The latest on threats to freedom of expression around the world

[link removed]
[link removed] Donate ([link removed])
[link removed] Subscribe ([link removed])
Friday, 27 January 2023
[link removed]
Photo: An unknown prisoner from the "Gypsy family camp" in Auschwitz/Auschwitz.org

It would be hard to start this week's newsletter without acknowledging today's date - 27 January. It was this day in 1945 that Auschwitz Birkenau, the biggest and most infamous concentration and death camp, was liberated. This was not, sadly, the end of the road. Many of those who were freed that day went on to die shortly after from complications due to being in a camp geared towards killing. It was also not the end of the road because the hatred that built the train tracks to the camps exists still today. It exists in the shadows, in the conspiracy theories that permeate the dark web, and it exists in daylight. Across the world minorities continue to be openly attacked purely because of who they are. It is a theme that our CEO Ruth Anderson reflects on in her weekly blog ([link removed]) .

We spend a lot of time talking about the Uyghurs, and for good reason. The camps that China has built in Xinjiang are as close to Auschwitz as we have seen since 1945. Less talked about is the awful treatment of Muslims in India. Perhaps that will change. News this week of a BBC documentary on India's current leader Narendra Modi being banned ([link removed]) in India has likely led to more people wanting to watch it and discovering just how autocratic and hateful his country is becoming. The first part of the documentary looks at Modi’s actions during the Gujarat riots in 2002, when nearly 1,000 Muslims died. The BBC uncovered a report from the British government criticising Modi's conduct (he was chief minister of Gujarat at the time), which found that the riots had “all the hallmarks of an ethnic cleansing”. That was in 2002. Today it's even less safe to be Muslim, as Somak Ghoshal reported for
us here ([link removed]) .

The Nazis tried to cover their tracks - they burnt documents and blew up crematoria; Xi Jinping tries to cover his tracks - just ask the few international news crews who have been to Xinjiang; and Modi tries to cover his tracks, even arresting students who want to watch the documentary. We can't let these people get away with both the crimes and deleting knowledge of the crimes. We won't.

It can be hard to keep on speaking out when everywhere seems to be taking a downward turn, but this week we have edged closer to one victory. Following an incredible investigation ([link removed]) by openDemocracy into how the UK government helped a sanctioned oligarch sue a British journalist, SLAPPs are once again in the headlines and chatter amongst MPs to legislate against them has grown. Read why ([link removed]) they're so damaging. Will 2023 be the year the UK finally rids itself of dirty money? We really hope so.

An added bonus: if the UK does stop SLAPPs it might help the country climb up our just launched global freedom ranking index - the Index Index ([link removed]) . The UK scored woefully low within Europe, ranking as only “partially open” in every key area measured. It joined countries such as Botswana, Czechia, Greece, Moldova, Panama, Romania, South Africa and Tunisia. The poorest performing countries across all metrics, ranked as “closed”, were predictably Bahrain, Belarus, Burma/Myanmar, China, Cuba, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Eswatini, Laos, Nicaragua, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, South Sudan, Syria, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates and Yemen. Rwanda was ranked as significantly restricted, which we're highlighting in light of the last remaining independent journalist dying last week under suspicious circumstances. Read more about John Williams Ntwali here ([link removed]) .

Signing off with a request to not just never forget but to keep on fighting for freedoms.
[link removed]


** Happy birthday Andrei Aliaksandrau:
You'll never walk alone
------------------------------------------------------------
[link removed]
Today, 27 January, our former Index colleague Andrei would normally be celebrating his birthday, but this year is another one spent in jail thanks to his opposition to the regime of dictator Alyaksandr Lukashenka in Belarus. Here, we report ([link removed]) on the latest news from detention and share birthday wishes from his friends.


** Watch now: Crown Confidential launch
------------------------------------------------------------
[link removed]
Are the British Royal Family the real enemies of history? Over the decades they have actively suppressed uncomfortable narratives about themselves. Hundreds of files in the national and royal archives remain inaccessible to the general public, files that many would argue are of public interest. The result? Holes in our country's history.

These are some of the conclusions from an investigation into royal historical censorship for the new Winter issue of Index on Censorship. Watch the recording of the magazine's launch event with Philip Murphy ([link removed]) , director of History and Policy ([link removed]) at the Institute of Historical Research and author of Queen Elizabeth and the Commonwealth: Time to Open the Archives ([link removed]) ; Anna Whitelock ([link removed]) , Professor of the History of Monarchy at City, University of London and Director of the Centre for the Study of Modern Monarchy; Anne Sebba ([link removed]) , Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Historical Research and author of That Woman ([link removed]) and chaired by Jemimah Steinfeld, editor-in-chief at Index on Censorship.
[link removed]


** From the archive
------------------------------------------------------------


** Memory and forgetting
Stanley Cohen
January 2001
------------------------------------------------------------

The past is a battleground of competing histories. How can we discover truth in it? And can investigative journalists, who are writing the 'history of the present', fight governments who deny events are happening? Read on ([link removed])
Help support Index on Censorship ([link removed])
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 ([link removed]) to Index you help us to protect freedom of expression and to support those who are denied that right.
[link removed] ([link removed])

============================================================
Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can ** update your preferences ([link removed])
or ** unsubscribe from this list ([link removed])

INDEX ON CENSORSHIP © COPYRIGHT 2023
** Privacy and Cookie Policy ([link removed])