Index on Censorship weekly round-up
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Friday, 17 May 2024
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A terrible week: Netiporn “Bung” Sanesangkhom, Robert Fico and Zhang Zhan. Photos: Facebook ([link removed]) /European Council ([link removed]) /Handout
Look at the annals of history and any assassination, or attempted assassination, typically triggers change for better or worse. And so it will likely be with Slovakia. We don't yet know the motives of the attempt on Slovak President Robert Fico's life ([link removed]) but it is likely free speech will suffer. Within hours of his shooting, several senior politicians from the ruling coalition lashed ([link removed]) out at independent media ([link removed]) and the liberal opposition. Journalists are scared. The aftermath of the shooting "might bring brutal measures against the media, civil society and the opposition parties," said Beata Balogová, the editor-in-chief of the newspaper SME.
Their fears have context. Fico—a stalwart of Slovakia's political scene—
has, since his return to office last year, been on a democracy-destroying mission. The Special Prosecutor’s Office, which was set up 20 years ago to investigate serious crime and corruption, has been abolished. The office was overseeing an investigation into the murder of journalist Ján Kuciak ([link removed]) and his fiancee Martina Kušnírová in 2018. Justice for the pair now looks even less likely. RTVS, the national broadcaster, is also to be shut down in June and replaced with a new body and new director. Fico said RTVS cannot be objective and so must be replaced but really what he meant was RTVS is too objective and must be replaced with something friendlier.
Europe is deeply divided. A London-based Lithuanian artist I met recently said she doesn't want to take her child back to her home country because of the now very visible military presence in case of a Russian invasion; other countries, including Slovakia, want to stop arming Ukraine. Across the continent violent threats against politicians have become commonplace. Meanwhile the war in Gaza has inflamed domestic politics, all the while increasing antisemitism and Islamophobia. At a time when we should be having more open and respectful dialogue we are instead shouting at each other, hurling abuse or, worse still, physically attacking those we deem opponents.
As said we don't yet know the motives behind Fico's attack and our thoughts are with him and his family. But it would be remiss to not take stock of the context within which his shooting happened. It is this introspection that is needed right now. Instead, we are being served the opposite - calls to shut down the very spaces where such open dialogue can happen. The authoritarian instinct is painfully predictable.
In other news this week the Chinese citizen journalist Zhang Zhan, who was arrested in May 2020 for her reporting on the Covid pandemic from Wuhan, has gone missing ([link removed]) . She was due to be released from prison on Monday. Five days on and not a peep has been heard from either her or her family. I spoke to a person behind the campaign to free her who said that even by Beijing's standards this is unusual. We are following the case closely and have been heartened by the international response so far. Nabila Massrali, EU spokesperson for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, said: "We are deeply concerned about her wellbeing, and reiterate our earlier concerns about her health. We urge the Chinese government to provide information on her status and to immediately confirm her release". The MP Fiona Bruce also spoke movingly yesterday at a Tiananmen event in parliament. She called Zhang
"a particularly brave young woman" and said people like her "are not forgotten".
Wrapping up a grim week, a protester has died in prison in Thailand ([link removed]) . Netiporn “Bung” Sanesangkhom, 28, was described as a formidable force within the Thai democracy movement. “Let there be reform of the justice process,” Netiporn said last year. “No one should be jailed for having political differences.” Jailed she was though, back in January.
Netiporn, who had been part of the nationwide 2020 youth-led protests in which millions of young Thais took to the streets to call for constitutional, democratic and military reforms, had been charged with royal defamation under the country's draconian lese-majeste ([link removed]) law. One of her "crimes" was to hold up a banner at a shopping mall in Bangkok that read: “Did the royal procession cause an inconvenience?”
From detention Netiporn went on a hunger strike to protest against the bail conditions faced by democracy protesters ([link removed]) . This Tuesday she died of cardiac arrest. That evening supporters held a candlelight vigil outside the Southern Bangkok Criminal Court.
In a letter of Netiporn's from prison back in March she wrote that being the daughter of a judge had made her realise that “this country doesn’t exist to serve small people’s justice.” May her memory be a blessing and may her words be a catalyst for change in Thailand.
Jemimah Steinfeld, editor-in-chief
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** How artificial intelligence is influencing elections in India
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Four days prior to the start of India’s general election, a video appeared on Instagram featuring the politician H Vasanthakumar. In the clip, Vasanthakumar voices support for his son Vijay Vasanth, a sitting Member of Parliament who is contesting the election. The trouble is that Vasanthakumar died in 2020 and the video is an AI-created deepfake, writes Hanan Zaffar ([link removed]) .
** Georgia’s foreign agent bill: an existential threat to democracy
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Tens of thousands of people have been protesting on the streets of Tbilisi against the proposed "foreign agent" law.
Photo: Jelger Groeneveld via Flickr (CC by 2.0 Deed) (http:// [link removed])
There are protests in the streets of the Georgian capital Tbilisi. A fierce battle is being waged, not with weapons, but with voices raised in unison against an outrageous and controversial “foreign agent” law, writes our CEO Ruth Anderson ([link removed]) .
** Exhibition | Censored Memories: 35 years since Tiananmen
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In recalling the events and protests of 1989 and the pro-democracy movements in China through memorabilia and artworks, Censored Memories aims to keep the memories alive. In reminding ourselves of these pivotal moments of history, we affirm our commitment to safeguarding the right to remember and to resisting the forces that seek to obliterate them.
The event will include an exhibition on censored memories featuring items and memorabilia from the 1989 student protests on display from the archives of Fengsuo Zhou and Humanitarian China, alongside contemporary artworks by Badiucao, Lumli Lumlong, Mei Yuk Wong and vawongsir. Click here to book a free ticket ([link removed]) .
** From the Index archives
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** Modi's singular vision for India
by Salil Tripathi
Spring 2022
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As Narendra Modi edges closer to what could be a third term in power, read our South Asia editor's overview ([link removed]) of what he has done to the rights landscape. "Modi is not to be revered as a democrat but feared as what can happen in a society that has lost its moorings along with its values," he writes.
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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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