Gabija Steponenaite

Aug 19, 2024 | indexoncensorship.org | Gabija Steponenaite |Laura Silvia Battaglia |Alessio Perrone |Darren Loucaides

The Summer 2024 issue of Index looks at how cinema is used as a tool to help shape the global political narrative by investigating who controls what we see on the screen and why they want us to see it. We highlight examples from around the world of states censoring films that show them in a bad light and pushing narratives that help them to scrub up their reputation, as well as lending a voice to those who use cinema as a form of dissent.

Aug 9, 2024 | indexoncensorship.org | Mark Stimpson |Daisy Ruddock |Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya |Gabija Steponenaite

Four years ago today, Belarusian president Alyaksandr Lukashenka claimed victory in the country’s elections garnered more than 80% of the vote. The victory meant a sixth term in office. That 80% figure is as meaningless as Vladimir Putin’s recent 88% in Russia and Paul Kagame’s patently ridiculous 99.15% in Rwanda. If you’re a dictator it’s just a matter of choosing a  number you’re comfortable with.

Aug 9, 2024 | indexoncensorship.org | Daisy Ruddock |Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya |Gabija Steponenaite |Matt Broomfield

Boxer Imane Khelif broke down in tears last week following her victory over Hungary’s Luca Anna Hamori in the welterweight quarter final at the 2024 Paris Olympics guaranteed her a medal. It was an emotional moment for the Algerian not just in terms of her sporting achievement but because she had spent the past week embroiled in a misinformation storm.

Aug 7, 2024 | indexoncensorship.org | Gabija Steponenaite |Martin Bright |Laura Silvia Battaglia

Andrej Strizhak, a human rights activist and Belarus exile, uses an electric scooter to go around the streets of Vilnius’s old town. “It is a very convenient means of transportation,” he told Index, sitting in a coffee shop at The House of the Signatories where Lithuania’s Act of Independence was signed in 1918.