Ironic Self-Censorship
A rally for freedom of expression scheduled for Saturday in London's Trafalgar square has banned the depiction of the Danish cartoons. Even more ironically, the poster banned them under the alias Voltaire! This disgusting self-censorship was not lost on this blogger who aims to challenge the ban. I sure hope others join him. (HT IBA)
Update: A commenter has correctly pointed out that it is not a "ban" but a "request" -- which is a legitimate difference -- and I apologize for mis-characterizing it. Nonetheless such a request seems to me an exercise in self-censorship -- and given that the rally is supposedly to stand up for the right to free expression, any such self-censorship defeats the whole purpose of the rally, to instead send a message of appeasement.
Update 2: After reading the MAC site, I think it would be particularly appeasing given their thinly veiled threat:
"MAC calls on the GLA and the Metropolitan police to prevent any demonstrators from displaying these images on Saturday in Trafalgar Saquare. MAC leaders fear there will be a disturbance of the peace if this does not happen.(emphasis added)
posted by Amit Ghate at 2:11 PM
2 Comments:
He didnt ban anything, he has ben pressured by the MAC to ask people not to bring the cartoons. he didnt ban them and the head stuard has said they will not stop people with the cartoons.
Thank you for the correction Will. I have updated the post to reflect your point.
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