Index on Censorship is an organization campaigning for

freedom of expression Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The right to freedom of expression has been recogni ...

, which produces a quarterly magazine of the same name from London. It is directed by the non-profit-making Writers and Scholars International, Ltd (WSI) in association with the UK-registered charity Index on Censorship (founded as the Writers and Scholars Educational Trust), which are both chaired by the British television broadcaster, writer and former politician

Trevor Phillips Sir Mark Trevor Phillips (born 31 December 1953) is a British writer, broadcaster and former politician who served as Chair of the London Assembly from 2000 to 2001 and from 2002 to 2003. He presented '' Trevor Phillips on Sunday'', a Sunda ...

. ''Index'' is based at 1 Rivington Place in central London. WSI was createdScammell, Michael (1984), "How Index on Censorship Started", in Theiner, George, ''They Shoot Writers, Don't They?'', London: Faber & Faber, pp. 19–28. . by poet

Stephen Spender Sir Stephen Harold Spender (28 February 1909 – 16 July 1995) was an English poet, novelist and essayist whose work concentrated on themes of social injustice and the class struggle. He was appointed Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry by the ...

, Oxford philosopher Stuart Hampshire, the publisher and editor of ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...

David Astor Francis David Langhorne Astor, CH (5 March 1912 – 7 December 2001) was an English newspaper publisher, editor of ''The Observer'' at the height of its circulation and influence, and member of the Astor family, "the landlords of New York". Ea ...

, and the writer and expert on the Soviet Union Edward Crankshaw. The founding editor of ''Index on Censorship'' was the critic and translator

Michael Scammell Michael Scammell (born 1935) is an English author, biographer and translator of Slavic literature. Education Michael Scammell was born in Lyndhurst, Hampshire, England, attended Brockenhurst Grammar School, and after two years working as a copy ...

(1972–1981), who still serves as a patron of the organisation.

Founding history

An Appeal from the USSR

The original impetus for the creation of ''Index on Censorship'' came from an Open Letter addressed "To World Public Opinion" by two Soviet dissenters,

Pavel Litvinov Pavel Mikhailovich Litvinov (russian: Па́вел Миха́йлович Литви́нов; born 6 July 1940) is a Russian-born U.S. physicist, writer, teacher, human rights activist and former Soviet-era dissident. Biography The grandson of ...

and

Larisa Bogoraz Larisa Iosifovna Bogoraz (russian: Лари́са Ио́сифовна Богора́з(-Брухман), full name: Larisa Iosifovna Bogoraz-Brukhman, Bogoraz was her father's last name, Brukhman her mother's, August 8, 1929 – April 6, 20 ...

. In the words of the

samizdat Samizdat (russian: самиздат, lit=self-publishing, links=no) was a form of dissident activity across the Eastern Bloc in which individuals reproduced censored and underground makeshift publications, often by hand, and passed the document ...

periodical ''

A Chronicle of Current Events ''A Chronicle of Current Events'' (russian: Хро́ника теку́щих собы́тий, ''Khronika tekushchikh sobytiy'') was one of the longest-running ''samizdat'' periodicals of the post-Stalin USSR. This unofficial newsletter reported v ...

'', they described "the atmosphere of illegality" surrounding the January 1968 trial of Ginzburg and Galanskov and called for "public condemnation of this disgraceful trial, for the punishment of those responsible, the release of the accused from detention and a retrial which would fully conform with the legal regulations and be held in the presence of international observers." (One of the accused

Alexander Ginzburg Alexander "Alik" Ilyich Ginzburg ( rus, Алекса́ндр Ильи́ч Ги́нзбург, p=ɐlʲɪkˈsandr ɨˈlʲjidʑ ˈɡʲinzbʊrk, a=Alyeksandr Il'yich Ginzburg.ru.vorb.oga; 21 November 1936 – 19 July 2002), was a Russian journalist ...

resumed his dissident activities on release from the camps, until expelled from the USSR in 1979; another, the writer

Yuri Galanskov Yuri Timofeyevich Galanskov (russian: Ю́рий Тимофе́евич Галанско́в, 19 June 1939, Moscow - 4 November 1972, Mordovia) was a Russian poet, historian, human rights activist and dissident. For his political activities, suc ...

, died in a camp in November 1972.) ''The Times'' (London) published a translation of the Open Letter and in reply the English poet

composed a brief telegram:

“We, a group of friends representing no organisation, support your statement, admire your courage, think of you and will help in any way possible.”

Among the other 15 British and US signatories were the poet

W. H. Auden Wystan Hugh Auden (; 21 February 1907 – 29 September 1973) was a British-American poet. Auden's poetry was noted for its stylistic and technical achievement, its engagement with politics, morals, love, and religion, and its variety in ...

, philosopher

A. J. Ayer Sir Alfred Jules "Freddie" Ayer (; 29 October 1910 – 27 June 1989), usually cited as A. J. Ayer, was an English philosopher known for his promotion of logical positivism, particularly in his books '' Language, Truth, and Logic'' (1936) ...

, musician

Yehudi Menuhin Yehudi or Jehudi (Hebrew: יהודי, endonym for Jew) is a common Hebrew name: * Yehudi Menuhin (1916–1999), violinist and conductor ** Yehudi Menuhin School, a music school in Surrey, England ** Who's Yehoodi?, a catchphrase referring to the v ...

, man of letters

J. B. Priestley John Boynton Priestley (; 13 September 1894 – 14 August 1984) was an English novelist, playwright, screenwriter, broadcaster and social commentator. His Yorkshire background is reflected in much of his fiction, notably in ''The Good Compa ...

, actor

Paul Scofield David Paul Scofield (21 January 1922 – 19 March 2008) was a British actor. During a six-decade career, Scofield achieved the US Triple Crown of Acting, winning an Academy Awards, Academy Award, Emmy Award, Emmy, and Tony Award, Tony for his ...

, sculptor

Henry Moore Henry Spencer Moore (30 July 1898 – 31 August 1986) was an English artist. He is best known for his semi- abstract monumental bronze sculptures which are located around the world as public works of art. As well as sculpture, Moore produced ...

, philosopher

Bertrand Russell Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970) was a British mathematician, philosopher, logician, and public intellectual. He had a considerable influence on mathematics, logic, set theory, linguistics, ...

, writer Mary McCarthy and composer

Igor Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (6 April 1971) was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor, later of French (from 1934) and American (from 1945) citizenship. He is widely considered one of the most important and influential composers of the ...

. Later that year, on 25 August, Bogoraz, Litvinov and five others demonstrated on

Red Square Red Square ( rus, Красная площадь, Krasnaya ploshchad', ˈkrasnəjə ˈploɕːətʲ) is one of the oldest and largest squares in Moscow, the capital of Russia. Owing to its historical significance and the adjacent historical build ...

against the

invasion of Czechoslovakia The Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia refers to the events of 20–21 August 1968, when the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic was jointly invaded by four Warsaw Pact countries: the Soviet Union, the Polish People's Republic, the People's Rep ...

. A few weeks before, Litvinov sent Spender a letter (translated and published several years later in the first May 1972 issue of ''Index''). He suggested that a regular publication might be set up in the West "to provide information to world public opinion about the real state of affairs in the USSR".

Title, scope and relations with Amnesty International

Spender and his colleagues, Stuart Hampshire, David Astor, Edward Crankshaw and founding editor Michael Scammell decided, like Amnesty International, to cast their net wider. They wished to document patterns of censorship in right-wing dictatorships — the military regimes of Latin America and the dictatorships in Greece, Spain and Portugal — as well as the Soviet Union and its satellites. Meanwhile, in 1971,

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...

began to publish English translations of each new issue of ''

'', which documented human rights abuses in the USSR and included a regular "Samizdat Update". In a recent interview, Michael Scammell explains the informal division of labour between the two London-based organisations: "When we received human rights material we forwarded it to Amnesty and when Amnesty received a report of censorship they passed it on to us". Originally, as suggested by Scammell, the magazine was to be called ''Index'', a reference to the lists or indices of banned works that are central to the history of censorship: the Roman Catholic Church's

Index Librorum Prohibitorum The ''Index Librorum Prohibitorum'' ("List of Prohibited Books") was a list of publications deemed heretical or contrary to morality by the Sacred Congregation of the Index (a former Dicastery of the Roman Curia), and Catholics were forbidden ...

(Index of Forbidden Books); the Soviet Union's ''Censor's Index''; and apartheid South Africa's ''Jacobsens Index of Objectionable Literature''. Scammell later admitted that the words "on censorship" were added as an afterthought when it was realised that the reference would not be clear to many readers. "Panicking, we hastily added the words 'on Censorship' as a subtitle", wrote Scammell in the December 1981 issue of the magazine, "and this it has remained ever since, nagging me with its ungrammaticality (Index ''of'' Censorship, surely) and a standing apology for the opacity of its title." Describing the organisation's objectives at its inception, Stuart Hampshire said:

"the tyrant's concealments of oppression and of absolute cruelty should always be challenged. There should be noise of publicity outside every detention centre and concentration camp and a published record of every tyrannical denial of free expression."

The magazine

''Index on Censorship'' magazine was founded by Michael Scammell in 1972. It supports free expression, publishing distinguished writers from around the world, exposing suppressed stories, initiating debate, and providing an international record of censorship. The quarterly editions of the magazine usually focus on a country or region or a recurring theme in the global free expression debate. ''Index on Censorship'' also publishes short works of fiction and poetry by notable new writers. ''Index Index'', a round-up of abuses of freedom of expression worldwide, was published in the magazine until December 2008. While the original inspiration to create Index came from Soviet dissidents, from its outset the magazine covered censorship in right-wing dictatorships then ruling Greece and Portugal, the military regimes of Latin America, and the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

and its satellites. The magazine has covered other challenges facing free expression, including religious extremism, the rise of nationalism, and

Internet censorship Internet censorship is the legal control or suppression of what can be accessed, published, or viewed on the Internet. Censorship is most often applied to specific internet domains (such as Wikipedia.org) but exceptionally may extend to all Int ...

. In the first issue of May 1972, Stephen Spender wrote:

"Obviously there is the risk of a magazine of this kind becoming a bulletin of frustration. However, the material by writers which is censored in Eastern Europe, Greece, South Africa and other countries is among the most exciting that is being written today. Moreover, the question of censorship has become a matter of impassioned debate; and it is one which does not only concern totalitarian societies."

Accordingly, the magazine has sought to shed light on other challenges facing free expression, including religious extremism, the rise of nationalism, and internet censorship. Issues are usually organised by theme, and contain a country-by-country list of recent cases involving censorship, restrictions on

freedom of the press Freedom of the press or freedom of the media is the fundamental principle that communication and expression through various media, including printed and electronic News media, media, especially publication, published materials, should be conside ...

and other

free speech Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The rights, right to freedom of expression has been ...

violations. Occasionally, ''Index on Censorship'' publishes short works of fiction and poetry by notable new writers as well as censored ones. Over the half century it has been in existence, ''Index on Censorship'' has presented works by some of the world's most distinguished writers and thinkers, including

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn. (11 December 1918 – 3 August 2008) was a Russian novelist. One of the most famous Soviet dissidents, Solzhenitsyn was an outspoken critic of communism and helped to raise global awareness of political repress ...

Milan Kundera Milan Kundera (, ; born 1 April 1929) is a Czech writer who went into exile in France in 1975, becoming a naturalised French citizen in 1981. Kundera's Czechoslovak citizenship was revoked in 1979, then conferred again in 2019. He "sees himself ...

Václav Havel Václav Havel (; 5 October 193618 December 2011) was a Czech statesman, author, poet, playwright, and former dissident. Havel served as the last president of Czechoslovakia from 1989 until the dissolution of Czechoslovakia in 1992 and then as ...

Nadine Gordimer Nadine Gordimer (20 November 192313 July 2014) was a South African writer and political activist. She received the 1991 Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel Prize in Literature in 1991, recognized as a writer "who through her magnificent epic writin ...

Salman Rushdie Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie (; born 19 June 1947) is an Indian-born British-American novelist. His work often combines magic realism with historical fiction and primarily deals with connections, disruptions, and migrations between Eastern and Wes ...

Doris Lessing Doris May Lessing (; 22 October 1919 – 17 November 2013) was a British-Zimbabwean novelist. She was born to British parents in Iran, where she lived until 1925. Her family then moved to Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), where she remain ...

Arthur Miller Arthur Asher Miller (October 17, 1915 – February 10, 2005) was an American playwright, essayist and screenwriter in the 20th-century American theater. Among his most popular plays are '' All My Sons'' (1947), ''Death of a Salesman'' ( ...

Noam Chomsky Avram Noam Chomsky (born December 7, 1928) is an American public intellectual: a linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian, social critic, and political activist. Sometimes called "the father of modern linguistics", Chomsky is ...

, and

Umberto Eco Umberto Eco (5 January 1932 – 19 February 2016) was an Italian medievalist, philosopher, semiotician, novelist, cultural critic, and political and social commentator. In English, he is best known for his popular 1980 novel ''The Name of the ...

. Issues under the editorship of Rachael Jolley have covered taboos, the legacy of the

Magna Carta (Medieval Latin for "Great Charter of Freedoms"), commonly called (also ''Magna Charta''; "Great Charter"), is a royal charter of rights agreed to by King John of England at Runnymede, near Windsor, on 15 June 1215. First drafted by the ...

and

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

's enduring legacy in protest. There have been special issues on China, reporting from the Middle East, and on internet censorship. The Russia issue (January 2008) won an

Media Award 2008 for features by Russian journalists

Fatima Tlisova Fatima Tlis or Tlisova (; born 1966) is a Russian-American investigative journalist, researcher and expert on Russia. Life in Russia Fatima Tlis graduated from , Russia, with a Master of Arts degree in Russian language and literature. Refuge ...

and Sergei Bachinin, and veteran Russian free speech campaigner Alexei Simonov, founder of the

Glasnost Defence Foundation Glasnost Defense Foundation is a non-profit organization with the stated goals of the defense of journalists, journalism, and freedom of expression in Russia. Its president is Alexei Simonov, a member of the Moscow Helsinki Group and the Presiden ...

. Since January 2010 it has been published by

Sage Publications SAGE Publishing, formerly SAGE Publications, is an American independent publishing company founded in 1965 in New York by Sara Miller McCune and now based in Newbury Park, California. It publishes more than 1,000 journals, more than 800 books ...

, an independent for-profit academic publisher. Between 2005 and 2009, the magazine was published and distributed by

Routledge Routledge () is a British multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanities, behavioural science, education, law, and ...

, part of the

Taylor & Francis Taylor & Francis Group is an international company originating in England that publishes books and academic journals. Its parts include Taylor & Francis, Routledge, F1000 (publisher), F1000 Research or Dovepress. It is a division of Informa ...

group. In addition to print and annual subscriptions, ''Index on Censorship'' is available on

Exact Editions Exact Editions is an integrated content management platform for magazine and book publishers. It was launched in 2005 by Adam Hodgkin, Daryl Rayner and Tim Bruce. The platform expanded from a web-based subscription service into developing brande ...

, an application for the iPhone/iPad and Android. It is also a partner with

Eurozine ''Eurozine '' is a network of European cultural magazines based in Vienna, linking up more than 90 partner journals and just as many associated magazines and institutions from nearly all European countries. ''Eurozine'' is also an online magazine ...

, a network of more than 60 European cultural journals.

Publishing landmarks

Other landmark publications include

Ken Saro-Wiwa Kenule Beeson "Ken" Saro-Wiwa (10 October 1941 – 10 November 1995) was a Nigerian writer, television producer, and environmental activist. Ken Saro-Wiwa was a member of the Ogoni people, an ethnic minority in Nigeria whose homeland, Ogonilan ...

's writings from prison (Issue 3/1997) and a translation of the Czechoslovak

Charter 77 Charter 77 (''Charta 77'' in Czech and Slovak) was an informal civic initiative in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic from 1976 to 1992, named after the document Charter 77 from January 1977. Founding members and architects were Jiří Něm ...

manifesto drafted by

and others in Issue 3/1977. Index published the first English translation of Alexander Solzhenitsyn's Nobel Prize acceptance speech. ''Index on Censorship'' published the stories of the "

disappeared An enforced disappearance (or forced disappearance) is the secret abduction or imprisonment of a person by a state or political organization, or by a third party with the authorization, support, or acquiescence of a state or political organi ...

" in

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

and the work of banned poets in

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

; the work of Chinese poets who escaped the massacres that ended the

Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 The Tiananmen Square protests, known in Chinese as the June Fourth Incident (), were student-led demonstrations held in Tiananmen Square, Beijing during 1989. In what is known as the Tiananmen Square Massacre, or in Chinese the June Fourth ...

. ''Index on Censorship'' has a long history of publishing writers in translation, including

Bernard-Henri Lévy Bernard-Henri Lévy (; ; born 5 November 1948) is a French public intellectual. Often referred to in France simply as BHL, he was one of the leaders of the " Nouveaux Philosophes" (New Philosophers) movement in 1976. His opinions, political acti ...

, Ivan Klima, Ma Jian and Nobel laureate

Shirin Ebadi Shirin Ebadi ( fa, شيرين عبادى, Širin Ebādi; born 21 June 1947) is an Iranian political activist, lawyer, a former judge and human rights activist and founder of Defenders of Human Rights Center in Iran. On 10 October 2003, Ebadi was ...

, and news reports including Anna Politkovskaia's coverage of the war in Chechnya (Issue 2/2002).

Tom Stoppard Sir Tom Stoppard (born , 3 July 1937) is a Czech born British playwright and screenwriter. He has written for film, radio, stage, and television, finding prominence with plays. His work covers the themes of human rights, censorship, and politi ...

's play ''Every Good Boy Deserves Favour'' (1977) is set in a Soviet mental institution and was inspired by the personal account of former detainee Victor Fainberg and Clayton Yeo's expose of the use of psychiatric abuse in the USSR, published in ''Index on Censorship'' (Issue 2, 1975).Nadel, Ira (2004). ''Double Act: A Life of Tom Stoppard''. London: Methuen. pp. 264–268. . It was first performed with the

London Symphony Orchestra The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London. Founded in 1904, the LSO is the oldest of London's orchestras, symphony orchestras. The LSO was created by a group of players who left Henry Wood's Queen's ...

. Stoppard became a member of the advisory board of ''Index on Censorship'' in 1978 and remains connected to the publication as a Patron of ''Index''. ''Index on Censorship'' published the World Statement by the International Committee for the Defence of

in support of "the right of all people to express their ideas and beliefs and to discuss them with their critics on the basis of mutual tolerance, free from censorship, intimidation and violence. Six months later, ''Index'' published the ''Hunger Strike Declaration'' from four student leaders of the

, Liu Xiaobo, Zhou Duo,

Hou Dejian Hou or HOU may refer to: * -hou, a place-name element * Hou (surname) * Hou (currency) (Chinese: ), a unit of currency in Greater China * Hou (Odder Municipality), a town in Denmark * Hou (title) (Chinese: ), a title in ancient China * Dengl ...

and Gao Xin. ''Index Index'', a round-up of abuses of freedom of expression worldwide, continued to be published in each edition of the magazine until December 2008, when this function was transferred to the website. The offences against free expression documented in that first issue's ''Index Index'' listing included censorship in Greece and Spain, then dictatorships, and Brazil, which had just banned the film ''

Zabriskie Point Zabriskie Point is a part of the Amargosa Range located east of Death Valley in Death Valley National Park in California, United States, noted for its erosional landscape. It is composed of sediments from Furnace Creek Lake, which dried up 5 mi ...

'' on the grounds that it "insulted a friendly power" – the United States, where it had been made and freely shown. ''Index on Censorship'' paid special attention to the situation in then Czechoslovakia between the Soviet invasion of 1968 and the

Velvet Revolution The Velvet Revolution ( cs, Sametová revoluce) or Gentle Revolution ( sk, Nežná revolúcia) was a non-violent transition of power in what was then Czechoslovakia, occurring from 17 November to 28 November 1989. Popular demonstrations agains ...

of 1989, devoting an entire issue to the country eight years after the

Prague Spring The Prague Spring ( cs, Pražské jaro, sk, Pražská jar) was a period of political liberalization and mass protest in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. It began on 5 January 1968, when reformist Alexander Dubček was elected First Sec ...

(Issue 3/1976). It included several pieces by Václav Havel, including a first translation of his one act play ''Conversation'', and a letter to Czech officials on police censorship of his December 1975 production of ''

The Beggar's Opera ''The Beggar's Opera'' is a ballad opera in three acts written in 1728 by John Gay with music arranged by Johann Christoph Pepusch. It is one of the watershed plays in Augustan drama and is the only example of the once thriving genre of satiri ...

'' by John Gay. The magazine also carried articles on the state of the Czech theatre and a list of the so-called Padlock Publications, 50 banned books that circulated only in typescript. Index also published an English version of Havel's play ''Mistake'', dedicated to

Samuel Beckett Samuel Barclay Beckett (; 13 April 1906 – 22 December 1989) was an Irish novelist, dramatist, short story writer, theatre director, poet, and literary translator. His literary and theatrical work features bleak, impersonal and tragicomic expe ...

in gratitude for Beckett's own dedication of his play ''Catastrophe'' to Havel. Both short plays were performed at the Free Word Centre to mark the launch of Index's special issue looking back at the changes of 1989 (Issue 4, 2009).

Campaigns

''Free Speech is not For Sale'', a joint campaign report by Index on Censorship and

English PEN Founded in 1921, English PEN is one of the world's first non-governmental organisations and among the first international bodies advocating for human rights. English PEN was the founding centre of PEN International, a worldwide writers' associati ...

highlighted the problem of so-called

libel tourism Libel tourism is a term, first coined by Geoffrey Robertson, to describe forum shopping for libel suits. It particularly refers to the practice of pursuing a case in England and Wales, in preference to other jurisdictions, such as the United State ...

and the English law of defamation's chilling effect on free speech. After much debate surrounding the report's ten key recommendations, the UK Justice Secretary Jack Straw pledged to make English defamation laws fairer. "A free press can’t operate or be effective unless it can offer readers comment as well as news. What concerns me is that the current arrangements are being used by big corporations to restrict fair comment, not always by journalists but also by academics." He added: "The very high levels of remuneration for defamation lawyers in Britain seem to be incentivising libel tourism." These campaigns and others were illustrative of then CEO

John Kampfner John Kampfner is a British author, broadcaster and commentator. He is now an Executive Director at Chatham House, leading its UK in the World initiative. His sixth book '' Why The Germans Do It Better, Notes From A Grown-Up Country'', was publis ...

's strategy, supported by then chair Jonathan Dimbleby, to boost Index's public advocacy profile in the UK and abroad beginning in 2008. Until then the organisation did not regard itself as "a campaigning organisation in the mould of Article 19 or

", as former news editor Sarah Smith noted in 2001,Smith, Sarah (2001), "Index on Censorship" in Jones, Derek (ed.), ''Censorship: A World Encyclopaedia''. London: Routledge. preferring to use its "understanding of what is newsworthy and politically significant" to maintain pressure on oppressive regimes (such as China, from 1989) through extensive coverage.

Arts and international programmes

Index on Censorship also runs a programme of UK based and international projects that put the organisation's philosophy into practice. In 2009 and 2010 Index on Censorship worked in Afghanistan, Burma, Iraq, Tunisia and many other countries, in support of journalists, broadcasters, artists and writers who work against a backdrop of intimidation, repression, and censorship. The organisation's arts' programmes investigate the impact of current and recent social and political change on arts practitioners, assessing the degree and depth of self-censorship. It uses the arts to engage young people directly into the freedom of expression debate. It works with marginalised communities in UK, creating new platforms, on line and actual for creative expression. Index on Censorship works internationally to commission new work, not only articles for print and online, but also new photography, film & video, visual arts and performance. Examples have included an exhibition of photostories produced by women in Iraq, ''Open Shutters'', and a programme involving artists from refugee and migrant communities in UK, linking with artists from their country of origin, ''Imagine art after'', exhibited at

Tate Britain Tate Britain, known from 1897 to 1932 as the National Gallery of British Art and from 1932 to 2000 as the Tate Gallery, is an art museum on Millbank in the City of Westminster in London, England. It is part of the Tate network of galleries in ...

in 2007. Index has also worked with Burmese exiled artists and publishers on creating a programme in support of the collective efforts of Burma's creative community. Index also commissioned a new play by Actors for Human Rights, ''Seven Years With Hard Labour'', weaving together four accounts from former Burmese political prisoners now living in the UK. Index also co-published a book of poetry by homeless people in London and St. Petersburg.

CEO

The Chief Executive of Index on Censorship from May 2014 was Jodie Ginsberg. In December 2019, Index announced Ginsberg was standing down from the post in early 2020. In June 2020, she was replaced by

Ruth Smeeth Ruth Lauren Smeeth, Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent (''née'' Anderson; born 29 June 1979) is a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Stoke-on-Trent North from 2015 until 2019. Since 2022 she has been ...

Freedom of Expression Awards

Index on Censorship annually presents awards to courageous journalists, artists, campaigners and digital activists from around the world who have made a significant contribution to free expression over the past year. Sponsors have included ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'',

Google Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...

SAGE Publications SAGE Publishing, formerly SAGE Publications, is an American independent publishing company founded in 1965 in New York by Sara Miller McCune and now based in Newbury Park, California. It publishes more than 1,000 journals, more than 800 books ...

and the London law firm

Doughty Street Chambers Doughty Street Chambers is a British set of barristers' chambers situated in Bristol, Manchester and London's Doughty Street, undertaking criminal justice, public law, immigration, employment, human rights and civil liberties work. Doughty Str ...

. The most recent ''Index'' Freedom of Expression Awards took place on 27 October 2022 in London. The 2020 awards were held online in April 2020 during the 2019–20 COVID-19 pandemic. 2022 winners: Journalism: Huang Xueqin; Campaigning:

OVD-Info OVD-Info () is an independent Russian human rights media project aimed at combating political persecution. History OVD-Info was founded in December 2011 by Moscow journalist Grigory Okhotin and programmer Daniil Beilinson. They witnessed mass ...

; Arts: Hamlet Lavastida; Trustee Award:

Andrey Kurkov Andrey Yuryevich Kurkov ( uk, Андрій Юрійович Курков; russian: Андре́й Ю́рьевич Курко́в; born 23 April 1961 in Leningrad, USSR) is a Ukrainian author and public intellectual who writes in Russian. He is ...

. 2021 winners: Journalism:

Samira Sabou Samira (also spelled Samirah, Sameera, and Sameerah /sæˈmiːrə/, ar, سميرة is an Arabic female given name. It is derived from the root s-m-r ('to spend the night in talking'), ultimately meaning ''night-companion'', ''entertaining compani ...

; Campaigning: Abdelrahman 'Moka' Tarek; Arts: Tatyana Zelenskaya; Trustee Award: Arif Ahmed. 2020 winners: Journalism:

OKO.press OKO.press is a Polish investigative journalism website created on 15 June 2016. The name is a word play on ''oko'', Polish for ''eye'', and an abbreviation for "Ośrodek Kontroli Obywatelskiej" (''Centre for Civic Control''). OKO.press is funde ...

; Campaigning: Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei, Veysel Ok; Digital: 7amleh; Arts: Yulia Tsvetkova. 2019 winners: Journalism: Mimi Mefo; Campaigning:

Cartoonists Rights Network, International Cartoonists Rights Network International (CRNI) is a non-profit organisation created in 1999 in the United States by Dr. Robert "Bro" Russell. It looks to protect the human rights and creative freedom of social and editorial cartoonists An edi ...

; Digital: Fundación Karisma; Arts:

Zehra Doğan Zehra Doğan (born 14 April 1989) is a Kurdish artist and journalist and author from Diyarbakır, Turkey. In 2017, she was sentenced to 2 years, 9 months and 22 days in prison for "terrorist propaganda" because of her news coverage, social media ...

. 2018 winners: Journalism: Wendy Funes; Campaigning: Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms; Digital: Habari RDC; Arts: The Museum of Dissidence. 2017 winners: Journalism: ''Maldives Independent''; Campaigning:

Ildar Dadin Ildar Ildusovich Dadin (russian: Ильда́р Ильду́сович Да́дин, tt-Cyrl, Илдар Илдус улы Дадин, born April 14, 1982) is a Russian activist, accused of violent acts and derailing during demonstrations and hen ...

; Digital: Turkey Blocks; Arts:

Rebel Pepper Wang Liming (; born 1973), also known as Remon Wang, better known under the pseudonym Rebel Pepper (, ''lit.'' "Abnormal Chili pepper"), is a Chinese political cartoonist in exile in the United States. Wang left China out of fears for his safety re ...

. 2016 winners: Journalism:

Zaina Erhaim Zaina Erhaim is a Syrian journalist, and feminist. She works as a communications consultant and trainer with international organisations in Syria, Iraq, Morocco, Libya, Lebanon and Egypt. She has reported on the Syrian civil war from within Syri ...

; Campaigning: Bolo Bhi; Digital:

GreatFire GreatFire (GreatFire.org) is a website that monitors the status of websites censored by the Great Firewall of China and helps Chinese Internet users circumvent the censorship and blockage of websites in China. Through an investigation by the Asso ...

; Arts:

Murad Subay Murad Subay (born July 3, 1987 in Dhamar) is a Yemeni contemporary artist, street artist and a political activist who has launched several street art campaigns of which society engagement marked one of their important elements. He first started ...

. 2015 winners: Journalism: Rafael Marques de Morais and Safa Al Ahmad; Campaigning: Amran Abdundi; Digital:Tamas Bodoky; Arts: Mouad "El Haqued" Belghouat. 2014 winners: Journalism: Azadliq; Advocacy: Shahzad Ahmad; Digital: Shu Choudhary; Arts: Mayam Mahmoud. 2013 winners: Journalism: Kostas Vaxevanis; Digital Freedom:

Bassel Khartabil Bassel Khartabil (22 May 1981 – 3 October 2015; ar, باسل خرطبيل), also known as Bassel Safadi ( ar, باسل صفدي), was a Palestinian Syrian open-source software developer. He was detained without trial by the Syrian governme ...

; Advocacy:

Malala Yousafzai Malala Yousafzai ( ur, , , pronunciation: ; born 12 July 1997), is a Pakistani female education activist and the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize laureate. Awarded when she was 17, she is the world's youngest Nobel Prize laureate, and the second Pak ...

; Arts:

Zanele Muholi Zanele Muholi (born 19 July 1972) is a South African artist and visual activist working in photography, video, and installation. Muholi's work focuses on race, gender and sexuality with a body of work that dates back to the early 2000's, documen ...

. 2012 winners: Journalism: Idrak Abbasov; Advocacy:

Bahrain Centre for Human Rights The Bahrain Centre for Human Rights (BCHR; ar, مركز البحرين لحقوق الإنسان) was a Bahraini non-profit non-governmental organisation which works to promote human rights in Bahrain,

, collected by

Nabeel Rajab Nabeel Ahmed Abdulrasool Rajab ( ar, نبيل أحمد عبدالرسول رجب, born on 1 September 1964) is a Bahraini human rights activist and opposition leader. He is a member of the Advisory Committee of Human Rights Watch's Middle East ...

; Innovation: Freedom Fone by Kubatana; Arts:

Ali Ferzat Ali Farzat or Ali Ferzat ( ar, علي فرزات; born 22 June 1951) is a Syrian political cartoonist. He has published more than 15,000 caricatures in Syrian, Arab and international newspapers. He serves as the head of the Arab Cartoonists Asso ...

; 40th Anniversary Award: Research and Information Centre "

Memorial (society) Memorial ( rus, Мемориал, p=mʲɪmərʲɪˈaɫ) is an international human rights organisation, founded in Russia during the fall of the Soviet Union to study and examine the human rights violations and other crimes committed under Joseph ...

" St Petersburg. 2011 winners: Journalism: Ibrahim Eissa; Advocacy:

Gao Zhisheng Gao Zhisheng (born 20 April 1964) is a Chinese human rights attorney and dissident known for defending activists and religious minorities and documenting human rights abuses in China. Because of his work, Zhisheng has been disbarred and det ...

; New Media:

Nawaat Nawaat (Arabic: نواة) is an independent collective blog co-founded by Tunisians Sami Ben Gharbia, Sufian Guerfali and Riadh Guerfali in 2004, with Malek Khadraoui joining the organization in 2006. The goal of Nawaat's founders was to provide ...

; Arts:

M. F. Husain Maqbool Fida Husain (17 September 1915 – 9 June 2011) was an Indian artist known for executing bold, vibrantly coloured narrative paintings in a modified Cubist style. He was one of the most celebrated and internationally recognised Ind ...

; Special Commendation: Belarus' Prisoners of Conscience, collected by the Belarus Free Theatre. 2010 winners: Journalism: Radio La Voz; Advocacy: Rashid Hajili; Publishing Award: Andalus Press; New Media Award:

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

; Freemuse Award:

Mahsa Vahdat Mahsa Vahdat (in Persian مهسا وحدت) (born 29 October 1973, Tehran, Iran) is a Persian classical and world music vocalist. Mahsa Vahdat's music style is contemporary expression inspired by old traditional and folk and regional music of ...

; Special Commendation:

Heather Brooke Heather Rose Brooke (born 1970) is a British-American journalist and freedom of information campaigner. Resident since the 1990s in the UK, she helped to expose the 2009 expenses scandal, which culminated in the resignation of House of Commo ...

. 2009 winners: Journalism: ''

The Sunday Leader ''The Sunday Leader'' was an English-language Sri Lankan weekly newspaper published by Leader Publications (Private) Limited. It was founded in 1994 and is published from Colombo. Its sister newspapers are the '' Iruresa'' ('' Irudina'') and the ...

'' – Sri Lanka; Film: Ricki Stern and Ann Sundberg, ''

The Devil Came on Horseback ''The Devil Came on Horseback'' is a documentary film by Ricki Stern and Anne Sundberg illustrating the continuing Darfur Conflict in Sudan. Based on the book by former U.S. Marine The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as t ...

''; New Media:

Psiphon Psiphon is a free and open-source Internet censorship circumvention tool that uses a combination of secure communication and obfuscation technologies, such as a VPN, SSH, and a Web proxy. Psiphon is a centrally managed and geographically dive ...

; Books: Ma Jian,

Beijing Coma ''Beijing Coma'' is a 2008 novel by Ma Jian. It was translated from Chinese by Flora Drew. The Chinese government has since banned the book. Ma has stated that he wrote the book "to reclaim history from a totalitarian government whose role is ...

; Law: Malik Imtiaz Sarwar. 2008 winners: Journalism: Arat Dink and ''Agos'' magazine;

Mohamed Al-Daradji Mohamed Al-Darraji (born 6 August 1978 in Baghdad, Iraq) is an Iraqi Dutch, Iraqi-Dutch film director. He studied theater in Iraq, and cinematography and directing in England. He is known for his drama films, which focus on political affairs in the ...

and ''Ahlaam''; New Media:

Julian Assange Julian Paul Assange ( ; Hawkins; born 3 July 1971) is an Australian editor, publisher, and activist who founded WikiLeaks in 2006. WikiLeaks came to international attention in 2010 when it published a series of leaks provided by U.S. Army inte ...

and

WikiLeaks WikiLeaks () is an international Nonprofit organization, non-profit organisation that published news leaks and classified media provided by anonymous Source (journalism), sources. Julian Assange, an Australian Internet activism, Internet acti ...

; Books:

Francisco Goldman Francisco Goldman (born 1954) is an American novelist, journalist, and Allen K. Smith Professor of Literature and Creative Writing, Trinity College. His most recent novel, ''Monkey Boy'' (2021), was a finalist for the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for Fi ...

, ''The Art of Political Murder''; Law:

U Gambira Nyi Nyi Lwin (; born 19 June 1979), more widely known by his monastic name U Gambira ( my, ရှင်ဂမ္ဘီရ), is a former Buddhist monk, activist and a leader of the All-Burma Monks' Alliance, a group which helped lead the 200 ...

and the Monks of Burma. 2007 winners: Journalism:

Kareem Amer Kareem Nabil Suleiman Amer ( ar, كريم نبيل سليمان عامر, ) (born c. 1984) is an Egyptian Norwegian blogger and former law student. He was arrested by Egyptian authorities for posts on his blog that were considered to be anti-reli ...

; Film:

Yoav Shamir Yoav Shamir ( he, יואב שמיר), is an Israeli documentary filmmaker most noted for the films '' Checkpoint'' and ''Defamation''. Personal life Yoav Shamir was born in Tel Aviv in 1970. A ninth-generation Israeli from Tel Aviv, he is the so ...

, ''Defamation''; Whistleblower:

Chen Guangcheng Chen Guangcheng (born November 12, 1971) is a Chinese civil rights activist who has worked on human rights issues in rural areas of the People's Republic of China. Blind from an early age and self-taught in the law, Chen is frequently descr ...

; Books:

Samir Kassir Samir Kassir ( ar, سمير قصير, 5 May 1960 – 2 June 2005) was a Lebanese-Palestinian journalist of ''An-Nahar'' and professor of history at Saint-Joseph University, who was an advocate of democracy and prominent opponent of the Syri ...

; Law: Siphiwe Hlophe. 2006 winners: Journalism:

Sihem Bensedrine Sihem Bensedrine ( ar, سهام بن سدرين) (born October 28, 1950) is a Tunisian journalist and human rights activist. In 2005, she was honored with the Oxfam Novib/PEN Award. Biography She was born in La Marsa, near Tunis and went to Fran ...

; Film:

Bahman Ghobadi Bahman Ghobadi ( fa, بهمن قبادی; ; born 1 February 1969 in Baneh, Kurdistan province, Iran) is an Iranian Kurdish film director, producer and writer. He belongs to the " new wave" of Iranian cinema. Biography He was born in Baneh, a K ...

, ''Turtles Can Fly''; Whistleblower: Huang Jingao; Books:

Jean Hatzfeld Jean Hatzfeld is a French author and journalist who wrote extensively about the Bosnian War and the Rwandan Genocide in Rwanda. Biography Youth Born in Madagascar, Hatzfeld was the fourth child in the family of Olivier and Maud Hatzfeld. H ...

, ''Into the Quick Life: The Rwandan Genocide – the Survivors Speak'' and ''A Time for Machetes: the Killers Speak''; Law:

Beatrice Mtetwa Beatrice Mtetwa is a Swazi was born 1957 and naturalised Zimbabwean lawyer who has been internationally recognized for her defense of journalists and press freedom. ''The New York Times'' described her in 2008 as "Zimbabwe's top human rights law ...

. 2005 winners: Journalism: Sumi Khan; Books: Soldiers, Light by Daniel Bergner; Film: ''Final Solution'',

Rakesh Sharma Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma, AC (born 13 January 1949) is a former Indian Air Force pilot who flew aboard Soyuz T-11 on 3 April 1984 as part of the Soviet Interkosmos programme. He is the only Indian citizen to travel in space, although ...

; Campaigning: Center of Constitutional Rights; Whistleblowing: Grigoris Lazos. 2004 winners: Journalism:

Kaveh Golestan Kāveh Golestān Taghavi Shirazi ( fa, کاوه گلستان; 8 July 1950 – 2 April 2003) was an Iranian photojournalist and artist. In 1988 he took the first pictures of the aftermath of the Halabja chemical attack during the Iran–Iraq War. ...

; Music: West–Eastern Divan Orchestra; Whistleblowing:

Satyendra Dubey Satyendra Dubey (1973–2003) was an Indian Engineering Service (IES) officer. He was the Project Director in the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) at Koderma, Jharkhand. He was murdered in Gaya, Bihar, allegedly for his anti-cor ...

; Film: ''Amamdla!'' by Lee Hirsch; Books: ''Slave'' by

Mende Nazer Mende Nazer (born c. 1982) is a UK-resident, Sudanese author and human rights activist. Nazer was a slave in Sudan and in London for eight years. She later co-wrote the 2002 book ''Slave: My True Story''. Abduction Nazer is a Nuba woman from a ...

and Damien Lewis; Special:

Mordechai Vanunu Mordechai Vanunu ( he, מרדכי ואנונו; born 14 October 1952), also known as John Crossman, is an Israeli former nuclear technician and peace activist who, citing his opposition to weapons of mass destruction, revealed details of Israe ...

; Censor of the Year:

John Ashcroft John David Ashcroft (born May 9, 1942) is an American lawyer, lobbyist and former politician who served as the 79th U.S. Attorney General in the George W. Bush administration from 2001 to 2005. A former U.S. Senator from Missouri and the 50th ...

. 2003 winners: Journalism:

Fergal Keane Fergal Patrick Keane (born 6 January 1961) is an Irish foreign correspondent with BBC News, and an author. For some time, Keane was the BBC's correspondent in South Africa. He is a nephew of the Irish playwright, novelist and essayist John B. ...

; Whistleblowing: Tony Kevin; Censor of the Year:

Jonathan Moyo Jonathan Nathaniel Mlevu Moyo (born 12 January 1957) is a Zimbabwean politician who served in the government of Zimbabwe as Minister of Higher Education from 2015 to 2017. He was previously Minister of Information and Publicity from 2000 to 2005 ...

; Circumvention of Censorship:

Al Jazeera Al Jazeera ( ar, الجزيرة, translit-std=DIN, translit=al-jazīrah, , "The Island") is a state-owned Arabic-language international radio and TV broadcaster of Qatar. It is based in Doha and operated by the media conglomerate Al Jazeera ...

; Defence of Free Expression:

Hashem Aghajari Seyyed Hashem Aghajari ( fa, سیدهاشم آقاجری, born 1957) is an Iranian historian, university professor and a critic of the Islamic Republic's government who was sentenced to death in 2002 for apostasy for a speech he gave on Islam ur ...

. 2002 winners: Defence of Free Expression:

Anna Politkovskaya Anna Stepanovna Politkovskaya (;, ; uk, Ганна Степанівна Політковська , 30 August 1958 – 7 October 2006) was a Russian journalist and human rights activist, who reported on political events in Russia, in partic ...

; Circumvention of Censorship: Şanar Yurdatapan; Whistleblowing:

Jiang Weiping Jiang Weiping (; born c. 1955) is a veteran mainland Chinese journalist known internationally for his arrest by the Chinese Communist Party in 2001. In 1999, he began publishing a series of articles about the Communist Party corruption in the ...

; Censor of the Year:

Silvio Berlusconi Silvio Berlusconi ( ; ; born 29 September 1936) is an Italian media tycoon and politician who served as Prime Minister of Italy in four governments from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006 and 2008 to 2011. He was a member of the Chamber of Deputies ...

. 2001 winners: Defence of Free Expression: Mashallah Shamsolvaezin; Whistleblowing: Grigory Pasko; Circumvention of Censorship: Lorrie Cranor, Avi Rubin and Marc Waldman; Censor of the Year: UK Ministry of Defence (MoD).

Controversies

Theo Van Gogh

In November 2004, ''Index on Censorship'' attracted further controversy over another indexonline.org blog post by Jayasekera that, to many readers, seemed to condone or justify the murder of Dutch film-maker Theo van Gogh (film director), Theo van Gogh. The blog described Van Gogh was a "free-speech fundamentalist" on a "martyrdom operation[,] roar[ing] his Muslim critics into silence with obscenities" in an "abuse of his right to free speech". Describing Van Gogh's film Submission (2004 film), ''Submission'' as "furiously provocative", Jayasekera concluded by describing his death:

"A sensational climax to a lifetime's public performance, stabbed and shot by a bearded fundamentalist, a message from the killer pinned by a dagger to his chest, Theo Van Gogh became a martyr to free expression. His passing was marked by a magnificent barrage of noise as Amsterdam hit the streets to celebrate him in the way the man himself would have truly appreciated. And what timing! Just as his long-awaited biographical film of Pim Fortuyn's life is ready to screen. Bravo, Theo! Bravo!"

There were many protests from both left-wing and right-wing commentators. In December 2004, Nick Cohen of ''

'' wrote:

"When I asked Jayasekera if he had any regrets, he said he had none. He told me that, like many other readers, I shouldn't have made the mistake of believing that ''Index on Censorship'' was against censorship, even murderous censorship, on principle – in the same way as
Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...
is opposed to torture, including murderous torture, on principle. It may have been so its radical youth, but was now as concerned with fighting 'hate speech' as protecting free speech."

Ursula Owen, the chief executive of ''Index on Censorship'', while agreeing that the blog post's "tone was not right" contradicted Cohen's account of his conversation with Jayasekera in a letter to ''The Observer''.

Danish cartoons

In December 2009, the magazine published an interview with Jytte Klausen about a refusal of Yale University Press to include the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy, Mohammed Cartoons in Klausen's book ''The Cartoons that Shook the World''. The magazine declined to include the cartoons alongside the interview.Eden, Richard (19 December 2009)
"Any Questions? Jonathan Dimbleby in Muslim censorship row"
''The Telegraph'' (UK)

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1972 establishments in the United Kingdom Censorship in the United Kingdom Political magazines published in the United Kingdom Freedom of expression organizations Free expression awards Magazines established in 1972 Magazines published in London Works about censorship Works about freedom of expression