Friday, 11 September 2020

Uighur genocide: time to say "enough is enough"

Rushan Abbas (centre) and others at a protest in the USA to raise awareness about the treatment of Uighurs. Abbas is the founder and executive director of the non-profit Campaign for Uyghurs

This week, British Member of Parliament Shabana Mahmood delivered a speech about the genocide of the Uighur people from the Chinese province of Xinjiang.

“The Chinese government continue unhindered with a campaign of what can only accurately be described as genocide, but where we should expect leadership and action, there is only a yawning void,” she said.

Governments need to act but what can individuals do?

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"I won't be watching Mulan. I stand with the Uighurs": Ruth Smeeth

Disney's latest film release, a live action remake of its 1998 animated movie Mulan, has been causing a lot of soul-searching among free speech advocates.

First the film's lead actor came out in support of the actions of the Hong Kong police in recent protests. It then turned out that the movie was filmed in part in Xinjiang, home of the majority Muslim Uighur community. We have been learning recently that it is also the site of numerous concentration camps, where women are being forcibly sterilised, piles of human hair are being collected, people are being disappeared and the term re-education has become code for the eradication of any cultural identity that does not subscribe to the Beijing norm.

Read why our CEO Ruth Smeeth will not be watching the movie in her weekly blog for Index.

Index concern at Dublin Inquirer legal action

Photo: Adam Jones, Ph.D./Global Photo Archive/Flickr

Index on Censorship has written to the Council of Europe to voice concern about legal action that is being taken against the Irish independent news outlet, the Dublin Inquirer, its co-founder Sam Tranum, and its reporter Laoise Neylon.

The publication is facing a defamation lawsuit for an article it published on its website on 26 August, which reported on an eviction that had taken place in Glasnevin the previous week.

We believe that this legal action is a Strategic Lawsuit against Public Participation (Slapp), intended to intimidate and silence an independent media outlet that is reporting in the public interest. Read about the case.

As part of Banned Books Week 2020 – an annual celebration of the freedom to read – Index is partnering with the Royal Society of Literature, the British Library and English PEN to bring you two virtual events. On 29 September, Sharmaine Lovegrove will lead a panel discussion taking stock of the commitments to inclusion and representation that have been made in publishing over the last few months (register for free tickets here). On 30 September, Indian feminist writer Urvashi Butalia, poet Rachel Long and award-winning British-Turkish novelist Elif Shafak discuss what ‘freedom’ means in the culture of traditional publishing.

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.

We rely on donations from readers and supporters. By donating to Index you help us to protect freedom of expression and to support those who are denied that right.