Category Archives: Censorship

ROME (Reuters) - A British filmmaker said on Friday he was a victim of censorship after a leading museum cancelled the Italian premiere of the documentary "Girlfriend in a Coma", which is highly critical of Italy's political and economic situation.

The museum where the film was to have been shown on February 13 cancelled the showing and said it could not be held until after the country's elections on Feb 24-25.

Former Economist magazine editor Bill Emmott, who made the film with Italian Annalisa Piras, called the decision by the Museum of 21st Century Art (MAXXI) a product of "censorship and stupidity".

MAXXI, run by a foundation overseen by the culture ministry, said it could not be host to activity that can be seen to have political connotations ahead of the elections.

"This is not censorship," a spokesperson said. "After the elections, the film can be shown here." The election date has been known for nearly two months.

Emmott was for 13 years the chief editor of the Economist magazine, which published covers highly critical of former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, including a famous 2001 cover which read: "Why Silvio Berlusconi is Unfit to Lead Italy".

"I am shocked. I would not have been shocked if this had happened during the government of my good friend Silvio Berlusconi, but the culture ministry doing this now is astonishing," he told Reuters by telephone from Jamaica.

The MAXXI is run by a foundation which is funded by the culture ministry.

The film, which has already shown in New York, Miami, Brussels and London, paints a picture of what the authors say is the country's moral, social and economic decline over the past 20 years since Berlusconi came to power.

"What this decision reflects is a very cautious mentality that wants to hide the reality of the situation of Italy and seeks to stifle debate about the causes because they might be too revealing," Emmott said.

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Filmmaker cries censorship as Italy political documentary blocked

Gitmo judge bans government censorship of 9/11 case
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Gitmo judge bans government censorship of 9/11 case - Video

Anti-Censorship Group Scolds Massachusetts Over Arcade Game Removals
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Anti-Censorship Group Scolds Massachusetts Over Arcade Game Removals - Video

Kolkata, Jan 31 (IANS) Chinese author Murong Xuecun, known as a foremost critic of censorship in his country, Thursday termed the plight of authors there as "extremely frustrating and annoying".

"Writers do not enjoy freedom of expression in China. They are subjected to all sorts of scrutiny," said Murong, speaking via Skype at the second Kolkata Literary Meet here. The author could not make it to the KLM because of some visa issues.

Shedding light on the plight of authors in China, Murong said, through an interpreter: "Situation is extremely frustrating and annoying."

He alleged that there was rigorous editing of "sensitive works".

"Sometimes entre chapters are cut out and sensitive words edited."

Murong, whose real name is Hao Qun, but is more famous in his pen name which he uses in his works, grabbed the spotlight with his debut Chinese work "Leave Me Alone: A Novel of Chengdu" that made the long list for the Man Asian Literary Prize in 2008.

His writings centre mostly around social issues in contemporary Chine, with corruption, business-government relations being his pet themes.

He was awarded the 2010 People's Literature Prize for his Chinese work "China: In the Absence of a Remedy".

But Murong stole worldwide attention when in his acceptance speech for the prize, he criticized the editor he worked with for the book and also made critical references to the state of censorship in China.

An admirer of Salman Rushdie's "Satanic Verses", Murong felt it does not matter from which country or region he writes as long as he is allowed to do it.

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Chinese author lashes out against censorship in his country

The National Coalition Against Censorship has fired back at the Massachusetts Department of Transportation for removing a string of "violent" games from rest stops earlier this month. The games--including Time Crisis and Beach Head 2000--were removed following complaints by parents and just a month after the deadly shooting in Connecticut.

Executive director Joan Bertin's letter to the Massachusetts D.O.T. points out that games are protected free speech under the First Amendment and therefore cannot be regulated or restricted by state officials. She specifically mentioned the 2011 high-profile Supreme Court ruling as evidence.

"The Department's action in removing certain games because some people object to their message or content is equally constitutionally problematic. There is no legitimate state interest that could be asserted to justify removing specific games to appease the sensibilities of certain motorists."

Bertin added that by removing the games from rest stops, the Department is treading a slippery slope that could lead to other complaints. She said it is no stretch to imagine a person demanding certain DVDs, magazines, or books be banned.

"It is no more acceptable for the Department to remove certain kinds of video games than it would be to selectively remove other materials in rest stops and concessions because some motorists find something in them objectionable," she said.

Bertin concluded her statement saying it is unfair to single out video games, noting that no one is forcing anyone to play the games at rest stops.

"Video games, like other forms of media and entertainment, do not appeal to every individual. What some may feel is perfectly fine may not be right for all," she said. "Those who do not wish to play video games at rest-stops do not have to, just as those who do not. wish to read a particular book or magazine do not have to."

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Anti-censorship group angered at MA's removal of games from rest stops

An exhibition of paintings showing cannibalism and dismemberment is stirring a debate on art censorship in Japan, the home of violent manga comics.

Aida Makotos work at Tokyos Mori Art Museum last night provoked protests from a Japanese organization called People Against Pornography and Sexual Violence.

The group wrote to museum director Nanjo Fumio demanding that the images be removed because the museum was showing sexual, misogynistic material.

Its not so bad compared to manga and anime on the Internet, Nanjo said in an interview. This artists vision is about our society, which is hidden and (which) often people dont look at. The disturbing works encourage the viewer to question violence in all its forms, not to celebrate it, he said.

Makotos Monument for Nothing career retrospective includes pictures of Japanese retirees playing croquet with severed heads, a suicide device designed to always fail, a giant blender full of naked women and a kamikaze attack on New York (painted before the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001).

Hidden behind a black curtain is a section restricted to people of 18 years old or more, where Makoto, 47, shows images of dismembered women and of a multi headed monster having sex. The latter echoes a 19th-century print by Hokusai.

Unlike the easily recognizable output of Takashi Murakami or Yayoi Kusama, Makotos oeuvre contains so many different styles that its impossible to label him.

He draws inspiration from comic books, prostitution advertisements, the Marquis de Sade, and Yukio Mishima, the Japanese writer who committed ritual seppuku (suicide by disembowelment) in 1970.

One painting shows a farmer in traditional Japanese costume harvesting Louis Vuitton bags from a muddy field. A Bonsai sculpture has smiling heads in place of cherry blossoms, poking fun at the countrys Kawaii culture of cuteness.

A folding screen depicts crows, some with human remains in their beaks, perched on electric power poles positioned at dangerous angles -- a post-apocalyptic tableau recalling a 16th- century work by Hasegawa Tohaku.

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Manga Cannibalism Sparks Censorship Fury in Japan

DULTA5 N CHEM BHOS SCJMBSJ 3 5 11 CENSORSHIP GETS STREET JUSTICE 14 MB

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DULTA5 N CHEM BHOS SCJMBSJ 3 5 11 CENSORSHIP GETS STREET JUSTICE 14 MB - Video

NBA - Unnecessary Censorship
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NBA - Unnecessary Censorship - Video

DULTDAVE W2 3 15 11 LARRY WILL EXPLAIN RELIGIOUS CENSORSHIP 424 229 0911 56 MB 1 25

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DULTDAVE W2 3 15 11 LARRY WILL EXPLAIN RELIGIOUS CENSORSHIP 424 229 0911 56 MB 1 25 - Video

GUANTANAMO NAVY BASE, Cuba -- Someone else besides the judge and security officer sitting inside the maximum-security court here can impose censorship on what the public can see and hear at the Sept. 11 trial, it was disclosed Monday.

The role of an outside censor became clear when the audio turned to white noise during a discussion of a motion about the CIA's black sites.

Confusion ensued. A military escort advised reporters that the episode was a glitch, a technical error. A few minutes later, the public was once again allowed to listen into the proceedings and Army Col. James Pohl, the judge, made clear that neither he nor his security officer was responsible for the censorship episode.

"If some external body is turning the commission off based on their own views of what things ought to be, with no reasonable explanation," the judge announced, "then we are going to have a little meeting about who turns that light on or off."

His comments appeared to be aimed at the Pentagon prosecution team. Attorney Joanna Baltes, representing the Justice Department on secrecy matters in the case, advised the judge that she could explain what other forces have a hand in censoring the court proceedings. But not in open session.

The alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed and his four accused conspirators were sitting in court, listening to everything that was being said -- from the part that the public was forbidden to hear to the judge's demand for an explanation. Three of the defendants adorned their traditional white tunics with camouflage, an attire option they won from the judge to appear at trial as self-styled soldiers.

The strange censorship episode occurred as attorney David Nevin, defending Mohammed, was advising the judge that defense lawyers had wanted to argue a motion in court to preserve whatever remained of the CIA's secret overseas prison network. Prosecutors had filed a classified response to the request, and the judge asked the two sides if they would let their motions speak for themselves. Nevin was explaining why not.

Defense lawyers argue the alleged 9/11 conspirators were tortured in the so-called "black sites," and that the U.S. government has lost its moral authority to seek their execution. The CIA set up the sites during the Bush administration, reportedly in Poland, Romania, Thailand and elsewhere. President Barack Obama ordered them closed.

The lawyers want the judge to order the government to preserve what's left of them, six years after Mohammed and his co-defendants were moved to Guantanamo for trial. This is a familiar role for Pohl, who was the judge in the 2004 trials of U.S. soldiers for detainee abuse at Abu Ghraib and declared the prison in Iraq a crime scene, forbidding its demolition.

Unclear so far in these hearings is whether the judge knows where the black-site prisons were and whether any of them remain. Although he has a special security clearance to hear the 9/11 case, the CIA has not yet released classified information to the court because the defense and prosecution are still haggling over a protective order.

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Strange Censorship Episode At Guantánamo Trial Enrages Judge