"The internalisation of the fatwa”

Index On Self-Censorship?

IoC chairman, Jonathan Dimbleby on why the board of Index on Censorship decided not to publish a sample from the Danish cartoon controversy to illustrate an interview in the magazine:

Index is not a coterie of fundamentalists who enjoy preaching to the converted in a vacuum of purist invisibility. We have a greater vision and purpose, which is to reach out to those in the United Kingdom and elsewhere who are not yet aware of how vital freedom of expression is to an open society and how easily and rapidly it can be eroded.

Kenan malik, the only board member to disssent from the decision had this to say in reply:

...pre-emptive censorship often creates a “self-fulfilling prophecy”. In assuming that an “offensive” work will invite violence one both entrenches the idea that the work is offensive and helps create a culture that makes violence more likely.

Read the whole post at The Spitoon