Land of the free? Trump’s war on press, protest and academic freedom

Since returning to office, Donald Trump has intensified efforts to crush dissent in the USA: cracking down on protest, targeting the press and threatening academic freedom. His campaign against free expression is sending shockwaves across the USA and beyond.

What does this mean for democracy, independent journalism, and the right to speak out?

Join us on Tuesday 5 August at St John’s Waterloo for the launch of Land of the Free?, the latest magazine issue by Index on Censorship. Come for a reception and panel discussion looking at the impact of the Trump administration on free speech in the USA, and the wider implications for the rest of the world.

Speakers 

Charlie Holt

Charlie is the European lead for Global Climate Legal Defense (CliDef), which emboldens climate defenders to act in the face of risk knowing that lawyers have their backs. Prior to CliDef, Charlie advised on legal strategy for Greenpeace International, where he led the organisation’s SLAPP resilience strategy and sat on the European Commission’s Expert Group on SLAPPs. He currently sits on the Steering Committee of the Coalition Against SLAPPs in Europe (CASE) and co-chairs the UK Working Group on SLAPPs. Between 2016 and 2024, Charlie advised on the Greenpeace International response to two aggressive large-scale SLAPPs targeting Greenpeace entities in the USA – including the Energy Transfer lawsuit filed in response to the North Dakota pipeline protests – and in 2018 helped to set up the US anti-SLAPP coalition Protect the Protest.

Hanna Komar

Hanna Komar is a Belarusian poet, writer, translator and performer. She’s published five poetry collections, including the most recent Ribwort, and a non-fiction book about the experience of incarceration for peaceful protest in Belarus. Her debut play Body in Progress was staged at the Voila! festival in London.

She will perform a poem informed by the banned words list introduced by Trump administration, co-written with Katerina Koulouri.

Erica Wagner

Erica Wagner is Consulting Editor, Comment for the Observer. She was the literary editor of the London Times for seventeen years and is a contributing writer for the New Statesman, consulting literary editor for Harper’s Bazaar and a host of the CHANEL podcast, “Les Rencontres”. She is the author of Chief Engineer: Washington Roebling, The Man Who Built the Brooklyn Bridge, winner of the Eccles Centre and Hay Festival Writer’s Award; her other books are Ariel’s Gift, Seizure, Gravity, Mary and Mr Eliot: A Sort-of Love Story and she is the editor of First Light, a celebration of the work of Alan Garner. She was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2023 and in 2025 was awarded a Public Humanities Fellowship by the School of Advanced Study, University of London. She identifies as a New Yorker.

About Index on Censorship

Index on Censorship is a UK-based charity dedicated to defending and promoting freedom of expression around the world. Founded in 1968 as Writers and Scholars International, we have a long and proud history of standing up for the right to speak, write, create and protest without fear. Read about the history of Index on Censorship

We publish the work of censored writers and artists, spotlight global threats to free speech, and foster debate on the value of freedom of expression. We believe that everyone should be free to express themselves without fear of censorship, persecution or violence. Our mission is simple but vital: to raise awareness, challenge suppression and amplify voices that others try to silence.

Sponsored by Sage.