25 Feb 2014 | Awards, News and features
Rommy Mom is Nigeria’s David fighting the Goliath of a dysfunctional government. Mom, president of Lawyers Alert leads the campaign for human rights in Benue despite severe intimidation and threats for his life. Mom has not allowed circumstance to stagnate his vision for vocal and expressive liberation. In an interview with Index, the Index Awards nominee talked about his work in Nigeria and what motivates him to keep battling censorship inn his home country.
In mid-2012, floods led to casualties and loss of homes and livelihoods across Nigeria, with the Benue State one of the worst hit. Though some 500 million Nigerian naira of federal money were allegedly allocated to the people of Benue, the victims did not receive it. This prompted Mom to make use of Freedom of Information legislation to take Benue State Emergency Agency, the authority in charge of disbursing funds, to court.
He was subsequently attacked on a radio show by state governor Gabriel Torwua Suswam, and received phone calls from people close to the governor advising him to leave Benue or risk his life. According to local NGO Media Rights Agenda (MRA), “Benue state has a politically tense environment, so such a statement from a leader is an invitation for an attack on Rommy Mom.” The threats have gone uninvestigated, making it too risky for him to return home.
“Since the threat to my life, I have been forced to carry out my work from outside of Benue. This has not been easy, but it is part of the sacrifices and challenges of making accountability and transparency a currency in governance. The Freedom of Information Act is a critical starting point”, said Mom.
Mom has been nominated in the advocacy category for the Index Freedom of Expression Awards.
This article was published on 25 February 2014 at indexoncensorship.org.
13 Feb 2014 | Academic Freedom, Asia and Pacific, India, News and features
(Image: University of Chicago)
This is not a ban; it is surrender. There is no nicer way to put it. Rather than fight the case in higher courts, instead of making the case of freedom of expression and academic freedom, and avoiding the option of standing by a renowned author, Penguin has decided to throw in the towel and agreed to withdraw Wendy Doniger’s award-winning, scholarly, entertaining, and authoritative book, The Hindus: An Alternative History, and to destroy remaining copies within six months.
Doniger is the Mircea Eliade Distinguished Service Professor of the History of Religions at the University of Chicago Divinity School, and one of the foremost authorities on Hinduism. Penguin’s decision is unlikely to be based on literary merit — the book has been on sale in India since 2009 and those who wanted to, have already bought it. Now more will try to buy it through fair means or foul. And Penguin’s decision is possibly made out of expediency — perhaps to cut costs, perhaps to avoid trouble, or perhaps out of concern for the safety of its staff. None of this reflects well on Penguin or on India.
Dina Nath Batra of Shiksha Bachao Andolan Samiti had filed a suit in 2011, seeking the withdrawal of the book, saying the book was written with “a Christian missionary’s zeal” to denigrate Hinduism and show it in a poor light. For the record, Doniger is not a Christian, and even if she were that would be irrelevant — and yet in any case, Hindu nationalists have rarely let facts get in the way of their theories.
Also for the record, when the book came out in 2009, I had asked Doniger about the rise of the more militant brand of Hinduism, which has led to attacks on the works of overseas scholars, including Michael Witzel of Harvard, James Laine who wrote a book on Shivaji, and Paul Courtright who wrote one on Ganesha, and homegrown ones, like D.N. Jha, who wrote that Hindus do eat beef and there’s no religious stricture against it.
Doniger told me then that she had written her book to clear some misunderstandings about Hinduism, and “to counteract the Hindutva misinterpretations of the Ramayana”.
Last night I asked Doniger what she thought about her publisher’s decision. Deeply concerned, she told me: “Penguin has indeed given up the lawsuit, and will no longer publish the book. Of course, anyone with a computer can get the Kindle edition from Penguin, NY, and it’s probably cheaper, too. It is simply no longer possible to ban books in the age of the Internet. For that, and for all the people who have expressed outrage over this, I am deeply grateful.”
Read the rest of this article at Livemint
6 Feb 2014 | Events
Join us on Feb 14 for a Google Hangout kick off our Drawing the Line programme of monthly youth events. Since its Valentines Day we’ll be in the mood to talk about love and free expression.
Love and -– more specifically -– same-sex love has been top of the international news agenda in the last few months with Nigeria passing a law banning homosexuality and the debates raging around Russia’s attitude to the LGBT community ahead of the Sochi 2014 Games. So with Valentine’s Day just round the corner, Index on Censorship wants to know from you-
Should we promote same-sex relationships?
We want to hear what you think! You can get involved now on Twitter and Facebook using the hashtag #LoveandFEX.
- Do you think we should have better education in schools on LGBT rights?
- Should we give these groups a platform?
- Do you even think this is a form of free expression?
At 12pm on Friday 14th February, a day dedicated to love, we will host a Google Hangout with Brian Pellot, Director of Global Strategy and Religious Freedom Editor at Religion New Service and Joel Bedos, International Coordinator for International Day Against Homophobia (IDAHO) to debate the issues.
To have your say on the day join the Hangout On Air here.
30 Jan 2014 | News and features, Religion and Culture
Fareed Zakaria (left) chaired two panels of LGBT activists at Davos. The first (above) consisted of Alice Nkom, Masha Gessen and Dane Lewis (Image: Twitter/@m_delamerced)
A panel of LGBT activists used the World Economic Forum last week to scrutinise recent homophobic laws passed by the Nigerian President, Goodluck Jonathan, despite rumours prior to the event suggesting it would be Putin who, for obvious reasons, would come under attack at the discussion.
Those taking part were flown into the event from around the world; Russian and American journalist Masha Gessen, Cameroonian lawyer Alice Nikom and J-FLAG Executive Director Dane Lewis were all present, as well as Human Rights Campaign President Chad Griffin, and Republican mega-donors Paul Singer and Dan Loeb.
Opening the breakfast discussion the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said: “Two weeks ago President Jonathan of Nigeria signed into law a bill that criminalises, among other things, gay wedding celebrations, any public display of any same-sex affection, as well as the operating of gay clubs, businesses or organisations, including human rights organisations that focus on protecting the rights of LGBT people.”
Held rather ironically across the street from a discussion the Nigerian President himself was currently attending, Griffin followed suit: “Just to be clear what he signed, so everyone understands it in this room, it was already illegal to be LGBT but he further legalised it. You can be in prison for 14 years for simply being a gay person.
“Each one of you here would be subject to arrest because you’re in this room today: you’d go to prison for ten years. That’s what’s happening right now in that country and I bet you most people in that room don’t know what he’s just done.”
Putin’s name did manage to crop up in conversation and, not surprisingly, it was Gessen who had something to say.
She believes the Kremlin legitimately felt the LGBT community was the one minority it could beat up without fearing a backlash from the rest of the world- how wrong they were. The international reaction may have been slow to take off, she said, but the strong global response has come as a real shock to the Russian government.
“There is a reason why we talk about human rights and there is a reason why we talk about the protection of minorities, because minorities often do have to be protected from the majority, that’s the point,” Gessen said.
The ski resort of Davos, Switzerland welcomes around 2,500 of the world’s top business leaders, politicians, intellectuals and journalists each year to talk business. The singling out of countries or politicians for criticism during the conference is unheard of, according to Politico, which referred to the forum as a “week of political calm”.
This year’s conference came under the banner The Reshaping of the World: Consequences for Society, Politics and Business. Singer and Loeb, who organised the panel, reshaped the theme into a discussion about global sexuality and equality.
Loeb said: “We’re at the World Economic Forum. They say we’re here to make the world a better place. I think we need to take care of the injustices imposed on others in our efforts to make the world a better place.”
Griffin closed the talk by looking at the future of LGBT discussions at Davos, emphasising what an incredible start the first attempt at grabbing the world’s attention at the World Economic Forum was. But there were wishes that the intimate breakfast event would one day “be in the building across the street”.
Watch the full video of the discussion here.
This article was published on 30 January 2014 at indexoncensorship.org
