you should be allowed to be vulnerable, but I don’t think were there yet,” she said.
The panel moved to discussing whether suicide and grief were taboo in different societies. Mirza said: “Some Muslims believe that suicide is wonderful. You blow yourself up and go into the afterlife where there are virgins and wine. So it may be terrible in the West but to Muslims suicide is great, and we talk about it all the time.”
Olulode told the audience how for him the last taboo was racism. “In terms of race, there’s a lot of discussion about the discrimination and the attitudes towards black people, but we rarely discuss the construction of what it is to be white.”
He said: “There’s an old left-wing saying: ‘Nothing is alien to me.’ And that idea of investigating every aspect of humanity seems to have become lost along the way. The contestation of ideas in society today is more about protecting people from being exposed to difficult subjects or ideas than actually tackling them head on.”
The evening was rounded off with a lively taboo disco set from DJ Bamboo.
