Sara Whyatt

Myanmar: Five years after the coup, expression remains under attack — PEN International | Promoting Literature & Defending Freedom of Expression Worldwide “Last month, the Myanmar military attempted to legitimise its rule through a carefully orchestrated electoral process. This so-called election was nothing more than an effort to impose a veneer of leg...

#Myanmar: For 5 years, the military has attempted to silence a nation through terror, censorship, and brutality, yet it has failed to extinguish the voices of those resisting its rule. This anniversary must serve as a moment of renewed international resolve. www.pen-international.org/news/myanmar...

Cuba: The unjust convictions against José Gabriel Barrenechea Chávez and rapper Nando OBDC must be overturned  — PEN International | Promoting Literature & Defending Freedom of Expression Worldwide 27 January 2026 — Civil Rights Defenders, ARC – Artists at Risk Connection, PEN Cuba in Exile, and PEN International strongly condemn the prison sentences imposed on the Cuban writer and independent j...

#Cuba: We condemn the prison sentences against writer José Gabriel Barrenechea Chávez and artist Fernando Almenares Rivera (Nando OBDC), alongside partners.

Read our joint statement with @atriskartists.bsky.social and Civil Rights Defenders ⬇️

www.pen-international.org/news/cuba-th...

Pavel Krisevich, a political performance artist from St Petersburg, has been forced out of Russia after being re-arrested multiple times, most recently in December, following his release from prison in January 2025.

buff.ly/Bs90Ztu

International Contest for Minority Artists 2026: War and Reconciliation - Freemuse Geneva, 18 December 2025. On the occasion of minorities day – the anniversary of the adoption in 1992 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religi...

18 December 2025, on the occasion of minorities day - Freemuse and its partners announce the launch of the fifth edition of the International Contest for Minority Artists (2026). The 2026 theme of the Contest is War and Reconciliation.

www.freemuse.org/internationa...

Performance artist and festival of culture added to Russian government's list of ‘foreign agents’ Pavel Krisevich and SlovoNovo festival were added to the list on 7 November

www.theartnewspaper.com/2025/11/11/p... "This means that participants from Russia, who were already few in number, will now be afraid ... On the other hand, it is recognition that artists play an important role in the anti-war, anti-Kremlin movement.” Marat Guelman, founder of SlovoNovo

There’s cowardice at work with theatres eyeing each other to see who does and doesn’t host before they commit. But what message does that send about creative freedom when organisations act so timidly arguing what is said from a theatre’s stages has no connection to how that organisation operates?

Day of the Dead: Artists Caught Between War and Cartels - Freemuse The Day of the Dead on 2 November is a tradition observed across Latin America, honouring deceased loved ones and celebrating their lives. This year, Freemuse joins the celebration as an act of resist...

The Day of the Dead on 2 November is a tradition observed across Latin America, honouring deceased loved ones and celebrating their lives. This year, Freemuse joins the celebration as an act of resistance and a testament to memory serving artistic freedom.
www.freemuse.org/day-of-the-d...

The Bukhara Biennial Will Break Your Heart The work in Uzbekistan’s first biennial shimmers with the promise of culture as a connective tissue, while the autocratic government that funded it lurks in the shadows.

The Bukhara Biennial is an illusion, an oasis in a desert of repression. Transforming unused caravanserais, madrasas, and one mosque into a maze of miniature galleries within the Uzbek city, there are moments when it is a beautiful, affecting, and wonderful mirage.

Gaza artists' unorthodox biennial finds a home in Istanbul The Gaza Biennale — Istanbul Pavillion, themed “A Cloud in My Hand,” reflects Gaza artists’ quest for survival as well as their hopes for a postconflict homeland.

"The biennial is one of the most colonial inventions in contemporary art...It was born of world’s fairs & national pavilions. We turned it inside out. The Gaza Biennale is completely diasporic & dispersed, a collective act of joint production.” Do visit!
www.al-monitor.com/originals/20...

#Turkey 🇹🇷 @bianet-eng.bsky.social reports that prosecutors are seeking prison terms for members of the all-female music group 'Manifest'. They face charges of "obscene acts" and "indecent exposure" over dances performed during a recent concert in Istanbul. buff.ly/kuvLoHK

No to death penalty European Union and Council of Europe

The Council of Europe and the EU will continue to counter narratives promoting the reintroduction of the death penalty, including in Europe, and foster an open and democratic debate towards its full abolition in all parts of the world. Alain Berset Secretary General of the Council of Europe Kaja Kallas EU High Representative

Ahead of the European and World Day against the Death Penalty, the @coe.int and the #EU reaffirm their unequivocal opposition to the death penalty, in all cases and in all circumstances.

Joint statement by @alain-berset.coe.int and @kajakallas.bsky.social ⬇️
www.coe.int/en/web/porta...

Alarming trends: the crisis facing civil society and human rights defenders in Europe Strasbourg 09/10/2025

Europe's civil society #HumanRightsDefenders are under threat:
-Restrictive legislation
-Crackdown on activists & harassment
-Severe funding crisis
@coe.int states & non-state funders should stand up for civil society, the lifeblood & pillar of democratic society. ⬇️
www.coe.int/en/web/commi...

Moscow Can’t Stop the Music The Kremlin is trying to suppress songs that defy Putin’s rule. It isn’t working.

"[Musicians] demonstrate a new sincerity, a new honesty, that is a huge contrast against the awful cynicism of those in power.” An excellent piece on the Kremlin's unsuccessful attempts to suppress song.
www.theatlantic.com/internationa...

New Reports Expose the Global Toll of Censorship Two dossiers paint an urgent quantitative picture of the rapidly growing suppression of free expression and artistic freedom.

Read Emma Shapiro's article in Hyperallergic on the Freemuse report on artistic freedom, alongside Article 19's Global Expression report. hyperallergic.com/1043369/new-...

New Reports Expose the Global Toll of Censorship Two dossiers paint an urgent quantitative picture of the rapidly growing suppression of free expression and artistic freedom.

Big thanks to Emma Shapiro for her article in Hyperallergic on the recorded rise of attacks on freedom of expression and artistic freedom through the @freemuse.bsky.social and Article 19 reports. hyperallergic.com/1043369/new-...

Maja Smrekar: When politics and religion control women’s bodies, they control art - Freemuse Slovenian artist Maja Smrekar is suing the right-wing Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS), for misusing her work – a performance in which she breastfed her puppy – during a referendum campaign on pension...

Slovenian artist Maja Smrekar is suing right-wing Slovenian Democratic Party for misusing her performance art, K-9_topology: Hybrid Family, in a referendum campaign. She is defending artistic freedom and reflecting on increasing pressure for self-censorship.

www.freemuse.org/maja-smrekar...

AICA Statement on Freedom of Expression in the Arts in Germany after the Hamas Attacks of October 2023 — AICA International Headline: AICA urges Germany to protect artistic freedom while combating antisemitism, warning that current practices risk fostering de facto censorship and self-censorship in the cultural sector. ...

AICA urges Germany to protect artistic freedom while combating antisemitism, warning that current practices risk fostering de facto censorship & self-censorship in the cultural sector.
🔶 An important, well considered appraisal . Read more here:
aicainternational.news/agora/2025/9...

GAZA BIENNALE - THE ISTANBUL PAVILION: A Cloud in My Hand - Depo İstanbul GAZA BIENNALE – THE ISTANBUL PAVILION features the work of over 50 artists from Gaza, Palestine, and beyond. The exhibition unfolds across three floors at Depo, Istanbul during the 18th International ...

The genocidal war, forced famine & closed borders are devastating Gaza & Palestine. Gazan artists are unable to travel, & their works cannot physically cross borders.Depo responds by hosting the Gaza Biennale featuring artists from Gaza, Palestine & beyond. www.depoistanbul.net/en/event/gaz...

The Goethe Medal 2025 Award Ceremony and Osman Kavala’s Acceptance Speech Osman Kavala Web Sitesi

A very deserving award to Osman Kavala in recognition of his steadfast support for cultural dialogue, human rights & the belief that the arts can bring people together across borders & differences. Shocking that Kavala has been imprisoned for almost 8 years.
www.osmankavala.org/en/statement...

OPEN CALL: To the Kids Who Live - an online exhibition of work created in solidarity with Palestine. Curated by Bosla Arts’ artist-in-residence Rand Hamdallah!

Deadline 30 September 2025 🎨

Learn more & apply: www.boslaarts.com/blog/open-ca...

Statement Against the Conviction of Sebastian Coronel, Head of the independent space La Chispa in Asunción — AICA International The International Association of Art Critics (AICA International), wishes to express its deep concern and protest at the recent conviction of cultural manager Sebastián Coronel, head of the independen...

The International Association of Art Critics (AICA International) expresses deep concern and protests the recent conviction of cultural manager Sebastián Coronel, head of the independent space La Chispa in Asunción, Paraguay.

Read the statement here:

aicainternational.news/agora/2025/8...

More than 150 US cultural organisations, joined by hundreds of artists, have pledged to resist political pressure on programming and to stand with institutions facing government scrutiny.

buff.ly/LRhP308

Colorado Town Settles With Native Artist Who Brought Free Speech Lawsuit The town of Vail canceled Danielle SeeWalker’s residency last year after she shared an unrelated painting in support of Palestine on her Instagram.

Over a year after Vail, Colorado, cancelled an artist residency over a pro-Palestine artwork, Indigenous painter Danielle SeeWalker has settled a civil rights lawsuit brought by the ACLU.

One year ago, Chinese artist and U.S. resident Gao Zhen was detained in Hebei, China. He remains in prison without trial, his health failing, his family silenced. Freemuse joins sixteen other rights organisations to demand his immediate release.

See the joint statement here:
hrf.org/latest/joint...

Delighted that I shall be there wearing two hats: 1 - for the presentation of the @freemuse.bsky.social 'Ideas-Deliberative Democracy' session 'Building Bridges - Defending Artistic Freedom & 2 - for the @coe.int Free to Create Project under the 'Time for Creativity' sessions.

Today marks the one-year anniversary of the unlawful arrest & “pre-trial detention” of Egyptian cartoonist Ashraf Omar.

Alongside our colleagues @cartoonistsrights.org @cartooningforpeace.bsky.social, we once again take the opportunity to call for his immediate & unconditional release.

Demand to free cartoonist Ashraf Omar, one year on On the first anniversary of his arrest in Cairo, international cartoonists' & free expression organisations call for the release & acquittal of Ashraf Omar.

Egyptian cartoonist Ashraf Omar has spent a year in pre-trial detention after being arrested, beaten, and interrogated over his work.

Freemuse joins 23 press and human rights organisations in calling for his immediate release.

Full statement: cartoonistsrights.org/ashraf-omar-...