Why Jane Fonda Is Banned in Beirut

[question everything]

MAY 1, 2009

Why Jane Fonda Is Banned in Beirut
Anti-Semitism leads to startling censorship in Lebanon.

By WILLIAM MARLING
WSJ

Beirut

A professor at the American University here recently ordered copies of "The Diary of Anne Frank" for his classes, only to learn that the book is banned. Inquiring further, he discovered a long list of prohibited books, films and music. This is perplexing -- and deeply ironic -- because Beirut has been named UNESCO's 2009 "World Book Capital City." Just last week "World Book and Copyright Day" was kicked off with a variety of readings and exhibits that honor "conformity to the principles of freedom of expression freedom to publish," as stated by the UNESCO Constitution, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the UNESCO's "Florence Agreement." The catch is that Lebanon has not signed the Florence Agreement, which focuses on the free circulation of print and audio-visual material.

Even a partial list of books banned in Lebanon gives pause: William Styron's "Sophie's Choice"; Thomas Keneally's "Schindler's List"; Thomas Friedman's "From Beirut to Jerusalem"; books by Philip Roth, Saul Bellow and Isaac Bashevis Singer. In fact, all books that portray Jews, Israel or Zionism favorably are banned. Writers in Arabic are not exempt. Abdo Wazen's "The Garden of the Senses" and Layla Baalbaki's "Hana's Voyage to the Moon" were taken to court. Syria's Sadiq Jalal al-Azm was prosecuted for his "Critique of Religious Thinking." Censorship is carried out by the Sûreté General, which combines the functions of the FBI, CIA, and Homeland Security. It does not post a list of banned works, much less answer questions. However a major book importer, in an email, provided a list of banned films and the reasons given by the Sûreté. Here are some: "A Voice From Heaven" (verses of Koran recited during dance scenes); "Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert" (homosexuality); "Barfly" ( blacklisted company Canon); and "Daniel Deronda" (shot in Israel).

All of Jane Fonda's films are banned, since she visited Israel in 1982 to court votes for Tom Hayden's Senate run. "Torn Curtain" is banned: Paul Newman starred in "Exodus." And the television series "The Nanny" is banned because of Fran Drescher. According to Beirut newspaper L'Orient, any one of the recognized religions (a system known as "confessionalism") can ask the Sûreté to ban any book unilaterally. The Muslim Dar al-Fatwa and the Catholic Information Center are the most active and effective. (The latter got Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci Code" banned.) Even works by self-proclaimed Islamists such as Assadeq al-Nayhoum's "Islam Held Hostage," have been banned, and issued only when re-edited in sympathetic editions (in Syria).

(snip)

Works that could stimulate dialogue in Lebanon are perfunctorily banned. "Waltz with Bashir," an Israeli film of 2008, is banned -- even though it alleges that Ariel Sharon was complicit in the Sabra and Shatilla massacres. According to the Web site Monstersandcritics, however, "Waltz with Bashir" became an instant classic in the very Palestinian camps it depicts, because it is the only history the younger generation has. But how did those copies get there? The answer is also embarrassing. Just as it ignores freedom of circulation, Lebanon also ignores international copyright laws. Books of all types are routinely photocopied for use in high schools and universities. As for DVDs, you have only to mention a title and a pirated copy appears. "Slumdog Millionaire" was available in video shops before it opened in the U.S.

Mr. Marling is a visiting professor of American Studies at the American University of Beirut and professor of English at Case Western Reserve University.



http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124113399848475095.html

Printed in The Wall Street Journal, page A15

[HopeHoops]

1. She's banned from MY house!

Mostly because I don't want any assholes from FOX following her here. Nothing against her personally.

[Warpy]

2. Clerics have no place making decisions

outside their expertise, and that includes literature as well as medicine and politics.

Arrogant bastards always screw up all the good things in life in their misguided attempt to protect weaker people from sin.

They, of course, are strong enough to withstand temptation---until they get caught.

[question everything]

3. Galileo

Last month, when we were in Florence, Italy, we visited a "Galileo" exhibit, commemorating 500 years of his trail. And there was one comment that, after his trail, the church decided to have a tighter control over scientific studies. And I was thinking that, until a few months ago, not much has changed here.

[babylonsister]

4. What does 'tighter control' mean? Changing history? nt

[Warpy]

5. It was a climate of fear

that prevented scientists from publishing their work. They'd still discuss it among themselves and some progress was made in isolated areas across Europe, but progress was slowed by the lack of publication and sharing across distances.

Only the Reformation which lessened the death grip of Rome on thought allowed the Enlightenment that has continued to produce scientific achievement even if the humanism has gotten lost along the way.

Now it's the far right Protestant who is trying to recreate that climate, stifling inquiry in the name of religious purity and bible literacy.

[grassfed]

6. This piece is biased and inaccurate - and hides an agenda

The censorship code in Lebanon is truly baffling, but I do not endorse William Marling’s blatantly opportunistic critique of it. At the heart of Marling’s argument lies a stunning contradiction: on the one hand, he suggests that Lebanon routinely censors a wide-range of materials deemed “objectionable,” while on the other, he decries the absence of intellectual property laws that might check the circulation of pirated material. The fact of the matter is that the Lebanese state cannot enforce its traffic code, much less ban-—at least successfully—-any book, film, or music. While censorship law might exist, it is, at best, a dead letter. Like so much else in Lebanon, the censorship code is part of a system of appearances that disguise a striking lack of content. In this case, the censorship code—-such as it is—-allows for the appearance of an effective state, one that is responsive to its citizens’ concerns. In practice, its prohibitions are largely meaningless. Any confessional group can request that the state ban certain materials; the state endorsement of a particular ban does not mean that those materials suddenly go missing. “The Diary of a Young Girl,” by Anne Frank, is readily available in the Jafet Library at the American University of Beirut, as are a variety of Jewish studies and Israeli studies journals. Copies of Elie Wiesel’s Holocaust memoir “Night” are prominently displayed in local bookstores, alongside copies of Randy Shilts’ “The Mayor Castro Street: The Life and Times of Harvey Milk.” As Mr. Marling points out, “Waltz with Bashir” is widely available in Beirut, in spite of the ban imposed by the government. “The DaVinci Code” might have been banned—-a policy I presume has something to do with its complete lack of literary merit-—but its cinematic sequel, “Angels and Demons” is primed to sweep theaters later this spring.

What is Mr. Marling’s point? As far as I can tell, he doesn’t have one, leaving me with the distinct impression that his complaint is about the materials that are being censored rather than the act of censorship, itself. Does Mr. Marling sincerely believe that books offering favorable portrayals of Zionism should receive a warm reception in Lebanon, a country that has been the victim of more than its share of Zionist aggression? Censorship is appalling, and largely self-defeating, but making the critique of censorship into a vehicle for this sort of political screed is downright odious. At the end of the day, this feels like nothing more than the old Orientalist canard about Arab “backwardness.” As for the “irony” in Beirut being named 2009 “World Book Capital City” by UNESCO, does anyone really need to be reminded about Israel’s long record of non-compliance with UN resolutions?

Adam John Waterman
Visiting Assistant Professor

http://forums.wsj.com/viewtopic.php?t=5858
Center for American Studies and Research
American University of Beirut

[question everything]

8. Censotring books and violating copy right laws are two different things

Just because there are pirated copies of a movie does not mean that certain movies were not banned by the state. And I am not aware of the existence of pirated copies of books. No one would bother with this. Thus, it is not clear why you find these two findings to contradict each other.

Just because you can find one copy of a banned book in one library does not mean that such books are widely available for regular readers.

[grassfed]

7. Letter to William Marling: about Lebanon

Monday, May 04, 2009
Letter to William Marling: about Lebanon

An AUB graduate student, Nate George, sent a letter to William Marling regarding his article in the Wall Street Journal. (I cite with Nate's permission): "Your article "Why Jane Fonda Is Banned in Beirut: Anti-Semitism leads to startling censorship in Lebanon" is one of the most startlingly awful things I have read. It is amazing that you could come to this country and write this after being here for eight months: obviously, you have not learned a single thing here about the peoples, cultures, histories, politics, and governments of not only Lebanon, but of the region as a whole. The idea that now you are considered to have the "authority" to publish articles, to an international audience in The Wall Street Journal, on Middle East affairs because of your ill-informed tenure here is thoroughly disturbing. The late Edward Said must be turning in his grave knowing that such an antithetical person to his lifelong positions is the inaugural "Edward W. Said Chair of American Studies."

Your cowardice is apparent in that you have chosen your last month here to indulge in your sense of "moral outrage" at the anti-Semitic censorship in this country. I do wholeheartedly agree that it is stupid to ban things based on their connection to "Jewishness." Personally, I fully believe that there should be no censorship, of anything, anywhere. However, that is not the issue at hand. The issue at hand is your ignorant portrayal of Lebanon as something akin to a police state where Stalinist goons are searching through every library and bookstore to confiscate and burn Jewish related material. Even the most casual visitor to the country can see that there isn't much of a state structure anywhere, much less a totalitarian anti-Semitic dictatorship, and even less still your choice of portraying Lebanese General Security as an organization that "combines the functions of the FBI, CIA, and Homeland Security."

But the true litmus test of your supposed morality is that you stood here and watched the massacring of over 1,200 Palestinians in Gaza- the majority of which were civilians- by the State of Israel and you chose to stay silent. Instead your "sense of moral outrage" was awakened and you were motivated to contribute to The Wall Street Journal (of all places) on "why Jane Fonda is banned in Beirut," during the last month of your stay. Now that is political courage.

Your article is so poorly researched that you get a number of key facts wrong that invalidate your already weak argument. Indeed the very first sentence, "A professor at the American University here recently ordered copies of "The Diary of Anne Frank" for his classes, only to learn that the book is banned" is factually incorrect. English instructor Sean Lee, an advisor to the student book club, did not order The Diary of Anne Frank for his classes, indeed he didn't try to order it at all. The student president of the AUB book club attempted to do so through the AUB bookstore. All you would've had to have done is look at this blogpost by Sean Lee himself to find this out. http://humanprovince.wordpress.com/2009/03/07/the-white-man-speaks/#comments You would've also notice the comic ineptitude of the Lebanese censors because only the English version of Anne Frank is banned, and that the French edition is widely available.

If you would have ever gone into the AUB Library, you may have noticed the extensive collection of Jewish, Israeli, Holocaust and Zionist material, such as the impressive collection of the journal Jewish Quarterly, as well as a variety of books that portray the Arabs as terrorists and the Israelis as courageous heroes.

But the icing on the cake of your, and Mr. Lee's, lame arguments is that a well-used copy ofThe Diary of Anne Frank is readily available in the AUB library (shelfmark 940.53492:F828:c.1)!! Perhaps you should take it to any one of the many copy centers around AUB, reproduce it free of copyright charge, and distribute it at your discretion. Nate George"

http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2009/05/letter-to-william-marling-about-lebanon.html