Index on Censorship weekly news round-up
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Friday, 16 June 2023
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Photo: Maud Correa
The temperature is rising, and not just for former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. The heat has increased in the UK in more literal ways, leading the National Grid to fire up a coal power plant to create enough energy to power all our air-con units. The irony of this is lost on no-one, particularly environmental campaigners.
No, we haven’t gone off on an environmental tangent. There are plenty of free speech issues stemming from the climate crisis, as we have reported many times in the past. Yesterday morning some of the very people who are protesting dirty energy were dealt another blow. After Home Secretary Suella Braverman gave further clarification ([link removed]) that “serious disruption” included slow walking protests that block roads, the amendments to the Public Order Act, which further lowers the “serious disruption” threshold, came into effect. The Home Office said: “While the right to peaceful protest remains a cornerstone of our democracy, causing traffic to halt, delaying people getting to work and distracting the police from fighting crime will not be tolerated.”
Disruptive environmental groups have been targeted in government legislation before (à la the Public Order Bill policy paper’s specific reference to Extinction Rebellion), and this latest example is no different. Braverman said: “The public are sick of Just Stop Oil’s selfish and self-defeating actions, which achieve nothing towards their cause.”
Human rights barrister Adam Wagner, commissioned by Friends of the Earth, gave his legal opinion ([link removed]) on the matter, highlighting “serious implications for the right to freedom of speech and protest”. He said there will be a chilling effect on people who want to attend protests, “because people who are deciding whether to organise or attend a protest would not be able to predict with sufficient certainty whether the police are likely to impose conditions”. Human rights group Liberty, meanwhile, is launching a legal action ([link removed]) over the legislation, which they describe as being “brought in by the back door”.
Groups like Just Stop Oil do indeed divide opinion. But they cannot be used as an excuse to further erode public assembly and protest rights. Imagine a future controlled by the very worst of governments — now imagine how they could use this law.
Last week also was the anniversary of the deaths of British journalist Dom Phillips and Indigenous expert Bruno Pereira, who were killed while reporting in Brazil’s Javari Valley in the Amazon last year. There were memorials across the world. At an event at Rich Mix in London, people not only remembered their lives, they also shone a light on the threats that Indigenous people continue to face in the Javari Valley, as they stand in defence of the rainforest.
Back in autumn 2021 ([link removed]) our special report examined the silencing of the planet’s Indigenous peoples. We reported on how environmental defenders in Ecuador ([link removed]) were criminalised, threatened and attacked and Australia’s history of selective listening ([link removed]) when it comes to First Nations voices. Indigenous communities are just as at risk now as they were then — and as they have been for centuries.
As the mercury levels keep going up globally and defenders of the planet keep raising their voices, we have not forgotten about the threats they face, and the importance of their voices being heard.
Katie Dancey-Downs
Assistant editor
** Maria Ressa: “Journalism research has no integrity if it endangers journalists at risk”
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Index editor-at-large Martin Bright digs into an argument this week between two pillars of journalism — Oxford University’s Reuters Institute and Nobel peace laureate Maria Ressa. A report from the Reuters Institute has placed Ressa’s Rappler as the least trusted media outlet in the Philippines, and Ressa says it is based on flawed research that has been weaponised against them. Read the story here ([link removed]) .
** There is no right to be heard
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Photo: Priscilla du Preez
"I am often asked to explain what freedom of expression means by the people I meet," writes our CEO Ruth Anderson ([link removed]) . "After all, my role at Index is to protect and promote the fundamental human right of freedom of expression, especially with regards to writers, artists and scholars. In order to protect their rights, every day we defend the right of everyone to speak freely, to write, to create. Last week, someone asked for my opinion on whether the right to freedom of expression implies the freedom to be heard."
** Banned by Beijing | 27 June, London
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The Chinese Communist Party’s repression of human rights has been widely documented, from the Tiananmen Square Massacre to the Uyghur genocide in Xinjiang. But few realise that the CCP's repression extends far beyond its borders, including into Europe.
Banned by Beijing will highlight the CCP's transnational repression in Europe through an evening of art and performance. The event, which takes place on 27 June at St John's Church in Waterloo, London, will provide an opportunity for attendees to see and hear what the CCP have tried to repress.
Contributors to the event include Rahima Mahmut, director of the World Uyghur Congress (UK) and the lead vocalist of the London Silk Road Collective. Badiucao, the Chinese political cartoonist and human rights activist, Lumli Lumlong, a husband and wife painting duo, whose artwork focuses on social issues, particularly human rights and authoritarianism and vawongsir, a cartoonist and former secondary school visual arts teacher in Hong Kong.
Book your free tickets now. ([link removed])
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** From the archive
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** When your body belongs to the state
Jieun Baek
December 2018
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In light of the BBC’s important North Korea investigation this week, we’re looking back through our archive of stories from the country. This piece ([link removed]) by Jieun Baek, the granddaughter of North Korean defectors, examines the consequences of silence and myths around sex education
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Index on Censorship defends people's freedom to express themselves without fear of harm or persecution. We publish censored writers and artists, monitor and campaign against censorship, and encourage debate.
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