Read You Can't Read This Book: Censorship in an Age of Freedom Online
Authors: Nick Cohen
Tags: #Political Science, #Censorship
Sangh Parivar (Hindu nationalist movement) 62
Sannikov, Andrei 282–4
Sarkozy, Nicolas 116
Satanic Verses, The
(Rushdie) 3–20, 22–43, 51, 95; ‘blasphemous’ nature of 3–4; approach to Muhammad 6–11; Islam’s attitude towards women and 7–8; terror and protest in reaction to 13–20, 38, 41; banned 13–15, 58–9, 62; fatwa and 12, 15–20, 24–5, 30, 35, 42–53, 136; fear of West at reaction to 18–20, 45; Western liberals and 29–53, 95; publishers 33–5, 41, 44, 48; Western critics of 34–41; Western governments’ reaction to 38–9
Saudi Arabia xvii, 8, 40, 90, 93, 121, 127, 146, 202–5
scientific method 153–4, 173
Sedition Act, US 220
self-censorship 4, 13, 21, 52–3, 89, 136, 154, 162, 172, 198, 274, 299
Sense about Science (organisation) 245
Serbia 32
Serpentine Gallery (London) 55
Shame
(Rushdie) 6
Shamir, Israel 296, 297
Sharia law 8, 14, 41, 50, 59, 81, 114–15, 120, 128–9
Shia Islam 41, 56, 77–8, 127
Shirky, Clay 267–9
Shiv Sena 58, 59, 60
Simpson, Wallis 255
Sinclair, Upton 164
Singh, Simon 236–47, 250, 276
Skype 265
SLAPP actions (‘strategic lawsuits against public participation’) 221–2
Sloan, Allan 164
Socrates 170–1
Sohu.com 287
Somalia 94, 99, 101, 104, 108
Sontag, Susan 38
South Africa 4, 15, 19, 40, 45
South Park
96, 176, 202
Southey, Robert 103
Soviet Union 4, 19, 97, 143, 146, 148, 253, 273
Spellberg, Denise 76–8
Spinoza, Baruch 106, 108
Stalin, Joseph 16, 84, 128, 253
Statute of Westminster (1275) 188–9
Stevens, Justice John 250
Stone, Matt 96
Straw, Jack 95
Submission
(film) 106–7
sub-prime debt 160, 164
Sudan 15, 205, 260
Sufi Muslims 88
Sullivan, L.B. 217–20
Summers, Larry 160
Sunday Times
80–1, 165–6, 192
Sunni Muslims 66–7, 88
super-injunctions xii–xvi, xxi, 195–6
Supreme Court, US 210, 219–221, 248–50, 258
Sutherland, John 74
Syria xvi, 18, 79, 92–3, 95, 267, 275, 283, 285
Szymborska, Wislawa 54, 78
Tabari 66
Taliban 63, 87, 296–7
Talmud schools 107
Taseer, Salmaan 128, 301
Tate, Sharon 177, 178, 181–2, 207
Taylor, Harriet 224–6
Tea Party 118
Tebbit, Norman 38
telecommunications industry, US deregulation of 258–9
television: celebrities on 187; fear of lawsuits 202; impartiality and increase in choice of channels 248–9; politics and 277; escapism and 278
terrorism 16, 47, 50, 73, 80–1, 88–90, 102, 108, 117–19, 126–7, 129, 185, 192, 202, 205, 256–7, 288, 291
Tesco Bank 158
Tett, Gillian 164
Thackeray, Bal 59, 60
Thatcher, Margaret 37–8, 47, 166, 212–13
Thathaal, Deepika 122–3
Time
(magazine) 97
Times, The
50, 163–4, 186–7
Torah 24, 70, 175
Trafigura 194–6
Travolta, John 202
Trevor-Roper, Hugh (Lord Dacre) 35–6
Trick or Treatment
(Singh/Ernst) 237–8
Tripathi, Salil 63
Trithemius, Johannes 270–2
Troitsky, Art 274
Twitter xiv–xvi, xxi, 187, 190, 244, 253–4, 261, 266, 288–91
Ukraine 203, 275
United Nations xii, 201: attacks British libel law 247; Declaration of Human Rights 128–9; Human Rights Council 127; bugging of by British intelligence 256
United States: Congress protests against English libel law xii, 201, 268; religion in 8;
Satanic Verses
and 17; privacy in 36; anti-Americanism 51, 117; free speech in 96, 221–2, 302
see also
United States Constitution; blasphemy law, lack of 96; wealth gap in 142–4; financial crisis (2008) and 160; segregation in 210–23; intimidation of public servants 255–66
United States Constitution: blasphemy and 96; First Amendment 194, 216, 220–1, 230, 248, 259, 264, 286, 301; segregation and 210, 214, 216; ‘fairness doctrine’ 248; Internet and 258; Pentagon Papers and 264
University of California, Berkeley 161
University College London 74–6
US Congress xii, 216, 220, 259, 301
US Defense Department 264
US Federal Reserve 160
US State Department xvi, 38, 255, 263, 297–8
USAID 205
van Gogh, Theo 42, 89, 106–9, 111, 120
Vanity Fair
(magazine) 181–3, 206–7
Venediktov, Aleksei 274
Verdonk, Rita 109–10
Victoria, Queen 225
Vienna University 233
Vietnam War 177, 264, 278
Vindication of the Rights of Woman, A
(Wollstonecraft) 102–3
Virginia Statute for Religious Tolerance 27–8
Voltaire, François-Marie Arouet 23, 112
Wajda, Andrzej 83
Wall Street 145–6, 160, 162–5
Wall Street Journal
xvii, 76–7
‘war atmosphere’ 254–7
war on drugs 225–6
War on Terror 256
Warsaw Pact 147
Waskow, Arthur 69–70
wealthy: use of libel law xi–xvi, xxi, 22–3, 147, 176–83, 188–209, 216–21, 230–50, 300, 302; financial crisis (2008) and xviii–xix, 142–3, 145–7, 154, 159–69, 286, 300–1; oligarchs
see
oligarchs
and
oligarchies; wealth gap and 141–7, 161–2, 174–5; political influence 143, 145–7, 199; attitudes of 148; media, control of 147, 149, 183–209, 261–2; Civil Rights/segregation and 210–21
Wechsler, Herbert 219, 220–1
Weekly Mail
(South Africa) 15
Westergaard, Kurt 94
Whigs 193
whistleblowers 149–69, 175, 222, 301
WikiLeaks xvi, 255–6, 265, 295–8, 302
Wilberforce, William 245
Wilders, Geert 118
Williams, Raymond 47
Wilmhurst, Peter 239
Wired
(magazine) 266
Wollstonecraft, Mary 102–3, 112, 135, 138
women: emancipation/subjugation of xxii, 7–11, 26, 29, 36, 39–41, 43, 45, 51–2, 63–7, 70, 80–1, 87–8, 90–1, 96, 98–124, 127–30, 133, 135, 138, 184–5, 225, 227, 298, 300; feminism xviii, 5, 10, 38, 42, 51–3, 64, 70, 81, 102, 104, 108–10, 122–3, 135, 151; religion and xxii, 7–11, 26, 29, 36, 39–41, 43, 45, 51–2, 63–7, 70, 80–1, 87–8, 90–1, 96, 98–124, 127–30, 133, 135, 138, 298, 300
Women Against Fundamentalism 40, 51
Wordsworth, William 134–5
workplace: libel law and xii–xiii, xx, 3–4, 149–69, 191–201, 302; managerial system, failure of 141–69; hierarchical, centrally planned 141–69, 191–92, 202, 229; whistleblowers and 149–69
Wright, Peter 47
Xenophon 170
Yale University Press 95–6
Yemen 67
You, Jong-sung 146
YouTube xvii, 283
Zimbabwe 43, 85–7, 298;
see also
Rhodesia
Zionists 14, 17–18, 49
Zola, Émile 164
NICK COHEN
is a columnist for the
Observer
. He also writes for
Standpoint
, the
Spectator
and many other titles. He is the author of
Cruel Britannia: Reports on the Sinister and the Preposterous
,
Pretty Straight Guys
,
What’s Left?: How the Left Lost its Way
and
Waiting for the Etonians: Reports from the Sickbed of Liberal England
. He lives in London.
Cruel Britannia: Reports on the Sinister and the Preposterous
Pretty Straight Guys
What’s Left?: How the Left Lost its Way
Waiting for the Etonians:
Reports from the Sickbed of Liberal England
First published in Great Britain in 2012 by
Fourth Estate
An imprint of HarperCollins
Publishers
77–85 Fulham Palace Road,
London W6 8JB
www.4thestate.co.uk
YOU CAN’T READ THIS BOOK
:
Censorship in an Age of Freedom
. Copyright © Nick Cohen 2012. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
The right of Nick Cohen to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Design and Patents Act 1988
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978-0-00-730890-3
EPub Edition © DECEMBER 2011 ISBN: 978-0-00-743645-3
Australia
HarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty. Ltd.
Level 13, 201 Elizabeth Street
Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia
http://www.harpercollins.com.au/ebooks
Canada
HarperCollins Canada
2 Bloor Street East - 20th Floor
Toronto, ON, M4W, 1A8, Canada
New Zealand
HarperCollins Publishers (New Zealand) Limited
P.O. Box 1
Auckland, New Zealand
http://www.harpercollins.co.nz
United Kingdom
HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.
77-85 Fulham Palace Road
London, W6 8JB, UK
http://www.harpercollins.co.uk
United States
HarperCollins Publishers Inc.
10 East 53rd Street
New York, NY 10022