Source: Flickr On the crisp,late-autumn evening of Tuesday 13th November, students gathered in the cosy, lively atmosphere of Aikman’s to listen to and share personal and universal stories condemned to silence around the world. Co-hosted by Amnesty St Andrews, Protocol Magazine and Inklight, the event celebrated banned literature on the theme of forbidden love, counteringContinue reading “Defying Suppression, One Word at a Time: St Andrews’ Banned Literature Night”
Tag Archives: censorship
The Deteriorating Freedom of the Press – Myanmar’s Warning to the World
‘Anti-intellectualism’ is hostility directed at academics and thinkers, which can be poisonous to society due to how it allows academics to be scapegoated, and regimes can subsequently avoid political dissent by silencing and purging academics from society. However, this concept is not one that belongs solely to the past: it has taken on a newContinue reading “The Deteriorating Freedom of the Press – Myanmar’s Warning to the World”
Express Yourself: To What Extent Are We Free to Express Ourselves?
We express ourselves in a plethora of ways every day. We express ourselves in the way we dress, the societies we join, the friends we make, and even the supermarkets that we chose to shop in. This ability to express ourselves is fiercely protected within democracies, and is fundamental to our social and political lives.Continue reading “Express Yourself: To What Extent Are We Free to Express Ourselves?”
The Sultan and his Censors
In June 2016, Rifat Cetin was convicted and sentenced for insulting the President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. His crime? Posting pictures comparing Erdoğan to Gollum. He is not the only one to have noticed the similarity. Bilgin Ciftci, a doctor for Turkey’s public health service, also faced similar charges for posting memes which likenedContinue reading “The Sultan and his Censors”
The Fragile Net
One of the centrepieces of the University of St Andrew’s 600th anniversary celebrations was the Graduation Ceremony. Hundreds attended the ceremony itself and many more streamed the ceremony live. The star of the show, in many ways, was Hillary Clinton, ex-Secretary of State and potentially the future President of the United States. She wasn’t theContinue reading “The Fragile Net”
Lèse-majesté in Thailand
“The law’s defenders claim that Thailand’s love for its king is incomparable. Its critics say the law has become the foremost threat to the freedom of expression”. (David Streckfuss – Truth on Trial in Thailand) Lèse-majesté – the crime of speaking offensively about the monarchy, has been present in Thai legislation for over a century;Continue reading “Lèse-majesté in Thailand”
Protocol Magazine 