Fictional gay
cowboys and a faux reporter from Kazakhstan suffered human
rights abuses in 2006 as crackdowns on flesh and blood
victims were extended to the Internet, award-winning
films, and noted plays worldwide, the State Department
says. From the movies Borat to Brokeback
Mountain, foreign governments banned or restricted
access to a variety of big- and little-screen
entertainment as well as live events, the State
Department says.
British comedian
Sacha Baron Cohen (creator of Borat, the crass Kazakh
chronicler of the American condition) and the gay cowboy
love story that won three Oscars were hit with what it
deemed violations of freedoms of speech and
expression. So were the The Da Vinci Code,
The Vagina Monologues, and even the popular
Google Earth Web site, according to the department's annual
survey of global human rights practices released this week.
Amid a litany of
deadly crackdowns on dissent, extrajudicial killings,
torture, and arrests, the report suggests that traditional
censorship of overtly political works of art,
literature, and film may be entering new territory.
Baron
Cohen--who vexed the authoritarian Kazakh government
with his mocking in the film that rocketed him to
fame, Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make
Benefit Glorious Nation of
Kazakhstan--became a victim when Kazakhstan moved
against his satirical Web site. Specifically, it took
control of the registration of .kz Internet domains in
2005 and then revoked Baron Cohen's Borat domain,
since relocated, because it deemed his site offensive,
the report said.
The movie
depicting Borat's pseudo-documentary wanderings across the
U.S. became an unlikely hit and earned Baron Cohen a
Golden Globe award. It also generated complaints that
he duped his American subjects into making racist and
sexist remarks and portrayed Kazakhs in an unflattering
light.
Borat, for
example, asserted that Kazakhs are addicted to horse urine,
enjoy shooting dogs, view rape and incest as respectable
hobbies, and are fond of "running of the Jew"
festivals. Baron Cohen is an observant Jew.
The State
Department report made no mention of the contents of the
film or the Web site but said Baron Cohen's banishment
was symptomatic of repression in Kazakhstan, a former
Soviet republic in central Asia. It accused the
government of monitoring dissident e-mail and Internet
activity, blocking or slowing access to opposition sites,
and planting propaganda in Internet chat rooms.
While
Borat came under fire in Kazakhstan, Ang Lee's
Brokeback Mountain was banned in the
Bahamas, where censors said it lacked public value and
depicted extreme homosexuality, nudity, and profanity,
the report said.
Eve Ensler's
acclaimed feminist play The Vagina Monologues
failed to pass censors' muster in Uganda, which claimed it
promoted "unnatural sex acts, homosexuality, and
prostitution," the department said.
The film version
of Dan Brown's best-selling novel The Da Vinci Code
sparked action by government officials in Egypt,
which felt its assertions of a centuries-old
cover-up of Jesus' alleged bloodline could prompt religious
unrest.
The report said
Morocco, embroiled in a long dispute with Algeria over a
neighboring former Spanish colony, blocked access to the
"Google Earth" directory of satellite imagery in 2006,
apparently because it identified Western Sahara as an
autonomous entity.
Among other
cultural rights violations, the State Department cited:
Algeria, for
forcing the cancellation of performances by French humorist
Djamel Debbouze, allegedly because of his position on the
Western Sahara.
Belarus, for
forcing a dissident theater group into an underground venue
to stage a production of Techniques of Breathing in
a Closed Space, a drama adapted from accounts
of torture of detainees based on testimony from the
wives of missing government foes.
Myanmar, for
barring a locally renowned comedian and critic of the
military regime, Zargana, from giving public performances,
publicizing, or screening a new satirical film.
Poland, for a
court's failure to act on an appeal by artist Dorota
Nieznalska, who was convicted in 2004 of offending religious
beliefs and sentenced to six months of "restricted
freedom" and community service for putting a photo of
male genitals on a Christian cross. (Matthew Lee, AP)
