3 Aug 2021
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Index on Censorship’s Freedom of Expression Awards celebrate those who have had significant impact fighting censorship anywhere in the world. There are three categories: Arts, Campaigning and Journalism.
Winners are honoured at a gala celebration in London and join Index’s Awards Fellowship programme to receive dedicated training and support. The panel of judges for the 2021 Freedom of Expression Awards include writer and columnist Fatima Bhutto, award-winning sculptor Anish Kapoor and Ailbhe Smyth, founding director of the Women’s Education, Resource and Research Centre, University College Dublin.
The 21st Annual Freedom of Expression Awards were held on Sunday 12 September 2021 in London.
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About the Freedom of Expression Awards
Index on Censorship’s Freedom of Expression Awards celebrate those who have had significant impact fighting censorship anywhere in the world. There are four categories: Arts, Campaigning, Journalism and the Trustee award. Winners are honoured at a gala celebration in London and receive dedicated training and support.
The panel of judges for the 2022 Freedom of Expression Awards include award winning artist and academic Coco Fusco, BAFTA and award winning artist Alison Jackson, and Executive Editor and Culture Editor of The Sunday Times Ben Preston. The 22nd Annual Freedom of Expression Awards will be held on Thursday 27 October 2022 in London.
Click here to find out more about previous winners.
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The 2021 Freedom of Expression Awards winners were announced at a ceremony in London. This special event seeks to celebrate free expression activists and champions. Actress Tracy-Ann Oberman served as ceremony compere
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/4″][vc_single_image image=”118773″ img_size=”full” onclick=”custom_link” img_link_target=”_blank” link=”https://www.indexoncensorship.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Awards-sponsorship-package.pdf”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row full_width=”stretch_row” disable_element=”yes” el_class=”tpl_awards” css=”.vc_custom_1652348786435{margin-bottom: 25px !important;background-color: #0a0a0a !important;}”][vc_column width=”1/4″][vc_single_image image=”114257″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”3/4″][vc_custom_heading text=”“The Freedom of Expression Awards are a chance to recognise the astonishing work being done in extraordinary circumstances by artists, journalists, and campaigners around the world. Through exercising the simple right that we take for granted – the right to freely express themselves – they risk everything. The Freedom of Expression Awards bring their stories to light, recognise their courageous actions, and underscore how important it is to protect freedom of expression. We have some truly fantastic nominees this year, and I very much look forward to sharing their stories with you.“
Ruth Smeeth, CEO, Index on Censorship” font_container=”tag:h4|text_align:left|color:%23ffffff”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row full_width=”stretch_row” disable_element=”yes” el_class=”tpl_awards” css=”.vc_custom_1652348396518{margin-bottom: 25px !important;}”][vc_column][vc_column_text el_class=”mw600″]
Sponsorship
There are many ways you can sponsor the Awards, and support not only the winners but all the work Index does. Please contact [email protected] for more information.
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row full_width=”stretch_row” el_class=”tpl_awards” css=”.vc_custom_1569441094124{margin-bottom: 25px !important;}”][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AWARDS FELLOWSHIP” font_container=”tag:h2|text_align:center” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row full_width=”stretch_row” disable_element=”yes” el_class=”tpl_awards” css=”.vc_custom_1652348831224{margin-bottom: 25px !important;}”][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”MEET THE JUDGES” font_container=”tag:h2|text_align:center” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row disable_element=”yes”][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Alison Jackson” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:center”][vc_empty_space height=”16px”][vc_column_text el_class=”mw600″]
Alison Jackson, a contemporary BAFTA- and multi-award winning artist, explores the cult of celebrity – an extraordinary phenomenon created by the media, publicity industries and the public figures themselves. Her work raises questions about fake news and alternative facts. She makes convincingly realistic work about celebrities doing things in private using cleverly styled lookalikes. Likeness becomes real, and fantasy touches on the believable. She creates scenarios we have all imagined but never seen before.
She explores our desire to get personal with the celebrities fired by our voyeurism. By making photographs that seem to show our favourite celebrities (Diana, Kim K or Brad Pitt) doing what we really, secretly, want to see them doing.
She has been featured in a number of publications, including Who’s Who, Private 2004, Penguin Books; Confidential: What you see in this book is not ‘real’ 2007, Taschen; Up the Aisle, 2011, Quadrille publishing, Stern Fotographie 70 (2012, teNeues;), and Private, (2016 published by AJ Publishing).
Her work has been acquired by many public museum collections, including: The Parliamentary Art Collection, London; The National Portrait Gallery, London; SF MOMA, San Francisco; The Royal College of Art, London; Musée de la Photographie, Charleroi, Brussels; The Frances Foundation Paris; The International Centre of Photography amongst others.
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row disable_element=”yes”][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Ben Preston” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:center”][vc_empty_space height=”16px”][vc_column_text el_class=”mw600″]
Ben Preston is a British journalist. He is an executive editor and Culture Editor of The Sunday Times and a former deputy editor of the Times and editor of Radio Times.
He began his career in 1987, working on local newspapers (Bristol Evening Post). He worked later for the Press Association as education correspondent before joining The Times. He was The Times deputy editor from 2000 to 2008 and Acting Editor for nine months. Subsequently, he was Executive Editor at The Independent from 2008 before joining Radio Times in 2009.
He was awarded Editors’ Editor in the 2016 BSME awards. He returned to newspapers at The Sunday Times, overseeing news through Brexit and Covid before taking charge of Culture last summer.
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Coco Fusco is an interdisciplinary artist and writer. She is a recipient of numerous awards, including a Guggenheim fellowship, an American Academy of Arts and Letters Award, Latinx Art Award, a Fulbright fellowship and a Herb Alpert Award in the Arts. Fusco’s performances and videos have been presented in the 56th Venice Biennale, Frieze Special Projects, Basel Unlimited, three Whitney Biennials (2022, 2008 and 1993), and several other international exhibitions.
Her works are in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, The Walker Art Center, the Centre Pompidou, the Imperial War Museum, and the Museum of Contemporary Art of Barcelona. She is the author of Dangerous Moves: Performance and Politics in Cuba (2015). She is represented by Alexander Gray Associates in New York. She is a Professor of Art at Cooper Union.
Fusco is currently preparing new works for the next Sharjah Biennial and a solo retrospective that will open in 2023.
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Trevor Phillips is a writer and television producer. He is the co-founder of the data analytics consultancy Webber Phillips, and Chairman of Green Park Interim and Executive Search. He is a Times columnist, shortlisted for Comment Writer of the Year in 2020.
He is the Chairman of the global freedom of expression campaign charity Index on Censorship; a Senior Fellow at the Policy Exchange think tank; and a Vice-President of the Royal Television Society.
Trevor is a non-executive director of the AIM-listed behavioural science consultancy Mind Gym; he was the President of the John Lewis Partnership Council until 2018, and founding chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission.
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row full_width=”stretch_row” disable_element=”yes” el_class=”tpl_awards” css=”.vc_custom_1652348831224{margin-bottom: 25px !important;}”][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”NOMINEES FOR THE 2022 FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AWARDS” font_container=”tag:h2|text_align:center” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text el_class=”mw600″]
The Freedom of Expression Awards Fellowship exists to celebrate individuals or groups who have had a significant impact fighting censorship anywhere in the world. Through the fellowship, Index works with the winners to provide tailored support.
The winners of the 2021 Freedom of Expression Awards are: Kyrgyz artist Tatyana Zelenskaya (arts); imprisoned Egyptian human rights activist Abdelrahman ‘Moka’ Tarek (campaigning); Nigerien blogger and journalist Samira Sabou (journalism), and British academic and free expression activist Dr Arif Ahmed (trustee award).
Previous winners include courageous Honduran investigative journalist Wendy Funes who uncovers corruption and covers the ongoing violations of women’s rights in the country, and anonymous Chinese digital activists GreatFire who have secured significant additional funding since their award.
Click here to find out more about previous winners.
[/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner disable_element=”yes”][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”104535″ img_size=”full” onclick=”custom_link” link=”https://www.indexoncensorship.org/2019/01/awards-2019/”][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”105881″ img_size=”full” onclick=”custom_link” link=”https://www.indexoncensorship.org/2019/01/awards-2019/”][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row disable_element=”yes”][vc_column][awardsListing name=”Awards” category_id=”8935″][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row disable_element=”yes”][vc_column][vc_basic_grid post_type=”post” max_items=”30″ element_width=”2″ item=”mediaGrid_Default” grid_id=”vc_gid:1652355948595-51d8250d-a8e4-5″ taxonomies=”37746″][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row equal_height=”yes” disable_element=”yes” el_class=”text_white” css=”.vc_custom_1569443780053{margin-bottom: 15px !important;background-color: #cb3000 !important;background-position: center !important;background-repeat: no-repeat !important;background-size: cover !important;border-radius: 1px !important;}”][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_custom_heading text=”Support the Index Awards.” font_container=”tag:p|font_size:26|text_align:center” use_theme_fonts=”yes” link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fwww.indexoncensorship.org%2Fsupport-the-freedom-of-expression-awards%2F|||”][vc_column_text]
By donating to the Freedom of Expression Awards you help us support individuals and groups at the forefront of tackling censorship.
Find out more
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″ css=”.vc_custom_1559988967479{background-image: url(https://www.indexoncensorship.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/awards-2019fellows.jpg?id=105848) !important;background-position: center !important;background-repeat: no-repeat !important;background-size: cover !important;}”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/4″][vc_custom_heading text=”Arts” font_container=”tag:h4|text_align:center” use_theme_fonts=”yes” link=”|||”][vc_custom_heading text=”Tatyana Zelenskaya” font_container=”tag:h4|text_align:center” use_theme_fonts=”yes” link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fwww.indexoncensorship.org%2F2021%2F09%2Farts-2021%2F”][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/4″][vc_custom_heading text=”Campaigning” font_container=”tag:h4|text_align:center” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_custom_heading text=”Abdelrahman ‘Moka’ Tarek” font_container=”tag:h4|text_align:center” use_theme_fonts=”yes” link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fwww.indexoncensorship.org%2F2021%2F09%2Fcampaigning-2021%2F|title:Campaigning%202021″][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/4″][vc_custom_heading text=”Journalism” font_container=”tag:h4|text_align:center” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_custom_heading text=”Samira Sabou” font_container=”tag:h4|text_align:center” use_theme_fonts=”yes” link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fwww.indexoncensorship.org%2F2021%2F09%2Fjournalism-2021%2F|title:Journalism%202021″][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/4″][vc_custom_heading text=”Trustees’ Award” font_container=”tag:h4|text_align:center” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_custom_heading text=”Dr Arif Ahmed” font_container=”tag:h4|text_align:center” use_theme_fonts=”yes” link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fwww.indexoncensorship.org%2F2021%2F09%2Ftrustees-2021%2F|title:Trustees%E2%80%99%20Award%202021″][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/4″][vc_single_image image=”117474″ img_size=”full” onclick=”custom_link” link=”https://www.indexoncensorship.org/2021/09/arts-2021/”][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/4″][vc_single_image image=”117475″ img_size=”full” onclick=”custom_link” link=”https://www.indexoncensorship.org/2021/09/campaigning-2021/”][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/4″][vc_single_image image=”117476″ img_size=”full” onclick=”custom_link” link=”https://www.indexoncensorship.org/2021/09/journalism-2021/”][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/4″][vc_single_image image=”117477″ img_size=”full” onclick=”custom_link” link=”https://www.indexoncensorship.org/2021/09/trustees-2021/”][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_row_inner disable_element=”yes”][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][vc_custom_heading text=”Arts” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:center” use_theme_fonts=”yes” link=”|||”][vc_custom_heading text=”For artists and arts producers whose work challenges repression and injustice and celebrates artistic free expression
Click here to see the 2022 nominees” font_container=”tag:h4|text_align:center” use_theme_fonts=”yes” link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fwww.indexoncensorship.org%2F2021%2F09%2Farts-2021%2F”][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][vc_custom_heading text=”Campaigning” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:center” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_custom_heading text=”For activists and campaigners who have had a marked impact in fighting censorship and promoting freedom of expression
Click here to see the 2022 nominees” font_container=”tag:h4|text_align:center” use_theme_fonts=”yes” link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fwww.indexoncensorship.org%2F2021%2F09%2Fcampaigning-2021%2F|title:Campaigning%202021″][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][vc_custom_heading text=”Journalism” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:center” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_custom_heading text=”For courageous, high-impact and determined journalism that exposes censorship and threats to free expression
Click here to see the 2022 nominees” font_container=”tag:h4|text_align:center” use_theme_fonts=”yes” link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fwww.indexoncensorship.org%2F2021%2F09%2Fjournalism-2021%2F|title:Journalism%202021″][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
The 2021 Freedom of Expression Awards were sponsored by Facebook, Microsoft,
Times and Sunday Times, and Sage.
If you are interested in sponsorship you can contact [email protected]
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5 Jul 2021 | Algeria, Awards, Brazil, Burma, Djibouti, Egypt, Fellowship 2021, Kyrgyzstan, News, Nicaragua, Niger, Press Releases, Russia
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Index on Censorship has today (5 July) revealed the shortlisted candidates for the charity’s 2021 Freedom of Expression Awards. The winners will be announced at the annual Freedom of Expression Awards Gala on 12 September 2021, and this year’s awards are particularly significant as the charity marks its fiftieth year defending freedom of expression around the globe.
Index on Censorship chief executive Ruth Smeeth said:
“As Index begins to mark its 50th birthday it’s clear that the battle to guarantee free expression and free expression around the globe has never been more relevant. As ever we are in awe of the immense bravery of our award nominees as they stand firm, demanding their rights under repressive regimes. They are inspirational and it is our privilege to help tell their stories.”
The Freedom of Expression Awards, which were first held in 2000, celebrate individuals or groups who have had a significant impact fighting censorship anywhere in the world. Index on Censorship believes that everyone should be free to express themselves without fear of harm or persecution, and aim to raise awareness about threats to free expression and the importance of free speech.
Trevor Philips, Chair of the Index on Censorship Board of Trustees says:
“It’s been half a century since Index declared itself a voice for the persecuted. Today, the opponents of freedom are more numerous and more determined than ever to suppress opponents of the powerful. There is more need than ever to campaign for a diversity of voices to be heard. Our awards are just one candle in the growing gale of repression, and it is humbling to be able to back those who keep the flame of free expression alight.”
Awards will be presented in three categories: campaigning, arts, and journalism. This year’s panel of judges includes Afghan-born Pakistani poet and writer Fatima Bhutto, renowned sculptor Anish Kapoor, and feminist and LGBT activist and academic Ailbhe Smyth.
The shortlisted candidates for the Art award include Russian feminist performance artist Daria Apakhonchich, Brazilian film director Émerson Maranhão and Tatyana Zelenskaya, who is an illustrator based in Kyrgyzstan.
The Campaigning shortlist features feminist blogger and podcaster Nandar from Myanmar, Algerian human rights defender and LGBTQ activist Anouar Rahmani, and imprisoned Egyptian human rights activist Abdelrahman “Moka” Tarek.
Finally, the shortlisted candidates for the Journalism award include human rights activist and journalist Kadar Abdi Ibrahim from Djibouti, co-owner of the Nicaraguan independent media outlet 100% Noticias, Veronica Chavez, and Nigerien blogger Samira Sabou who was arrested in 2020 and charged with defamation under a restrictive 2019 cybercrime law.
Art
Daria Apakhonchich
Daria Apakhonchich is a performance artist from Russia, who focuses mainly on women’s rights and artistic freedom. Among other things, she has participated in a performance art piece called ‘Vulva Ballet’ and designed an artistic lament for Anastasia Yeshchenko, who was murdered by her partner in 2019. In December 2020, Apakhonchich became one of the first artists labelled a ‘foreign agent’ by Russian authorities. She was arrested in January 2021 and is now required to add a disclaimer to all social media posts identifying her as a foreign agent.
Émerson Maranhão
Émerson Maranhão is a film director from Brazil, who focuses mainly on LGBTQ+ visibility. His documentary Those Two (2018) follows the lives of two trans men. In 2019 President Jair Bolsonaro moved to cancel funding for movies with LGBTQ+ themes. Bolsonaro explicitly referred to Maranháo’s screenplay Transversais when defending the move. Funding was later reinstated, but members of the LGBT community and their allies continue to face discrimination in Brazil.
Tatyana Zelenskaya
Tatyana Zelenskaya is an illustrator from Kyrgyzstan, working on freedom of expression and women’s rights projects. Zelenskaya has found inspiration for her work in the waves of anti-government protests that have recently erupted across Russia and Kyrgyzstan. In 2020, she created the artwork for a narrative video game called Swallows: Spring in Bishkek, which features a woman who helps her friend that was abducted and forced into an unwanted marriage. The game was downloaded more than 70,000 times in its first month. Its purpose is to break the silence around the issue of bride-kidnapping in Kyrgyzstan, with the aim of preventing them altogether.
Journalism
Kadar Abdi Ibrahim
Kadar Abdi Ibrahim is a human rights activist and journalist from Djibouti. As an outspoken human rights activist, journalist and blogger, Abdi Ibrahim has been a frequent target of the regime. Kadar Abdi served as co-director and chief editor of L’Aurore, Djibouti’s only privately-owned media outlet, before it was banned in 2016. In April 2018, after returning from Geneva, where he carried out advocacy activities in preparation for Djibouti’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR), intelligence services raided Kadar Abdi’s house and confiscated his passport. He has been unable to leave the country since then. In March 2020, he was named ‘Human Rights Defender of the Month’ by Defend the Defenders.
Verónica Chávez
Verónica Chávez is the co-owner of 100% Noticias, an online Nicaraguan media outlet dedicated to providing critical journalism. In 2018, police raided the offices of 100% Noticias and arrested Chávez, her husband journalist Miguel Mora and news director Lucia Pineda. Chávez was released, but Mora and Pineda were charged and imprisoned for a year. Despite the intense repression, Chávez continued to run 100% Noticias during that time. In October 2020, Chávez was violently attacked by members of paramilitary groups close to the government, and was left in intensive care. She subsequently saw an outpouring of support, including from the Inter American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), which condemned the attack.
Samira Sabou
Samira Sabou is a Nigerien journalist, blogger and president of the Niger Bloggers for Active Citizenship Association (ABCA). In June 2020, Sabou was arrested and charged with defamation under the restrictive 2019 cybercrime law in connection with a comment on her Facebook post highlighting corruption. She spent over a month in detention. Through her work with ABCA, she conducts training sessions on disseminating information on social media based on journalistic ethics. The aim is to give bloggers the means to avoid jail time. Sabou is also active in promoting girls’ and women’s right to freedom of expression.
Campaigning
Nandar
Nandar is a feminist advocate, translator, storyteller from Myanmar. She is the creator of two podcasts: Feminist Talks and G-Taw Zagar Wyne. She founded the Purple Feminists Group and co-directed a production of The Vagina Monologues in Yangon. Building upon her experience as a woman in Myanmar, Nandar now uses her podcasts to tackle taboo topics in the country such as menstruation and abortion. In 2020, Nandar was named on the BBC’s list of 100 most influential and inspirational women around the world. She continues to speak up for justice and equality both from personal and political spheres.
Anouar Rahmani
Anouar Rahmani is a human rights defender, campaigner and writer from Algeria. He advocates for freedom of expression, the rights of minorities, and LGBTQ+ rights in Algeria. He is the first Algerian activist who has publicly called for same-sex marriage to be legally recognised in the country. Rahmani has received death threats and persecution due to his work. In 2017 he was questioned by police for “insulting God” in his novel the City of White Shadows. In 2020, Rahmani was convicted of “insulting state officials” in social media posts and ordered to pay a fine of 50,000 Dinar (£290). Rahmani believes that he is being criminalised in retaliation for his work defending freedom of expression and LGBTQ+ rights in Algeria.
Abdelrahman Tarek
Abdelrahman “Moka” Tarek is a human rights defender from Egypt, who focuses on defending the right to freedom of expression and the rights of prisoners. Tarek has experienced frequent harassment from Egyptian authorities as a result of his work. He has spent longer periods of time in prison and has experienced torture and solitary confinement. Authorities have severely restricted his ability to communicate with his lawyer and family. Tarek was arrested again in September 2020 and in December 2020, a new case was brought against him on terrorism-related charges. Tarek began a hunger strike in protest of the terrorism charges. In January 2021, he was transferred to the prison hospital due to a deterioration in his health caused by the hunger strike. As of July 2021, he remains in prison.
Notes to editors:
For more information on the awards, please contact Leah Cross, [email protected]
For any press-related queries, please contact Luke Holland, [email protected][/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
16 Apr 2021 | Fellowship 2021, Opinion, Ruth's blog
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Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei, a 2020 Freedom of Expression Awards winner
This week we were interviewing for a new member of the team to help support our work on the Freedom of Expression awards. The joy of interviewing for a new role is that it makes you reflect on what you do and why, even as you’re speaking to the candidates. As I was outlining the importance of the awards, I was reminded of why they are so incredibly important and not just for the winners, but also for the team. The fact is they give us hope, we get to show real solidarity with people who are on the frontline, people who every day are demanding their rights and protections under Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Those people shortlisted for an award are typically unknown outside their countries, their stories untold. They have been jailed for campaigning for free speech. Hounded for using their talents as artists and writers to explore people’s realities under totalitarian regimes. Threatened for being journalists exposing corruption and repression at a national level. They are also just people who have found themselves in horrendous situations which they are determined to help fix.
Our award-winners and all of those nominated are extraordinary. They are inspirational. And they honestly keep the team going when day in and day out we are exposed to some of the horrors of what people are facing in too many places around the world, from Myanmar to Kashmir, from Afghanistan to Hong Kong, from Belarus to Xinjiang, from Komsomolsk-on-Amur to Greece.
It can be emotionally exhausting just trying to keep on top of what is happening in too many countries by too many authoritarian leaders. Soul-destroying to say today we have to focus on Egypt rather than Iran because we don’t have enough resource. The guilt that we aren’t doing enough or that we aren’t providing enough support or that the world has moved on and we can’t get traction for someone’s story. The world can just feel too depressing.
The Index team is extraordinary and resilient – but we all need a little hope.
And that’s what our awards do – they provide hope. The remind us of the struggles that people are prepared to fight and allow us to celebrate those people are fighting the good fight – so they know they are not alone, and that people genuinely care what happens to them.
Our award nominees and the eventual winners are extraordinary individuals but for the team at Index they embody our mission – to ensure that we are a Voice for the Persecuted. They represent the best of us, and we honour and support them not just because of who they are and what they have done – but because of what they represent. Bravery, resilience and determination for a better world.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][three_column_post title=”You may also want to read” category_id=”41669″][/vc_column][/vc_row]
15 Jan 2021 | Opinion, Ruth's blog
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”116027″ img_size=”full”][vc_column_text]Irony – a situation in which something which was intended to have a particular result has the opposite or a very different one
Censored – suppressed, altered or deleted as objectionable
Words are important and while language is ever evolving some words have had the same meaning for decades, even centuries, and there are simply no excuses for misrepresenting them to try and fit your political worldview. Words have status, they have legal bearing and they are also a thing of beauty enabling us to communicate with each other.
This week we saw the ultimate unintentionally ironic political statement during the debate in the House of Representatives concerning Donald Trump’s second impeachment. Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene, a freshman Republican congresswoman from Georgia, stood up to defend the rhetoric of the president, speaking from the US Capitol, from the chamber of Congress, the home of US democracy, on live television and while being live streamed around the world, with a face mask which read “CENSORED”.
Perhaps it was a veiled reference to Trump’s removal from Twitter? But at that very moment, the congresswoman herself, with her words and her world view being heard by literally millions of people and recorded for posterity in both the media and the Congressional Record, was not being censored. Her voice wasn’t being limited, she wasn’t being forced to restrict her language or caveat her political position. She is fortunate to live in a country where free speech is still both protected and valued. And to suggest otherwise undermines the global fight for the right to free speech in repressive regimes.
Senator Josh Hawley has had his book contract cancelled by Simon & Schuster. They said “[a]fter witnessing the disturbing, deadly insurrection that took place on Wednesday in Washington, D.C. We did not come to this decision lightly. As a publisher it will always be our mission to amplify a variety of voices and viewpoints; at the same time we take seriously our larger public responsibility as citizens, and cannot support Senator Hawley after his role in what became a dangerous threat to our democracy and freedom.”
Hawley is claiming that he is being cancelled, that his constitutional right to free speech is being attacked and that he is suing. We know that because Hawley was featured in nearly every news outlet which covers the USA, both foreign and domestic. Hawley remains a senator, he has the right to speak to his nation in every sitting outlining his priorities and world view. His words were published this week in an op-ed in his local media. He hasn’t been silenced or cancelled, his lucrative book deal has. And even if that sets a bad precedent – a debate we will explore further at Index over the coming months – it is not the same thing.
Our right to free speech is precious. It is something that we need to cherish. Not abuse. And we need to be honest about when it is and is not being threatened. It is being threatened in Belarus, where our own correspondent Andrei Aliaksandrau has just been arrested by the regime. It is under threat in Egypt where according to the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights 60,000 political prisoners are incarcerated. It is nonexistent in Xinjiang province, China, where millions of Uighurs have been sent to re-education camps. It is not being threatened in the USA – it may be being challenged but these words mean different things.
I believe passionately about our right to free speech. I think everybody has the right to speak, to argue their position, to tell their stories. But there is a difference from having the right to speak and the right to be heard. Simply put you don’t have the latter, it is not a universal right, which can be unjust and for some incredibly damaging but it’s the reality we live in.
This brings me to the other controversy of the week, which warrants a great deal of debate and conversation. Something Index is going to launch in the coming weeks – the suspension of Trump from his social media accounts. Most online platforms are corporate entities, who balance responsibilities to defend free speech and to protect their users. They have a duty of care to their customers as well as to their corporate reputations. They also facilitate a great deal of our national and personal conversations. And they have made the remarkable decision to remove the President of the United States from their sites. They had the right to do this, but the question is should they have removed him and more importantly who decided he shouldn’t be there?
It was not a decision that was taken lightly. “I do not celebrate or feel pride in our having to ban @realDonaldTrump from Twitter, or how we got here. After a clear warning we’d take this action, we made a decision with the best information we had based on threats to physical safety both on and off Twitter. Was this correct?” wrote CEO of Twitter Jack Dorsey.
In his thoughtful thread on the action he wrote: “Having to take these actions fragment the public conversation. They divide us. They limit the potential for clarification, redemption, and learning. And sets a precedent I feel is dangerous: the power an individual or corporation has over a part of the global public conversation.”
As Dorsey himself acknowledges we need to explore what role these companies really play in our society. Are they merely platforms enabling us to engage within a framework they determine? Are they publishers responsible for every word on their sites? Do they govern the public space or merely facilitate it? And do we know what they are doing? Their actions can determine who speaks and who is heard. We need a really robust conversation about where the red lines should be on online content and what is or isn’t acceptable. These questions have been circulating for a while but have never felt more crucial to be addressed than this week. These are the questions that will define our online presence in the years ahead, so we need answers now.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][/vc_column][/vc_row]
