Friday, 09 October 2020

"Who is going to try to seize power?" Caroline Eden talks to Index from Kyrgyzstan

Kyrgyzstan has been plunged into chaos this week after parliamentary election results on Monday led to widescale protests throughout the country, which have seen the prime minister resign as a result.

Protests began as soon as the results were announced and quickly became violent, with protesters storming the parliament building and setting parts of it on fire. “By 9 o’clock there were the sounds of explosions and grenades,” said journalist and writer Caroline Eden in our interview with her, who has been watching the protests unfold from the capital city Bishkek. Listen to her interview here.

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We need to end the abuse around discussions of feminism and trans rights

All women, whether a successful novelist like JK Rowling or a struggling blogger expressing their gender identity, have a right to their opinions and a right to have those opinions heard.

Death threats, online bullying and attempts to undermine people’s careers are unacceptable. We stand against this censorship.

Read our CEO Ruth Smeeth's weekly blog post here.

What you missed from Banned Books Week

As the 2020 Banned Books Week comes to a close, we have a chance to reflect on the impact the initiative has had over the past 38 years, and consider the work we still need to do to ensure everyone is free to read.

There is still much work to be done, writes Leah Cross.

In July, Index on Censorship held a virtual round table to discuss what measures can be taken to protect journalists in Europe against strategic lawsuits against public participation (Slapps). These are vexatious legal threats and actions taken out by powerful people and are intended not to succeed in court but to saddle critics with prohibitively expensive, time-consuming, and nerve-wracking legal processes.

Read our new report Breaking the Silence on how journalists might regain their voices.

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.