“Freedom of expression is the ultimate freedom.  It means the freedom to live, to think, to love and be loved, to be secure, to be happy….”

So said Pakistani campaigner Shahzad Ahmad accepting the Advocacy Award at this year’s Freedom of Expression Awards in London last week.

Shahzad Ahmad (photo: Alex Brenner)

Index on Censorship annual awards ceremony, honours the bravery, and dogged determination of campaigners, journalists and digital activists around the world who put their passion and commitment to free speech before their own personal safety, who challenge governments, gangs, and corporate interests who threaten freedom of expression.

Our podcast gives you a brief insight into the courage of the nominees, and finishes with a great song from Egyptian hip hop artist Mayam Mahmoud (pictured) who addresses issues such as sexual harassment and women’s rights in Egypt through her music.  Mayam won the Arts Award.  You’ll find more information on the Awards on the Index website.

Advocacy Award nominees

• Colectivo Chuhcan, a mental health pressure group from Mexico
• Rommy Mom, Nigeria’s leading human rights lawyer
• Generation Wave Institute from Burma who promote democratic engagment in Burma
• Shahzad Ahmad, cyber freedom activist from Pakistan (winner)

Journalism Award nominees

• Abdulelah Haider Shaye imprisoned for reporting on drone strikes in Yemen
• Callum Macrae and C4 News who documented the truth about Sri Lankan Human Rights abuses
• Azadliq – one of the few remaining independent newspapers in Azerbaijan (winner)
• Glenn Greenwald and Laura Poitras  for their work on the NSA surveillance
• Dina Meza and investigative journalist from Honduras

Digital Activism nominees

• Edward Snowden who leaked the documents uncovering the mass surveillance by NSA and GCHQ
• Free Weibo, the uncensored version of China’s social network, SinaWeibo
• Shubhranshu Choudhary who set up a mobile phone news service in rural India (winner)
• Tails, a free open source encryption tool that protects journalists and sources in any country

Arts  Award nominees (this section was introduced by playwright Howard Brenton, who you can hear on the podcast)

• David Cecil, imprisoned in Uganda for producing a ‘pro-gay’ play
• Meltem Arikan, playwright, whose play ‘Mi Minor’ enraged the Turkish Government
• Lucien Bourjeily, Lebanese playwright who confronted the Lebanese Censorship Bureau
• Mayam Mahmoud, Egyptian hip artist and women’s right campaigner (winner)

 Photo of Mayam Mahmoud by Alex Brenner

Mayam’s song

Girls in our society are divided
Into those who wear the niqab, those who wear the veil
And those who are in between
There are a lot of cases that depend on the girl
How she dresses
And how she looks
But this is not the rule
How can you judge me
By my hair or by my veil?
If one day you look at me
I am not going to be the one
Hiding her/my embarrassment
You cat call and you harass
Thinking this is right not wrong
Even if these are words
This is not the kind of treatment
These are stones
It is not her clothing that is inappropriate or wrong
It’s this way of thinking which is
Sometimes the clothing is too much
But you are the one to blame
One look can be could hurt
And it is not right of you to be staring
You deserve to be slapped twice on the face
Femininity in Egypt is divided into two parts
There is a difference between what men and women consider
And both are wrong
Who said that femininity is about dresses
Femininity is about intelligence and intellect
It is also about the way she was raised
And her religiosity
Girls have lost confidence in themselves
Now she puts in makeup
And dresses in different colours on top of each other
The problem is not with the girl
The problem is with the society that influences the girl every second
If you ask girls if they have good taste in dressing
They will say yes we have
But our lives can not be described
Our lives have become very materialistic
And everyone wants something that would endure
You get what you pay for
The expensive things are better than the cheap.

Tags: Freedom of expression, Freedom of speech, Index on Censorship