Daily Archives: February 15, 2014

Love and free expression
Love and -- more specifically -- same-sex love has been top of the international news agenda in the last few months. Nigeria recently passed a law banning ho...

By: Index on Censorship

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Love and free expression - Video

BEIRUT: Three artists from the MENA region received international recognition for their work to advance freedom of expression this month, including Lebanese playwright Lucien Bourjeily.

The other artists nominated for Index on Censorships Freedom of Expression Awards are Egyptian musician Mayam Mahmoud, Turkish playwright and writer Meltem Arikan and British playwright David Cecil nominated for his work fighting homophobia in Uganda.

The idea is to award people across different categories who have ... contributed to promoting freedom of expression, IOCs Head of Arts Julia Farrington told The Daily Star by telephone, particularly in areas where there is hostility to freedom of expression and where personal courage and creativity and commitment is required in order to see their work through.

IOC launched its Freedom of Expression Awards 14 years ago. More than 300 international figures working in journalism, digital activism, campaigning/advocacy and the arts have been nominated for the 2014 awards. Four nominees were shortlisted for the arts category. The winners will be announced March 20 in London.

The proliferation of regional candidates this year may reflect, in part, particularly restrictive censorship laws. Its true there are constraints on freedom of expression in the Middle East, Farrington conceded, and I think artists are at the forefront of that, but it is also a coincidence ... We try for geographic spread and gender spread across all the awards and I think there was just a cluster of very strong candidates [from the region] this year.

In her music, Mahmoud (who made it to the semifinals of Arabs Got Talent last autumn) tackles such issues as gender inequality and sexual harassment, expressing her views via male-dominated rap.

In the wake of Turkeys Gezi Park protests last year, Turkish politicians accused Arikan of inciting demonstrations with her play Mi Minor. A hate campaign launched on social media sites left her fearing for her life.

Arikans 2004 novel Stop Hurting My Flesh, about women traumatized by rape and incest, had previously been banned for, among other things, arousing sexual desire and using a feminist approach.

Bourjeily has worked extensively with NGOs and theater organizations championing artistic freedom in Lebanon and abroad. He is known for introducing improvisational and immersive theater practices in Beirut, challenging the countrys censorship laws which stipulate that scripts be approved by General Securitys censorship bureau before being staged.

The playwright made headlines in Lebanon last year with his interactive play Will it Pass or Not? The title reiterates the question Lebanese playwrights and filmmakers ask themselves before, during and after they write a script.

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Censorship and art do not mix

On a historic thoroughfare in central Istanbul, demonstrators battled riot police and tear gas last week in protest of a Turkey's new, internationally criticized internet law.

At a sleepy Internet cafe blocks away, one of Turkey's leading Internet activists sat with tea in hand, wondering if the struggle was already lost. Hunched over an iPhone as he shifts through updates from the protest, Ergin - he no longer gives his real name - is founder of one of Turkey's largest "alternative" news sites.

Known as Otekilerin Postasi, or "The Other's Post," Ergin's network of volunteer activists provide detailed, minute-by-minute accounts of protests throughout Turkey, and is followed by tens of thousands of people on Twitter and Facebook.

Internet in the cross hairs

It is also followed closely by government authorities, who have pressured Facebook to close the group's account seven times - a practice that started after it gained over a million followers during Turkey's wave of mass anti-government demonstrations last year.

"Otekilerin Postasi" reports on protests in Turkey

"We get closed down, we open again. People want sources outside of the heavily censored media," says Ergin, adding that he feels wearied by personal suspicions of government surveillance and the occasional, anonymous threats he receives by phone and e-mail.

Already under pressure, Ergin's site would be easily targeted by Turkey's new Internet law. The law, which awaits the signature of Turkish President Abdullah Gul, would allow the Turkey's telecommunications regulator to block specific social media accounts or specific links on a website, and to do so without prior court approval.

"This system allows you to close a 'troublesome' Facebook account without provoking the outrage you'd get for blocking off all of Facebook," says Berhan Soylu, a representative of Turkey's Computer Engineers Chamber. "It also allows sites to be instantly blocked. You can respond to dissent in real time."

Web of corruption

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Turkish activists brace for Internet censorship