In 2020, there were 978 acts of infringement against artists worldwide. The report

The Covid-19 pandemic has provided a pretext for many governments around the world to restrict artistic freedom of expression, often even in repressive ways: this is what emerges from the 2021 edition of the State of Artistic Freedom report, a project of the Copenhagen-based human rights organization Freemuse. But there is more than just government action: there are also cases of racism, homophobia, and religious intolerance, often in the West as well. The data are disturbing: 17 artists have been killed, in 6 countries (11 in Mexico, 2 in Iraq, one in Belarus, one in Ethiopia, one in France, and one in South Africa), 82 have been put in jail in 20 countries, 133 have been detained in 26 countries, and 107 have been persecuted in 27 countries. Still, 3 were kidnapped (2 in Cuba and 1 in Iraq), 20 suffered attacks (in 15 countries), 103 were threatened (in 31 countries and online), there were 93 destructions of artworks and exhibition spaces in 33 countries, 14 artists suffered travel bans in 8 countries, 12 were sanctioned or fined in 3 countries, 9 were banned in 7 countries, and there were 289 censorship measures in 52 countries. In total, Freemuse calculates, there were 978 acts of violation of artistic freedom of expression, in 89 countries and online.

“Deprived of the opportunity to fully exercise their cultural rights,” reads the report’s introduction, “people around the world have found themselves locked in their homes, and have often turned to books, music, films and other art forms to organize their lives according to the canons of the ’new normal.’ Many artists and representatives of cultural institutions instantly felt the urgency to organize online concerts and make plays and films available online, or they organized book readings or virtual museums and online exhibitions. They offered their work for massive free consumption, despite the fact that they themselves were disproportionately affected by the pandemic. Numerous artists and cultural workers lost their jobs, their projects were cancelled, their commitments postponed indefinitely, exposing them to unprecedented economic uncertainty. However, the oppression of artists’ voices did not end with the restrictions on cultural events imposed worldwide as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. On the contrary, to some extent, it has intensified. Freemuse’s research shows that even in this limbo, artists have been subject to censorship, offenses by criminals, incarceration in overcrowded prisons exposed to high risk of infection, and in other ways their voices have been stifled.”

The art forms affected are at 24% visual arts, 24% music, 23% cinema and film, 12% literature, 9% theater, and 6% other art forms. Problems occurred in 26 percent of cases in Europe, 22 percent in America, 19 percent in the Middle East and North Africa, 15 percent in Asia and the Pacific, 9 percent in Africa, and 9 percent online. With 85 cases, the United States of America leads the grim ranking, followed by Turkey (72), Cuba (56), India (47), and South Africa and France with 40 cases each. The most serious cases, however, are outside Western societies: the record number of imprisoned artists, for example, belongs to Sudan (11), followed by Iran (8), Myanmar, Belarus, China and Turkey (7), Egypt and Russia (6). In the West there are only three cases of imprisoned artists, two in Spain and one in France. Cuba, however, leads the list of arrested artists (22), followed by Russia and Turkey (17) and India (11). In 71 percent of the cases, artists are arrested for political reasons, in 11 percent because they belong to minorities, and in 10 percent of the cases they are artists from the LGBT community. Incarcerated artists are, in 39% of cases, musicians, 18% visual artists, 18% writers and poets, and 15% filmmakers.Italy is mentioned in the report only once, for a case of censorship (although it is not specified which one).

What, however, are the reasons for persecution of artists? In 43 cases, artists have been silenced as part of the “fight against terrorism”: 75 percent of the cases are in Turkey (the report recalls, for example, the sad case of the Grup Yorum musicians who died after a hunger strike precisely because they were accused of terrorism), but there are also cases in Spain, Serbia, the United States, and then in Egypt, Bangladesh, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia. Again, several artists have been the target of racially motivated attacks (as far as visual artists are concerned, 23 cases in the United States, 6 in France, 5 in the United Kingdom, 3 in Belgium, 2 in Denmark, and individual cases in Australia, Canada, Cameroon, and Syria): this is a problem that in 82% of cases affects the global north. Then there are attacks on artists for their religion (in 79% of cases in the global south), and then there are also attacks on female artists (in 42% of cases for “indecency”) and homophobic attacks on LGBTI artists (98 cases in 28 countries, many of them in Europe).

The report then moves on to lengthy content where the problems are specified, and concludes with fact sheets on countries where the problems are most present. This is the case, for example, with Belarus, where dozens of artists have been arrested for participating in protests against the regime of ALexander Lukashenko and then tried in mock trials after suffering violence in prison, and many others, because of the threat of repercussions, have been forced to repair abroad; Brazil is then listed, where there are cases of censorship in the name of the Christian religion and silencing of dissent; in China, on the other hand, the biggest problem is the disappearance of dissident artists, a tactic the regime employs to silence dissent; in Cuba, there are reports of arbitrary detentions and persecution of artists linked to certain activist movements; in Egypt, counterterrorism and public morality laws are considered the biggest obstacles to freedom of expression; in Iran, artists are silenced under the pretext of protecting the values of Islam; in Nigeria, a blasphemy law (which produced a death sentence for a gospel singer, Yahaya Sharit-Aminu) and police brutality undermine freedom of expression; in Russia, there are problems for dissidents and artists in the LGBT community; Turkey punishes artists who support the cause of the Kurds and oppose Erdogan’s regime; the United States also offers cause for concern because of racial discrimination and police brutality, as well as censorship at museums and public institutions that has affected artists and works with political content or that address particularly sensitive social issues.

The report closes with a long list of recommendations for governments, international organizations, and social media.

Pictured: Brazilian musician Guilherme Azevedo shows his wounds after a brutal 7-on-1 homophobic attack.

In 2020, there were 978 acts of infringement against artists worldwide. The report

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