The trial of Malaysian cartoonist Zunar was set to begin yesterday, but has once again been delayed while a separate challenge to the country’s Sedition Act is pending. A new start date has been set for March 9. If convicted…
Author: Maren Williams
Connecticut High School Cancels American Idiot Musical After Parent Complaints
After complaints from “a very small number of extremely vocal people,” a high school drama club in Enfield, Connecticut has cancelled its planned production of the musical American Idiot, even though the club’s faculty advisor was already working to cut…
For Myanmar Cartoonists, Satire is Both a Right and an Obligation
Since Myanmar’s military junta lost its stranglehold on the government in 2012, political cartoonists old and new have relished their newfound freedom to criticize the powers that be. Following the country’s first democratic elections of the new era late last…
Farghadani Acquitted on “Illegitimate Relations” Charge
Iranian cartoonist Atena Farghadani, currently serving a nearly 13-year prison sentence for caricaturing members of parliament as animals, has been spared even more prison time as she was recently acquitted of “non-adultery illegitimate relations.” That charge was brought after she…
Snow White Book Banned in Qatar for “Indecent” Illustrations
Qatar’s Supreme Education Council recently ordered a private school to remove a picture-book adaptation of Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs from its library collection due to illustrations that one parent said were “inappropriate” and “indecent.” The principal at…
Five Years Later, Cartoonists Have Faith in Arab Spring
This month marks five years since the regional wave of uprisings known as the Arab Spring began in Tunisia. Both before and after the regime changes in that country, Egypt, and Libya, as well as ongoing civil wars in Syria…
LEGO Changes Bulk Order Policy After Ai Weiwei Protest
Months after news broke that LEGO Group refused to fulfill a bulk order for Ai Weiwei’s current exhibit at Australia’s National Gallery of Victoria, the company reversed course this week and announced that it no longer vets customers’ intentions for…
Zunar to Join US Colleagues for California Free Expression Conference
Embattled Malaysian cartoonist Zunar and four U.S. colleagues will join in a roundtable discussion this Friday at the University of California, Irvine School of Law. The event kicks off a three-day conference called What Cannot Be Said: Freedom of Expression…
Turkey’s Püff Adds to Diversity of Satirical Voices Against Repression
In Turkey’s increasingly repressive media environment, where journalists may be arrested for criticizing President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan or officially forbidden from covering certain stories such as this week’s suicide attack in Istanbul, satirical magazines are nevertheless forging ahead. And while…
Censorship Battles Take a Toll on Educators
Virtually every public school district across the country has a policy on how challenges to materials should be handled. One of the many benefits of observing these policies is that they help to shield the districts’ own employees — teachers…