Special Offer: 2 for 1 tickets available via the Asia House website
6.45pm, Thursday 15th May, Asia House, London
Have developments in digital technology brought a greater freedom of communication for writers in Asia or do they now face restrictions in new forms? While on one hand, channels for dissent have widened, so have modes of surveillance and detection.
With Giles Ji Ungpakorn – Thailand, Gus Hosein – Privacy International, Gigi Alford – Freedom House, Washington, DC and a video testimony from Vietnam
Chaired by Jo Glanville – English PEN
Gigi Alford is senior program officer for internet freedom at Freedom House based in Washington, DC, managing global projects to promote and protect human rights and democracy online. Her work focuses on challenging restrictions to free expression for internet users in repressive environments, particularly for targeted activists, bloggers, and independent media outlets. Prior to joining Freedom House, Gigi was a journalist and a Knight Fellow in Community Journalism. She is currently a graduate student in international human rights law at Oxford University.
Giles Ji Ungpakorn is a Thai academic in exile in the U.K. The former Associate Professor of politics at Chulalongkorn University was charged with lèse majesté in late 2008 because he wrote a book criticising the 2006 military coup. Since arriving in Britain, he has been an active commentator on Thai politics, using blogs, websites, internet radio and social media
Gus Hosein is the Executive Director of Privacy International and has worked at the intersection of technology and human rights for over fifteen years. He has acted as an external evaluator for UNHCR, advised the UN Special Rapporteur on Terrorism and Human Rights, and has advised a number of other international organisations. He has held visiting fellowships at Columbia University and the London School of Economics.
Jo Glanville joined English PEN as Director in September 2012 from Index on Censorship where she served as an award-winning Editor since 2006. She was a BBC current affairs producer for eight years and appears regularly in the media as a commentator on culture and freedom of expression, including the Guardian, the Daily Telegraph and London Review of Books.
In partnership with the Asia House Bagri Foundation Literature Festival
Asia House
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