Abstract
Mouad “El Haqed” Belghouat, winner of the Index Freedom of Expression arts award, performs during the ceremony
Photo by Alex Brenner
Khorsandi was hosting the Index awards at London’s Barbican in March. During the evening she spoke about her family’s experiences. Her father Hadi, who contributed to Index on Censorship magazine in the 1980s, is a satirist, and his work led to him being exiled from his home country of Iran. He moved with his family, including Shappi, to Britain in 1979, where he still received threats against his life. This year’s award winners included: Saudi Arabian documentary maker Safa Al Ahmad and Angolan journalist Rafael Marques de Morais (journalism); Moroccan rapper Mouad “El Haqed” Belghouat (arts); Tamás Bodoky who manages Hungarian investigative news site Atlatszo.hu (digital); and Kenyan women’s rights activist Amran Abdundi (campaigning). A special award was presented to journalists and activists facing persecution in Azerbaijan.
On display in The Barbican during the evening were specially commissioned cartoons on free expression themes by artists from around the world. You can view the cartoons and the inspiring stories of all 17 shortlisted nominees at www.indexoncensorship.org/awards2015.
Following the publication of the latest issue of Index on Censorship magazine, with its special report on refugees, Index and Counterpoints Arts staged a discussion on how refugees are represented in literature called Whose Story is it Anyway? Speakers included authors Tim Finch, Chris Cleave and Nadifa Mohamed, and poet and playwright Zodwa Nyoni.
Index recently appointed its third youth advisory board. The board is open to 16 to 25-year-olds, who are interested in freedom of expression and meets once a month online, to discuss current issues.
May marked the one-year anniversary of Index’s Mapping Media Freedom project. The project monitors the threats to media freedom across Europe, and on the day of its one year anniversary, 24 May, had over 770 reports. You can view the project at mediafreedom.ushahidi.com.
The official launch of Index’s spring magazine was held in May at the Hay Festival. As part of the launch Index held a lively debate entitled Diss My Mother: Expect A Punch; the panel included The Times columnist and Index chair David Aaronovitch; Turkish author Elif Shafak; writer and academic Sarah Churchwell, and Index magazine editor Rachael Jolley. The debate discussed the nature of offence, and the limits of free speech and civility.
In March, Index CEO Jodie Ginsberg joined groups including Article 19 and UNESCO in Copenhagen to discuss ways to tackle journalist safety and impunity. Ginsberg returned to the city in April, where she moderated a panel discussion at the WAN-IFRA Global Media Freedom Conference.
On 3 May, Ginsberg travelled to Beirut where she joined the Samir Kassir Foundation to discuss the defence of press freedom. Kassir was one of Lebanon’s best-known journalists and historians; he was assassinated in a car bomb attack in Beirut in 2005.
In April, senior advocacy officer Melody Patry joined the judges and winners of this year’s Belarus in Focus competition in Warsaw, as part of a week’s training offered to the winners. The competition recognises high-quality, independent reporting on Belarus from local and international journalists.
On 14 May, Index hosted an evening with Malaysian cartoonist Zulkiflee Anwar Haque, aka Zunar, at the Free Word Centre in London.
At the time of going to print, Zunar faced nine charges under Malaysia’s sedition act in a trial which began a week after the event, if upheld he could face up to 43 years in prison; he was visiting London to raise awareness of the situation for him and his peers in his home country, and discussed his story with British political cartoonist and Index contributor Martin Rowson.
Zunar also took the opportunity to launch his recent book Ros in Kankong Land, the official launch of which has been repeatedly barred in Malaysia. The evening culminated in both cartoonists putting pen to paper to depict the corruption of the Malaysian regime.
©Aimée Hamilton