Although the CUNY Board Of Trustees reversed its decision to deny an honorary degree to Pulitzer-winning playwrite Tony Kushner, there remains a pattern of retaliation against academics who openly critique Middle East politics.
Newsweek and Daily Beast art critic Blake Gopnik on why he believed the premise of the Smithsonian's "Flashpoints and Fault Lines" forum in the wake of the censorship of David Wojnarowicz from the National Portrait Gallery was faulty, why the controversy over Wojnarowicz's video was phony, and why it's important to back up the decisions of progressive curators.
"Hide/Seek: Museums, Ethics, and the Press: A Symposium Report", by NCAC's Svetlana Mintcheva, has been featured by the College Art Association
We'll post live updates from the much-anticipated "Flashpoints and Fault Lines" forum, planned in the aftermath of the censoring of David Wojnarowicz's "A Fire In My Belly" from the National Portrait Gallery in late 2010
Under the guise of security, Section 403 grants the agency director extraordinary powers to revoke pensions and benefits without formally charging, much less convicting, current and retired intelligence employees for any speech deemed a "leak".
"Regrettably, the United States will lack the full moral authority to advocate for world press freedom so long as our laws fail to effectively protect the majority of the Americans who gather and report news each day: Those working for student media." 2011 World Press Freedom Day Letter To President Obama on Student Press Freedom
Demonstrators all over the world were sitting outside Chinese embassies on Sunday demanding the release of the detained Chinese artist Ai Weiwei.
After receiving a letter from NCAC and First Amendment Project, Civic Center requests that the nude painting be reinstated to art show
Joint Letter re: Open Records Request to UVA On Climate Research Emails
Department of Education threatens student speech rights with overbroad definition of harassment
As organizations dedicated to promoting the First Amendment right to free speech, including freedom of artistic expression, we are deeply concerned about the removal of Sylvia Cossich Goodman’s work from the annual Marin Arts Council member show at the County Civic Center. Your decision, as a government employee, to remove an artwork from an exhibition held at a public space raises serious First Amendment concerns. We urge the Civic Center to immediately put the work back on display and, in the future, draft exhibition policies that are consistent with First Amendment principles.
In 2007, Hayden Barnes was expelled from Voldosta State University for the simple act of posting a photo-collage to Facebook to protest the envirnonmental impact of a new university parking garage. VSU President Ronald Zaccari was warned by his administrators that punishing Barnes would violate his First Amendment rights, but Zaccari persisted and, after failing to dig up any dirt on Barnies, kicked him out anyway. TheFIRE.org has supported Barnes' case since 2007, and NCAC is happy to join this Amici Brief to support student free speech rights in campuses across America.
During the final weeks of the exhibition "Pornucopia" at Allegra DeViola Gallery in the Lower Eastside in Manhattan, in March, 2011, controversy struck, when the news media reported that an Orthodox Yeshiva allegedly called the police on the gallery. This is a video examining how the media reports on nudes in art.
The arrest of Ai Weiwei at Beijing Capital Airport on April 3 is an assault on socially engaged artists everywhere. Read NCAC's statement and find out how to add your voice.
In today’s current political climate, a taboo-challenging novel may begin this way,
“Labor, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul. La-bor the tip of the tongue taking a trip of two steps down the palate to tap, on two, through the lips. La. Bor…”
Subscribe to Censorship News NCAC's newsletter, published four times a year, covers current book censorship controversies, threats to the free flow of information, obscenity laws, creationism, attacks on school textbooks, and more. Available in print form from the National Coalition Against Censorship for $30 per year. Simply print out this page, fill in the spaces below, and mail or fax [...]
NCAC participating organization, People for the American Way, has developed a detailed summary of the events around Hide/Seek complete with suggestions as to "what to do next time." PFAW was one of the organizations who signed NCAC's joint letter to the Smithsonian Board of Regents
We all believe in free speech, but does that mean anything goes? What about the speech that offends us, makes us cringe, and provokes our anger (and desire to censor)? Is there anything that should be outlawed in art, films, books, music, video games, TV, or online? Is free speech an all or nothing proposition or something in between? These films explore what kind of speech, if any, should be censored, and why. Our participants this year were compelling, provocative and we're honored to have them.
**Update: Videos added** On Saturday, March 26, the Corcoran Gallery of Art and College of Art + Design, along with partners Transformer and NCAC presented a symposium examining past and present debates about freedom of expression and public support for the arts.
One family is the source of complaints that have, to date, removed two books from course reading lists at Bedford High School. Rather than creating procedures to avoid parental complaints, the school district needs a process for handling complaints and providing alternative reading materials to objecting families -- without depriving the rest of the school access to literary works.
The American Civil Liberties Union, along with several other human rights and civil liberties organizations, sent a letter today to House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Rep. Peter King (R-NY) expressing deep concern about his committee’s upcoming hearing on the so-called “radicalization of the American Muslim community.” The hearing is scheduled for Thursday, March 10.
The Price of Freedom Is Eternal Vigilance, produced in 2005, is NCAC's DVD highlighting art censorship controversies throughout the 20th century. It premiered at the art exhibit "Potentially Harmful: The Art of American Censorship" at Georgia State University.
NCAC adds signature to letter by OpenTheGovernment.org
Policing The Sacred, organized by the National Coalition Against Censorship, looks at the volatile relationship between art, politics and religion.In recent decades the tensions between these issues have become intense, evident in the American culture wars of the 90s, the Danish cartoon uproar, and ongoing battles over artistic depictions of religious figures, including the recent removal of a David Wojnarowicz [...]
Policing The Sacred, organized by the National Coalition Against Censorship, looks at the volatile relationship between art, politics and religion.In recent decades the tensions between these issues have become intense, evident in the American culture wars of the 90s, the Danish cartoon uproar, and ongoing battles over artistic depictions of religious figures, including the recent removal of a David Wojnarowicz [...]
We are thrilled announce Aaron Dunbar's "Hare Tactics" as the 1st Place Winner of our 2010 Youth Film Contest. Sarah Phan and Lyndi Low took 2nd Place with "Malediction", and Evangeline Fachon and Lindsay Tomasetti's "Static" won 3rd Place. Watch the films now and join our winners for a March 26th Awards Screening at the New York Film Academy!
The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) sent a letter to Chairman Issa of the House Committee on Oversight and Government reform calling for an end to investigation of Freedom of Informatioepic.orgn Act requests by White House political appointees.
“Groups of parents are getting together and organizing in their communities to ban books,” adds Joan Bertin of the National Coalition Against Censorship. “I think what’s happening is once a book is challenged in one town, people on the same wavelength, it will flag that book for them. For example, we’ve seen three challenges to Sherman Alexie’s teen novel The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, all within the past three months, two in Missouri, one in Montana.”
A group of national and Washington D.C. art and free speech organizations sent a letter to the Smithsonian Board of Regents asking them to adopt explicit policies that uphold First Amendment principles.
We’d like to take a moment to honor artist Dennis Oppenheim, who passed away Friday, January 21. Oppenheim was no stranger to controversy and censorship. His sculpture, Device to Root Out Evil (pictured) took years to find public acceptance.
In January of 2011 NewSouth Books in Montgomery, Alabama decided to release a version of Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn replacing the word “nigger” with “slave” 219 times. The idea to replace the word came from Alan Gribben, a professor of English at Auburn University at Montgomery, who approached the publisher in July 2010. The decision sparked a debate among educators [...]
On Sunday, December 19, 2010, hundreds of people gathered in front of the Metropolitan Museum of Art to protest the Smithsonian Institution's decision to remove David Wojnarowicz's video The Fire in My Belly from the Hide/Seek Exhibit. The protesters marched from the Metropolitan to the Cooper Hewitt Museum, a branch of the Smithsonian. The march was organized by Art+. For [...]
NCAC joined more than 30 other free speech and open government groups in applauding the decision by the National Archives and Records Administration to re-open an investigation into the CIA’s destruction of videotapes recording torture session at “black sites” around the world.
The National Coalition Against Censorship signed onto a letter circulated among U.S. government officials urging restraint in the aftermath of WikiLeaks. The letter was signed by 30 organizations, including the Electronic Frontier Foundation, American Library Association, New America Foundation, among others.
NCAC wrote this letter expressing concern about the cancellation of the Flagler Palm Coast High School production of To Kill A Mockingbird. Superintendent Flagler County Public Schools 1769 East Moody Blvd. Bunnell FL 32110 mailto:[email protected] November 12, 2010 Dear Superintendent Valentine, We write to express concern about the cancellation of the Flagler Palm Coast High School production of [...]
The NCAC wrote this letter in response to a parent's challenge. Dr. Susan Watne Review Committee for Helena Public Schools Helena, Montana mailto:[email protected] Dear Dr. Watne and Members of the Review Committee for Helena Public Schools, We write concerning the challenge to Sherman Alexie’s acclaimed novel, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. We understand [...]
We join our friends at the Electronic Frontier Foundation in their concern that the Wikileaks-provoked debate about the secrecy of government information and the people's right to know has recently turned into a massive attack on the right of Internet intermediaries to publish truthful information.
LA MOCA, newly headed by New York transplant Jeffrey Deitch, whitewashed a mural painted by internationally known street artist BLU. The mural, originally commissioned by MOCA for their upcoming Art in the Street exhibit, faces the Veterans Administration healthcare building on Temple Street in Downtown Los Angeles.
The New York Library Association awarded the National Coalition Against Censorship the 2010 NYLA/SirsiDynix Intellectual Freedom Award. The award is given to an individual or organization that has demonstrated a commitment to, and taken action, to further the cause of intellectual freedom in the state of New York.
