In a country that celebrates the male phallus, Japanese artist Rokudenashiko has been charged with the distribution and dissemination of obscene materials and faces up two years in prison and a $20,000 fine for using her own vagina as the…
From the banning of books to physical attacks against cartoonists, it is more important than ever for comics creators to understand their legal rights to best protect themselves and their intellectual property. The creators workshop Comics Experience has designed an…
Comic-Con International has wrapped up for another year, and CBLDF was proud to be part of the action, with educational panels and much more in support of our work defending comics from censorship. Let’s take a look at reporting about…
Schools around the state of Vermont are celebrating the freedom to read by participating in a statewide reading program that this year picked Salman Rushdie’s Haroun and the Sea of Stories, a book that serves as an allegory for censorship.…
Right now, South Africa’s government is considering a new and highly controversial digital content law that, if passed unaltered, would essentially authorize widespread censorship of the internet. The Online Regulation Policy drafted by the Film and Publication Board of South…
In Iran, ordinary words like “kiss,” “dance,” and “wine” can be cause for a printed book to be vetted and censored. Laws that would prohibit the publication of words such as these as well as legally empower the ministry of…
The New York theater scene is known for putting on some of the most controversial plays, but not when it comes to the monologue Mohammed Gets a Boner. The Sheen Center for Thought and Culture in Greenwich Village made a…
“The world is unfortunately waking up to the power and influence of cartoonists, [responding] through the exercise of violence and murder.” So said Robert Russell, executive director of Cartoonist Rights Network International, in the recent report, “Drawing the Line: Cartoonists…
Although no formal complaints were issued, several major bookstore chains in Russia have begun pulling the Pulitzer Prize winning graphic novel Maus off of their store shelves and internet sites. The reason: The cover depicts a Nazi swastika. According to…
Earlier this week, it was sadly announced that Queen’s University Belfast would be canceling an academic conference on the Charlie Hebdo attacks over security concerns as well as the potentially negative reputation that the University would garner by holding such…