Abstract
I am excited and proud to introduce the first redesign of Index on Censorship for some years. Incisive, in-depth journalism from around the world remains at the heart of the magazine. And we’ll feature a lively and even wider range of shorter opinion pieces, debates, reportage and more. We hope you like it and would love to hear your views.
Our Special Report will investigate a topic in depth. In this issue, we investigate whether the major economic crisis sweeping through Europe since 2008 has had negative effects on citizens’ ability to debate, demonstrate and exchange ideas, whether it be through journalism and new media, artistic expression, politics or academia. Our authors suggest it has had a serious negative impact; we still don’t know the true extent of the damage. We asked artists, journalists, academics, experts and activists just how the crisis had impacted on the way they spoke, protested, wrote and engaged. From the dwindling production of independent movies in Italy to the repression of street protests against austerity measures in Greece and Spain, we’ve found a disturbing landscape, where in many cases free speech and the right to protest have been eroded and remain under threat.
Nick Cohen explores how financial elites failed to respond to the crisis and how the system fell short in transforming their secretive, hierarchical culture. Juan Luis Sánchez is among the journalists examining the way citizens reacted on the streets of Madrid, Rome and Athens, finding out that new rules now apply to demonstrations. In Greece, director Laertis Vasiliou has come under attack for staging a play that has met with outrage and violence from religious and far-right activists.
Jo Glanville, former editor of this magazine, asks if the BBC World Service will survive the cuts it faces. And German novelist Ingo Schulze reports on how the economic fallout has divided citizens from different nations.
In our In Focus section, we debate and analyse Index themes – access to free expression; religion and culture; digital freedom; and the constraints posed by authoritarian and democratic regimes alike. Diran Adebayo looks at how sports role models are being swiftly transformed by social media. Graciela Mochkofsky reveals the story behind the turf war between President Fernández Kirchner and media conglomerate Clarín. And Julian Petley and Simon Davies look at free speech in the UK – from art censorship to the Leveson Inquiry.
This issue also launches a regular column by Index CEO Kirsty Hughes, ‘Global view’. And in ‘Head to Head’, writer and broadcaster Kenan Malik and Professor Nada Shabout debate whether free speech should be restricted in the face of religious beliefs and sensitivities.
I’m happy to have had the opportunity to lead the rennovation – concept, layout and contents – of this distinguished, respected, four-decade-old magazine. I wish it continued success and a creative and industrious life.
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