With Glasgow home to both the world's tallest cinema and a host of picture houses throughout the city, it can certainly be considered a city with a local population who love the movies.

Be it the latest releases at the likes of Cineworld and the Odeon or more niche and classic films and small boutique festivals at the likes of the CCA and the GFT, there's something for everyone.

That being said, it's strange to think that the powers that be in the city had a reputation for censoring films they thought might offend public decency and taste in the not too distant past.

Here's our list of a few such movies that fell foul of the censors, some of which encouraged movie-lovers in the city to travel outwith the city boundary just so they could catch a film:

Tropic of Cancer

The 1970 American drama, an adaptation of Henry Miller's controversial 1934 novel, was banned by the council in Glasgow in March of 1971.

With one magistrate banning the film said to have referred to it as 'filthy, disgusting, depraved'.

The Devils

The British historical drama horror, directed by Ken Russell and starring Oliver Reed and Vanessa Redgrave, followed on from Tropic Of Cancer in also being banned in 1971.

It was, according to the book The Sexual State: Sexuality and Scottish Governance (1950-1980) by Roger Davidson and Gayle Davis, the first time where Glasgow magistrates banned a film on grounds it "offended good taste and public decency".

The Sex Adventures of the Three Musketeers

This "adults only" retelling of the legend of the Three Musketeers German film fell foul of the city magistrates in 1974 on basis of its 'strong emphasis on immorality taking place behind the walls of convents and monasteries'.

Monty Python's Life of Brian

The 1979 British comedy film starring and written by the comedy group Monty Python has to be the most famous example of film censorship in Glasgow. The city was one of 39 local authorities in the UK that refused to grant the film a general release on blasphemy grounds.

While its possible it might have been shown as part of a double-bill with Airplane at the ABC cinema on Sauchiehall Street, plenty of residents (especially in north Glasgow) flocked to the Rio in Bearsden to see the film.

The 'unofficial' 30-year ban was only lifted back in 2009, when the council's licensing and regulatory committee approved a request from the GFT to show the biblical satire under a 15 certificate.

Romper Stomper

The controversial Australian film which depicts the life of a neo-Nazi skinhead gang, was banned by the city back in 1993, leading to the GFT among others to cancel their proposed screenings.

That saw people (plenty of skinheads among them) travel to East Kilbride and the UCI in Clydebank in their droves to see the film , which stars Russell Crowe.

This story was originally published in September 2020.

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5 films that have been banned by Glasgow's censorship board over the years - Glasgow Live

Major social media platforms and tech services have a long history of banning and deplatforming Laura Loomer. And theres a remarkably long and comprehensive, covering pretty much every nook and cranny of a persons online activity, list of them: Facebook, PayPal, Uber, Lyft, Twitter, Medium, and many others.

But despite all that, her status last week changed from a commentator and activist hounded by Big Tech to a Republican congressional candidate in Florida. And while Loomer has faced censorship without breaking any law, and could in fact become a lawmaker could it also be that the corporations that have chosen to ban her in the past almost by making an example out of her, are now in violation of US campaign finance law by actively undermining her campaign?

This is the question that has been raised by the American Principles Project in a letter addressed to the Federal Election Commission.

The non-profit wants to know if fairness of the November race in Florida for a seat in the US Congress may be tainted by Loomers exclusion from giant and other tech companies platforms. This is particularly troublesome in light of the fact that her opponent, Democrat Lois Frankel, is facing no such obstacles and could therefore be given unfair advantage by a bunch of private corporations undermining the electoral process (also known as election meddling).

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The letter doesnt quite spell it out that way, but it still poses an interesting question: if Frankel can benefit from full access and presence on dominant social media networks, while Loomer is being completely cut off does this not amount to the in-kind contribution to a favored candidate?

Other questions the think tank wants answered by the Election Commission include whether Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter show up on Frankels filings as in-kind contributors, and whether the Commission thinks social media platforms may agree to materially contribute to political campaigns by choosing to disseminate campaign ads for for one type of candidate, while censoring and excluding another?

In what the letter refers to as otherwise normal circumstances, tech companies would be considered free to censor who they like, the non-profit suggests; but now that Loomer is a Republican candidate for Congress, this policy may need to be reassessed in view of election rules, it argues.

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FEC questioned on election ethics of Big Tech censoring Laura Loomer but not her rival - Reclaim The Net

Yet so many of these witnesses did like and admire Roths extraordinary ode to masturbation. Then editor of The Age, Graham Perkin, the pioneer of Australian journalistic pluralism, says Portnoys Complaint is a quite rare combination of high tragedy and high comedy. On the other hand, the historian Manning Clark describes the book as a complaint against God.

Book censorship trials are sometimes about great works of literature such as Flauberts Madame Bovary and Joyces Ulysses, and sometimes they are about minor works by great writers as with D.H. Lawrences Lady Chatterleys Lover. The Portnoy case is in the latter category.

Credit:

Sometimes the defenders of Roths epical saga of onanism are very high and mighty, as when the critic and subdean of arts at Melbourne University, Dinny OHearn, says to the prosecutor with a fierceness that does not hide his disdain, We dont use terms like plot. McPhee is full of recollected admiration for Patrick Whites very measured testimony, where he speaks with such gravity about the ordinariness of obscenity.

And we get Peter Bennie, the warden of St Pauls College at Sydney University, citing The Kinsey Report and explaining that the practice [of masturbation] is almost universal in the career of males and therefore quite a normal one in discussing the career of an adolescent.

You have to pinch yourself at the thought that this is Australia in 1970 free love, hippiedom, sexual experimentation yet here are barristers talking about do-it-yourself sex as if it were one of the horrors of the earth.

The law does come across as a bit of an ass, whereas both Michie and the assembled literary world are impressive. Michie had 75,000 copies of Portnoys Complaint just begging to be sold. He cleverly turned the book into an instant bestseller, while provoking Chipp so that he would have been happy to see him in jail.

There are brilliant, brutal ploys by prosecutors, who effectively block expert evidence and make it difficult for the literati to celebrate Roths book without defining it. The University of Western Australia librarian, Leonard Jolley, husband of Elizabeth, is a persuasive voice for sanity: When I got the book, I thought I was justified in getting it.

In the end everything is confounded by paradox. Judges conclude the book is obscene but does have literary merit. The juries are incapable of reaching a verdict. There seems to be nothing to do with Portnoys Complaint but sell it and read it. Patrick Mullins has told this story as well as you could hope it would be told.

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Portnoy and the complaints of the Australian censors - Sydney Morning Herald

Back in June, two bodies were found in suitcases by teenagers on a Seattle beach and now the victims aunt wants the viral TikTok video removed.

Gina Jaschke has done an exclusive interview with the BBC in which she speaks about her niece, and argues that the video must be removed from the app. However, TikTok disagrees, claiming that it does not violate their guidelines.

Seattle Police have opened a murder investigation on the case and are appealing for information.

Back in June, three teenagers were making TikTok videos on a beach in Seattle when they made a shocking discovery.

Whilst socialising on the beach, they saw that there were a pair of suitcases that had washed up onto the shore. Upon opening the cases, they found two dead bodies.

The teens uploaded the video to TikTok, which quickly went viral, and the news rapidly spread around the world. The video has now has now had a huge 5.5 million likes.

It does not contain any graphic scenes, but does show the teens opening the suitcase. Watch the TikTok video at your own discretion here.

The bodies were later revealed to belong to Jessica (Jessie) Lewis, 35, and her partner Austin (Cash) Wenner, 27.

Jessica was a mother to four children, and their families are offering a $10,000 reward to anyone who can provide information, reports The Metro.

Both were revealed to have gunshot wounds, and Seattle Police opened an ongoing murder investigation on June 19th. They are currently appealing for information.

A new BBC interview with Jessicas aunt reveals that she desperately wants the TikTok video to be removed.

Gina Jaschke said: That video went viral and theres nothing we can do to change that.

She then goes on to say that she wants to thank the kids who found the bodies, because wihtout them they may have never found out what happend to Jessica and Austin.

However, she then addresses the fact that she thinks the video should be removed:

I wouldve thought by then that they would know better to put it down. That these bodies that were found in these bags, in these suitcases, that smelt awful, that they have faces now that they could see. And they were people. And I thought that they would have known too that they were people. And they would have taken it down of of respect for that.

However, the video still remains on TikTok, and the social media site argued it does not violate their guidelines as it did not include any visuals of the remains.

Watch the full BBC interview here.

In other news, Twitter: Fans ask 'Does Bryce Hall have Covid' following huge LA birthday party!

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Jessie and Austins aunt vs TikTok the debate around censorship of Bodies in the Suitcase video - HITC

This photo taken on December 12, 2019, shows protesters waving black flags reading "Liberate Hong Kong revolution of our times" at Edinburgh Place in Hong Kong. Photo:Alastair Pike / AFP

Several textbook publishers in Hong Kong removed phrases like separation of powers and references to popular slogans used during pro-democracy protests as China continues to extend its influence on the semi-autonomous city.

According to the South China Morning Post, changes were made to liberal studies textbooks produced by six of the citys top publishers.

Liberal studies is a mandatory subject for Hong Kong high schoolers and covers several topics, including contemporary Hong Kong and globalization, according to SCMP. Unlike other core subjects, schools are not required to have textbooks for liberal studies approved by the citys Education Bureau.

Last year, the Education Bureau provided a voluntary advisory service to review liberal arts textbooks after Hong Kongs former leader, Tung Chee-hwa, alleged that the subject had radicalized Hong Kongs youth and encouraged protest.

SCMP said on Tuesday, August 18, that it observed changes to several liberal arts textbookstwo publishers had deleted the term separation of power from its curriculum, while others removed images depicting Hong Kong protesters or signs referencing the liberation of Hong Kong.

Liberate Hong Kong has become a popular slogan used by the pro-democracy movement and was banned by the Hong Kong government in July under the citys new national security law. The new law bans secession, subversion and foreign interference, and threatens a maximum sentence of life in prison.

According to SCMP, some textbooks also removed images of Lennon Walls, colorful mosaics of handwritten notes that have become a popular motif of the citys pro-democracy movement.Local media reported that references to universal suffrage were deleted and warnings on the consequences of civil disobedience were added.

The revisions made to Hong Kong textbooks are the latest in a series of changes in Hong Kongs education system.

In June, Hong Kong schools were ordered to display the Chinese flag and sing the Chinese national anthem after the city passed a controversial law that makes insulting Chinas national anthem a crime.

In July, two renowned professors and leading pro-democracy figures were fired from their jobs. Benny Tai, a law professor and a leader of the 2014 umbrella movement, was fired by the University of Hong Kong, while lawmaker Shiu Ka-chun, a lecturer at Hong Kong Baptist University, said his contract was not renewed after 11 years of teaching there.

Educators worry that Hong Kong is attempting to purge pro-democracy voices in academia as part of a wider crackdown on dissent. Tai wrote in a Facebook post following his removal that the decision marked the end of academic freedom in Hong Kong.

The Hong Kong Professional Teachers Union (HKPTU) raised concerns that changes to school textbooks would limit the room for discussions of controversial topics in the classrooms and urged Hong Kongs Education Bureau to stop political censorship of social issues.

In a statement on Wednesday, the union said that textbook revisions have seriously damaged the goals and objectives of the general education curriculum and hindered the practice of high school students having opportunities to understand social issues from multiple perspectives.

The Education Bureau hit back at the 100,000-member HKPTU, saying the unions criticisms were totally unfounded, based on twisted facts and deliberately smearing the service.

The publishers voluntarily participated in the professional consultancy service and refined the textbooks, with a view to sieving out the inaccurate parts from the rest. This is for ensuring that the information is correct, based on facts, keeping abreast of the times, a bureau spokesman said in a strongly-worded statement.

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Hong Kong Teachers Fear Political Censorship As Protest Slogans Edited Out of Textbooks - VICE

The Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol emerged as a focal point of attention for the information security world during August as the Chinese government updated its censorship tool, the Great Firewall of China, to block HTTPS traffic with the latest TLS version. The topic got even more attention when security researchers offered workarounds to TLS-enabled censorship and demonstrated potential TLS-based attacks at DEF CON: Safe Mode.

TLS is a widely adopted protocol that enables privacy and data security for internet communications, mostly by encrypting communications between web applications and servers. TLS 1.3, the most recent version, was published in 2018. TLS is the foundation of the more familiar HTTPS technology and hides communications from uninvited third parties, even as it does not necessarily hide the identity of the users communicating.

TLS 1.3 introduced something called encrypted server name indication (ESNI), which makes it difficult for third parties, such as nation-states, to censor HTTPS communications. In early August, three organizations iYouPort, the University of Maryland and the Great Firewall Report issued a joint report about the apparent blocking of TLS connections with the ESNI extension in China.

Using a simple Python program, the group discovered that the Great Firewall blocks ESNI connections from client to server and temporarily bans the IP addresses involved. The organizations say they have been able to find circumvention techniques that can be used either in apps or software or on the server side to thwart Chinas censorship blocks, but they consider these solutions temporary.

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TLS attacks and anti-censorship hacks - CSO Online

50 years ago

Four rural schools will be auctioned Saturday, August 29th at the County Fairgrounds. The school real estate includes: North Springville, Round Prairie, Cherry Grove and Pleasant Ridge.

Deaths: Erwin O. Kern, 29; Ruth A. Kern, 25; June (Hansen) Haugrud, 54; Olga M. (Rentz) (Peterson) Groth, 89; Edwin Stalsberg, 77; Alfred J. Latimer, 58; Marian (Jenkins) Reed, 44; Verden Charles Sallander, 70.

Viroqua physicians convinced the Viroqua Area Schools Board of Education to not include chiropractic services in their insurance plan.

Vernon County Coroner Winifred Ofte told the Broadcaster-Censor late Wednesday morning that she ordered a continuance until Friday morning of the inquest that she convened Wednesday to investigate the traffic accident near De Soto which ended in the deaths of Mr. and Mrs. Erwin Kern. I feel we have established a number of facts about the accident and the circumstances surrounding it, said Mrs. Ofte. Testimony was taken from several persons but there was some doubt expressed by the Coroner when the most important witness failed to appear. Mrs. Ofte ordered the key absent witness to appear Friday when the inquest reconvenes.

The Vernon County

Broadcaster

Aug. 24, 1995

25 years ago

Marty Ekern of rural Westby drowned after saving his daughter from drowning. They were on a canoe trip south of Black River Falls. Ekerns daughter got caught in the turbulent current and he kept getting underneath her to keep her above water. After finally getting his daughter to shore, Ekern, who was exhausted, was swept away by the current and disappeared. Ekern was the assistant principal and athletic director at Viroqua High School. As of the publication of the Aug. 24, 1995, issue of the Broadcaster, his body still had not been found.

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Pages from the Past | News - La Crosse Tribune

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Woke liberals to Right-wing conservatives, everyone has found a new target for their politics. Children. And what they watch and read. From beef to witches, it seems children must be saved from what the thought-controllers of the Left and Right approve of and find appropriate. In a gentle nod to the BJP and RSS Hindutva politics in India, Disney+ Hotstar has been found censoring the popular animated series DuckTales. The censorship pertains to no surprise beef.

At a time when we are living through the Covid-19 pandemic, sanitisation is a word we all live by. However, the concept of sanitisation seems to have been taken a bit too far when it comes to censoring content for children and harmless content at that.

All spoken mentions of beef have been erased from DuckTales, including the word ham in hamburger, despite it still appearing in the English subtitles.

Its not a big surprise, even though it is still hilarious, that the hamburger has now been changed to cheeseburger, which in reality also refers to a beef burger, but with cheese. And who will tell them that hamburger has nothing to do with ham, but comes from the place Hamburg in Germany where it originated.

Meanwhile, in the United States, a few self-proclaimed witches have raised objections to the classic Grimms fairy tale Hansel and Gretel being taught in schools. It apparently represents witches in an objectionable manner and nurtures the same hatred that once led to witch burnings.

Also read: The itch of mainland Indians to civilise northeast hasnt gone. Dog meat ban another example

Who gets to decides what counts as appropriate behaviour? In India, or even elsewhere, its clearly the majority those in positions of power, evident from the kind of choices streaming platforms are making while self-censoring content. From text books to web series, majority over alternative voices seems to be the norm. Although the witches may not agree.

Whatever is approved might not have much logic behind it or proper research, as the cheeseburger example clearly shows but since sanitisation is the norm, we ought to follow.

The larger agenda, however, remains clear begin influencing popular culture early, so that only a certain kind of learning or ideology can prevail and dissent can be weeded away.

From England to India, censorship of books, art or cinema have taken place over centuries. With the rise and popularity of print and online culture, calls for censorship have become even more inane over time.

In the US alone, from 1990 to 2000, the American Library Association reported 6,364 challenges to a range of books in libraries and public schools. Canada, too, reported attempts to censor various materials in one-third of its schools in the 1990s.

Even canonical childrens books such as The Diary of Anne Frank and Harry Potter series have undergone censorship in the past.

Also read: I ate the non-vegetarian Harappan meal and had no beef with it

Global food chains like McDonalds and Wendys are reluctant when it comes to picking bones with local laws and beliefs in India, and stay off beef and pork. In fact, McDonalds world-famous hamburgers are not sold in India at all.

Considering most of its consumers are, again, children, this is both a business strategy, and simply safeguarding against backlash in the country that has recorded increasing intolerance when it comes to meat.

Pork does not create as much offence as beef clearly, because the majoritarians are mostly okay with it, even though Muslims may not be.

Also read: Better to have killed me man thrashed by cow vigilantes says wont transport meat again

While its a general tendency to blame the Right-wing for censorship or banning, evidence shows that this is not always accurate.

Professor of Library Science and censorship scholar Judith Saltman says that those who are advocates of censorship in childrens literature, and belong to the Left of the political spectrum, are becoming uneasy bedfellows with the traditional advocates of censorship, those on the right.

American writer and young adult novelist Malindo Lo, in her research on censorship in the last decade, found that books that fall outside the white, straight, abled mainstream are challenged/censored more often than ones that do not challenge the status quo. The subjects of such material could range from anything to LGBTQIA+ rights to disability, to race, or closer home, religion and caste.

Left or right, books or cartoons its my way or the highway for many. And beef in India is probably the furthest thing from my way for vocal supporters of the BJP or Hindutva ideology. Seems like if we can train our children to learn that beef is a dirty word, we are on the route towards learning government-approved best behaviour.

Views are personal.

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No beef, no witches Left and Right-wingers fight to control how children read, watch, think - ThePrint

The two PN leadership contenders have lashed out at the Broadcasting Authority (BA) for its decision to censor journalists questions during press conferences televised on the public broadcaster, as the Institute of Journalists also took a stand against the BA ruling.

In a statement, Opposition Leader Adrian Delia said that despite the fact that it was the PN that had filed the complaint to the BA about a lack of impartiality during a press conference held in June, this balance can never be achieved by silencing journalists.

He said questions by journalists were required to ensure checks and balances on the government of the day.

It was a sentiment also expressed by PN leadership hopeful Bernard Grech who wrote to the chairperson of the BA to revoke the decision to censor journalists questions during press conferences and make sure this is applied on both national television and radio.

He said the decision by the BA violates the Constitution, is completely abusive and harms the publics right to be informed.

The stand was taken after the BA decided to ban journalists from asking questions in a highly controversial decision.

On 17th August the Broadcasting Authority instructed the state broadcaster, Television Malta, to censor journalists

Gepostet von The Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation amDienstag, 18. August 2020

The Institute of Maltese Journalists (IGM) said the BA was forcing PBS to censor journalists, forcing it to become a State broadcaster similar to what one finds in totalitarian regimes.

As the BA persisted in its decision, saying it was final, the IGM issued another statement saying the Authority was choosing to blame journalists instead of rectifying an error of judgment.

It is a journalists job to ask questions. This is a fundamental right, also known as freedom of expression. It is a politicians job to answer. It is called transparency and accountability, the IGM said in a statement on Thursday.

The Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation has also criticised the BAs ruling, saying censorship of the media does not belong in democratic societies but in totalitarian regimes. The Foundation also said the decision should be reversed: The BA should uphold constitutional rights, not violate them.

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Mounting criticism against BA's decision to censor journalists - The Shift News

Mae Anderson, Associated Press Published 1:33 p.m. ET Aug. 19, 2020 | Updated 1:34 p.m. ET Aug. 19, 2020

Governments around the world are taking advantage of the coronavirus pandemic to justify or to divert attention from crackdowns on press freedom.

Media tycoon Jimmy Lai wasarrested in Hong Kongearlier in August as police enforced a new national security law. In June, journalist Maria Ressa was convicted of cyber libel" in the Philippines. In Egypt, at least 12 journalists have been arrested this year under laws against spreading misinformation" related to the coronavirus.

Rappler CEO and Executive Editor Maria Ressa.(Photo: Aaron Favila, AP)

In some cases, regimes have moved to curb alleged misinformation about the coronavirus pandemic that doesnt align with official proclamations about its spread or severity. In others, the pandemic serves as a distraction by directing national attention away from these incidents.

Egypt, for instance, has been jailing young journalists such asNora Younis, editor-in-chief of the al-Manassa news agency, who according to the International Press Institute was arrested on June 24. In Russia,the AP foundat least nine cases against ordinary Russians accused of spreading untrue information on social media and via messenger apps, with at least three of them receiving significant fines.

The IPI has beentracking media freedom violationssince the pandemic began. Such repression includes arrests and charges, restrictions to access to information, censorship, excessive fake news regulation, and physical attack.

Incomplete figures make it difficult to say whether such crackdowns are on the rise. At least 17 countries, including Hungary, Russia, the Philippines and Vietnam, have enacted new laws ostensibly intended to fight misinformation about the coronavirus, according to an IPI tally. In reality, those measures have actually served as pretexts to fine or jail journalists who are critical of the government, the organization said.

In Hungary, for example, Prime Minister Viktor Orban passed a coronavirus law that could mean up to five years in prison for false information. Russia can fine people up to $25,000 or imprison them for five years if they're deemed to have spread false information about the virus. Media outlets can be fined up to $127,000, according to the IPI.

The Committee to Protect Journalists has tracked 163violations of press freedomrelated to the coronavirus this year as of July 29. The group says its data is not comprehensive. The IPI hastracked 421 violationsrelated to the virus, including arrests, censorship, excessive fake news" regulation and physical or verbal attacks.

We see an ongoing crackdown on the press that is compounded by the coronavirus," said Courtney Radsch, CPJs advocacy director.

Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai.(Photo: Vincent Yu, AP)

Even incidents unrelated to alleged pandemic misinformation can escape broader notice amid the flood of coronavirus news. Jimmy Lai'sarrest in Hong Kong, for instance, shortly followed enactment of a new national security law that gives China more power to squash dissent in Hong Kong. Lai operates Apple Daily, a feisty pro-democracy tabloid that often criticizes Chinas Communist Party-led government.

The libel convictions ofRessaand another journalist were also unrelated to COVID-19. But Radsch said the pandemic can serve as a distraction for such cases that might otherwise have gotten more international attention.

Theres just much less attention being paid to a lot of this since people are just caught up in other news," she said. It's difficult to break through the morass to raise concerns and public concerns about crackdowns."

That's been exacerbated by the absence of a robust response from the U.S. under President Donald Trump, experts said.

In the age before Trump, clearly the United States would be the one advocating for press freedom and independent media worldwide," said David Kaye, a law professor at the University of California, Irvine, and a former UN special rapporteur on freedom of expression. Trump routinely refers to the mainstream press as fake news.

While the Trump administration sanctioned Chinese officials, including Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam, over Lai's arrest, its traditional rhetoric in support of the free press has fallen short. We dont see the robust condemnation that we would expect from the U.S. over press freedom crackdowns or deaths of journalists in custody, Radsch said. The administration also could have done more for Ressa, she said, as the journalist holds American as well as Filipino citizenship.

We have not seen a robust call at the highest level for charges to be dropped," she said. It's not what we expect."

The U.S. does still intervene on occasion. For example, U.S. negotiators have been active negotiations overAustin Tice, a Houston journalist and veteran held in Syria. But that is a rare exception.

Kaye said increasing media repression is a direct consequence of a global rise in authoritarian government.

Authoritarians and populists of the last several years have been elected into office," he said. Theres been pressure on independent media, that hasnt changed, and that has been happening in parallel prior to and into COVID."

The pandemic has added a new vector toward repression," he said. There is existing repression that's continued, and COVID-oriented repression thats new."

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How COVID-19 gives cover to press crackdowns the world over - The Detroit News