Friday, 14 November 2025
[link removed]

India's police suppress pollution protests

For years, many of the world’s most polluted cities were in China. I was in Beijing during the “airpocalyse” peak and it felt like living in an ashtray. Everyone could see the problem. Except not everyone could talk about it. The US Embassy’s popular and trusted air quality data feed - a constant source of irritation for the authorities, contradicting as it did the government’s own data - was sporadically blocked, including in 2014 during the Apec summit. Viral jokes, memes and photos posted on particularly bad days were frequently removed ([link removed]) .

Then in 2015 a documentary was produced. Under the Dome challenged the government’s inadequate response and confronted head on the line that what citizens were experiencing was simply fog. The film was initially endorsed by Beijing and within days of its release it had been viewed by hundreds of millions. Except its success was its flaw. One week in and the film was taken offline.

The thing about air though is that it largely doesn’t discriminate. Yes, the wealthy can buy top-of-the-range air filtration systems but eventually everyone needs to go outside. And so as much as the Chinese Communist Party might have felt uncomfortable by the popularity of the film, they felt more uncomfortable about the shoddy quality of the air. They acted. Today air quality in China is seismically better ([link removed]) than a decade prior.

There’s a sense of déjà vu looking at India today. In Delhi, where pollution ([link removed]) now kills more people than obesity or diabetes, residents are frustrated that they might not be getting the full truth – allegations have even been made that the BJP tamper with the city’s pollution data, claims they have denied. And the population is frustrated that the government is doing little to deal with the issue. So last weekend a protest was planned. A striking poster for it read “We Rise While We Choke”, accompanied by a picture of a two people in heavy-duty masks embracing. The protest didn’t go as planned. In the days leading up to it, Delhi police made hundreds of calls and home visits to those who were galvanising crowds. On the day itself, the police shut down India Gate, the meeting point, and detained close to 100 protesters. The next day, a police case was filed against the organisers.

One of the main organisers of Sunday's protest, Saurav Das, told Index that the police's actions were "completely uncalled for".

India has form more broadly when it comes to threatening people speaking out on the climate. In Tamil Nadu in 2018 police fired into crowds of protesters who were opposing the expansion of a copper smelting plant, killing 13. In 2021 Disha Ravi, a founder of Fridays for Future India, was arrested and accused of sedition. These are just two examples in a pattern of increasingly hostile and dangerous conditions for environmental defenders under Narendra Modi.

For Das, Sunday's protest "was a small act of resistance against the taking away of their democratic spaces".

Free speech should not be a luxury. Nor should clean air. The sooner Indian politicians realise this the better.

Jemimah Steinfeld

CEO, Index on Censorship


** The best of Index this week
------------------------------------------------------------

History is being written by the AI victors ([link removed])

Erasing inconvenient truths isn’t new but technology is making it so much easier ([link removed])

Index demands immediate release of Algerian Hirak poet Mohamed Tadjadit ([link removed])

The authorities must drop all charges against the activist, who faces the death penalty ([link removed])

The UK Anti-SLAPP Coalition stands in solidarity with Dan Neidle ([link removed])

The tax expert and lawyer filed an application to have a legal action against him thrown out ([link removed])

[link removed]


** New report: From Survivor to Defendant
------------------------------------------------------------

A new report, From Survivor to Defendant: How the law is being weaponised to silence victims of sexual violence, by Index on Censorship reveals how survivors of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) in the UK and Ireland are being silenced through abusive legal actions known as strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs).
READ THE REPORT ([link removed])


** In case you missed it
------------------------------------------------------------

Mali TikTok influencer executed by Islamist fighters

Malian TikToker Mariam Cissé ([link removed]) , who expressed support for the country's armed forces in their fight against Islamist militants, was executed in the town of Tonka ([link removed]) on 7 November. The 20-year-old was abducted the day before and murdered in front of Tonka’s residents as a warning for others who might support the Malian army.

Chinese intimidation shutters US film festival

In a daring act of transnational repression, Chinese harassment ([link removed]) of participants led to a New York Film festival being cancelled only two days before it was set to begin.

The IndieChina Film Festival ([link removed]) was scheduled for 8-15 November, and was intended to showcase independent Chinese filmmakers. China has long been known for its attempt to censor the arts abroad. Index covered China's interference in an exhibition in Thailand curated by Burmese artist Sai here ([link removed]) .

Lithuania closes door on exiled Russian rapper

Lithuania has banned controversial Russian rapper Morgenshtern from entering the country for the next 10 years ([link removed]) , putting a stop to a planned concert in the capital Vilnius this month.

Morgenshtern has a rocky history in Russia. In 2022 the rapper opposed the Russian invasion of Ukraine, releasing the anti-war single ‘12’ ([link removed]) which led the government to deem him a foreign agent ([link removed]) . He has lived in exile since 2021.


** Flashback
------------------------------------------------------------
[link removed]

A Lesson in Tyranny ([link removed])

by Boualem Sansal ([link removed])

Volume 40, Issue 4 ([link removed])

Yesterday, the Algerian authorities announced that writer Boualem Sansal would be released from prison after a year behind bars. The writer, a long-time critic of the Algerian government, was arrested almost a year ago upon entering the country.

In honour of his freedom, we revisit a piece written by Sansal for Index in 2011 looking at the violent history of Algeria and the various methods in which first the French and then the Algerian government oppressed the people. Read more here. ([link removed])


** Support our work
------------------------------------------------------------

The world is becoming more authoritarian and our work calling out human rights abuses and promoting freedom of expression in countries such as India, Algeria and the UK has never been more important.

By supporting Index on Censorship today, you can help us in our work with censored artists, jailed musicians, journalists under threat and dissidents facing torture or worse.

Please donate today ([link removed])

Photos by: (Delhi Police detain social activists) David White/Unsplash; (Boualem Sansal) Christoph Rieger / CC BY-SA 4.0

[link removed]
[link removed]
[link removed]

View in browser ([link removed])

Copyright (C) 2025 Index on Censorship. All rights reserved.
You are receiving this email because you signed up for Index on Censorship's weekly newsletter.

Our mailing address is:
Index on Censorship
3rd Floor
86-90 Paul Street
London, EC2A 4NE
United Kingdom
Want to change how you receive these emails?

You can update your preferences ([link removed]) or unsubscribe ([link removed])