The latest on threats to freedom of expression around the world

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Friday, 20 January 2023
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It is rare that we get to start our newsletter with good news and so it's with much satsifaction that we report on a victory for free expression in the Philippines. There Maria Ressa, herself a former Index awards judge, had her tax evasion charges thrown out on appeal. “Today, facts win. Truth wins. Justice wins,” Ressa told journalists outside the court in Manila. The Nobel prize winner and CEO of news network Rappler added: “These charges were politically motivated, they were incredible to us, a brazen abuse of power, and meant to stop journalists doing their jobs.”

We can't breathe easily just yet - Ressa still faces three more charges, which could carry prison sentences of up to 50 years. But as managing editor of Rappler and Index contributor Miriam Grace A. Go told ([link removed]) Index this week: “I had Rappler readers messaging me today, “We won!” Did you read that — WE. They consider this their victory. How can we drop what we’re doing if these people are, as we say, holding the line with us?” We'll take the small victory.

This Sunday marks the Lunar New Year and we would like to wish all our readers who celebrate it a very happy new year. Xīn nián kuài lè! Gong hei fat choy! Saehae bok mani badeuseyo! The Year of the Rabbit is the first year since 2020 in which people within China will be able to travel freely as the country emerges from three years of on-off lockdowns. The New Year is historically the largest human migration globally - hundreds of millions on the move all at once. The CCP is worried. They're already trying to downplay what the totally shambolic overnight abandonment of their Zero Covid policy means in terms of deaths (namely, way more than they're letting on). In their jumpiness they've gone one step further - they've decided to mandate happiness. Yes, you read correctly. Chinese cyber authorities announced yesterday ([link removed]) a crackdown on negative sentiments online. Sounding like a new aged weight-loss scheme, it's been named the “Spring
Festival online improvement” programme ([link removed]) and will run for approximately a month. The targets are those spreading what authorities deem to be “rumours” about Covid, including negative patient experiences, and general "gloomy sentiments". How effectively the gloominess part will be policed is beyond us.

The dropping of Covid restrictions was in part a response to the protests that dramatically erupted in November. The authorities were, as far as Beijing goes, quite light-handed in their response to those who took to the streets. However, they have now u-turned and are rounding people up, especially women protesters. Please watch this moving video here ([link removed]) from Cao Xinin, who recorded a message ahead of her own arrest. It's a worrying development and one made all the worse by the increasingly challenging media environment there, meaning information on the ground is harder to come by.

Pivoting to the UK, the new issue of our magazine is officially out this week. Its centrepiece is an investigation into how the UK's Royal Family censor their own history. Now we can't sit here and claim that our historians and journalists work under the dire conditions of many within our network, but their struggles are still real and our investigation has been eye-opening to say the least. Please have a read and also join us in our campaign to #EndRoyalSecrecy ([link removed]) . Also while we have you, outside of the report the magazine is jam-packed with fantastic articles, from Hanif Kureishi's speech for Salman Rushdie and Zinovy Zinik's mind-bending short story, to interviews with Alinejad Masih and Andrey Kurkov. If you don't already subscribe, pop over to Exact Editions ([link removed]) where we're offering a 50% discount on subscriptions with the code CROWNCONFIDENTIAL.
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** From the archive
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** Dirty industry, dirty tactics
Stephen Woodman
December 2019
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Environmental activists are living in fear for their lives and their livelihoods across Mexico, Peru and Brazil. Read more about the dangers of standing up for the planet here ([link removed]) .
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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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