Lebanese Artists Battle State Censorship

BEIRUT, LEBANON

State censorship has long played a role in guiding the arts in Lebanon, where a permissive culture and a delicate sectarian balance come head to head.

In the face of what they complain are arbitrary clampdowns, though, some activists and playwrights are taking the fight for free speech to the courts. MARCH is a civil rights organization that works with playwrights whose scripts, it says, failed to make it through governments required approval process.

Using content from articles, blog posts and TV shows already online and uncensored, it submitted four plays that tackled some of the most taboo topics in Lebanon: politics, the countrys civil war, Zionism, religion and homosexuality.

Lea Baroudi, co-founder of MARCH, said the plays never made it past the censors. Now the group is launching a court appeal, and is campaigning to ensure that any decisions to ban or censor content are formalized.

A lot of people think there is no censorship in Lebanon, or that the laws are pretty correct, she said. What we wanted to show and prove is that the laws on censorship are completely arbitrary. All they do is oppress arts and culture in Lebanon, as the only people who suffer are the artists and play directors.

"The censorship is not even efficient, as the content we used could be found elsewhere. So if you are trying to protect communities, it is not working, said Baroudi. Danger of offending The deadly attack on staff at French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, thought to have been a response to depictions of the Prophet Muhammad, sparked widespread debate about the limits of free speech.

In Lebanon, more than a hundred gathered in central Beirut's Samir Kassir square - named after a Lebanese journalist killed by a car bomb in 2005 - in an act of solidarity and support for free speech.

However, others defend the role of censorship, insisting that free speech can go too far, given Lebanon's sectarian diversity and, especially, at a time of regional upheaval.

Baroudi argued the very concept of censorship, however, is often a misplaced one. Art is very cathartic and in our point of view this strategy of making everything taboo in order to please and appease every group and community is not making things better. Its making them worse and its building up the tensions.

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Lebanese Artists Battle State Censorship