Category Archives: Censorship

MOSCOW, September 25 (RIA Novosti) - Hundreds of students from six different schools in a Denver, Colorado suburb have walked out this week in protest over county school board proposals to adopt a history curriculum which would emphasize the values of citizenship, patriotism and respect for authority, 9News Colorado reported.

Organizing the walkouts through word of mouth and social media, students started protesting at two schools in Jefferson County, Colorado last Friday. There, dozens of teachers had called in sick to protest changes the school district had adopted at the behest of the countys conservative school board.

The students carried American flags, along with signs which read Civil Disobedience is Patriotism and There is nothing more patriotic than protest. Afterwards, more schools joined, and the protests attracted an estimated 700 students, who voiced their dissent outside the schools and along busy thoroughfares, the Denver Post noted.

Students protested proposed changes to the history curriculum, which they said would result in censorship and blank spots in history. One student noted that she should be able to know what happened in our past, and another added that its wrong to try to erase our history. Its not patriotic.

Its stupid, Another student argued that For all the good things weve done, weve done some terrible things. Its important to learn about those things, or were doomed to repeat the past.

One student voiced his conviction that America was built on protest and civil disobedience, and that if you take that from us, you take away everything that America was built off of.

About 50 teachers joined the students, along with dozens of sympathetic parents.

The proposed review of the history curriculum, which would establish a committee to approve texts and course plans, was suggested by the Koch family-affiliated group Americans for Prosperity-Colorado. The proposals author and board member Julie Williams defended the plan, noting that there are things we may not be proud of as Americans, but we shouldnt be encouraging our kids to think that America is a bad place.

The guidelines would seek to promote the positive aspects of US history, and to avoid language and ideas which could promote civil disorder, social strife, or disregard for the law.

The review is seen by some as a response to the US College Boards Advance Placement (AP) US History course framework, which American conservatives have criticized as a radically revisionist view of American history that emphasizes negative aspects of our nations history while omitting or minimizing positive aspects.

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Colorado Students Oppose Censorship, Jingoism in Education

Performer wears Vladimir Putin mask in Halloween performance at Moscows Doc theatre. Photograph: Alexey Zhiryako

Russia has been discouraging public celebrations of Halloween as part of a campaign against western influence.

But that did not stop Teatr.Doc from staging a bitingly satirical Night of the Living Dead on Friday night in what may be one of the last ever productions at the tiny basement theatre in central Moscow famous for innovative and uncompromising work.

In a move that has shaken the international theatrical community, the Moscow authorities have ordered Teatr.Doc to vacate the basement on grounds that it had violated property regulations.

Many people think the eviction order masks an illegal attempt to censor one of Moscows few independent theatres and turn the premises into something and more profitable and predictable like a cocktail bar or billiard hall.

Problems began at Teatr.Doc, or Doc as its known among Moscow theatre buffs, when fire inspectors visited in April and ordered the theatre to replace a window with a door. What initially looked like a safety precaution turned out to be bureaucratic trap. Moscow City Property Department has ruled the new exit breaches structural rules and has terminated Teatr.Docs lease.

Were not state-owned and dont receive any government funding so the lease is the only weapon the authorities can use against us, said Mr Ugarov who co-founded Teatr.Doc with his wife and fellow playwright and director Elena Gremina in 2002.

News of Teatr.Docs eviction has sparked outrage. More than 6,200 people including Elyse Dodgson, international director at Londons Royal Court Theatre, and Hollywood actor Bill Pullman have signed a petition on change.org urging Moscows mayor to reverse the decision.

Russia has reverted to Soviet style censorship and petty vindictiveness to silence Teatr.Doc, British playwright Tom Stoppard wrote in an open letter published last week. With sorrow one cannot help noting that the battle for freedom of expression which has been won in the past has to be fought again by this tiny theatre.

Founded in the early years of Vladimir Putins rule, Teatr.Doc has made enemies with documentary work that explores the social and political fall out from Russias slide towards authoritarianism.

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Moscows fringe Doc theatre faces censorship with eviction

Lets Censor The Nightmare Before Christmas - Unnecessary Censorship on Halloween Week
Jack #39;s back just in time for Halloween Want something else censored? Comment below. I #39;m watching you ---------- SUBSCRIBE: http://bit.ly/14u7TOM TWITTER: https://twitter.com/brooksshow VLOGS:...

By: Brooks Show

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Lets Censor The Nightmare Before Christmas - Unnecessary Censorship on Halloween Week - Video

We #39;re Not Pros 7: Censorship
Censorship is a tricky subject. I guess partly the whole offensiveness to downright hate crime side factors in, I #39;m just opposed to words being spelled or said that aren #39;t made of letters....

By: Giant Enemy Channel

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We're Not Pros 7: Censorship - Video

[472] Politicos BP Sugar Daddy, Capitalisms Successful Alternative Fukushima Censorship
Abby Martin Breaks the Set on Politico covering for BP, the need to rid the world of nuclear weapons and the continuing effects of the Fukushima nuclear disaster. LIKE Breaking the Set @ http://fb...

By: breakingtheset

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[472] Politicos BP Sugar Daddy, Capitalisms Successful Alternative & Fukushima Censorship - Video

By EVE NEWMAN / even@laramieboomerang.com Wednesday, October 29, 2014

University of Wyoming professor Jeff Lockwood is scheduled to speak about censorship by the energy industry during a talk this weekend in Sheridan.

Lockwood, who works in the UW Department of Philosophy, is set to present the keynote address for the Powder River Basin Resource Councils 42nd annual meeting at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Holiday Inn in Sheridan.

The talk, Living Behind the Carbon Curtain: Wyoming, Energy and Censorship, is a preview of a book by the same name thats due out in 2016, to be published by University of New Mexico Press.

Im digging into the ways in which the energy industry has colluded with the government in both Wyoming and nationally as well as internationally, Lockwood said, to shape public discourse, and in some cases to explicitly censor free speech, particularly forms of speech the industry finds inconsistent with its interests.

The book highlights five examples of such censorship that have taken place in Wyoming, he said.

His talk this weekend will focus on two chapters and one example, about the cancellation of an art show.

Art work was censored from the Nicolaysen Art Museum in Casper because it was deemed offensive to the energy industry, Lockwood said.

His motivation for the project came from the handling of a sculpture at UW called Carbon Sink: What Goes Around Comes Around. It consisted of a spiral of logs from beetle-killed trees arranged around a pile of coal. The sculpture, by artist Chris Drury, was installed on campus in 2011. It was removed in May 2012, a year ahead of schedule.

University officials initially said water damage necessitated its early removal, though emails requested by the media suggested the sculpture might have been removed because some lawmakers and coal companies found it offensive. Much of UWs funding comes from taxes paid by coal mines and oil and gas fields in the state, plus donations from energy companies.

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UW professor to talk about energy, politics, free speech

Jerry Springer creator Richard Thomas has hit out at censorship in the arts.

Jerry Springer the Opera creator Richard Thomas has become the latest industry figure to speak out about the importance of freedom of speech within the arts, claiming organisations funded by the taxpayer have a particular responsibility to take risks.

His comments come after the cancellation of the Barbicans Exhibit B following protests last month, and as campaigners in New York rally against a production of Metropolitan Operas The Death of Klinghoffer.

Thomas described it as worrisome when stuff like that happens and added that a tour of Jerry Springer the Opera in 2006 had suffered because of protesters, many of whom had not even seen the production. Those against it, led by an organisation known as Christian Voice, labelled the show blasphemous.

It killed it, killed the ticket sales, Thomas said, adding: The wave of negative publicity made it sound like a shit show. But it wasnt, it was hilarious.

The writer, who has penned the lyrics to the new musical Made in Dagenham, said that he was a proponent of freedom of speech in the arts and warned that the industry should be wary of anything that encroaches on that.

Although Christian Voice lost a court case it tried to bring against Jerry Springer the Opera for being blasphemous, Thomas said it had made arts organisations think again about what shows they put on, because of the costs involved in defending them from potential legal action.

You would think twice about investing in such a show, no matter how good it is, if it has a contentious subject matter, he said.

Thomas added: Institutions by nature are risk averse But I feel its incumbent on taxpayer-funded institutions to take a risk.

The writer said that there were different constraints in the commercial sector, and claimed it would be naive to expect the West End to suddenly decide to do a musical set in the Gaza strip.

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News: Jerry Springer creator Richard Thomas hits out at censorship in the arts

PISCATAWAY The decision to pull an article from the Northern Highlands Regional High School newspaper was used to highlight a growing trend of censorship Monday at a gathering of student journalists from across the state.

The keynote event, "Press Rights, No Fear," at the Garden State Scholastic Press Association's 35th annual Fall Press Day on Rutgers University's Busch Campus included two student panelists for the first time.

"We're putting them out in center for you because of the work that they did in terms of fighting for their rights when their articles were censored at their schools," said John Tagliareni, the moderator and a retired adviser for Bergenfield High School's student paper.

Student press censorship is a growing problem, experts say.

"Where we had gone for years with getting very few calls, in the past year and a half we've had several significant incidences some in which the advisers were either ousted or forced to resign in order to not compromise their principles," said Susan Everett, treasurer for the scholastic press group.

Among them was the censorship of an article by Adelina Colaku, the former editor of the Highland Fling at Northern Highlands.

Colaku, one of the two student panelists, spoke about her three-month legal battle with the administration to get published a story detailing a rift within the administration. A revised version of her story was eventually published.

"When you think of authority figures who are meant to be responsible and reinforce the rights that you have students don't expect that they would violate them," said Colaku, who now attends Bard College. "So I think many students are shocked to hear this and I'm glad I can bring it to light and hopefully they can do something as well if this is occurring in their school system."

The other student panelist, Kylie Sposato, now a freshman at Rowan University, wrote a column at Pemberton Township High School lamenting smoking in the girls' bathroom.

After several meetings with the principal and superintendent, a revised version of her story was published.

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Censorship and rights at summit

Asbury Park Press 11:25 a.m. EDT October 28, 2014

Protestors attend the Metropolitan Operas season opening on Sept. 22 to protest the Mets decision to premiere the controversial opera Death of Klinghoffer. (Photo: AP )

NEW YORK It is a tale of two cities. Well, one ultraliberal metropolis of 8.4 million, and one teeny, conservative town of 3,340. But both face the same threat: dangerous art.

Here in New York, the threat is a world-renowned opera companys production about terrorism. In Maiden, N.C., the threat is a high school play about love.

Almost, Maine has enjoyed nearly 2,000 school productions since its premiere in 2004. It is, in fact, currently the most frequently produced full-length play in U.S. high schools, edging out even A Midsummer Nights Dream. Set in a fictional town in remotest Maine, the whimsical rom-com features nine interlocking vignettes of romance and heartache, playing on familiar idioms about love. The figurative act of falling in love, for example, is illustrated by actors literally falling down. Its a bit like a better-written, slightly surrealist version of Love Actually.

High school students around the country, including those in Maiden High Schools theater club, are drawn to an appealing combination of slapstick, wit and wholesome schmaltz. School administrators likewise appreciate that the most explicit dialogue in John Carianis PG-rated script is the minced oath Jeezum Crow. Who could object to that? The community leaders of Maiden, it turns out to one vignette in particular.

Remember that scene with the falling-down gag? Theres no sex, or kissing, or even allusions to lust. But the gravity-prone characters are both men, which was incendiary enough to lead the principal to cancel the production, citing sexually explicit overtones and multiple sexual innuendoes.

Suspecting that the gay storyline might be an issue, the students had asked the principal to OK their play choice several weeks earlier. After consulting with the superintendent, he did, on the condition that parents sign permission slips allowing their kids to audition for a play with homosexual characters. Then, after the 16-year-old student-director started rehearsals, word got out to local churches that the show contained gay people. Just a few days after same-sex marriage became legal in the state, the students were told the community isnt ready for this play after all.

They were distraught. Theyd already broken their budget securing the rights, and they worried about the message the principals decision sent to their openly gay classmates. The American Civil Liberties Union offered to help the group fight the decision as happened in 2011, during a similar battle at a Maryland school but the students declined legal help, not wanting to cause more conflict. They still hoped to produce the play, though, so when a former teacher offered to help mount an off-campus production, they agreed. Their Kickstarter page set a goal of $1,000. Less than a week later, they had already raised six times that amount.

Many of the donations, and accompanying petition signatures, have come from sympathizers far from Maiden. On social media and in national news reports, far-flung supporters of the students accuse the town of bigotry, backwardness and intellectual suppression.

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RAMPELL: Censorship alive and well in Maine and NYC

Post-Snowen, UN #39;s Emmerson Tells ICP of Conceptual Censorship," Foreign Fighters UNanswered
Post-Snowden, Emmerson Tells ICP of Conceptual Censorship, Foreign Fighters Question UNanswered By Matthew Russell Lee UNITED NATIONS, October 23 -- When U...

By: InnerCity Press

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Post-Snowen, UN's Emmerson Tells ICP of Conceptual Censorship," Foreign Fighters UNanswered - Video