Global Free Speech

Global Free Speech covers international stories and trends affecting the right to speak, publish, and share ideas across borders. From government crackdowns to grassroots movements, this category highlights the global fight for free expression in diverse political and cultural landscapes.

Contents War is brutal. During conflicts there is little time for art. Museums and theatres are flattened by bombs, a trend we have been covering in Index for some years now. On the ground, people often have more pressing concerns like finding food or repelling the enemy. But war can also inspire the most incredible artistic endeavour, as painters and poets are forced to look again at a fragile world and bear witness to the atrocities that warring parties would rather keep hidden. In this issue, Martin Bright talks to Magnum photographer and artist Nanna Heitmann about her work The Machinery of War, which presents uncomfortable truths about propaganda and the Ukraine war. As Salil Tripathi writes from the USA, writers and artists are able to discuss the Israel-Hamas war much more freely than they could during the Iraq war a quarter-century ago, and are less likely to face blanket censorship. After 9/11, Tripathi observes, George Bush essentially threw down the gauntlet. War is often talked about in stark black and white terms, but artists are able to give nuance. Maria Sorenson makes this point while highlighting work about war that has been censored in Russia, Belarus and Ukraine because it does not toe the official patriotic line. “Narrowing life into ideology, flattening human complexity into slogans, symbols and sanctioned truths is what propaganda does best. Art has always been – and still remains – one of the ways to resist that,” she writes. Enjoy the magazine. It has reports and discussions from around the world about how censorship works today, and about how brave artists continue to struggle to explain the complexity of the world Up Front The art of war: Sally GimsonArtists across the globe fight back against censors in times of war The Index: Mark StimpsonAll the latest free expression news, elections and people to watch Features Complacency, culture wars, and money troubles are killing theatre: Sally GimsonAn investigation into suppression of political theatre in the UK More haste, less free speech: Amy FallonThe phrases “globalise the intifada” is banned in Queensland Prove who you are: Sajad Hameed, Rehan Qayoom MirThe Kashmiri shawl sellers driven out of business for being Muslim AI brings the disappeared back to life: Amy BoothAI imagines the victims of Argentina’s military junta “Factually incorrect and dangerously one-sided”: how lawyers face down art: Freddie LoweHow the law is used against artists Putin’s Russia is policing women’s right to choose: Olga BorisovaRussia wants women to have children, if they want to or not The long reach of Rwanda: Martin PlautNowhere is out of reach of attacks by Kagame’s government Outwitting the censors: Mkhululi ChimoioThe artists censored in Africa for a quarter of a century The UK is a hunting ground for authoritarian regimes: Clive Stafford Smith, Roshaan KhattakTransnational repression, from Pakistan to Cambridge with love The monster unleashed Şener Özmen’s uncompleted story: Kaya Genç A profile of the Kurdish artist persecuted for his love of Tracey Emin The war in Sudan – artists and censorship: Danson KahyanaSudanese artists speak about their life in exile Ways of seeing – Iranian cinema’s struggle to reflect its country: Tara AghdashlooThe Iranian filmmakers fighting censorship, no matter the cost Art and anarchy in troubled times: Maria SorensenThe Ukrainian artists sticking it to the man Putting beauty – and brutality – in the eye of the beholder: Martin BrightThe War Is Peace? exhibition at Oslo’s Nobel Peace Centre Who gets to speak? American art and writing in times of war: Salil Tripathi Suppression of critical voices in the USA in the wake of 9/11 Comment Murdering the messenger: Oren PersicoThe reasons Israel killed more journalists than any other country last year Why can’t art be beautiful: Marc Nash A review of John Byrne’s Useful Art: How Activists Artists Can Change the World The secret world of royal finances: Norman Baker The Royal Family should be more open about money Taking a stance against the banning of books: Katie Dancey-DownsIndex investigates a Manchester school that banned twilight The wild west: Jemimah SteinfeldBanning Kanye West could be a slippery slope The power of a book: Sarah Wynn-WilliamsWynn-Williams’ acceptance speech, about fellow award-winner Virginia Giuffre Shadows called woman: Kaya Genç, Maryam RanjbariA painter detained multiple times for her paintings in Iran Culture Being queer in Ukraine – tales of citizenship and resistance: Connor O’Brien, J Lester FederWar, civic duty, and the desire of authoritarian regimes to suppress LGBTQ+ voices. Don’t forget the women of Afghanistan: Ruth Green, Marzia BabakarkhailThe author meets an exiled champion of women’s rights Unrequited love: Steve Komarnyckyj, Khrystia AlchevskaA romantic short story by poet Khrystia Alchevska More Tea?: Sophie TeaThe TikTok sensation talks about inclusivity in her art READ MORE

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Contents War is brutal. During conflicts there is little time for art. Museums and theatres are flattened by bombs, a…

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Photo: WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM/swiss-image.ch/Jolanda Flubacher Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition wants to impose what it calls “institutional neutrality” on the country’s universities. The proposals – which could become reality within a month – would prevent higher education institutions from taking political positions, organising strikes or suspending teaching in response to political developments. University presidents would themselves be barred from expressing views that might be perceived as political or could encourage others to be. All of which sounds more like “neuter” than “neutrality”. There’s a concession: lecturers and students can express themselves politically and “participate in public discourse” provided that the activity is done privately “and is not specific to the institution or done by virtue of their academic or administrative role and does not harm the institution’s regular activity”. These are very broad caveats, which will still leave people very exposed. There’s nothing subtle about these plans. They’re clearly designed to stop campuses mobilising against controversial government measures, of which in Netanyahu’s Israel there are now many. They will also chill academic freedom more broadly. After all, universities are not meant to be impartial spaces. They are meant to be intellectually independent and curious. They are meant to question orthodoxies, challenge power and create conditions in which difficult ideas can be tested. In the words of poet Stephen Spender in his op-ed that launched Index, “universities represent the developing international consciousness which depends so much on the free interchange of people, and of ideas.” Israeli academics understand the danger. One organisation opposing the proposals described them as “the essence of dictatorship, tyranny of silencing and instilling fear in those whose nature is independent thought”. They warned: “History will remember who was in positions of power and did not turn over every stone to prevent the elimination of Israeli academia and democracy.” This is not the first attack those within Israeli universities faced. As reported by our writer Akin Ajayi, Palestinian academics and students within Israel have already experienced harassment in various forms. This led to one person telling us “silence is the best option”. Then there’s the destruction of Gaza’s higher education system, which has been described by some as “scholasticide”. The assault is not confined to academia either. I read about the plans in Israel’s leading, left-leaning newspaper Haaretz. The following morning came news that the newspaper’s offices had been vandalised after a masked man threw a brick through its entrance. Haaretz has repeatedly been targeted, while only last week a similar attack struck Channel 12 News in Tel Aviv. In May this year, Israeli journalist Oren Persico wrote for us about how Israel’s targeting of Palestinian journalists had helped create an atmosphere in which Israeli journalists increasingly found themselves under attack too. His argument echoed Martin Niemöller’s famous warning: once repression becomes normalised against one group, it rarely stops there. Hence what we’re seeing in universities – both the continuation and the escalation of Netanyahu’s assault on freedom of expression. READ MORE

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Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition wants to impose what it calls “institutional neutrality” on the country’s universities. The proposals – which could…

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