15 Oct 2019 | Index in the Press, News and features
Jodie Ginsberg, chief executive of Index on Censorship, wrote an opinion piece for Big Issue North:
“Free speech” has become something of a dirty word in recent years. While most people like to say they are in favour of free speech, when you drill down into the areas where speech should be curtailed, it is apparent that views on where the lines should be and are drawn differ widely. And it is in debates about those lines that a gap has opened up in the defence of free speech, into which the far right has gleefully stepped.
“Free speech” is now the rallying cry for those who want to defend bigoted and hateful views, and who want to defend the right to use terms like “cockroach” and “vermin”, while also denying the rights of those they denigrate to speak in their defence. And as free speech becomes increasingly linked with those who espouse intolerance and division, so free speech as a universal value becomes tarnished.
This has meant in turn that those who would have traditionally championed free speech have become increasingly willing to tolerate or even advocate censorship as a social good. But censorship is never a social good. Whether imposed by states, big business, or the mob, censorship always ends up targeting those who are already oppressed and marginalised…
Read the full article: Big Issue North 14-20 October
9 Oct 2019 | Events
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”110283″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][vc_column_text]October 23
Free Speech is For Me College Tour
University of Delaware, Newark (Free Speech Week)
As part of the Index on Censorship tour of the USA, where Index aims to highlight that free speech is for everyone, Saudi Arabian journalist and filmmaker Safa al-Ahmad will be speaking. She has directed documentaries for PBS and the BBC focusing on uprisings in the Middle East. She is the joint winner of the 2015 Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Award for Journalism and was a finalist for the 2014 Sony Impact Award.
This is an Index event in conjunction with PEN America
For more details email: [email protected][/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]
When: 23 October
Where: University of Delaware
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9 Oct 2019 | Events
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”110290″ img_size=”full”][vc_column_text]October 22 – 4.15-5.30pm
Free Speech is For Me College Tour
Perry World House, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
Safa Al-Ahmad in conversation with Syrian journalist Zaina Erhaim
Title: Risk and Reward: Local Journalists Covering the Front Lines of War in Syria and Yemen
As part of the Index on Censorship tour of the USA, where Index aims to highlight that free speech is for everyone, we join Saudi Arabian journalist and filmmaker Safa Al-Ahmad. She has directed documentaries for PBS and the BBC focusing on uprisings in the Middle East. She is the joint winner of the 2015 Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Award for Journalism and was a finalist for the 2014 Sony Impact Award.
Join Al-Ahmad in conversation with Zaina Erhaim, a Syrian journalist and former Index on Censorship journalism award winner, currently based in Turkey. Working with print, TV and film, Erhaim has reported on the Syrian civil war from within Syria.
Co-sponsors: PEN America, Perry World House, Center for Media at Risk, Middle East Center, Kelly Writers House
Register for tickets here
For more details email: [email protected][/vc_column_text][vc_column_text][/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]
When: 22 October
Where: University of Pennsylvania
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9 Oct 2019 | Events
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”110276″ img_size=”full” alignment=”right”][vc_column_text]October 21 –
Free Speech is For Me College Tour
Columbia University, New York: Safa Al-Ahmad in conversation with Agnès Callamard
5:30 – 7:00 pm
Title: Saudi Arabia: Impunity and the Silencing of Dissent
This free event, jointly organised by American PEN, is being held at Columbia during its free speech week and is part of the Index college tour, where we aim to highlight that free speech is for everyone. It will feature Safa al-Ahmad, a Saudi Arabian journalist and filmmaker. She has directed documentaries for PBS and the BBC focusing on uprisings in the Middle East. She is the joint winner of the 2015 Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Award for Journalism and was a finalist for the 2014 Sony Impact Award.
Join Al-Ahmad in conversation with Agnès Callamard, a French human rights expert and special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions at the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. She is also the director of Columbia University’s Global Freedom of Expression project.
For more details email: [email protected]
Book your tickets here
Partners: PEN America, Columbia Human Rights Institute, Columbia Global Freedom of Expression, Toni Stabile Center for Investigative Journalism, Columbia Journalism School Global[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]
When: October 21, 5.30-7pm
Where: Columbia University, New York
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