Category Archives: Transhuman News

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

Published February 20, 2015

Zimbabweans going to the movies will have to watch a tame version of "Fifty Shades of Grey" after censors ordered an edit of the film adaption of the bestselling erotic novel.

The censors demanded that erotic scenes from the R-rated drama be deleted before it is shown in the southern African country.

"There are scenes in the film that are just too indecent to be shown to the public," said Isaac Chiranganyika, the Board of Censors secretary, said on Friday. The film based on EL James' book of the same name, explores themes of bondage and domination.

Movie theatres in Zimbabwe will only be allowed to show a censored version of the film. While most theatres have agreed to run the chopped-up version, one theater in the capital Harare said it won't screen "Fifty Shades of Grey" at all, because heavy censorship would remove too much.

"It was felt that heavy censorship would compromise the integrity of the film," the Sam Levy Village shopping center, site of the movie theater, said on its Facebook page.

Zimbabwean artists and filmmakers have regularly criticized the board's decisions to censor works that were seen as too erotic, violent or political. The board's chairman, Heya Malaba, 95, has been uncompromising about erotic movie scenes in the past.

For those who want to watch the whole film, pirated copies should soon be available on city street corners.

"I just have to wait a week or so and I will be buying 'Fifty Shades of Grey' for $1 from the vendors," said Harare resident Stam Zengeni. "So no problem."

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Zimbabwe censors '50 Shades of Grey' scenes

Two men and a baby ... an advertisement aired on Australian television claims marriage equality forces kids to miss out on a mother or father. Picture: YouTube Source: Supplied

AN ADVERTISEMENT critical of same-sex marriage was pulled by SBS management ahead of their telecast of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras on Sunday night, the ads sponsors say.

The Australian Marriage Forum said in a statement that the ad was booked and scheduled for broadcast during a Sunday night Mardi Gras special.

Dr van Gend says the ad was booked and paid for before he received an email on Friday to inform him it had been pulled from the Sunday night schedule. Ive unfortunately been instructed to advise you that we choose not to run this TVC for the Marriage Forum during the Mardi Gras telecast, the email from SBS sales manager for Queensland, Nick Belof, said.

SHOW TIME: Stars flash flesh for Sydney Mardi Gras celebrations

We hear about marriage equality a lot, but what about equality for kids? the ad asks.

It shows Dr David van Gend, president of the Australian Marriage Forum and a family doctor, stating: Children have an equal right wherever possible to both a mum and a dad. So-called marriage equality forces kids to miss out on a mother or a father. Thats not equality for the kids who miss out. Thats not marriage.

Thats not marriage ... Dr David van Gend appears as a spokesman against marriage equality in the new advertisement. Picture: YouTube Source: Supplied

The national director of Australian Marriage Equality, Rodney Croome, told SameSame.com the ads timing would only highlight how out of place anti-gay prejudice is in our increasingly inclusive and respectful society.

If this campaign has any impact at all, its obvious prejudice and fearmongering will actually increase support for marriage equality, he added.

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SBS under fire for anti-family censorship