Lisa Appignanesi speaks to Rachael Jolley about the inspiration for her new short story, which looks at ageing and how it plays out during lockdown
CATEGORY: Volume 49.03 Autumn 2020
Editor’s letter: All hail those who speak out
Rachael Jolley introduces the autumn 2020 issue of Index on Censorship magazine, which looks at how and why our freedoms disappear and those who are willing to stand up for them
Contents – The Disappeared: How people, books and ideas are taken away
The complete list of contents for the Autumn 2020 issue of Index on Censorship
Podcast: The Disappeared: How people, books and ideas are taken away, with Oliver Farry and Michella Oré
The autumn 2020 podcast covers the theme of the Disappeared: How people, books and ideas are taken away, with Oliver Farry and Michella Oré
The Disappeared
When Hong Kong passed the National Security Law at the end of June, many things disappeared in the city overnight. Some were long-held principles of democracy and free speech; others were more tangible things, as Oliver Farry writes, like books on the protest movement, posters promoting an independent Hong Kong, and people who either fled the city or were arrested. But Hong Kong is not the only place in the world where things are disappearing. Across the border in China, Rushan Abbas does not know where her sister is, a Uighur who has vanished in China’s vast network of concentration camps. In Europe, countless perish in the Mediterranean Sea, their graves unmarked, as Alessio Perrone investigates. Some are trying to find answers. Laura Silvia Battaglia speaks to a film director whose new documentary on Syria’s disappeared traces two heart-breaking stories. And some are trying to stop answers being out of reach, as Jessica NĂ MhainĂn explores when she talks to people from Ireland who are fighting to keep archives about historic child abuse open. Outside the special report we have a new short story from Lisa Appignanesi, we ask Donald Trump voters from 2016 whether he has listened to those “forgotten Americans” and a look at how street art has been used during Covid-19 for important political statements.