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The magazine’s special report Spies, Secrets and Lies was launched on 13 October at London’s Frontline Club, with a thought-provoking debate chaired by Index’s editor, Rachael Jolley, where Einashe was joined by award-winning British investigative journalist Stephen Grey, Chinese fiction writer Xiaolu Guo and associate editor of The Observer Robert McCrum. The panel explored how technological advances have changed the way we communicate, how censorship varies around the world and whether censorship is on the way out.
The audience was then invited to Soho to join Index and watch Malian band Songhoy Blues perform at the after-party of the world premiere of documentary They Will Have To Kill Us First. The film, directed by Johanna Schwartz, tells the story of the 2012 takeover of northern Mali by radical Islamists. Music was banned under sharia law and many musicians were forced into exile, including Songhoy Blues, who were nominees for the 2015 Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Awards.
The event launched the new Music in Exile fund, which is being run as a partnership between the filmmakers and Index to support artists unable to play safely in their homelands. The fund will form part of Index on Censorship’s Freedom of Expression Awards Fellowship, a year-long programme offering training in advocacy, fundraising, networking and digital security, and will help musicians sustain a career while facing reprisals for their work.
The call for nominations for the 16th annual Freedom of Expression Awards has, once again, attracted some incredible entries. The awards will take place at the Unicorn Theatre on 13 April 2016, with judges including Nigerian playwright and Nobel literature prize laureate Wole Soyinka; human rights barrister Kirsty Brimelow QC; Bahraini human rights activist and 2012 Index award winner Nabeel Rajab; vice president of Silicon Valley Bank Bindi Karia; and pianist James Rhodes, whose memoir was temporarily blocked from publication by a court injunction.
Malian musicians Songhoy Blues and director Johanna Schwartz show off a fake tattoo for They Will Have to Kill Us First at the documentary’s premiere during the London Film Festival in October
Credit: Laura Palmer
The winners – recognised for work in arts, campaigning, digital activism and journalism – will be invited to London for the ceremony and will also become awards fellows. The long list of nominees is now on our website, and the shortlist will be revealed in January.
Index has been elected to the leadership council of Ifex, a global network for freedom of expression groups. Index CEO Jodie Ginsberg attended the Ifex strategy conference in Trinidad in October, where she was selected to serve for the next two years. Index was also chosen to serve on the board of Global Network Initiative, a group bringing together companies and nonprofit groups in the technology sector to protect free expression.
Index’s latest Mapping Media Freedom report, which identifies media threats and violations throughout EU member states and neighbouring countries, was released in October, looking at data from May to September. The report found the top five offenders for media violations on the map were Turkey, Italy, Hungary, France and Croatia. It raised particular concerns about Turkey and the Balkans.
Index’s project officer Hannah Machlin presented the findings at the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe conference in Belgrade in October. She was joined by other academics and researchers to discuss how the digital era is affecting freedom of expression, privacy and journalists’ safety. Machlin said of the conference: “We discussed the increase in media violations that have occurred in reaction to the migrant crisis. We’ve seen a lot of violence, particularly on the Croatia-Hungary border.”
Back in September, Index magazine editor Rachael Jolley attended The Future of Politics conference in Conversano, Italy, where she discussed the question “Free speech is a fundamental human right and a central tenet of democracy. Or is it?” with Hungarian scholar and writer Péter Molnár. She said: “What was fascinating about being in Conversano was the opportunity to find out the reactions of editors and journalists from around Europe to issues around free expression, hate speech, refugees and the culture of banning discussions.”
In September, deputy magazine editor Vicky Baker attended an OSCE meeting in Vienna on countering online abuse of female journalists. She said: “Hearing stories first-hand brought home how frightening and isolating this can be, and why it needs to be addressed to stop victims self-censoring or quitting writing altogether.”
Index was also part of the inaugural literary festival at London’s Royal Botanical Gardens (Write on Kew); held a panel to discuss free speech, theatre and extremism at the Unicorn Theatre; and participated in a range of debates at the Cambridge Festival of Ideas.
And, finally, Index welcomed Malaysian cartoonist Zulkiflee Anwar Haque, known as Zunar, to London for his Cartoon-o-phobia tour. This saw him giving speeches and cartoon classes, and exhibiting work at the Cartoon Museum to bring attention to his court case, in which he could face 43 years’ imprisonment for his cartoons mocking the Malaysian government. The hearing was then postponed until 8 December after Zunar applied to the country’s high court to consider whether the sedition act is constitutional. As this magazine goes to press, Index awaited news of the outcome.