Those Left Behind : A Night for Afghan Journalists

Thursday 20th July

The Chapel at King’s College

AnotherWay Now and Index on Censorship recently collaborated for a unique event at King’s College, with an urgent call to action at the heart.

We began the night with footage from journalists on the ground in Afghanistan, bravely working to alert the world of human rights abuses taking place under Taliban rule.

The Footage

As with all AnotherWay Now events, we showed our audience footage from people with lived experience of the issue we were there to discuss.
We shared testimonies from Afghan journalists, all of whom have either fled the Taliban or are no longer permitted to work in journalism in Afghanistan for fear of their lives. Our audience also saw a clip from the incredible documentary ‘Homeland’, by Zahara Nabi, a young female journalist who is documenting her experience in Afghanistan right now.  

Our passionate audience then filed into the antique wooden pews lined in the Chapel to a welcome from Tina Kothari (Founder, AnotherWay Now) and Jemimah Steinfeld (Editor-in-Chief, Index on Censorship).
As a hush settled upon the chapel, we began the panel discussion and Q&A session, led by Channel 4’s Keme Nzerem.

The Expert Panel

Moderator: Keme Nzerem (Channel 4)

Emma Graham-Harrison (The Guardian)

Sana Safi (BBC)

Zahra Joya (Rukshana Media)

Our panel spoke passionately on the damaging Taliban restrictions for journalism in Afghanistan, and explained the long term consequences for journalism and arts across the region. These insightful and compassionate experts helped our audience understand how to meaningfully support human rights in Afghanistan.
The audience then had a chance to put their questions to the panel, which quickly turned the focus of the panel to the rights of women in Afghanistan. We heard how restrictions on healthcare, education and public life have cost thousands of lives already, and will likely destroy the future of many young women across Afghanistan. Our expert panel shared stories from their own investigations, demonstrating just how dire the situation has become.

We were honoured to be joined by award-winning poet, Suhrab Sirat, for a unique spoken-word performance for our audience. In both Farsi and English, Suhrab shared his family tales of fear, hope and fleeing - a tale painfully familiar to many British refugees. A wave of empathy and solidarity was felt over the chapel, marred by frustration at recent headlines on small boats and deaths at sea.

But this night was not one of grieving, but of hope and action.

We had all gathered to make a difference where it is most needed, through targeted action and support. With this in mind, our event came to a close with Jemimah (Index of Censorship), taking the audience through a list of specific Calls to Action, enabling them to make their own waves in this fight for human rights.  

Here’s how to support Index in their work to give a voice to the persecuted.

Please visit:

https://www.indexoncensorship.org/

With huge thanks to:

Katherine Schofield for the incredible venue
Annabel Moeller for stunning photography
Keme Nzerem for expert panel moderation