Daily Archives: February 26, 2022

On Feb. 16, a Roskomnadzor official said companies that did not comply by the end of the month would face penalties. In addition to fines and possible shutdowns or slowdowns, the penalties could disrupt ad sales, search engine operations, data collection and payments, according to the law.

For those companies that have not started the procedure for landing we will consider the issue of applying measures before the end of this month, Vadim Subbotin, deputy head of Roskomnadzor, told the Russian Parliament, according to Russian media.

Human-rights and free-speech groups said they were disappointed that some of the tech companies, often viewed inside Russia as less beholden to the government, were complying with the law without public protest.

The ulterior motive behind the adoption of the landing law is to create legal grounds for extensive online censorship by silencing remaining opposition voices and threatening freedom of expression online, said Joanna Szymanska, an expert on Russian internet censorship efforts at Article 19, a civil society group based in London.

Mr. Chikov, who has represented companies including Telegram in cases against the Russian government, said he met with Facebook last year to discuss its Russia policies. Facebook executives sought advice on whether to pull out of Russia, he said, including cutting off access to Facebook and Instagram. The company complied with the laws instead.

Mr. Chikov urged the tech companies to speak out against the Russian demands, even if it results in a ban, to set a wider precedent about fighting censorship.

There have been times when the big tech companies have been leaders in terms of not only technology but also in civil liberties and freedom of expression and privacy, he said. Now they behave more like big transnational corporations securing their business interests.

Anton Troianovski and Oleg Matsnev contributed reporting.

Read more here:
Russia Intensifies Censorship Campaign, Pressuring Tech Giants - The New York Times

If youre fired up about book challenges and want to do one actionable thing about it that requires little more than a few minutes of time, this ones for you.

One of the several possible ways to fight book challenges is being tuned into your local school and library boards. School boards tend to be elected offices, while public library boards can either be elected or can be appointed. In the case of elections, you, as a voter and citizen of your community, can not only choose to endorse a candidate who cares about intellectual freedom, but you can run for those positions yourself. If your board utilizes the appointment system, you can submit an application for open positions.

While running for and sitting in those positions can take a lot of time, voting for those positions is part of civic duty.

Heres your action step this week: look up your local school and public library board. Who is sitting on it? How did they get there was it election or appointment? How long is their term? When do elections for open positions happen? Its likely a board seat on either may be up for spring elections in April or May this year, and/or there may be open positions during the fall election season in October or November.

If you find there are open positions coming up for election, research the candidates. What language do they use to talk about how they see themselves in the role? By now, youre likely conscious of some critical words that define those seeking to censor educators and the materials they use or have available in schools and libraries (look for words such as parental rights or oversight, among others).

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It might feel like a small step, but many small steps taken add up. The more information you know about your own community, the more youre able to be an active participant in it. The death of local news has been a tremendous detriment to so many towns, and where information used to be readily shared through those sources has fallen instead to partisan-aligned social media outlets. Were all much more responsible for our own civic education in the wake of it.

The only way the war against intellectual freedom is going to be won is by being armed with information that allows you to understand the responsibility and the power in using your voice at the poll, in the community, and at or on these local boards.

A favor to ask before diving into the roundup for the week. Once youve done this work and looked up your school and library boards and the policies around them, can you share that information? This handy form is anonymous but will help compile a resource for people across the country to be better informed. Bonus: you can use it as your personal template for this research send yourself a copy of the form for your own records.

Want to do something for the authors and books being challenged that doesnt cost money and doesnt require you to leave your couch? This set of recommended actions is great, and it acknowledges the inherent privilege in the idea buying books is the solution.

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Take One Step This Week Toward Combating Censorship: This Weeks Book Censorship News, February 25, 2022 - Book Riot

Faced with racism, censorship, and sexism, life for a conservative on an American college campus is harder than ever, according to students from around the country.

With few allies for them at school, conservative students have come to the 2022 Conservative Political Action Conference in Orlando, Florida, to tell their stories.

"It's not fun. We've been persecuted several times," Preston Parra, a 20-year-old student at the University of West Georgia said. "I actually had to take a case up to the vice president. I didnt report anyone specifically, but I was called a racial slur on campus."

WATCH: 'FREEDOM CONVOY' TRUCKER REACTS TO BEING BEATEN BY OTTAWA POLICE

Everyone expects white conservatives to be racist, he said, but Parra, who is of Colombian descent, endures the most attacks from his campus's self-proclaimed liberals and other people of color, including the individuals who called him the slur, he said.

"They happened to actually be black. You see all the time in the media that white people are portrayed as the enemy and the most racist, but growing up as a brown kid in middle school and elementary school, I got bullied more from people of my own color or black people than I ever did by white people," Parra said. "So it's very important we see there is such a double-standard when it comes to racism. People are going around saying the N-word on the liberal side of things, but if you ever heard it on the conservative side, it is a blowup."

"I, myself, am brown. I come from a minority community, and I reported [the incident] to the vice president. I told him, 'Hey, this is going on on campus. Its got to stop.' He nominated me as chairman of the code of conduct board," he continued.

Many conservatives do not feel comfortable speaking up, but doing so can put them in positions to make change, Parra said.

Sexism is another major challenge facing conservatives, especially women, on America's campuses, according to Rachel Ress, a student at Florida Atlantic University.

Ress, 19, said she was originally slated by the school to live in the same residence as a male student.

When she explained to school officials that the arrangement made her uncomfortable, she said they said the only thing wrong with the situation was her attitude.

"I was housed initially with a boy and told that I was the problem because of my Christianity and not wanting to embrace the situation," according to Ress.

"I was like, 'I'm a girl. I want to be with girls.' I had never had an experience like that. I'm glad we sorted it out, but it was hard to be shamed for traditional values in such an untraditional setting."

Georgetown University is an example of a left-leaning school that can be unwelcoming to tradition, according to 22-year-old Andrew Alfonso.

"Theres definitely a lot of assh**** and a lot of real aggression coming from kids on more of the Left," Alfonso said. "I know one time we had a conservative speaker on campus, and a lot of kids ended up protesting that, and it got pretty ugly.

"Weve kind of been siloed," he continued. "It can definitely be difficult at times."

Inside the classroom, life doesn't get easier for conservatives, several students lamented.

"There are some times where I will want to write an essay about one thing, and then I have to hold myself back," Deanna Mancuso, a 20-year-old FAU student, said.

Censorship, whether it be imposed by professors or the students themselves, is a common denominator among America's institutions for higher learning, students agreed.

"I definitely feel at times I cant portray who I am completely because of the fear of judgment," said 19-year-old Dalia Calvillo of FAU.

"But that is something you have to deal with, and you always have to stand up for yourself."

Parra echoed Calvillo's sentiment.

"Many times, professors have tried to censor us on campus. Were not letting that happen," he said. "We're fighting against it, we're shining a light on it, and were publicizing it. Thats the key. You have to publicize all this stuff."

CPAC offers young conservatives the chance to learn about tools they can take back with them and use to make a difference at their schools and in their communities, according to Parra.

"I came to CPAC last year and took back a lot of values then," he said. "So now Im running for [state House] District 64 in Georgia, and were just doing everything we can to make sure we are preserving all the values that are important to true God-loving Americans."

Both Calvillo and Mancuso said they want to use what they learn in Orlando to become better leaders on campus.

"I hope to learn a little bit more about what it takes to be a great leader and show that at my university," Calvillo said.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

It's not just important to be a leader, Mancuso argued. A leader "has to be someone who is unapologetically who they are."

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Racism, censorship, and sexism: The price of being conservative in college - Washington Examiner

In Born on the Water, the childrens picture book accompaniment to The 1619 Project, Smiths paintings bring the cultures of West Africans to life, showing the pre-enslavement history often omitted from classrooms.

One of the things that me and Nikole talk about is theres so much rich history, and culture, and so much joy in these tribes and these people that were stolen from their land, Smith told The 74. You really have to understand all of that to understand how heavy it was, and how tragic it was We really just wanted to show that life.

From his plant-filled Los Angeles home, Smith paired Hannah-Jones and Watsons poetry with family traditions, beautiful hair, dances, imagery that evoked death and spirits. Using a digital speed-sketch style, his illustrations began as monochrome shapes and skeletons in Photoshop, impressions of how he felt after reading and internalizing their verses.

The book hit shelves last fall amid a wave of proposed state laws aimed at preventing students from learning a mythical critical race theory and divisive concepts. In at least four states, legislation attempted to ban the 1619 Project explicitly. So far, Florida has succeeded.

While a vocal minority of lawmakers and parents believe school aged children are too young to grapple with just how violence against Black people was intrinsic to the nations founding, many more yearned for the content. Born on the Water topped bestseller lists as families headed into 2022, looking for ways to talk to children about the country theyll inherit.

Smiths artistic approach seemed a natural fit. In digital paintings, he added layer after layer of color and symbols clouds modeled after picked cotton, the shape of a person sinking underwater, or a green toy tied to a tree, the only sign of life left after colonizers stole a tribe to convey anger and fear in ways young readers could feel without being traumatized by explicit violence.

Long-inspired by Nina Simone to reflect the times, hed balanced trauma and life in childrens illustrations for years, painting Tamir Rice, Elijah McClain and others killed by police.

His second book, My Hair is Poofy and Thats Ok, explored the internalized hatred young Black children develop from racism and microaggressions.

Through his work, which he describes as art as therapy, he tries to help himself and viewers heal the broken bones of society.

For them to say, we have a book about the transatlantic slave trade and slavery, and all of these very heavy things that we as Black people in America, we think about it all the time I felt like thats one of the biggest broken bones in America, he said.

Remember that these werent slaves that were taken, these were brilliant people, and they did some amazing things They knew how to design and build cities, they built this country, and thats why they were stolen, because they were brilliant and good at what they do. We just want to remind people of that, and also how much they fought and resisted and got their freedom back.

And [for] the young folks who are not Black, theres no shame in anything were saying. We want people to grow up having an accurate understanding of what happened in this country. I feel like its really not until we address all of these things openly and honestly that were gonna really grow and move forward as a nation.Nikkolas Smith

Smith blurred linear understandings of time by using symbols across generations, to help young readers understand that [ancestors] vision of the future, their wildest dreams are now embodied in us [were] having to take that mantle and move forward.

And in faces, Smith balanced the world of feelings bound up in the Black experience: from shame, when the protagonist cannot make a family tree beyond three generations, to pride, after her grandmother recounts the rich history of tribes pre-enslavement. Her hair, in Bantu knots, and clothing give reference to past generations.

Ultimately, Smith hopes his work can help the next generation of Black youth have a sense of pride. Over the next few months, hell paint scenes of Ruby Bridges, the first young person to integrate a Southern school in 1960. And next year, hell collaborate with celebrated author Timeka Fryer Brown on a picture book about the Confederate flag.

He expects both will end up on some banned lists.

All we can do is keep putting the truth out there, Smith said, and itll get into the right hands.

All paintings are illustrated by Nikkolas Smith for Born on the Water, a publication of Kokila, an imprint of Penguin Young Readers.

Read more from the original source:
Painting Black History in the Time of Censorship for Young Readers: A Conversation with Nikkolas Smith, Illustrator of 1619 Project's Born on the...

In many ways, the modern audience has grown accustomed to trusting in lies. Weve been suspending our disbelief to enjoy an evening of theatre for millenniawhether were witnessing Medea fly away on a chariot pulled by dragons or turning a blind eye to slapdash producorial edit in the latest episode ofDrag Race. What matters to a modern audience is less about the verisimilitude of the show and more the emotion of the moment, and, in the right light, an illusion can feel as true as anything.

Nicky Beers latest poetry collection,Real Phonies and Genuine Fakes, explores the transformative and necessary power of illusion. This third collection follows Beers 2015 book,The Octopus Game, which examines the fluid and elusive sea creature, among other things.Real Phoniesis a continuation of the idea that subterfuge and fakery exists in the real and natural world, but unlike our cephalopod counterpart, we obtain our disguises from this world and splice them into our identities. Octopuses are masters of camouflage, Beer explains, so camouflage and illusion were something that I was very interested in in [The Octopus Game], and I realized . . . I wanted to keep exploring concepts of deception and illusion. Fans of Beers poetry will note some significant continuity between the two worksMarlene Deitrich appears in both, for exampleas Beer moves us from the seafloor to the mainstage.

InReal Phonies, Beer immediately pulls readers into an amusement park of masquerade (the first poem entitled Drag Day at Dollywood is flush with the fabulous and claustrophobic language of impersonation). What follows is a tour of the funhouse, featuring such notable characters as Dolly Parton, Marlene Deitrich, Batman, and, briefly, David Bowie. Were invited to marvel at these people and the masks they wear in one space, and directed to consider our own masks in the next. Much like gazing into a funhouse mirror, Beers poetry is as equally fascinated with artifice as it is the distorted person underneath it, and readers are often asked to consider these twoi.e., the mask and the person underneathin conversation.

Because, from Beers perspective, our real selves are connected deeply with a myriad of false faces we employ, sometimes subconsciously, in order to live. In the same way that we choose to believe Dolly Partons iconic hair is her own, we have learned to put some trust in certain falsehoods for our own sakes. When asked if there is such a thing as a trustworthy illusion, Beer excitedly replies thatReal Phoniesis an endeavor to examine our relationship with fakery and illusion, and including, I think, self-deception. Whats the degree to which we come to depend on or trust lies that we tell ourselvesaboutourselves? And how do we depend on those lies to navigate or survive the world? Much like the octopus, we learn to disguise ourselves in certain dangerous situations, but unlike the octopus, were far more likely to deceive ourselves in the process.

As is often the case, the truth is often hidden in the details, and readers ofReal Phoniesare privy to the genuine emotions behind Beers marvelous imagery. This book is the first time Im writing explicitly about my mental illness, Beer reveals, describing her experience of performing wellness in her daily life while masking the real depression and anxiety that was causing her pain. Beers poetry captures the strangely backwards way we protect ourselves from outer scrutiny, even when we need help:

Shes been nominated for an Emmy for her portrayal of

the concerned line between your doctors eyebrows

as he listened to the giant, sodden moth trapped

between your shoulders, the ruin you carry

around with you like a speech youre always prepared

to give. (from Cathy Dies)

Beyond the desire to seem healthy and happy to the outside world,Real Phoniesspends a significant amount of time contemplating the way in which women and queer people regularly perform to live in a heteronormative, male-dominated world. In one poem, a female speaker confronts Bruce Wayne and laughs at his unoriginal idea to wear a mask in dangerous places: . . . the world is a dark alley / hiding a gun in its mouth. / It has more than enough / reasons to make you/cover your face (Dear Bruce Wayne,). For the outsider, the world is a foreign and often hostile place, and Beers poetry acknowledges these experiences with a mix of delightful humor and deep, delicate sadness.

Real Phoniesis critical of the facades we choose to believe in, sure, but underneath it all is Beers genuine love of performance and the transformative, healing power of suspending disbelief in the right moments. Like the drag queens in the opening poem Drag Day at Dollywood, Beer invites us to join the parade of pretenders for a moment and feel the fantasy (or, at least, to sit back and enjoy the show): Thousands of pairs of Dolly lungs breathe in / gasoline and grease, breathe out glitter.

Real Phonies and Genuine Fakesis available now for pre-order fromMilkweed Editions, and poetry fans in the Denver area can join Nicky Beer atbookbarfor a release party on March 8th. For more information on Nicky Beer, visitnickybeer.com.

The rest is here:
Nicky Beer - Must We Become the Pitiless Censors of Ourselves? - Lavender Magazine