Why the right to protest is a free expression issue

The right to protest and the right to free expression are inextricably linked: in many cases, the latter has been fought for and won through protest; and the language used in protest is frequently misconstrued and used as a justification for its suppression. Protest is in and of itself a demonstration of free expression. This panel will discuss the disturbing response to protests that we’ve witnessed across the globe, what this tells us about the state of free expression, and the inherent paradox at the centre of the concept of ‘peaceful protest’.

This is one of two public panel discussions hosted by English PEN in partnership with PEN International, taking place as part of the 90th PEN International Annual Congress. This is one of two public panel discussions hosted by English PEN in partnership with PEN International, taking place as part of the 90th PEN International Annual Congress. Find out more about other events taking part during Congress here.

Hanna Komar is a Belarusian poet, writer, translator and activist. She’s published five poetry collections, including the most recent Ribwort, and a non-fiction book about the experience of incarceration for peaceful protest in Belarus. In November, her debut play Body in Progress will be staged at the Voila! festival in London.Hanna is a member of PEN Belarus and an honorary member of English PEN, as well as the Freedom of Speech 2020 Prize laureate from the Norwegian Authors’ Union. She's currently taking a PhD at the University of Brighton, exploring how poetry can support Belarusian women to share experiences of gender based violence and patriarchy.

Miyo Peck-Suzuki is a DPhil in Political Theory at Nuffield College, Oxford. Her research broadly focuses on how feminists should think about state power and prisons. She is currently working on an intellectual history of Asian American feminism and has written about organising for Palestine in the London Review of Books blog.

David Mead is Professor of UK Human Rights Law at the University of East Anglia, UEA and specialises in the law relating to the right to protest, and public order policing. He was Parliamentary Academic Fellow to the Joint Committee on Human Rights in 2021/22 as the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act made its way through Parliament, and has been consulted recently by the New Zealand Police Authority on proposals to reform public order law there. He has worked with UN Special Rapporteurs, with barristers and solicitors on protest cases in the courts, and with civil society and NGOs.

Sanaa Seif is a British-Egyptian film editor and human rights activist known for her activism during and after the 201 1 Egyptian revolution. Sanaa was an editor on the Oscar-nominated documentary, The Square, which details the Egyptian revolution from 2011 to 2013 through the perspective of young activists. Sanaa has been imprisoned by the Egyptian authorities three times for political activism and has had international cultural supporters launch campaigns for her release. She is the sister of imprisoned writer, Alaa Abd el-Fattah, and leads on the international campaign for his release.

English PEN is one of the world's oldest human rights organisations and the founding centre of PEN International, a worldwide writers’ association with 130 centres in more than 90 countries. The charity works to promote literature and to defend freedom of expression in the UK and internationally. www.englishpen.org

PEN International is the foremost and largest association of writers which stands at the intersection of literature and human rights to protect free expression around the world. Founded in London in 1921, PEN International – PEN’s Secretariat – connects an international community of writers. PEN operates across five continents through over 130 Centres in over 90 countries. It is a forum where writers meet freely to discuss their work; it is also a voice speaking out for writers silenced in their own countries.

PEN International works to promote the PEN Charter to ensure that people everywhere have the freedom to create literature, to impart information and ideas, to express their views, and to access the views, ideas, and literatures of others. We champion the freedom to write, recognising the power of literature to transform the world. www.pen-international.org

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