Defend Dissent Tour - Host a Watch Party

Sign up to host a Watch Party for the Defend Dissent campaign launch. The launch will be live-streamed on Zoom, so Amnesty groups and other partners across the UK can host a viewing for your group members. Once you sign up, we'll provide a hosting pack and the live-stream link.

A chilling effect is sweeping across UK universities. These once vibrant spaces of free expression, debate, and dissent, are becoming places of fear and censorship.

Amnesty UK’s latest research reveals a disturbing trend: instead of uplifting the right to free expression and protest, universities are bowing to pressure from governments and lobbyists and shutting down dissent.

Students and academics speaking out against the genocide in Gaza have been at the sharp end of universities' repression, facing bans, surveillance, police involvement, and disciplinary actions. But the impact is spreading and will only get worse, if we don’t act now.

The right to speak out against and challenge powerful institutions that are undermining human rights has never been more critical. If you believe in the role of young people creating a more just world, this is your fight.

Join the Amnesty UK Student Movement in launching the Defend Dissent Campaign. Whether you’re a student, academic, alumni, or community member— we must work together to win back our rights to free expression and protest.