24 Jun 20 | Index in the Press
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]CEO of Index on Censorship Ruth Smeeth speaks to the Evening Standard about her appointment to the role and the importance of freedom of speech in today’s fractured society.
“You have the right to hold and espouse vile views, but you don’t have the right to incite violence,” Smeeth said.
“There has been too much hate recently. People have the right to hate but they need to think about what it’s doing to society.”
Read the full article here[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
24 Jun 20 | Index in the Press
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Newly appointed CEO of Index on Censorship Ruth Smeeth talks to host of The Political Podcast Matt Forde about the history of Index on Censorship as we approach our 50th anniversary, how her experiences as Labour MP led her to Index, and the importance of free speech in today’s society.
“This was originally set up for writers and scholars as a place that they could be heard and that other people could celebrate them.”
“The experiences of the last five years [as an MP] made me a different person, it made me genuinely cherish the free press because that meant there was a platform to counter the conspiracy.”
Listen to the full podcast here[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
15 Jun 20 | News and features
Credit: Singlespeedfahrer/Petr Vodicka/Amy Fenton/Executive Office of the President/ Philip Halling/Isac Nóbrega/The White House
George Floyd. Dr Li Wenliang. Amy Fenton. JK Rowling. Edward Colston. Jair Bolsonaro. Donald Trump.
Love or loathe these people, the actions of each have opened a new debate in 2020. From the Black Lives Matter movement to the debate on sexuality, to the freedom of the press in the UK, to the role of Government and state actors hiding details of a public health emergency from their citizens.
If we have learnt anything at all from the turmoil that 2020 has given the world, it’s that free speech is vital; free expression is central to who we are and; that journalistic freedom is integral to the type of global society we aspire to live in.
Today, I’m joining the team at Index on Censorship as its new CEO. Index has spent the last half century providing a voice for the voiceless. Giving those who live under repressive regimes a platform to tell the world of their experiences and enabling artists to share their work with the world when they can’t share it with their neighbours.
Our work has never been more important. There have been over 200 attacks on media freedom across the globe, since the end of March this year, related to Covid-19. In the US alone there have been over 400 press freedom ‘incidents’ since the murder of George Floyd, including 58 arrests of journalists, 86 physical attacks and 52 tear gassings. In the UK, this weekend, on the streets of London we saw journalists attacked while reporting on a far-right demo in our capital.
My role in the months ahead is to highlight the threats to free speech, both in the UK and further afield, to celebrate free speech, to open a debate on what free speech should look like in the 21st century and most importantly to keep providing a platform for those people who can’t have one in their own country.
The editorial in the first edition of Index on Censorship in 1972, stated: There is a real danger… of a journal like INDEX turning into a bulletin of frustration. But then, on the other hand, there is the magnificent resilience and inexhaustible resourcefulness of the human spirit in adversity.
With you, the team at Index will continue to fight against the frustration while celebrating the magnificent resilience of the human spirit. And I can’t wait to get stuck in.
Ruth
PS Join us to protect and promote freedom of speech in the UK and across the world by making a donation.
15 Oct 19 | 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
