Banned Voices

Wangpo Tethong, on Tibet

Wangpo Tethong is the Executive Director of the International Campaign for Tibet Europe. In this episode we discuss Tibet, the Chinese occupation of the region, organisation of the Tibetan diaspora, and their use of technology to support the community and stay one step ahead of censorship.

Benedict Rogers, on Hong Kong

Benedict Rogers is the Chief Executive of Hong Kong Watch. In this episode we discuss the human rights situation in Hong Kong, the National Security Law, Rogers' own banning from the territory, and the efforts by Hong Kong Watch to improve the lives of people living in Hong Kong.

Abduweli Ayup, on the Uyghur People

Abduweli Ayup is the Director of Research at the World Uyghur Congress. In this episode we discuss the ongoing genocide against his people, and the attempted erasure of Uyghur culture and identity.

Enghebatu Togochong, on Southern Mongolia

Enghebatu Togochong is the director of the Southern Mongolian Human Rights Information Center. In this episode we discuss the ongoing persecution of the Mongolian people in China.

Mohammed Almahfali, on Censorship in the Arabic Speaking World

Mohammed Almahfali, Ph.D, is an affiliated researcher at the Centre for Advanced Middle Eastern Studies at Lund University in Sweden. In this episode we discuss his personal story of travelling from Yemen to Sweden, his expertise on literature of the Arabic speaking world, and of course censorship and book banning across the region and what kind of trends we see today.

Ulrika Ahlberg and Jude Chukwuma Dibia, on their Free Speech Library

Ulrika Ahlberg and Jude Chukwuma Dibia work at the Dawitt Isaak Library in Malmö, Sweden, a library dedicated to authors who have been censored, repressed, or forced into exile. We discuss our shared passion for the free exchange of ideas, and the similarities and differences between their library and the Banned Books museum.

Captain Roy D, on QAnon and Amazon De-listing

Captain Roy D is an author of books on QAnon. In this episode he tells the story of his involvement in the movement from its earliest stages, what he and his community believe, and how he has been banished from Amazon on what he believes are politically motivated grounds.

Denis Poljakov, Bookseller, on Smuggling Books Across the Russian Border

Denis Poljakov is the owner of Russow Galerii in Tallinn, Estonia (https://www.facebook.com/russow.galerii). In this episode he tells the story of his lifelong business in books, including his experiences smuggling contraband antique books across international lines, his arrest and internment in a Russian prison camp, and how he restarted his life in Estonia.

Edwin Giltay, Whistleblower, on the Bosnian War and a Dutch Cover-up

In this episode our guest Edwin Giltay discusses his 2014 book De doofpotgeneraal, which details a scandal in Dutch military intelligence regarding film footage of war crimes that took place in Srebrenica during the Bosnian war, and the consequent banning and un-banning of his book.

Santa Remere, Author, on the Consequences of Inspiring Girls

Episode 1: Latvian author Santa Remere discusses her 2020 book Mūsējās, which was intended as an inspiring collection of biographies of Latvian women presented in a fairy-tale style, but was attacked upon publication for its inclusion of one highly contentious pro-Russia politician among other Latvian women.