From the early days of the Arab Spring that sparked hopes for change to the years of instability and political tension that followed, this enthralling documentary follows the stories of young prominent underground artists from across the Middle East during the period of 2009 to 2013.

In a region fraught with political tension, these progressive musicians and artists have struggled for years to express themselves freely and to promote more liberal attitudes within their societies.

From young female artists in Egypt overturning the norms by living alone, to the persecution of a famous Lebanese musician for singing against the political leader, director Farid Eslam paints a picture of a new generation challenging both old and new realities with passion and admirable perseverance.

Directed by: Farid Eslam
Runtime: 84′
Year: 2015
Country: Czech Republic, Germany, UK, Egypt, Canada, US
Languages: English, Arabic

In a debate at the Frontline Club on 16 January 2015, in the aftermath of the attacks on the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo on 7 January, a panel of expert commentators strongly backed the continued promotion of free speech and warned against responding to the attacks with a curtailment of rights and liberties.

Members of the panel urged governments to resist the temptation to try to legislate, or fight, their way out of what was characterised as a crisis of identity for the European continent. Europe must be mindful of the risks of societal polarisation, argued the panel, as well as being aware of the likelihood of further terrorist attacks in the year ahead.

Terror in France at The Frontline Club – Photo by Richard Nield

Despite the attacks on Charlie Hebdo apparently being motivated by the blasphemous nature of some of their cartoons, the preservation of the freedom to blaspheme is vital, argued Maajid Nawaz, formerly a leading member of a global Islamist group and co-founder and chairman of Quilliam, a counter-extremism think tank.

“Blasphemy is one of the most fundamental prerequisites for any form of revolution,” said Nawaz, citing Galileo, Darwin, Martin Luther and Mohammed as examples. “In all four cases, blasphemy was in the eye of the beholder, and that’s all that blasphemy is. Without it, mankind would not have intellectually progressed.”

Maajid Nawaz – Photo by Richard Nield

Natalie Nougayrède, foreign affairs commentator for The Guardian and former executive editor of Le Monde, agreed:

“We must not censor ourselves in a mindset where blasphemy is banned… We don’t want to live in that kind of world, certainly not in Europe.”

Nawaz stressed how important it is to distinguish between criticism of an ideology and prejudice against individuals.

“No idea should be above scrutiny,” he said. “But that’s very different from saying a people should be below dignity.”

Those who stand up for these ideals, particularly in countries where such freedoms are oppressed, should be given our wholehearted support, said Nawaz.

“It is not good enough to say we have the right to scrutinise everything but others don’t,” he said, highlighting the case of Raif Badawi, co-founder of online discussion forum Saudi Arabian Liberals, who has been sentenced to 10 years in prison, 1,000 lashes and a fine of 1 million Saudi riyals (about US$267,000) by a criminal court in Jeddah. “We have to stand on the line and start supporting Arab progressivism.”

Peter Neumann, founder and director of the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation, warned that the response to the Charlie Hebdo attacks might not be wholly positive.

“I am concerned about the degree of polarisation that [the attacks] may cause in European society,” he said. “That will perhaps empower the far right, not only in France but in other European countries. All this has happened at a very vulnerable moment in our societies”.

Peter Neumann – Photo by Richard Nield

Neumann also warned that governments might not respond in the mature, constructive way that proponents of liberty and free speech might hope.

“I fear that politicians will retreat to one of two comfort zones,” he said. “Either more law or more war. More law means more profiling, more stop and search. This doesn’t help. It makes things worse. Or more war. But you can’t fight your way out of this problem.”

“The other comfort zone is the George Galloway model: burying our head in the sand and saying there is no problem with Islamic extremism and that it’s all to do with foreign policy.”

Nougayrède, warned against the continued use of a vocabulary that revolves around war and echoes George Bush, who on 20 September 2001 coined the phrase ‘War on Terror’, an idea that was later used to justify US-led international interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq.

“Two days ago, the French president said that France is at war with terrorist Islamic fundamentalism,” said Nougayrède. “I feel uneasy with the use of the word war… France cannot be at war with any part of its own population.”

Natalie Nougayrède – Photo by Richard Nield

The Charlie Hebdo attack and its aftermath reveals identity issues within French and European society, said the panel.

Nougayrède pointed out that when teachers in one French classroom tried to hold a minute’s silence in memory of the victims of the attack, a third of them refused.

“There’s a very big confusion,” she said. “There needs to be a lot of explaining.”

Nawaz agreed that although Britain and France have adopted very different policies towards Muslim minorities, both have problems, and that even in Britain there is a “huge problem with integration”.

“We are suffering an acute identity crisis across Europe,” said Nawaz. “I want to see a new social contract with a European-wide identity.”

Answering a question from the floor, the panel sought to address the controversial question of why religious extremism is disproportionately associated with the Islamic faith.

Nawaz suggested that there are “problematic scriptures that most Muslims haven’t come to terms with that Christians had to a long time ago.”

Nesrine Malik, a Sudanese-born writer and commentator focusing on Middle Eastern politics and minority matters in the UK, said that Islamic fundamentalism arises for “different reasons in different environments,” but that it always comes down to political differences.

At root, argued Malik, militant Islam has arisen partly because of the radicalisation of the Islamic faith by religious and political leaders.

“If I were to draw a line I would draw it back to the religious environment in the Middle East,” said Malik. “The very extreme rhetoric that is imbibed on a very casual basis is alarming.

“It is part of media messaging, education, religious messaging. It is hardwired…to see Islam as a safe place, as a source of legitimacy.

“Even though the attackers were French there is now a global network that communicates these thoughts very quickly.

“Middle East governments say that Islamic fundamentalism is under control because they have their own version of it. It’s like giving someone an inoculation. But of course you can’t control it.”

The failure of Middle Eastern governments to effectively represent their people is also a key factor, suggested Malik, as it encourages the substitution of religious militancy for political representation.

“There is a lack of representation of Muslims,” said Malik. “They grow up with no rights. They don’t feel represented. Everyone has a sort of cynical, almost mafia relationship with their government, which at the end of the day is not really about them.

“It’s a longstanding political tool to inflict terrorism on behalf of a religion when you don’t feel you have a representative government… When the state acts on your behalf, it’s not seen as terrorism.”

The panel was pessimistic about the prospects for an effective solution to the challenge of Islamic terrorism in the future.

“This will probably not be the last event like this in 2015,” said Neumann. “Parts of the jihadist movement have realised they can force the hand of the world’s most powerful people by having a knife and a camera.

“It is no longer about the number of people you are killing, but about the broader effect… This will pose an even greater political, economic, societal challenge to the whole continent.”

Watch back here:

On 21 February 2012, Russian feminist punk group Pussy Riot performed a 40 second ‘punk prayer’ on the altar of Moscow’s most esteemed cathedral. Through this act they openly challenged Putin and the Russian Orthodox Church, setting in motion one of the greatest show trials of recent times.

In Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer, filmmakers Mike Lerner and Maxim Pozdorovkin closely follow the trial, which sees three members stand accused of “hooliganism motivated by religious hatred”. Through incredible access to the legal system, they show the courtroom where Nadia, Masha and Katia sit incarcerated in a small booth, articulately defending their actions.

Interviews with family members, archival footage, and baby pictures also make the three women come alive as individuals. The film illustrates the clash between those determined to challenge an oppressive status quo and those who are equally determined to maintain it.

Directed by Mike Lerner & Maxim Pozdorovkin
Duration: 2012
Year: 86′

This screening is in partnership with BBC Storyville, the BBC’s international feature documentary strand.

One World Echoes in London is a series of human rights film screenings supported by by the Czech Centre London. Celebrating the 15th anniversary of One World, Europe´s largest human rights film festival established in Prague in 1998 by the Czech NGO People in Need. This series offers a selection of extraordinary documentary films exploring societies and individual lives from a human rights perspective. Representing various countries where People in Need, the biggest NGO in Eastern Europe, runs its human rights, relief and development projects.

One World Echoes are co-organised by the Czech Centre London, Open City Docs Fest London 20-23 June 2013 and the Frontline Club.

Thursday 11 April 2013, 7:00 PM Frontline Club – Amazing Azerbaijan!
Amazing Azerbaijan! is a tale of two countries. A shiny democratic republic the government proudly puts on display for visiting journalists and dignitaries. Alongside a repressive and corrupt state with no respect for freedom of expression, where peaceful protesters are violently beaten and journalists are threatened or even killed. Followed by a Q&A with director Liz Mermin.

Friday 24 May 2013, 7:00 PM Frontline Club – Motherland or Death
For over fifty years Cuba has been following the battle-cry of the revolution, Patria o Muerte, which translates as Motherland or Death. Veteran Russian documentarian Vitaly Mansky centers on the generation born before the revolution. They are devoted to their motherland with heart and soul, yet curse the circumstances in which they are forced to live.

Wednesday 19 June 2013, 7:00 PM Frontline Club – Fortress BOOK NOW
Over twenty years after the collapse of the Soviet Union directors Klára Tasovská and Lukáš Kokeš travel back in time on their visit to the unrecognised Pridnestrovian Moldovian Republic. A separatist region within Moldova, with its own passports, an elected president and a legal system. This Open City Preview Screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Lukáš Kokeš.

Sunday 23 June 2013 2:30 PM Preview screening Open City Cinema Tent – Black Out BOOK NOW
Every evening during exam season in Guinea, hundreds of school children begin a nightly pilgrimage to the airport, petrol stations and wealthier parts of the city, searching for light. A literal and metaphorical journey to enlightenment, this evocative documentary tells how children reconcile their lives in one of the world’s poorest countries, with their desire to learn.

Sunday 23 June 2013 5:00 PM UK Premiere Open City Lighbox – Stone Games BOOK NOW
Do the Sudeten Germans who were tortured and killed during their expulsion at the end of the Second World War deserve a commemorative monument or not? In response to a stone monument in Nový Bor, Czech Republic a group of local inhabitants has unleashed a hate-filled ritual dance of national fervor and moral outrage that also turns out to be a sufficiently strong election issue.

A week after International Women’s Day, women were still very much in the spotlight for the screening of Forbidden Voices, a documentary about three female dissident bloggers at the Frontline Club on Friday 15 March.

Director Barbara Miller’s powerful film follows three women – from Cuba, China and Iran – who defy the restrictions of their countries’ media and fight for the right to freedom of speech. Miller and Farnaz Seifi, the Iranian blogger, were there to talk about the film after the screening.

Following each of the women throughout their daily lives, the film explicitly shows the government crackdowns they face. Cuban blogger, Yoani Sánchez, was publicly labelled a Washington puppet. Seifi, was detained and questioned under duress, and Chinese blogger Zeng Jinyan was intimidated into staying indoors.

When an audience member asked both Miller and Seifi which of the regimes they think is most repressive, both struggled to pinpoint one. Miller said:

“In a way they’re really similar, but in a way they’re really different. For example for the government of Cuba it’s really important to keep this smiley place. Iran and China don’t care so much about the way the world looks at them.”

Seifi added:

“I think the role China played is really important as China is the father of censorship and filtering in the world. Countries like my country, Iran, owe most of the knowledge they have for censoring, tracing and filtering to the Chinese Government.”

Miller explained that the process of filming proved very difficult due to the women being put under constant surveillance:

“We filmed in all three countries without permission – it would have been impossible to get the proper journalist permission for filming dissidents. So we visited all three countries as tourists….”

“In Iran it was just the cameraman that went and he was arrested twice in four days. In China we went three times and we weren’t able to film with Jinyan because state security was there day and night, and so in the end she had to film most of the material herself.”

When a member of the audience asked Seifi if she felt there was something particularly different about the blog as a voice of dissidence in repressive societies, she replied:

“Sometimes you feel so alone and ask is it worth it? Is it going to change anything? But I think these new ways of communication help those who try and struggle to make a change to feel like they got recognition. And that recognition gives you much more strength and motivation to continue.”

Miller added:

“All three women said they don’t want a revolution – what they want is change. What their blogs started was a dialogue, and it’s a way of changing the whole way of thinking, discussing and communicating.”

Miller explained that focusing on only women bloggers was not her original intention:

“When I started I wasn’t sure who to focus on, I was looking at male bloggers as well. But I became interested in how blogging gave vocal opportunity for women, for example in Iran, to really speak out in society. Also in Cuba most of the people in politics are men; the same thing in China.”

“I also liked the way women use political blogs in a really personal way – they are just talking about their lives and it’s just the truth. That’s what these regimes find dangerous.”

To find out more information see the documentary website forbiddenvoices.net or search #forbiddenvoices.

On the Internet, their voices are skillfully shielded, but the famous bloggers Yoani Sánchez, Zeng Jinyan and Farnaz Seifi aren’t afraid of the dictatorial regimes in their respective home countries of Cuba, China and Iran. With indefatigable determination, they keep people around the world informed about the abuses taking place in their countries.

Director Barbara Miller follows these brave young rebels on their dangerous journey. She traces their use of social media like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter to denounce and combat human rights and freedom of speech violations in their countries.

It is not surprising that these fearless women were named among the world’s most influential people by TIME magazine, but will they ever achieve the equality that they so desperately want when there are still thousands of similar voices in prison or under house arrest?

Directed by Barbara Miller
Duration: 96′
Year: 2012

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In Mexico, more than 40 journalists have been killed or have vanished since December 2006, when President Felipe Calderón came to power and launched a government offensive against the country’s powerful drug cartels and organised crime groups.

Director Bernardo Ruiz follows journalist Sergio Haro from the Mexican magazine Zeta, a Tijuana-based independent newsweekly. Through interviews, reports, archive footage and news items, Ruiz illustrates the ruthless practices of the drug cartels, and the corruption that makes it so dangerous for journalists to do their jobs.

With a print circulation of about 30,000, Zeta is an anomaly in the Mexican media landscape. For three decades the paper has chronicled the activities of organised crime and corrupt politicians. Since the paper was founded in 1980, two editors have been murdered and founder Jesus Blancornelas miraculously survived a vicious attack. Despite the dangers, Zeta journalists are committed to investigative journalism and determined to uncover the truth.

Directed by Bernardo Ruiz
Duration: 71′
Year: 2012

The Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan has already called this resolution an indirect pressure on Azerbaijani courts. "This action can be judged as unreasonable step that puts into question the independence, fairness and impartiality of the [Azerbaijani] judicial system providing indirect pressure on decision-making of the courts," Foreign Ministry spokesman Elkhan Polukhov said. 

The Parliament set up a commission to prepare a statement about the aforementioned EU resolution. The Speaker said that the EU adopted this resolution to pressure Azerbaijan’s position in negotiation process around the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict; the Vice-Speaker called the resolution "the peak of injustice" while someone remarked that "it was prepared by Armenian diaspora."

Samad Seyidov, the Head of the Azeri delegation to PACE who also heads international relations commission of the Parliament proposed to reconsider Azerbaijan’s relations with EU:

According to MP Samad Seyidov, the forces that do not love Azerbaijan have become active. He considers that the resolution should be reacted in two manners.

"Protest should be expressed against the resolution. First of all, this resolution is connected with Azerbaijan’s leadership in the region. On the other hand, we should analyze our work. In what direction are we working with them? We should explain Azerbaijan’s importance for Europe in the language they understand. The resolution is biased," he said.

The commission prepared a letter of protest to EU Parliament which in turn was voted in the plenary session. According to Azeri Press Agency (APA), the Parliament called the EU resolution "an attempt to damage democratic image of Azerbaijan." Here is an excerpt in APA’s translation:

Azerbaijan is working together with the European Union and prefers democratic values.

Human rights protection is one of the country’s supreme goals. No one can make us avoid this way. Our future links with the democratic development. We hope that the European Parliament will not put aside the main tendencies of the country and not be based on the principle of generalization of the different exceptional cases, while reviewing the issues about Azerbaijan.

The defense plans to appeal the verdict in higher instances till the European Court of Human Rights. International community has strongly condemned the case as political one and Amnesty International has already adopted the bloggers as "prisoners of conscience."

Emin Milli, 30, and Adnan Hajizade, 26, were assaulted and beaten while dining in a downtown Baku restaurant and then detained for hooliganism on early July this year.

Note: this piece was posted with a back date

According to Reporters Without Borders blog, friends and supporters of detained bloggers will hold birthday parties for, but without Emin in Baku, Strasbourg, Paris, London, New York, Budapest, Houston and possibly, Basel.

Ironically, Adnan Hajizade also had to mark his birthday in jail this year – just five days after his arrest he turned 26.