As funders threaten to punish the US gallery that censorsed the first major US exhibition of gay art, Salil Tripathi looks at the fallout of America’s culture wars
Parliamentary elections are Sunday in Egypt, so here’s a heavily Egypt-centric collection of related links, plus some other happenings around the region
In advance of parliamentary elections in Egypt, the regime is cracking down on opposition politicians and harassing journalists. One journalist was rounded up covering street protests in Alexandria and is being held on what his supporters claim are trumped up drug possession charges.
Egyptian blogger Ahmed Bassyouni is being sent to the country’s notorious military tribunals. His crime: publishing “military secrets” for apparently starting an Arabic Facebook page that answers questions about Egypt mandatory military service. Amnesty International says all the information Bassyouni provided is available in the public domain.
Cairo has successfully fended off a push to allow international monitors to observe the elections. However some local monitoring groups are determined to closely observe the vote and use social media as a means of organizing and disseminating information. But some question whether Egypt’s social media boom has really succeeded in producing political change on the streets.
In Saudi Arabia, a journalist was sentenced to two months in prison and 50 lashes for writing about public anger over chronic electricity cuts. Fahd al-Jukhaidib was convicted of inciting the public against the government.
In Kuwait, the trend toward privatisation in the telecommunications industry has been accompanied by a parallel crackdown on the type of camera people can carry in public. All photographers in Kuwait are now banned from using digital SLRs in public places, only recognized journalists are exempt from the ban.
Music and Censorship: Who calls the tune?
A panel discussion on music and censorship
Friday 3 December – 6:30pm
School of Oriental and African Studies
Thornhaugh St, Russell Square, WC1H 0XG
Location: Room G2
Nearest tube Russell Square
(Room G2 is immediately to the left of reception as soon as you enter the main building. Ask at reception if any doubt.)
Music is the most censored of all the arts – from the restrictions facing musicians in Iran to the pressures of the global market. To coincide with Index on Censorship’s special issue on music and censorship, ‘Smashed Hits 2.0’, please join us for a panel discussion with leading performers, broadcasters, producers and commentators.
David Jones, director of Serious and London Jazz Festival
Daniel Brown, journalist and broadcaster
Malu Halasa, writer and editor
Lucy Duràn, broadcaster and academic
Khyam Allami, musician
Chair: Jo Glanville, editor, Index on Censorship
The event will include a special screening of the short film Baddil Musiqah (7min, Arabic with English subtitles). Produced by Aramram, an independent film production company based in Jordan, it gives an insight into what is on the minds of young independent Arab musicians in the region today.
Organisers of an annual blogging conference, CNBloggercon, to be held last weekend in Shanghai were told to cancel the event because it was too “sensitive.”
Convener and citizen journalist, Zhou Shuguang, told Agence France-Presse that the venue informed them one day before the conference was due to start that the Shanghai government had warned them not to allow it to go ahead.
This is the first time in six years that the two-day meeting has been cancelled. Previous conferences, described as the “best annual internet event in China,” by China media blog, Danwei.com, have been held in different cities to avoid being shut down. Last year, for example, it was held in a cave near a mountain town in Guangdong province.
Organisers, though, tried to have the last laugh. The conference website has been wiped clear of content but if you press (alt+A) highlighted text appears: ‘The grass mud horse has been harmonised.'” The Grass Mud Horse, an imaginary alpaca-like creature, is a popular online slang used to poke fun at Internet censorship and in Chinese it has the same sounds as a fairly strong profanity.
When asked why he thought the conference failed this year: prominent Chinese blogger Isaac Mao replied by email: “It’s a very tough year for the China authority this year… [they] are becoming either less tolerant or less confident.”
Mao added that those people who arrived to take part still managed to meet in informal groups. “Because it comes from an internet philosophy, it will definitely continue. Probably no one can ever really stop it.” He noted that they employ “creative ways beyond the mentality of the old-fashioned government.”