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| 1 |
ID:
185213
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| Summary/Abstract |
Bangladesh celebrated its 50th year in 2021, marking significant improvement in the lives of its citizens. However, the celebrations were muted by not just the ongoing pandemic but also increasing authoritarianism. The economy was hit hard by the pandemic, but a recovery appears to be underway. A resolution to the Rohingya refugee crisis remains elusive, and in the long run the country remains acutely vulnerable to climate change.
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| 2 |
ID:
084858
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| 3 |
ID:
166902
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| Summary/Abstract |
German organizations are among the last Palestine solidarity groups in Europe to have embraced the call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS), launched in 2005. Pro-Israel German groups have been quick to respond with aggressive rhetoric equating a BDS-favorable stance with Nazism. The vilification of the movement has had the unintended consequence of inserting BDS into German politics, both at federal and local levels. Select case studies show that the BDS debate in Germany has developed somewhat differently than in other European countries, and that religious discourse is significant in shaping attitudes to Israel and Palestine. While the Palestine solidarity movement tends to single out the “Anti-Germans”—a pro-Israel formation that grew out of the Left after the reunification of Germany—as the major culprit, it is in fact conservative Christian, mostly Evangelical, organizations that are largely responsible for discouraging BDS activism.
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| 4 |
ID:
138591
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| Summary/Abstract |
Jia Pingwa’s Decadent Capital was wildly popular upon its publication in 1993. Offering plenty of sex and a bleak view of Chinese society under reform, it was also highly controversial, not least because of the blank squares strewn throughout the text to represent erotic descriptions edited out by the author. Commentators accused Jia of selling out high culture, much like the intellectuals portrayed in the narrative. The novel was banned in 1994 but rereleased in 2009 with one major change: the blank squares were replaced by ellipses. I argue that these blank squares not only make public censorship itself but also constitute the space of alternative publics, whether harking back to an elided past or projecting into a future yet to be written, that the post-Tiananmen Party-state tries to nullify. KEYWORDS: Jia Pingwa, censorship, publishing industry, postsocialism, dystopia, utopia, Tiananmen Square, public, criticism, Lu Xun.
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| 5 |
ID:
087510
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| Publication |
2009.
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| Summary/Abstract |
During the early twentieth century, the emerging medium of cinema in British India became a distinctly contested political issue, revealing the tensions and limitations of empire. The record on cinematographic censorship indicates a number of competing interests and changing views, while political transformations and messy realities on the ground defied the efficacy of censorship. Even as many Indian filmmakers sought to convey messages of nationalist aspirations, the perceived need to guard against the revolutionary thoughts of communism and ideas from America that seemed to promote democracy and promiscuity fuelled censorship as a major multivocal imperial policy. Beset by many obstacles, it sought to control the exhibition of both Indian and foreign cinematic productions.
The article seeks to understand the genealogy of censorship derived from prior British attempts to regulate literary and dramatic productions. In the 1920s, anxieties about the maintenance of law and order and protection of British rule during a period of increasing Indian nationalist unrest had to be integrated with various concerns about deteriorating economic conditions. As Indian cinema struggled to come into its own, the issue of control became a central concern for both coloniser and colonised, while both faced threats from the influx of foreign (especially Hollywood) films.
The article also explores why it was deemed so important to bring cinema under the colonial gaze. While there was no unified front on how to deal with this new medium, it was perceived as highly in-fluential, with great potential for harmful or beneficial propaganda impacts. Finally, considerations of the competing demands of moral concerns were juxtaposed to the growing economic needs of the Indian film industry.
Throughout, it transpires from archival research how defining policy issues became ever more critical and how the complexities of implementation were made more difficult by the 'global' nature of policy formation as opposed to the more 'local' nature of the performance of control.
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| 6 |
ID:
150490
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| Summary/Abstract |
The “Snowden leaks” and censorship methods used during the Arab Spring have brought warranted attention to technologically supported censorship and surveillance (Bauman et al. 2014; Deibert and Crete-Nishihata 2012, 344). The public is now aware how digital tools and information are prone to tracing, interception, and suppression. Processes of eavesdropping and information collection (i.e., surveillance) are often interrelated with processes of removal, displacement, and restriction of material or speech (i.e., censorship). Both are often enshrouded in secrecy, leaving censorship and surveillance techniques open to abuses (Setty 2015).
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| 7 |
ID:
140299
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| Summary/Abstract |
This article focuses on censorship in Iran and offers an overall view on the control of information through complex regulatory and cultural practices that make media production possible under the Islamic Republic. In contrast to conventional views of censorship as simply restricting content, this article defines two types of regulatory measures: reactive and proactive. It is argued that the latter is distinctive since it generates an environment that establishes pervasive control of what individuals or groups may be able to say or do in a public setting.
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| 8 |
ID:
174458
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| Summary/Abstract |
Censorship has traditionally been understood as a way for dictators to silence opposition. By contrast, this article develops and tests the theory that certain forms of censorship—in particular, prohibitions on popular culture—serve not only to limit political information but also to reward dictators’ supporters. Using text analysis of all 8,000 films reviewed for distribution during Chile’s dictatorship, I demonstrate that rather than focusing only on sensitive political topics, censors banned movies containing content considered immoral. Through a combination of qualitative and quantitative evidence, I show that these patterns cannot be explained by masked political content, distributor self-censorship, or censor preferences. Instead, they reflect the regime’s use of censorship as a reward for supporters, particularly conservative Catholic groups. My findings suggest that even repressive measures can be used in part to maintain support for authoritarian regimes.
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| 9 |
ID:
185968
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| Summary/Abstract |
Previous work addressing China’s censorship regime has primarily focused on public information from social media sites and not information shared more intimately. This article focuses on semi-private information and its impact on collective action, using an original experiment to test established censorship theories in this overlooked domain. The results suggest that censors treat information critiquing the government and calling for collective action with equal hostility, unlike in the public domain in which the former category is more likely to be disregarded. Further, this article finds evidence of human involvement in semi-private domain censorship. This study aims to complement existing literature on authoritarian control of information with a view to the regime’s effort to prevent collective action and political opportunities that can be exploited by dissent.
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| 10 |
ID:
147078
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| Summary/Abstract |
In 2013, the Kenyan government adopted a hybrid censorship strategy that relied on regulation, the presence of a strong security state, and the willingness of Kenyans to self-censor. The goal of this censorship strategy was to ensure a peaceful election. This study examines two issues. First, it investigates steps taken by the Kenyan government to minimise hate speech. Second, it explores how efforts to minimise hate speech affected citizen communications over SMS during the 2013 election. An initial round of qualitative data was gathered (n = 101) through a structured exit interview administered election week. A statistically significant, representative sample of quantitative data was gathered by a reputable Kenyan polling firm (n ≥ 2000). Both sets of empirical data indicate that Kenyan citizens cooperated in large part with efforts to limit political speech. Yet speech was not always completely “peaceful’. Rather, voters used electronic media to insult, offend, and express contentious political views as well as express peace speech. This study argues that the empirical evidence suggests hate speech over text messages during the Kenyan election declined between 2008 and 2013.”
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| 11 |
ID:
151409
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| Summary/Abstract |
Based primarily on archives from Hong Kong, the United Kingdom,
and the United States Information Service (USIS), this article uncovers
the trajectory of the Hong Kong fi lm political censorship system from
1947 to 1971 through interrogating interactions between the confi guration
of a series of regulations and misgivings about and treatments of
imported PRC, USIS, and Taiwan fi lms that had political references. I
examine colonial political censorship of imported films as a local
response to both Chinese politics (the CCP vs. the KMT) and Cold War
politics (the PRC vs. the United States-plus-Taiwan, the PRC vs. the
United Kingdom-plus-Hong Kong), on the one hand; and as a strategy
of cultural governance vis-à-vis the vulnerability of Hong Kong and the
control of the internal stability during the 1950s and 1960s, on the
other. I argue that the censorship system helped the colonial authorities
maintain a degree of cultural autonomy vis-à-vis both UK imperial
policy and the cinematic propaganda war between the PRC and the
United States-plus-Taiwan in Hong Kong during this turbulent period.
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| 12 |
ID:
132737
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| Publication |
2014.
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| Summary/Abstract |
Media censorship is the hallmark of authoritarian regimes, but much of the motivation and practices of autocratic media censorship still remain opaque to the public. Using a dataset of 1,403 secret censorship directives issued by the Chinese propaganda apparatus, I examine the censorship practices in contemporary China. My findings suggest that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is gradually adjusting its censorship practices from restricting unfavorable reports to a strategy of "conditional public opinion guidance." Over the years, the propaganda apparatus has banned fewer reports but guided more of them. However, this softer approach of regulating news is not equally enforced on every report or by different censorship authorities. First, the party tends to ban news that directly threatens the legitimacy of the regime. In addition, due to the speed with which news and photographs can be posted online, the authorities that regulate news on the Internet are more likely to ban unfavorable reports, compared with authorities that regulate slower-moving traditional media. Lastly, local leaders seeking promotions have more incentive to hide negative news within their jurisdictions than their central-level counterparts, who use media to identify misconduct among their local subordinates. Taken together, these characteristics create a strong but fragmented system of media regulation in contemporary China.
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| 13 |
ID:
191595
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| Summary/Abstract |
The Chinese government has effectively adapted to the new environment in which information flow is greatly facilitated by the wide use of social media. This adaptation is aided not only by its resources and learning ability but also by citizens supportive of the regime. Content manipulation and censorship are the two primary approaches used by the Chinese government to manage social media. This paper examines how supportive citizens help the state manage cyberspace by tipping off state agencies. The state encourages tip providers by responding to tips, including political ones, and sometimes by rewarding the provider. Tip providers reduce the cost of monitoring social media, enhance the legitimacy of censorship, and discourage and marginalize regime critics. The presence of tip providers reflects and reinforces the split or ideological polarization among the population.
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| 14 |
ID:
136288
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| Summary/Abstract |
Since the scar literature of the early 1980s, fiction and fictionalised autobiography have played an important role in bringing to light the mass violence of the Cultural Revolution. However, these texts remained within a well-defined framework in which the political system itself was not questioned. Over the last decade, by contrast, the Chinese literary field has focused more specifically on the 1950s, with works such as Yang Xianhui’s Chronicles of Jiabiangou (Tianjin, 2002), and Yang Jisheng’s Tombstone (Hong Kong, 2008). This paper focuses on Yan Lianke’s Four Books (Hong Kong, 2010), a full-fledged fictionalisation in a fantastic mode of the famine of the Great Leap Forward in a village on the Yellow River. Considering literature in the context of theories of the public sphere, it suggests that Yan’s book aims to broaden decisively the discussion on certain previously out-of-bounds aspects of the Mao era, an aim only partially thwarted by its failure to be published within mainland China. Four Books, like Yang Jisheng and Yang Xianhui’s works, thus represents an attempt to call into question the original legitimacy of the PRC polity and to create debate within the Chinese-speaking public sphere on the foundations of the current regime.
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| 15 |
ID:
160504
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| Summary/Abstract |
Owing to China’s austere censorship regulations on film media, directors of films and documentaries engaging with lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender themes have struggled to bring their work to domestic attention. Working outside of the state-funded Chinese film industry has become necessary for these directors to commit their narratives to film, but without approval of China’s State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television, these artists have had little chance of achieving widespread domestic distribution of their work. However, advancements in new media technology and Web 2.0, ranging from digital video formats to Internet-based distribution via social media networks and video-hosting platforms, provide opportunities for Chinese audiences to access films and documentaries dealing with LGBT themes. This empirical study assesses how production, promotion and consumption of queer documentary films are influenced by the development of social media within Chinese cyberspace. Through close readings of microblogs from SinaWeibo, this study combines analysis of contemporary research with digital social rights activism to illustrate contemporary discourse regarding film-based LGBT representation in China. Finally, the study comments on the role that documentary filmmaking plays in China’s gay rights movement, and discusses the rewards (and challenges) associated with increased levels of visibility within society.
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| 16 |
ID:
166146
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| Summary/Abstract |
Recent literature claims that China censors information that has the potential to ignite collective action. This article extends this finding by arguing that Chinese censors respond differently to political challenges than they do to performance challenges. Political challenges call into questioning the Party's leading role, whereas performance challenges are directed at the failures of public goods provisions. A survey experiment of about 60 media professionals finds that censors are inclined to block political challenges and to tolerate criticism of the government's performance. However, when criticism contains both performance and political challenges, censorship is far more likely. By exploring the range of censorship activities, the results suggest that the Chinese regime's reliance on popular support constrains its censorship decisions.
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| 17 |
ID:
131157
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| Publication |
2014.
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| Summary/Abstract |
Writers were among the most publicly recognised intellectuals in the USSR. They actively participated in indoctrination practices that reflected strict mechanisms of control and censorship and provided prestige and authority in society. This article analyses how local writers in Lithuania who were part of the establishment during late socialism developed a multi-faceted relationship with the system. The perspective of different generations reveals the rise of ethnic (local) interests and the disconnection of everyday life from official goals. It also shows that writers who worked in official channels reduced their participation in indoctrination processes and significantly influenced the mobilisation of national identity.
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| 18 |
ID:
145465
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| Summary/Abstract |
Although contemporary Manipuri poetry is preoccupied with violence and the politics that has plagued the state, a return to modernist poetry, prominent in the 1970s, reconfigures the discourse surrounding identity formation in Manipur. The essay focuses on the modernist poet Thangjam Ibopishak to study the change in the constitution of identity in a pervasive military culture. It argues that Ibopishak's poetry is an important intervention in our understanding of societies characterised by processes of militarisation, and the victimised subjectivities that emerge from that milieu. His poetry, marked by irony and satire, invents a new poetic idiom to address issues such as military excess, victimhood, censorship and the poet's own position as subject.
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| 19 |
ID:
090569
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| Publication |
2009.
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| Summary/Abstract |
A curious incident struck Nepali cinemas on 22 January. After barely a few days on screens, the government of Nepal pulled the Bollywood movie Chandni Chowk to China from theatres, purportedly for offending the Nepali public by briefly suggesting that India was the land of the Sakyamuni Buddha's birth. The claim was contained in dramatic narration studded within a cinematic blizzard of depictions of Delhi a scarce minute into the movie. Arguably, it might have been employed in order to juxtapose India with China, the eponymous destination of the movie.
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| 20 |
ID:
167091
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| Summary/Abstract |
This paper discusses the efforts of two Indian Muslim journalists, Abul Kalam Azad (1888–1958) and Aziz Burney (1952–), to use and overcome the constraints of direct and indirect censorship in order to address a community (qaum) conceived in their own image. It deals with these attempts through their responses to a series of national- and international-level crises, and to political groups that attempted to unite Hindus and Muslims. These include the nascent Khilafat movement, which was key to their coming together in the independence struggle and the Congress Party, and Congress’ ambiguous relationship with Muslims in the post-Independence period.
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