A new initiative from Google Ideas, simply called Censored, invites users to a series of conversations with people who are fighting for their right for free expression. In Part 01 of the series, “Painting over the Bullet Holes,” Google Ideas…
Despite a vague federal law that professes to protect children from harmful information, Russian mother and author Anna Starobinets didn’t let censorship stand in her way when it came to publishing her newest children’s book, Beastly Crime Chronicles. In a…
“The Malaysian government has no sense of humor.” This is the polite way that cartoonist Zunar describes his home country’s current administration and their controversial and unjust treatment of free expression in a recent editorial piece he wrote for the…
Last month, Indian graphic novelist and political cartoonist Orijit Sen’s cartoon “Punjaban” quickly became a viral hit after it was removed from Facebook when an anonymous user reported it for “containing nudity.” Despite the fact that an outpouring of support…
2015 wasn’t just a benchmark year for censorship in the United States, where we fought more challenges to graphic novels and books than we’ve ever seen. International censorship was on the rise, culminating in literal attacks on cartoonists around the…
Myanmar political activitist Chaw Sandi Tun has been sentenced to a six-month prison term for posting a satirical cartoon that criticized the country’s military on Facebook. Tun — a former member of the Maubin District Students’ Union and active demonstrator…
Earlier this year, three editors/artists for the independent Lebanese magazine Samandal were found guilty of belittling Christianity, “inciting sectarian strife,” and propagating “defamation and slander” leading to a total of $60,000 in fines. In a recent interview with The Comics…
Nearly a year after the attack on the Paris offices of Charlie Hebdo which killed 12 people including five cartoonists, a manifesto on freedom of expression that editor Stéphane Charbonnier (widely known as Charb) completed shortly before his death will…
Freedom of expression is once again under attack in Egypt. Last week, pressure from authorities forced the shutdown of best-selling Egyptian author Alaa al-Aswany’s monthly seminar “Conspiracy Theory between Reality and Illusion” at Jesuit’s Cultural Center in Alexandria. The move…
Recent media coverage of UN Special Envoy Maud de Boer-Buquicchio’s recommendations to Japan for combating child sexual abuse emphasized her assertion that the country should, “ban manga of extreme child pornographic content.” This recommendation is a wrong-minded and unfortunate distraction from the…