When it\'s a confrontation between art and the state of power
There is a common notion that Caesar would not have been Caesar had not the Romans been sheep. Truly speaking, this notion is best applied when there occurs a confrontation between the Art and the State power, over any form of the portraying of Art that becomes an eyesore to the respective State apparatus or the proclaimed ideals of the State. From the earlier times down the ages there have been numerous instances when the State has applied a kind of censorship so as to curb the influence of any Art form that appears to be unsatisfactory or deemed as the work of treason, better known as the Art censorship. If we go through the account we shall find that even in the mediaeval age the renowned scientist Galileo had to succumb to the intense force of the then State power and had to refrain from his innovative belief that the earth moves round the sun. even in the modern age it has been perceived, that when the Nazis were in the helm of affairs the famous book, \"All Quiet On The Western Front\" of Erich Maria Remarque was dubbed as \'defeatist\' and thousands of copies of the book were publicly burnt in 1933 in the open streets of Berlin. Even in the Iron Curtain of the Stalinist hegemony Art censorship in the stringent form was applied so as to curb the intelligentsia of all walks of life from the freedom of thought, of which the greatest victim were the renowned intellectuals like Maxim Gorky and the venerated film director Sergei Igenstein.

However, freedom of culture tends to proffer a shared platform where every one has their due. Apparently, this is the most prized feature of a democracy, that every one has an opinion and the best form of social institution that provides to any able bodied individual the opportunity to develop both the mental and moral framework at best, irrespective of the proclaimed ideal of the State apparatus or in the words of Frederick Engels, \'the strange pantham power\'. However, it is to be noted that in spite of the stated democratic ideal at times even at time the so-called Democratic states impose strict Art censorship so as to restrain or check the unsatisfactory productions or publications. The greatest specimen can be India, the largest democracy in the world and its imposition of censorship on the \'Satanic Verses.\' of Salman Rushdie in the wake of an international controversy without any prior notice in the late 80\'s.





Posted by subhasis on Wednesday Jul 04  reply


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