T h e N at i ona l coa l i t i on A g a i n s t c e n s or s h i p N e w s l e tt e r

FALL 2008 NUMBER 108

NCAC BOARD
Judy Blume Victor Bolden Susan Clare Chris Finan Eric Freedman Stephanie Elizondo Griest Phil Harvey Marjorie Heins Damien Joyner George Kannar Gail Markels Robert M. ONeil Larry Siems Patricia Wright Joan E. Bertin, Executive Director

council of Advisors
Amy Adler Helene Atwan Julian Bond Rev. John Harris Burt James Cromwell Adrian W. DeWind Norman Dorsen Gail Edwin Frances FitzGerald Rev. Carl E. Flemister Danny Goldberg Victor Gotbaum Franklyn S. Haiman David Henry Hwang Rhoda H. Karpatkin Tony Kushner Sylvia A. Law S Jay Levy Pamela A. Mann Jay Mazur Joyce D. Miller Victor Navasky Aryeh Neier Irwin H. Polishook Betty Ruder Pat Scales Stanley K. Sheinbaum Nadine Strossen Cleo Wilson Susan N. Wilson

olitical conventions are about political speech. Or at least about political speeches: night after night of them. That speech is protected by layers of security at the conventions, including police, the Secret Service, the FBI, and even the U.S. Northern Command. But the forces arrayed to protect those inside the highly fortified convention centers routinely restrict the free speech of those outside. Coverage of the Democratic and Republican National Conventions was full of the intimidating scenes greeting protesters: police and the National Guard massed in full riot gear, officers equipped with assault rifles and machine guns, rubber bullets, tear gas, pepper spray, mace, water cannons, and concussion grenades. There were pre-emptive raids on suspected rabble-rousers, children held at gunpoint during police searches, and moles infiltrating vegan potluck dinners. Mass arrests swept up peaceful protesters, bystanders and concert-goers. The free speech zones set up away from the convention sites stood largely empty while detention centers featuring chain-link fences and barbed wire filled with arrested protesters.

ARRESTING SPEECH! Protests, Police and the Press at the National Conventions
Kentucky and their advisor were arrested and jailed for several days. Several dozen reporters and photographers were arrested, some struck with clubs and maced. A video crew that set out to record police activity was detained and their equipment, cell phones, hard drive and notes confiscated. Amy Goodman, host of Democracy Now, was arrested for "obstruction of a legal process and interference with a peace officer for inquiring about two of her producers, arrested on "suspicion of felony riot" one of them dragged, face down, in the street. In what seems like a symbolic act, her press credentials were ripped off before she was arrested.

At the Iraq Veterans Against the War protest at the Democratic National Convention, Denver, Colorado. August 27, 2008. Photograph: Justin Fritts

Outside the Children's Museum at the Republican National Convention, St. Paul, Minnesota. September 2, 2008. Photograph: Nathan Hunstad

"Protesters have a mission they want to be heard," said St. Pauls Police Chief. "We want to facilitate that." His statement, however, doesnt square well with the facts. In St. Paul more than 800 were arrested and scores, if not hundreds more, detained or searched. Denver, with only about 100 reported arrests, fared well by comparison. The press, especially independent reporters, had a rough time, particularly in St. Paul. Two student journalists from

The local courts will eventually determine whether those arrested committed any crimes. But there will inevitably be other, more significant legal proceedings constitutional challenges claiming violations of the First Amendment rights of protesters and the press, and potentially other legal claims brought by those who were detained, searched, or injured. In anticipation, the city of St. Paul demanded that the RNC indemnify it against legal claims, and the RNC bought an insurance policy to pay for up to $10 million in damages and unlimited legal costs stemming from actions by law enforcement officers. The experience at the 2004 Republican National Convention in New York, which has already cost the city millions of dollars defending against civil-rights lawsuits, might have persuaded officials to exercise restraint and display respect for the right to engage in peaceful political protest. Instead, St. Paul and the RNC took out insurance.
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NCAC Participating Organizations

Actors Equity Association American Association of School Administrators American Association of University Professors American Association of University Women American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression American Civil Liberties Union American Ethical Union American Federation of Teachers American Federation of Television & Radio Artists American Jewish Committee American Jewish Congress American Library Association American Literary Translators Association American Orthopsychiatric Association American Society of Journalists & Authors Americans United for Separation of Church & State Association of American Publishers Authors League of America Catholics for a Free Choice Childrens Literature Association College Art Association Directors Guild of America Inc. The Dramatists Guild of America First Amendment Lawyers Association International Reading Association Lambda Legal Modern Language Association National Center for Science Education National Communication Association National Council for the Social Studies National Council of the Churches of Christ National Council of Jewish Women National Council of Teachers of English National Education Association Office of Communication, United Church of Christ PEN American Center People For the American Way Planned Parenthood Federation of America Screen Actors Guild Sexuality Information & Education Council of the U.S. Society of Childrens Book Writers & Illustrators Speech Communication Association Student Press Law Center The Creative Coalition The Newspaper Guild/CWA Union for Reform Judaism Union of Democratic Intellectuals Unitarian Universalist Association United Methodist Communications, United Methodist Church Womens American ORT Writers Guild of America, East Writers Guild of America, West

Arresting Speech! continued... Police preparedness at public events like political conventions is essential. Few would disagree with reasonable actions to prevent actual crimes and arrest those suspected of committing them. Serious questions arise, however, when officials act on speculation about potential but unproven threats, and indiscriminately target peaceful protesters. Is the unstated goal of such aggressive police activity, undertaken with the implicit blessing of the political parties, to marginalize political speech outside the mainstream of conventional political commentary? The unprecedented targeting of the reporters and photographers providing independent coverage of the events lends credence to such suspicions. The conventions may have served the politicians, but its not clear whether they served the publics interest in free speech and participatory democracy. More news and analysis of convention protests at www.ncac.org

INTERNET SPEECH ROUNDUP

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo reached an agreement with the largest Internet Service Providers to remove all newsgroups online discussion forums used to traffic in child pornography. Out of the roughly 100,000 newsgroups in existence, the AGs office identified 88 containing what it claimed was child pornography. Cuomo used undercover investigators posing as subscribers who complained to the ISPs about the presence of child pornography. The subscribers cited the ISPs terms of service, which promise to take action against child pornography. When the ISPs failed to act, Cuomo threatened legal action alleging fraud and deceptive business practices. In response, some ISPs removed almost all newsgroups hosted on their servers, regardless of their subject matter, cutting off subscribers access to tens of thousands of newsgroups devoted to subjects like politics, religion, labor unions, sports, medical support, military history, literature, music, television, science, software, foreign languages, adoption, and technology. Newsgroups facilitate un-moderated peer-to-peer discussions and, hence, the free exchange of ideas. Some observers wonder if the companies were willing to purge their servers of newsgroups going even further than the AG demanded because doing so freed up a lot of expensive bandwidth. [

National coalition Against censorsHip

Joan E. Bertin, Executive Director Sarah Falcon, Communications Katie Fowley, Program Associate Lawrence Horne, Development Svetlana Mintcheva, Arts Advocacy Brian Pickett, Youth Programs Isabelle Katz Pinzler, Special Counsel Barbara Pyles, Office Manager Katherine Rabb, The Knowledge Project Mary Reinke, Finance Cynthia Villani, Librarian Stacey Yen, Development Associate Rebecca Zeidel, Kids' Right to Read Program

Censorship News
Guest Editor: Jeanne Heifetz Design: Jeanne Criscola/Criscola Design 275 Seventh Avenue, #1504, New York, NY 10001 tel: (212) 807-6222, fax: (212) 807-6245 e-mail: ncac@ncac.org, web: www.ncac.org Copyright 2007 National Coalition Against Censorship Permission is granted to reprint please credit NCAC. NCAC is a 501(c)(3) nonprot organization

In a 3-2 decision, the FCC has ruled that Comcast may not hinder customers peerto-peer file sharing because it violates openInternet principles. The ruling is sure to ignite more discussion of Net Neutrality (see CN #102 or ncac.org/netneutrality for more details). [ The Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007, HR 1955, a proposed amendment to the Homeland Security Act, is Congresss latest effort to counter domestic and international terrorism. The bill targets violent radicalization, defined as "the process of adopting or promoting an extremist belief system for the purpose of facilitating ideologically based violence to advance political, religious, or social change." It would establish a fact-finding commission and a university-based research center to assist security officials in preventing violent radicalization and homegrown terrorism. One specific focus of study would be 'terrorist related propaganda' on the Internet. HR 1955 passed in the House but remains stuck in the Senate, due to concerns from civil-liberties groups who fear that it may end up targeting religious, racial, and ethnic minorities, as well as political activists; and may lead to McCarthy-like security investigations and suppression of any speech that allegedly promotes an extremist belief system. Senator Joseph Lieberman (D-CT), chair of the Senate Homeland Security and Govern mental Affairs Committee, which plays a leading role in the legislation, also called on Google to remove YouTube content produced by Islamist terrorist organizations saying the peril here is not to legitimate dissent but to our fundamental right of self-defense. Google at first defended YouTubes diverse range of views, vowing not to stifle debate [but to] allow our users to view all acceptable content and make up their own minds. Now, however, in an apparent concession to Lieberman, it has agreed to remove videos inciting others to violence, in addition to videos containing hate speech and gratuitous violence. What material will be affected remains to be seen. The effect of official intimidation is already clear. [ In August, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals became the sixth court to find the Child Online Protection Act unconstitutional. Congress has tried repeatedly to make it a crime to allow minors to access harmful material online but, as one judge noted, Perhaps we do the minors of this country harm if First Amendment protections, which they will with age inherit fully, are chipped away in the name of their protection.

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WHaT'S wRONG wITH THIS PICTURE?

To paraphrase H.L. Mencken, for every complex problem, theres a simple solution and its almost always wrong. Mencken must be smiling at the proposal to address the complex problem of teen smoking by including warnings to parents about movies that contain smoking, like the warnings about sex and violence. Anti-smoking advocates argue that movies depicting people smoking should get an R rating, which would bar kids under 17 unless accompanied by a parent or guardian. Discouraging teen smoking is a laudable goal. Everyone knows that smoking is bad for your health, and that getting hooked young is particularly bad. But its a troubling conceit that controlling what kids see in the movies (or read in books, etc.) will prevent them from getting the wrong ideas or engaging in undesirable behavior. Kids dont exist in a cocoon that admits only socially approved messages. They observe real people smoking all the time, at home, on the streets, at parties and at friends houses. They also see people drinking and engaging in other risky behaviors. Whether they see films rated R for sexual content or not, they learn about sex from friends, the internet, books (including classics), and suggestive advertisements. Nor do ratings rationale for teaching them to just say no, and censoring information about sex that might give them other ideas. But its increasingly clear that abstinence-only programs dont work (see below). To develop healthy attitudes and prevent STDs and unwanted pregnancies, young people also need information about sex, contraceptives and condoms. Just as theres no evidence that teaching young people about sex causes them to engage in sexual activity, theres no evidence that media violence causes young people to commit violent acts nor is it clear whether, or to what extent, media contributes to aggressive or anti-social behavior. Claims that seeing actors smoke onscreen will cause kids to smoke is the latest in a long line of efforts to attribute social ills to media or other cultural influences. Before TV, film, and video games, there were efforts to censor dime novels, true crime stories, and comics, all of which in their time were blamed for the perceived problems of youth. Sanitizing culture to rid it of bad influences may be appealing. But its bad for kids and for culture. Its a relatively transparent effort to manipulate, which rarely works, as we have seen. Censorship, as the saying goes, protects

Rated R?

protect kids from violence they read about, and sometimes experience, real violence family violence, gang violence, random violence, war, torture. How young people, with different experiences, circumstances and personalities, respond to the multiple and sometimes mixed messages they receive from the media, parents, teachers, peers and the culture at large, is a complicated business. Simplistic solutions suggesting false causeand-effect relationships apparently still have considerable appeal. Consider abstinence-only sex education. Conventional wisdom is that teens should refrain from sexual activity. This is the

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months early. Reportedly, members of the Complaints about quirky nude cartoon figures in a public art installation in San Mateo, CA, led Jewish museums key audience thought city officials to demand the removal of some the exhibit reflected anti-Israel sentiments. of the work. The artist and curator resisted and, with the help of the ACLU and pressure After howls of protest by NCAC and others, from NCAC action-alert subscribers, convinced California State University reinstated the city to leave the work in place. When the American-Studies professor Wendy Gonaver temporary exhibition comes down, the city will (See CN #107). She had been fired for decide whether to dedicate the display cases refusing to sign a state-mandated "loyalty to art installations, as originally planned, or oath" that she felt violated her beliefs as a reserve them for advertising. Quaker and a pacifist.

business and pay a $250 license fee (See CN #107). Two of the plaintiffs, the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression and the Association of American Publishers, are also challenging new Oregon laws that make it a crime punishable by jail and a fine of up to $125,000 to furnish sexually explicit materials to a minor. The laws would include health-education materials and fiction. Booksellers would be liable even if minors only browse.

Fearing a trial, Karen Fletcher, a Pennsylvania Only 28 states still accept Title V federal money In July, a federal appeals court threw out a $550,000 indecency fine against CBS for woman, pled guilty to obscenity charges for to teach abstinence-only sex education, and the brief exposure of Janet Jacksons breast fictional stories involving torture and sex two are about to defect. The reason? The at the end of the 2004 Super Bowl halftime with children posted on her subscription-only programs, which censor what students show. The court agreed the FCC had acted website. She was fined $1000 and sentenced are taught about sex and contraception, arbitrarily and capriciously in fining CBS to 6 months house arrest. This is the first apparently arent effective in preventing for a fleeting, isolated, or unintended obscenity conviction based solely on textual pregnancy or STIs. In an effort to perpetuate image. The US Supreme Court is now material since the 1970s. the program, the Department of Health considering the constitutionality of the FCC and Human Services wants to eliminate the After resisting pressure to close Imaginary ruling that broadcasting a single fleeting annual application process and replace it with Coordinates, a critically acclaimed exhibit of expletive violates standards of decency. a 5-year funding cycle. Congress would still antique maps and related contemporary Israeli (See CN #105.) NCAC is participating in have to reauthorize the funds annually. and Palestinian artwork about geography and a friend of the court brief with other First boundaries, Chicagos Spertus Museum finally A CA federal judge struck down an Indiana Amendment organizations arguing that the buckled and closed the exhibit part of a law requiring any retailer that sells sexually FCCs enforcement of the decency standard yearlong Chicago Festival of Maps three explicit material to register as an adult is unconstitutional. Stay tuned.
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In August Random House cancelled publication of The Jewel of Medina, a historical novel about Mohammeds wife Aisha, after a professor of Islamic studies warned it might be offensive to some in the Muslim community, and also incite acts of violence by a small, radical segment." The professor alerted colleagues about the book; what follows is the response of one of those colleagues, Shahed Amanullah, editor-in-chief of altmuslim.com.

FREE SPEECH: A TwO-WaY STREET

In 1989, when Salman Rushdie's The
Satanic Verses sparked a new phenomenon of protests by Muslims particularly in the West I was a student-body senator at UC Berkeley, where the Free Speech Movement was born. Two bookstores were firebombed apparently in retaliation for the novel though no one claimed responsibility. Along with several other Muslim students, I appeared on local television to denounce the bombings and state our belief that while Muslims could understandably be offended, no one had the right to impose censorship or intimidate others with threats to their safety or property. That put us in a unique position: targets of abuse by Muslims and nonMuslims alike. The general public painted us as whitewashing a desire to impose our beliefs on others. Fellow Muslims accused us of apologizing for a legitimate Muslim rage, regardless of whether it had crossed the line into violence. This "Were never going to silence ourselves out of problems." paradox has repeated itself many times unrepresentative of the average Muslim. They are in the 20 years since, most recently with told that the prerequisite for changing this imagery the Danish cartoons. is for them to meaningfully change the behavior Some of the more abrasive encounters of extremist Muslims, who exist far outside their between Muslims and others have censphere of influence often a half a world away. tered not on politics or foreign policy, but Muslims in this position feel they have no choice but free expression. Muslims have naturally to push back harder against insulting portrayals or taken exception to the way some artists, misrepresentations. Some, unfortunately, push too writers, and academics have portrayed far. But Muslims aren't alone in overreacting. Voices their faith. Non-Muslims have criticized that seek to marginalize the presence of Muslims in some books by Muslims that are offenpublic discourse routinely do the same. sive, along with the institutions that sell Two recent examples illustrate this: the attempts them (as have we, incidentally). People by New York congressman Peter King and others to talk at and over each other rather than to ban "Why Islam" ads from NYC subways (based each other. Ideas are not exchanged, and only on the reputation of an external supporter of the cycle continues unabated. the ads) and calls to prevent publication of the book Muslims have generally felt emThe Jewel of Medina . Neither effort has succeeded in battled during the past few decades as dealing effectively with controversy, which will only their media image becomes increasingly reappear another day. Were never going to silence ourselves out of problems. Time has taught me that the best response to free speech is simply more speech in return. Anyone should have the right to publish whatever they want about Islam or Muslims even if their views are offensive without fear of censorship or retribution. Muslims, however, shouldn't be expected to be passive consumers of these views. Offended Muslims have the right indeed, the responsibility to vigorously critique anything written about them or their religion, provided they do not cross the line into intimidation and coercion. Getting people to follow these guidelines will take a lot of reconditioning. But the alternative a hypersensitive Muslim community unable to respond constructively to external criticism (or internal criticism, for that matter), coupled with a journalistic/artistic/secular community that feels genuine fear and is prevented from free expression cannot be an option. We are witnessing the stagnation and increased misunderstanding that comes from a stifled discourse. We all need to develop thicker skins, more open minds, and a common understanding of the principles of free speech. No one has the absolute right not to be offended, or the right to live without the uncomfortable opinions of others. This is true of flag burning (which should harm nothing other than a piece of cloth) or non-Muslim views of the Prophet Muhammad (which should have no impact on a Muslim's sincere belief ). Religion and a universal sense of civility both dictate that emotions be kept in check to preserve social order. In such an environment, the freedom to speak openly and all the benefits that come from it can flourish. Shahed Amanullah

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