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For much of the Arab world, every week is #BannedBooksWeek
One case which has been in the news lately is Kuwait and the recent amendment to the print and publication law and the subsequent effects on the censorship committee...
One case which has been in the news lately is Kuwait and the recent amendment to the print and publication law and the subsequent effects on the censorship committee...
The law in question came into effect about 15 yrs ago, whereby a shadow committee at the ministry was responsible for determining which books to allow & which to ban - usually for arbitrary & frankly ridiculous reasons, like The Little Mermaid b/c shell bra.... #BannedBooksWeek
Over the years, the committee banned some 4500+ books, inc. work by Marquez, Qabbani, Dante, as well as local authors such as Saud Alsanousi. Protests against this committee were ongoing but reached a fever pitch in the fall of 2018... #BannedBooksWeek https://arablit.org/2018/09/13/book-banning-in-kuwait-how-why-what-comes-next/
That fall saw a number of protests, both online, at the ministry as well as at the Kuwait Book Fair. Local artist @MohammadRSharaf created a Banned Books Cemetery at the Kuwait International Fairground, which was quickly shut down. #BannedBooksWeek
https://www.theartnewspaper.com/comment/why-i-made-a-cemetery-of-200-banned-books-in-kuwait
https://www.theartnewspaper.com/comment/why-i-made-a-cemetery-of-200-banned-books-in-kuwait
After much lobbying by activists & writers such as @abdullakhonaini, @bothayna_alessa and many others, an amendment to the law was passed in late August of this year which removes the need for prior approval in order to sell in Kuwait. #BannedBooksWeek https://www.thenational.ae/arts-culture/books/kuwaiti-writers-welcome-change-to-book-censorship-laws-1.1067837
This reverses the previous state of affairs, so that now rather than presuming a book is banned, a ban has to come by court ruling, which places the onus on the person/s offended by the book to raise an official complaint. #BannedBooksWeek https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/aug/25/kuwait-relaxes-book-censorship-laws-after-banning-thousands-of-titles
This is a huge and important step towards greater freedom of expression, but all involved are quick to remind us that there is more that needs to be done.... #BannedBooksWeek https://agsiw.org/controlling-the-narrative-press-and-publication-laws-in-the-gulf/
