Contents – Gen Z is revolting: Why the world’s youth will not be silenced

19 Dec 2025 | Afghanistan, Africa, Americas, Asia and Pacific, Belarus, Chile, China, Europe and Central Asia, Haiti, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Iran, Israel, Kenya, Magazine Contents, Middle East and North Africa, Morocco, Myanmar, Nepal, Nicaragua, Nicaragua, Palestine, Russia, Taiwan, Thailand, Uganda, United Kingdom, Uzbekistan, Volume 54.04 Winter 2025

Contents

Zoomers – the young people born between 1997 and 2012 – have been taking to the streets this summer. They haven’t got a common ideology but they are angry about the state of world and feel hopeless for the future.

In the UK we have seen them on Saturday marches for Palestine, but in countries where Gen Z make up a significant proportion of the population, they have been toppling governments.

In Morocco, from where we have a frontline report, the government has remained in place, but police acted with a huge show of force, detaining almost 2,500 young people including under-12s. Near Agadir, normally known as a tourist resort, three young people were killed when the police fired on them with live ammunition.

In Madagascar and Nepal, leaders did flee in the face of what looked like a mass uprising. But as the editor of the Nepali Times writes, the young revolutionaries can’t decide what happens next. Nor are they particularly sympathetic to others’ freedom of expression. Journalists reporting on what happened in Nepal found themselves trolled online.

There is something else that marks out Gen Z. They are digital natives to their fingertips, theoretically able to exercise freedom – at least online - on a scale previous generations could only dream of. And yet many are afraid to say what they really think in public forums.

Up Front

Gen Z is revolting: Sally Gimson
The next generation are raising their voices, but what do they want?

The Index: Mark Stimpson
The latest in the world of free expression, including an update on our imprisoned former colleague

Features

Silence is the best option at Israeli universities: Akin Ajayi
If you hold a particular view, the campus is no place for academic freedom

The show must go on: Emily Boyle
Could it be curtains for the Purple Slut cabaret?

End for the NDAs which protected Harvey Weinstein?: Ruth Green
Bad businesses have been hiding behind the law. Zelda Perkins is out to stop them

Silenced over trans care article: Daisy Ruddock
Professionals are falling victim to the culture wars, left unable to discuss gender-affirming healthcare

An exceptional editor: Jo Glanville
A tribute to the late Index editor, Judith Vidal-Hall

Powerful Indian women cancelled in the classroom: Nilosree Biswas
Narendra Modi's solution to women who don't fit the narrative - delete them

The strange tale of a Russian rapper: John David Vandevert
Being a female US-style rapper is a step too far in Putin's Russia

Shock jocks of Uzbekistan: Katie Dancey-Downs
Culture wars are raging, and one side has got plenty to say

The secret graffiti grandma of Tehran: Fatemeh Jamalpour
Meet the woman sneaking out at night to spraypaint the worlds of the Iranian revolution

Censoring negativity: Cindy Yu
On Chinese social media, if you haven't got anything nice to say, don't say anything at all

Inside the mind of Madame War Criminal: JP O'Malley
Olivera Simić discusses her biography of Biljana Plavšić, and whether the Balkans have since made room for free speech

The exclusion of Palestinian voices: Raja Shehadeh
The missing piece in Donald Trump's plan

Gen Z is revolting: Why the world's youth will not be silenced

The revolution will be polarised: Katie Dancey-Downs, Yelyzaveta Buriak, Arthur O'Keefe
How Gen Z are influencing the world, and who’s influencing them

Shitposting and the rehabilitation of Pinochet: Juan Carlos Ramírez Figueroa
Chile’s rapid-fire social media content can lead to bad places, fast

Dissidents in disguise: Alexandra Domenech 
Young critics in Belarus are hiding in plain sight

The summer of revolt: Viktória Serdült
From popstars to Pride – Gen Z in Hungary are speaking up

Gen Z’s secret language: Connor O’Brien
What do they meme?

The fight for freedom in Nepal: Sonia Awale
Between One Piece protests and upcoming elections, Gen Z are demanding government accountability

Discord for Morocco’s Gen Z: Omar Radi
A new style of protest that started with football fans and gamers

Uganda’s top TikTok trend: Danson Kahyana
Social media influencers beware. One judge in Uganda is coming down hard on government critics.

Young people haven’t given up the fight to be heard: Michael Deibert
Haiti’s cultural landscape is alive and kicking

Lessons from the Milk Tea Alliance: Mackenzie Argent, Jeffrey Wasserstrom
A look at the older siblings of today’s protests

Comment

How the far-right has weaponised free speech: Anshuman Mondal
When freedom of expression is for me and not for thee

You won’t fool the children of Kenya’s revolution: Samuel Kimeu
The Kenyan government must pay attention to the young protesters they are silencing

I want the full story: Jemimah Steinfeld
Unpicking the delicate line between censorship and an editorial decision

Tell the world what is happening to us: Rahima Mahmut 
From Tiananmen Square to imprisoned female poets – a Uyghur musician writes about her inspiration

Culture

Secret words of hope: Kate Clanchy
Female Afghan poets give us a glimpse into their lives, through the power of verse

A chilling vision: Mark Stimpson, Kemi Ashing-Giwa
Welcome to this dystopian future, imagined by a Gen Z author

The shadow of injustice: Connor O’Brien, UPPN
We hear the story of a Nicaraguan political prisoner, in an exclusive comic

Zombies, women and power: Naomi Alderman
The author of The Power discusses her new book on our current times

Contents – Truth, trust & tricksters: Free expression in the age of AI

22 Oct 2025 | Azerbaijan, Balochistan, Bangladesh, Belarus, China, Europe and Central Asia, Georgia, Georgia, Germany, India, Israel, Kazakhstan, Magazine Contents, Myanmar, North Korea, Palestine, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States, Volume 54.03 Autumn 2025, Yemen

Contents

It is difficult to spend a day without using artificial intelligence.

Whether we look up a fact on Google or use our car’s navigation system, AI is helping to guide us. AI is not human, but is increasingly taking on human characteristics. Want to write a five-year strategy for work? AI can give you the structure. A text to the lover you’re breaking up with, ChatGPT is on hand with the perfect choice of words. Even as I compose this editor’s letter in a Word document, the sinisterly named Copilot – Microsoft’s AI assistant – is hovering in the margin with the tantalising offer that it could do a better job.

So what does it all mean for free expression? We asked a range of writers to explore themes around censorship and AI for this latest issue, and the result is fascinating. Kate Devlin delves into griefbots which are essentially deepfakes of dead people – often with all their unpleasant characteristics removed.

Innocent enough but in the wrong hands they are pernicious. A country’s political hero can be resurrected to encourage causes they would have disavowed were they alive. Ruth Green looks at whether AI has free speech.

In a recent US lawsuit, the owner of a chatbot which had been talking to a teenager, in a sexualised way, before he killed himself, argued that the bot’s communications were covered by the First Amendment. Luckily the judge threw the case out.

Meanwhile Timandra Harkness examines how AI can trawl social media to discover every word you’ve ever written.

Up Front

Truth, trust & tricksters in the age of AI: Sally Gimson
Artificial intelligence is here to stay, but is free expression at risk?

The Index: Mark Stimpson
The latest in the world of free expression, including travel bans for artists and the ongoing trial of Jimmy Lai

Features

Strength in numbers: Antonia Langford
Burmese artist Sai thought he was safe in Thailand, until the censors came knocking

Jailed for criticising the royal family: Tyrell Haberkorn Sophon “Get” Suratitthamrong
A Thai student protester sends letters from prison

Midnight trek to Georgia: Will Neal
A journalist tries to return to Georgia, after being smeared by its government

The trauma of being Lukashenka’s prisoner: Jana Paliashchuk
A sit-down with released Belarusian political prisoners, including Siarhei Tsikhanouski

Caught in the middle: Akbar Notezai
The murder of a journalist has further restricted the media in Balochistan

Reports of Urdu’s death are greatly exaggerated: Nilosree Biswas
Urdu is thriving among young people

The Squid Game effect: Katie Dancey-Downs
K-drama might be the greatest weapon against the North Korean regime

We’re blaming everybody: Laura Silvia Battaglia
Yemeni women take over a poignant location, and refuse to be silenced

A journalist’s life in Yemen: Khalid Mohamed
The reporters holding the line while under fire

Without more women in power, the regime can force its patriarchal agenda: Emily Couch
A picture of feminism in Kazakhstan

Erasing secularism: Rishabh Jain
Bangladesh is at a crossroads, and religious freedom is under threat

Special Report: Truth, trust & tricksters: Free expression in the age of AI

Is AI friend or foe?: Kenneth Cukier
The future of free thought is in the hands of big tech

The ghost in the machine: Kate Devlin
Awakening the dead might have implications for free speech

I, robot?: Ruth Green
Should AI bots enjoy free speech protections?

The dark side of AI adoption in Turkey: Kaya Genç
Dissidents could be at increased risk, if President Erdoğan has a hand in shaping technology

Deepfake it to make it: Danson Kahyana
Uganda has a new way to sow seeds of doubt about its critics

History is being written by the AI victors: Salil Tripathi
An age-old problem, with new technological capabilities

Digging in the (social media) dirt: Timandra Harkness
Could your old tweets be your downfall?

A new frontier of American propaganda: Mackenzie Argent
Trump is on a mission to meme America great again

Comment

Blown to pieces: how the UK government’s Muslim policy unravelled: Martin Bright
We need to talk about extremism

Freedom of speech needs freedom of thought: Maria Sorensen
The first defence against dictatorships? Free thinking

What’s the story?: Nadim Sadek, Toby Litt, Anna Ganley
Three writers discuss whether artificial intelligence will help or hinder literature

The rise of the useful idiot: Jemimah Steinfeld
Apologists and the wilfully ignorant. Just how dangerous are they?

The women silenced by the law: Jessica Ní Mhainín
Lawsuits are being wielded by the powerful to keep victims quiet

Culture

Killing the messenger: Peter Laufer, Mackenzie Argent
A new book hands the megaphone to journalists in danger

The Missing Palestinians: Martha Otwinowski
Germany’s painful past is haunting its cultural institutions

The pity of war: Stephen Komarnyckyj
Preserving the memory of Ukraine’s poets, killed in Russia’s war

Cry God for Larry!: Simon Callow, Laurence Olivier
The actor shares his memories of Laurence Olivier

Frozen feud: Baia Pataraia
What it means to pose a threat to the Georgian government

Contents – In bad faith: How religion is being weaponised by the right

2 Oct 2023 | Afghanistan, Chile, China, India, Israel, Kuwait, Magazine Contents, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Poland, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, United States, Volume 52.03 Autumn 2023, Yemen

Contents

The Autumn 2023 issue of Index looks at blasphemy laws, and how they are being weaponised by the religious right as a means of imposing intolerance. We wanted to understand the ways in which religion is being used by states as an excuse for censorship, and how this has played out in a global context.

The writers in this issue have examined blasphemy laws in countries all over the world, shining a light on the those who have been left voiceless or have been persecuted in the name of religion. These worrying stories paint a picture of a growing movement amongst the religious right that threatens to suppress those who do not conform to increasingly strict cultures and norms.

Up Front

Faithful foot soldiers, by Jemimah Steinfeld: The religious right is in, our rights to speech out.

The Index, by Mark Frary: From fraught elections in Mali to Russians launching VPNs, this is free expression in focus.

Features

Oiling the wheels of injustice, by Francis Clarke and Mark Frary: Behind a mega-city construction and the roar of Formula 1, Saudi Arabia is driving human rights further into the ground.

Pinochet's ghost still haunts, by Juan Carlos Ramírez Figueroa: The Chilean dictator is long gone, but support lingers on.

The dissident lives on, by Martin Bright: The dissident is not dead, long live the dissident.

No place to hide, by Nik Williams: Transnational repression has no borders in a digital world.

Peer pressure, by Thiện Việt: In China, enforced social rankings aren’t just confined to the realms of Black Mirror.

No country for anxious men, by Laura Silvia Battaglia: A mental health crisis in Yemen has left people locked up with no voice.

Nollywood gets naked, by Tilewa Kazeem: It’s getting hot in Nigeria, as the film scene strips back on what’s deemed inappropriate.

Policing symbolism, by Jimena Ledgard: Peruvian protesters are being met with violence, and not even flower carpets are safe.

Setting the story straight, by Danson Kahyana: Uganda’s new anti-homosexuality law is having an unexpected effect, with literature being ripped apart.

A marriage made in transgression, by Alexandra Domenech: Despite being tortured by security forces and her fiancé thrown in jail, Russian dissident Alexandra Popova is staying put in Moscow.

Out of the oven, into the fire, by Mir Aiyaz: Rohingya Muslims hoping for open arms in India are getting a cold reception.

Special Report: In bad faith - how religion is being weaponised by the right

For the love of God?, by Rebecca L Root: As intolerance rises in many parts of the world, a misplaced profanity can spell out death.

Worshippers of power, by Jemimah Steinfeld: Under the eye of the religious right, Margaret Atwood discusses why a blasphemy accusation holds so much power.

King David he is not, by JP O'Malley: The USA's religious right is playing the Trump Card.

No sex please, we're Hindus, by Salil Tripathi: Oppenheimer isn't just breaking box office records, it's offending Hindu nationalists.

In the name of the father?, by Francis Clarke: A far from extensive list of the countries currently imposing sentences on those who "offend".

A call to harm, by Ayesha Khan: Pakistan has some of the world's harshest blasphemy laws, but punishments come from those outside the law too.

The blasphemy obstacle course, by Mai Al-Nakib: Kuwait's rocky relationship with blasphemy laws is breeding a generation of self-censored authors.

Self-worship is the new religion, by Tara Isabella Burton: A new faith is emerging and it's not necessarily open to different views.

Think of the children, by Katie Dancey-Downs: When Juno Dawson's stories are banned, is it really about the books?

Turkey's zealots still want blood, by Kaya Genç: A foundation related to the controversial and failed translation of The Satanic Verses continues to be attacked.

Sharia Law and disorder, by Kola Alapinni: When the state fails to step in, violent mobs control the punishments for blasphemy in Nigeria.

Loose hair in Tehran, by Farnaz Haeri: The writer describes her first time walking out in Iran without a headscarf.

Handmaid's tale in a holy land, by Jo-Ann Mort: In an Israel that is eroding women's rights, female-free billboards and segregated beaches are just some of the battlegrounds.

Practise what they preach, by Simon Coates: Religious values are an excuse to eradicate LGBTQ+ discussion in the UAE, while tolerance is forgotten.

Poland's papal problem, by Kseniya Tarasevich: One Pope's lack of integrity paints a picture of Poland's infiltrated politics.

Comment

Turkish and European courts failed me, by Nedim Türfent: How one journalist swapped a press card for a "terrorist" badge.

Truth in seduction, by Mark Hollingsworth: A historian struggles to lift the cloak of secrecy on a KGB-orchestrated sex scandal.

First they came for the female journalists, by Zahra Joya: The space for women in Afghanistan is ever-diminishing, and female journalists are crucial.

Speak, debate, challenge, by Ruth Anderson: Index's guiding framework remains the same in a 2023 context.

Culture

Will Paulina ever rest?, by Ariel Dorfman and Jemimah Steinfeld: The Death and the Maiden protagonist fights for justice once more. Plus an exclusive new short story.

Lines of inquiry, by Richard Norton-Taylor: The thorn in intelligence establishment's side explains the growing pressure on whistleblowers

Major new global free expression index sees UK ranking stumble across academic, digital and media freedom

25 Jan 2023 | Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Belarus, Belgium, Botswana, Burma, China, Cuba, Czech Republic, Denmark, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Finland, Germany, Greece, Index Index, Ireland, Laos, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Netherlands, News and features, Nicaragua, North Korea, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Sudan, Swaziland, Switzerland, Syria, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, United States, Yemen

A major new global ranking index tracking the state of free expression published today (Wednesday, 25 January) by Index on Censorship sees the UK ranked as only “partially open” in every key area measured.

In the overall rankings, the UK fell below countries including Australia, Israel, Costa Rica, Chile, Jamaica and Japan. European neighbours such as Austria, Belgium, France, Germany and Denmark also all rank higher than the UK.

The Index Index, developed by Index on Censorship and experts in machine learning and journalism at Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU), uses innovative machine learning techniques to map the free expression landscape across the globe, giving a country-by-country view of the state of free expression across academic, digital and media/press freedoms.

Key findings include:

  • The countries with the highest ranking (“open”) on the overall Index are clustered around western Europe and Australasia - Australia, Austria, Belgium, Costa Rica, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Sweden and Switzerland.

  • The UK and USA join countries such as Botswana, Czechia, Greece, Moldova, Panama, Romania, South Africa and Tunisia ranked as “partially open”.

  • The poorest performing countries across all metrics, ranked as “closed”, are Bahrain, Belarus, Burma/Myanmar, China, Cuba, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Eswatini, Laos, Nicaragua, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, South Sudan, Syria, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates and Yemen.

  • Countries such as China, Russia, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates performed poorly in the Index Index but are embedded in key international mechanisms including G20 and the UN Security Council.

Ruth Anderson, Index on Censorship CEO, said:

“The launch of the new Index Index is a landmark moment in how we track freedom of expression in key areas across the world. Index on Censorship and the team at Liverpool John Moores University have developed a rankings system that provides a unique insight into the freedom of expression landscape in every country for which data is available.

“The findings of the pilot project are illuminating, surprising and concerning in equal measure. The United Kingdom ranking may well raise some eyebrows, though is not entirely unexpected. Index on Censorship’s recent work on issues as diverse as Chinese Communist Party influence in the art world through to the chilling effect of the UK Government’s Online Safety Bill all point to backward steps for a country that has long viewed itself as a bastion of freedom of expression.

“On a global scale, the Index Index shines a light once again on those countries such as China, Russia, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates with considerable influence on international bodies and mechanisms - but with barely any protections for freedom of expression across the digital, academic and media spheres.”

Nik Williams, Index on Censorship policy and campaigns officer, said:

“With global threats to free expression growing, developing an accurate country-by-country view of threats to academic, digital and media freedom is the first necessary step towards identifying what needs to change. With gaps in current data sets, it is hoped that future ‘Index Index’ rankings will have further country-level data that can be verified and shared with partners and policy-makers.

“As the ‘Index Index’ grows and develops beyond this pilot year, it will not only map threats to free expression but also where we need to focus our efforts to ensure that academics, artists, writers, journalists, campaigners and civil society do not suffer in silence.”

Steve Harrison, LJMU senior lecturer in journalism, said: 

“Journalists need credible and authoritative sources of information to counter the glut of dis-information and downright untruths which we’re being bombarded with these days. The Index Index is one such source, and LJMU is proud to have played our part in developing it.

“We hope it becomes a useful tool for journalists investigating censorship, as well as a learning resource for students. Journalism has been defined as providing information someone, somewhere wants suppressed – the Index Index goes some way to living up to that definition.”

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