You Can't Read This Book: Censorship in an Age of Freedom (35 page)

I owe debts to many people. First and foremost to Christopher Hitchens, who gave me permission to dedicate this book to him. I do so with affection and gratitude. Ophelia Benson of Butterflies and Wheels, who combines broad sympathies with a narrow insistence on accuracy, read the proofs and helped at every stage along the way. Padraig Reidy and Michael Harris of Index on Censorship treated my repeated enquiries with patience and good humour.

This book has on occasion had hard words to say about the English legal profession. I must add in mitigation that Robert Dougans of Bryan Cave, David Buckle of Cubism Law, David Allen Green of Preiskel & Co. and Joanne Cash of One Brick Court found the time to break away from their busy practices to provide me with legal advice. If you are ever in trouble with the law, I commend them to you. I am equally appreciative of the informed advice of Anna Beer on John Milton, Kiara Chulupta on Internet censorship, Chris Dillow on managerialism and its discontents, Edzard Ernst on the scientific study of pseudo-science, Ghaffar Hussain on the difference between Islam and Islamism, Natalia Koliada on the long struggle for Belarusian freedom, Naomi McAuliffe on corporate lawyers, Christopher Mitchell on M.F. Husain, Douglas Murray on the silencing of dissident Muslim and ex-Muslim voices, Gita Sahgal on the Rushdie protests, Jean Seaton on media history, Simon Singh on fighting the law and winning, Jeremy Stangroom on identity politics, and Salil Tripathi on Hindu nationalism. Many of my colleagues offered me the benefit of their experience, including Tim Adams, Peter Beaumont, Henry Porter and Mark Townsend of the
Observer
; David Leigh and Luke Harding of the
Guardian
; Hilary Lowinger, Ian Hislop and Francis Wheen of
Private Eye
; Heidi Plougsgaard Jensen of
Jyllands-Posten
; Edward Lucas of the
Economist
; Ben Brogan of the
Daily Telegraph
; and the ‘Fleet Street Fox’ and others who must remain anonymous because of court orders covering their work.

The lines from Wislawa Szymborska’s ‘The Terrorist, He Watches’ were translated by Robert Maguire and Magnus Jan Krynsky, and can be found in
Sounds, Feelings, Thoughts
, a 1981 collection of her poetry. I am grateful to Princeton University Press for its permission to reproduce them here.

The hospitality of Christine and Colin Clark and Mary Elford allowed me to collect my thoughts, and Anne-Marie cleared me a space to write.

Robin Harvie of Fourth Estate and Natasha Fairweather of A.P. Watt waited for a manuscript and did not flinch as deadlines whooshed by. If there were a God, he would reward them in the hereafter for their forbearance. There is no God, so my thanks must suffice.

No journalist can write without editors who will back him, and I thank John Mulholland of the
Observer
and Daniel Johnson of
Standpoint
for allowing me to develop my ideas in their pages.

As ever, all errors of taste and judgement remain the sole responsibility of the author.

NICK COHEN
November 2011

‘There is an all-out confrontation’
For the Sake of Argument
, Christopher Hitchens on Salman Rushdie, Verso, 1993, pp.301–2

INTRODUCTION

‘Some are absurd’
‘Do Not Read This’, The Fleet Street Fox, 23 May 2011; http://www.fleetstreetfox.com/2011/05/do-not-read-this.html

‘An old way of doing’
WikiLeaks and the Age of Transparency
, Micah L. Sifry, Yale University Press, 2011, p.42

‘When countries curtail’
Hillary Rodham Clinton, speech at George Washington University, Washington, DC, 15 February 2011

CHAPTER 1: ‘KILL THE BLASPHEMERS’

‘It would be absurd’
Times of India
, 13 October 1988, quoted in
A Satanic Affair
, Malise Ruthven, The Hogarth Press, 1991

‘may upset some of the faithful’
Hitch-22
, Christopher Hitchens, Atlantic Books, 2010, p.267

‘In the film Carmen Maura’
Age of Extremes
, Eric Hobsbawm, Michael Joseph, 1994, p.320

‘Well, what can one say?’
Does God Hate Women?
, Ophelia Benson and Jeremy Stangroom, Continuum Press, 2009, pp.29–30

‘The thing that is most disturbing’
Guardian
, 13 February 1989, quoted in
The Rushdie Affair
, Daniel Pipes, Birch Lane Press, 1990, p.113

‘I do not have to wade’
Ruthven, p.86

‘undermine the people’s’
Pipes, p.124

‘direct involvement’
Ibid., p. 131

RULES FOR CENSORS (1)

‘demonstrates that it is possible’
Postmodernism, Reason and Religion
, Ernest Gellner, Routledge, 1992, p.22

‘The question is who has power over the story’
‘Salman Rushdie is Not Afraid’, Gidi Weitz,
Haaretz
, 14 October 2002

CHAPTER 2: A CLASH OF CIVILISATIONS?

‘British thought, British society’
Imaginary Homelands: Essays and Criticism 1981–1991
, Salman Rushdie, Granta, 1992

‘Abroad it was more or less OK’
Culture of Complaint
, Robert Hughes, Oxford University Press, 1993, p.115

‘Although my board’
Peter Mayer,
Index on Censorship
, Vol. 37, No. 4, p.125

‘no law in life’
Exchange of letters in the
Guardian
, available at http://www.rjgeib.com/thoughts/burning/le-carre-vs-rushdie.html

‘This kind of sensationalism’
‘How One Book Ignited a Culture War’, Andrew Anthony,
Observer
, 11 January 2009

‘Rabbis, priests and mullahs’
Pipes, p.165

‘The British government, the British people’
Press Association, 2 March 1989

‘The Embassy wishes to emphasise that the US government’
Philadelphia Inquirer
, 14 February 1989, quoted Pipes, p.155

‘Rushdie is a devil!’
Ruthven, p.2

‘Approximately fifty women’
‘An All-Too Familiar Affair’, Rahila Gupta,
Guardian
, 21 February 2009

‘At the heart of the fundamentalist’
Women Against Fundamentalism Journal
, No. 1, 1990, p.12

RULES FOR CENSORS (2)

‘Not only will they kill me’
From Fatwa to Jihad
, Kenan Malik, Atlantic Books, 2010, pp.12–13

‘Sections of the political’
‘Before and After the Norway Massacre – Symbiosis Between Anti-Muslim Extremists and Islamist Extremists’, Quilliam Foundation, 28 July 2011

‘Artists too frightened to tackle radical Islam’
The Times
, 19 November 2007

‘About one third of Muslims’
Populus poll for
Living Apart Together
, Policy Exchange, 2007

‘I think it has become more prevalent’
Mona Eltahawy, BBC
Newsnight
, 20 July 2010

CHAPTER 3: MANUFACTURING OFFENCE

‘The Terrorist, He Watches’
, Wislawa Szymborska, trans. Robert Maguire and Magnus Jan Krynsky, in
Sounds, Feelings, Thoughts
, Princeton University Press, 1981

‘What I discovered’
Tim Adams, unpublished interview. I am grateful to the author for making his work available to me

‘For me, India means a celebration of life’
Interview with Shoma Chaudhury,
Tehelka
, Vol. 5, Issue 4, 2 February 2008

‘I used to have terrible nightmares’
Ibid.

‘You can cover up your goddess’
Offence: The Hindu Case
, Salil Tripathi, Seagull Books, 2009, pp.17–19

‘If Husain can step into’
‘Assault on Art’,
Frontline
, May 1998

‘In India, a new puritanism’
‘Only 3 Cases are Pending Against Husain’,
The Hindu
, 26 February 2010

‘I have not intended to denigrate’
The Hindu
, 3 March 2010

‘Whenever Hindu nationalists attack an art gallery’
Tripathi, pp.105–6

‘We in the West know so little about’
The Jewel of Medina
, Sherry Jones, Beaufort Books, 2008, p.358

‘Join me on a journey’
Ibid., p.vii

‘Finally about a month after she had arrived in Mecca’
Muhammad: A Biography of the Prophet
, Karen Armstrong, Phoenix, London, 1992, p.157

‘In Iran after the 1979 Islamic revolution’
Does God Hate Women?
, Benson and Stangroom, p.59

‘Although it would be a massive oversimplification’
Ibid., p.58

‘Thou shalt not’
Leviticus 18:22, King James Bible

‘And a man who will lie down with a male’
What Does Leviticus 18:22 Really Say?
, National Gay Pentecostal Alliance

‘Do not sleep with a man’
Homosexuality and Torah Thought
, Rabbi Arthur Waskow

‘to reject literal reads’
‘Get Over the Quran Burning’, Asra Q. Nomani,
The Beast
, 9 September 2010

‘A couple of years ago’
‘Our Universities Face a Radical Upheaval’, John Sutherland,
The Times
, 2 January 2010

‘All the same’
Centre for Social Cohesion press briefing, 5 January 2010

‘When we sat down’
‘Lonely Trek to Radicalism for Terror Suspect’,
New York Times
, 16 January 2010

‘Quite disturbing level of’
‘Freedom of Thought is All we Foment’, Malcolm Grant,
Times Higher Education Supplement
, 31 December 2009

‘She was upset’
Ibid.

‘There is a very real possibility’
Ibid.

‘I never had this power’
‘I Didn’t Kill
The Jewel of Medina
’, Denise Spellberg,
Wall Street Journal
, 9 August 2008

‘Unlike so many other times’
‘Me and Mrs Jones’, altmuslim.com, 4 September 2008

‘The best response to free speech’
Ibid.

‘We don’t make a distinction between’
‘Radical Cleric Warned of Big Operation’,
The Times
, 10 July 2005

‘Fears of Muslim Anger Over Religious Book’
Christine Toomey,
Sunday Times
, 31 May 2009

RULES FOR CENSORS (3)

‘Law of Social Responsibility’
In Venezuela, ‘While freedoms of speech and the press are constitutionally guaranteed, the 2004 Law of Social Responsibility in Radio and Television contains vaguely worded restrictions that can be used to severely limit these freedoms. Criminal statutes assign hefty fines and long prison terms for “offending” or “denigrating” the authorities. Legal defenses in insult cases are complicated by the unpredictability of courts’ rationale, often resulting in a more cautious approach on the part of the press.’ Freedom House, World Report on Freedom of the Press, 2009

‘The official “Press Law”’
‘Bahrain’s Press Law contains 17 categories of offenses and prescribes up to five years’ imprisonment for publishing material that criticizes Islam or the king, inciting actions that undermine state security, or advocating a change in government.’ Ibid.

‘organising the demonstrations’
In Belarus, ‘the government subjected the independent media to systematic political intimidation, while the state media consistently glorified Lukashenko and vilified the opposition. Local reporters working for foreign services with programming aimed at Belarus – like Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Deutsche Welle, and the Warsaw-based Radio Polonia – and those working for local Polish-language publications faced arbitrary arrest and aggressive harassment from the security services. A number of reporters were detained in retaliation for unauthorized demonstrations. In January, a freelance photographer for the independent weekly
Nasha Niva
, Arseny Pakhomov, was detained and beaten by the police for covering a rally against new restrictions on small businesses. He was then sentenced to two weeks in prison on charges of organizing and participating in an unsanctioned rally.’ Ibid.

‘a tyrannical king’
Mao began the terror of the Cultural Revolution when officials ignored his orders to theatres to stop showing the opera
Hai Rui Dismissed from Office
, a traditional story of a mandarin who stood up to the king on behalf of the peasants. Chinese audiences whose families had died in the Great Leap Forward did not need to have the opera’s contemporary significance explained to them. See
Mao: The Unknown Story
, Jung Chang and Jon Halliday, Jonathan Cape, 2005, p.525

‘The students killed their first’
Ibid., p.537

‘In Burma, an official’
Small Acts of Resistance
, Steve Crawshaw and John Jacks, Union Square, 2010, pp.44–5

‘Why would you want to wear’
‘Zimbabwean Man Jailed for Ten Months Hard Labour After Calling President Mugabe “Old and Wrinkly”’,
Daily Mail
, 7 September 2010

‘The police arrested a human-rights’
‘“Blood Diamond” Activist Kept in Zimbabwe Jail’, BBC News, bbc.co.uk, 22 June 2010

‘One must be ready to put up with’
Flemming Rose,
Jyllands-Posten
, 30 September 2005

‘free speech goes far’
The Cartoons that Shook the World
, Jytte Klausen, Yale University Press, 2009, p.186