Titled ‘The Art of War', the summer issue of Index on Censorship explores how censorship and self-censorship can suffocate artistic expression in times of conflict and social turmoil – but also how war can inspire art to flourish and bear witness to atrocity.
Filmmaker Tara Aghdashloo attempts to dispel the romantic lens through which Iranian cinema is often viewed abroad. Foreign praise for Iranian films has often mistaken imposed limitations on freedom of expression for sophistication, ‘interpreting subtlety and ambiguity as aesthetic virtues' and ignoring the impact of official restrictions in a country where censorship ‘not only operates by prohibition and what is banned, but also by structuring and curating visibility itself'.
‘Over the last five decades, Iran's cinematic language has been shaped by the system from which it emerged', explains Aghdashloo. She documents the censorship that since the Islamic Revolution of 1979 has dictated both what can be said in film and the visual representations of bodies and social reality. ‘Representation itself became a site of governance and political tension, a means of controlling and reinforcing collective identity', she writes.
The ‘Woman, Life, Freedom' movement of 2022 was a watershed moment for Iranian society and cinema alike, and emboldened filmmakers to take a more adventurous aesthetic approach – many ‘are no longer interested in negotiating the contours of what is allowed'.
Today, with Iran at war with the USA and Israel, a more repressive atmosphere means that uncompliant artists risk bans and even imprisonment. In this climate, ‘it is difficult to define what Iranian filmmakers can make, are permitted to make, or even want to make'.
Policing women's right to choose
Olga Borisova, former member of feminist protest group Pussy Riot, reports on women's reproductive rights in Russia. An ongoing demographic crisis has been thrown into sharper focus by Russian losses in Ukraine and record low birth rates, Borisova writes. The state's response has been to enact an unprecedented campaign to restrict women's access to abortions, supported by the media and the Russian Orthodox Church, based on the message that abortion is contrary to ‘traditional values'.
Priests are denouncing abortion in church and on TV, state-funded pro-life activist movements are giving ‘patriotic' lectures in medical colleges, and doctors and medical personnel face doxxing and public harassment campaigns. A vaguely phrased prohibition on ‘child-free propaganda' was adopted in late 2024, and the authorities are now considering making ‘inducement to have an abortion' a punishable offence.
As Borisova highlights, the vague wording of such bans erases any boundaries between ‘propaganda' and ordinary discussion of women's personal lives. This means that any materials or discussions presenting the conscious abstention from childbirth as a normal life choice could fall foul of the law, from films and blogs to social media posts – or even consultations with medical professionals.
‘Thus, the state is beginning to regulate not only the actions of its citizens but also their views on procreation', she observes: ‘demographics is not only transformed into a social programme, it becomes ideology'.
Shooting the messengers
Israeli reporter Oren Persico interrogates Tel Aviv's claim that the Israel Defence Forces never target journalists, given that last year Israel killed more media workers than any other country in the world.
Although war journalists inevitably enter dangerous areas, the sheer scale of the killing suggests that in Gaza ‘there is an additional factor at play'. Many of the slain reporters worked for Arab media that sympathise with or have ties to Hamas. But Israel's claims that these journalists were themselves ‘terrorists' lack evidence and have failed to convince international human rights organisations that the killings were legal.
Large sections of Israeli society see Gazan journalists as hostile, partly ‘due to their role reporting to the world what Israelis perceive as anti-Israeli bias'. Persico observes that the ‘growing dehumanisation of Palestinians in the public discourse' has played a significant role in reinforcing indifference to the killing of journalists in Gaza. Mainstream Israeli media have targeted critical voices, including left-wing Jewish journalists, with smear campaigns. Even western reporters have been detained, sometimes violently.
Yet, before 7 October 2023, major outlets had become openly critical of the Netanyahu administration and its undermining of democracy in Israel. For the killing and mistreatment of journalists to end, writes Persico, ‘mainstream Israeli media must first return to those months in 2023 when it fulfilled its role of holding Netanyahu's government to account'.
Stage fright
Index editor Sally Gimson reports on censorship in the UK arts, focusing on theatre. Funding constraints, government hostility to protest, and a fear of controversy or ‘causing offence' are fostering a climate of creative timidity, she reports, with fewer and fewer challenging productions making it to the stage.
Highlighting political interference in England's Arts Council and cancellations over content viewed as too socially, racially or religiously divisive, Gimson warns that opportunities are shrinking ‘for artists to explore the contradictions and complexity of our times'. Theatres and arts venues are increasingly choosing to stick their heads in the sand rather than engage in spirited debate or tackle challenging topics. The Palestine/Israel issue and LGBTQI+ rights are common flashpoints.
Since the pandemic, the arts have been hit hard by rising costs and funding problems. This increases theatres' dependency on ticket sales, philanthropy and corporate sponsorship – some of which has ties to authoritarian regimes. Theatres and arts venues have little choice but to play safe so as not to upset or put off audiences.
‘What we are witnessing is a creeping, insidious form of self-censorship, barely visible and yet omnipresent', writes Gimson, noting that many of the arts professionals cited in Index's report made interviews conditional on anonymity, and that ‘virtually everyone in the industry is in denial about the extent of censorship'.
Review by Alastair Gill
