Amnesty International launches campaign to stop censorship of publications in China

Last week Amnesty International in partnership with Brand Union and Oglivy & Mather Hong Kong launched Every freedom needs a fighter, a multi-tiered anti-censorship initiative. The initiative includes a pop-up bookstore, supporting collateral and time-lapse films to be screened on Hong Kong’s buses.

The reasoning for the initiative looks back to 2016 when five booksellers were abducted from Hong Kong’s border. Blindfolded and imprisoned, they spent time in solitary confinement for selling publications that were critical of the Beijing establishment.

Their imprisonment was against Article 27 a basic law which allows Hong Kong residents to “have freedom of speech, of the press and of publication; freedom of association, of assembly, of procession and of demonstration; and the right and freedom to form and join trade unions, and to strike”. The initiative by Amnesty International shines a light back on this law through a bookstore which took place 16-17 February, which featured over 1000 redacted books, free to browse or to buy for a donation of HK$27.

This campaign is part of Amnesty Carnival from 16-26 February involving 53 prominent global artists focusing on freedom of expression.