Global view: The power of noise in the fight against censorship

As we approach the 25^th anniversary of the first free elections after the fall of communism in many countries across eastern Europe, Jodie Ginsberg examines people power and the power of noise

IN AN ERA of clicktivism – where it is possible to make a “stand” about something simply by ticking a box online with little or no understanding of the cause – it is easy to dismiss the power that collective action can have. But making a noise, whether it be a petition, a letter-writing campaign, or even a handful of placard-waving protestors outside an embassy, can force even the most brutal of regimes to think twice before punishing those it seeks to repress. As poetry publisher and Russian dissident Alexander Ginzburg recalled following his arrest by Soviet authorities in 1977: “At least I knew they would not kill me before the trial. This was because I was a defended person, someone whom the West knew about and was likely to make a fuss about. Without this form of defence, political prisoners just die.”

I have written about Ginzburg elsewhere, but was reminded again of the importance of making a fuss when Bahraini activist Maryam Al Khawaja was detained earlier this year as she arrived in Bahrain from her home in Denmark to visit her father, who is serving a life sentence for his part in the 2011 pro-democracy protests in Bahrain, and who was on hunger strike.

Assaulted by police, Maryam was held by the authorities for nearly three weeks before being released on bail. Her release came after a high-profile international campaign led by Nabeel Rajab, co-founder with Maryam’s father of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, winner of the 2012 Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Advocacy award. Rajab spearheaded a campaign that focused on persuading international governments to put pressure on Bahrain to free Al Khawaja. Together with a number of human rights organisations, including Index on Censorship, he petitioned members of parliament from a host of European countries including the UK and Denmark, as well as members of the US Congress and Senate, to speak out publicly in support of Al Khawaja.

“My release from prison was the result of international pressure,” Al Khawaja wrote after her release. “I have been working in the field of human rights since 2010. What has become increasingly clear to me is that international pressure on the United Kingdom and the United States, the closest allies to Bahrain, is how we can have an influence.’

Once she was freed, Al Khawaja found herself having to do the same for Rajab, who was arrested a day after he returned to Bahrain for a tweet in which he suggested that the country’s security institutions were a breeding ground for terrorists. Bahrain’s defence and interior ministries accused him of “denigrating government institutions”, and Rajab now faces three years in prison for his 140-character comment. Al Khawaja urged governments and parliamentary members to protest his arrest and demand his release. Again, the noise created appears to have worked. As I finished this column, the news came through that Rajab had also been released on bail, although – like Al Khawaja – he still faces a trial in which he could face three years in jail for simply exercising his right to free expression.

Noise can bring a greater degree of protection but it does not guarantee it – nor does it assure justice, as the prison sentences handed down to three Al Jazeera journalists by an Egyptian court earlier this year demonstrated. Detained and jailed simply for doing their jobs as reporters, the men could spend the next seven to 10 years behind bars. The international noise about their case has, so far, not led to their freedom.

We have been reflecting on the power that international recognition can have on individuals and organisations as we head towards the next Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Awards, now entering their 15th year. International awards are not just recognition that these people and groups are doing vital work. Nor does their value lie in them sitting, shiny and prominent, on a mantelpiece. Rather, their power lies in the same power harnessed by Rajab and Al Khawaja and countless others like them, in creating noise that, in some cases, can offer a degree of protection for winners and nominees alike. Rommy Mom, a 2014 nominee in the advocacy category of Index awards, tells how shortly after the international and local media covered his work exposing corruption in his home state, a state from which he was forced to flee because of that work, the governor of that state contacted him to discuss the possibility of Mom returning. A previous journalism award winner, Azerbaijani reporter Idrak Abbasov, has said “Maybe the…award kept me from getting killed.” In each case, it is not the award itself that is the crucial element, but the knowledge it gives to authoritarian regimes that someone is watching them – and watching out for those they target.