Description of Incident: In the 1960's Kunze began to reject compromises from the GDR to change his work. Kunze insisted that these changes would destroy the artistic integrity of his poetry and make him into a tool for some government cause. As a result, the only place his volumes of poetry appeared was in the West. Official GDR critics in the East who had access to them assured the public that his writing was a "malicious distortion of the image of the GDR" and criticized it for its "naked individualism." They used this as an excuse to ban all of his work, politically offensive or not. They even stopped him from publishing a book of children's stories he'd written.

In addition, the GDR sent agents to drive Kunze to insanity. They put personal pressures on his family and friends, invaded his privacy, started whispering campaigns against him, and made official threats.

Results of Incident: After the collapse of the GDR, Kunze published a documentation of the GDR's attack on his psyche.

Description of Incident: "The Joke" was published in 1967, but after the Warsaw Pact invasion of 1968, it was banned completely. Not only that but Kundera was expelled from the Communist party, kicked out of film school, had all his works confiscated from libraries and bookshops, had his plays banned from theaters, and was forbidden to travel to the West.

Results of Incident: In 1969, Kundera worked with American publishers to make an English translation. Although the English version managed to keep the parts about the oppression of writing in eastern Europe, Kundera was disappointed that they did not follow his use of punctuation and reflect his writing style. Not until 1992 was an English version that satisfied him published.

Description of Incident: The British Board of Film Censors (BBFC) had released the film uncut with the X rating, but received a number of complaints that the film would damage society by inspiring teenagers to violence. Through out 1972 and 1973, police linked cases of teenage violence to "Clockwork Orange." Simply having the culprit admit to reading the book was enough proof for the public that the film was a bad influence.

In response to the uproar it was causing in Britain, Kubrick had the film withdrawn from the country, even though it had already been running for 61 weeks there.

Results of Incident: It was not until Kubrick's death in 1999 that the film was legally permitted to be shown in Britain.

Description of Incident: Kubrick acquired the rights to make a movie based on the novel, but his distribution contract required him to not only meet the standards of the Production Code Administration (PCA) but also the Catholic Legion of Decency.

Working closely with Nabokov, the film was watered down considerably. Lolita's age was raised to make her a teenager, no provocative clothing was worn, any scene remotely sexual was watered down to being merely implied and further obscured by comedy. Even though the PCA further required dialogue muted and scenes cut short, it eventually got their seal.

However, even after being cut, the Catholic Legion of Decency still condemned the film for "offering unrelieved sexual depravity."

Results of Incident: A deal was eventually struck to release the film in 1962. The seduction scene had to be cut even more, and nobody under the age of 18 was admitted.

Critics were divided saying the film adaptation had lost the novel's shock value and had lost its purpose in the editing.

Description of Incident: The spokesman for Kubisova's musical trio, the Golden Kids, was summoned to the office of the Director of the State Concert Agency just before they were to travel to Slovakia for a performance. Dr Hrabal (the director) showed him a set of pornographic photos (Presumably fake) and told him to identify Kubisova as one of the models. When the spokesman refused, he was told to make the Golden Kids a duo.

The secret police used the photographs as an excuse to cancel all Kubisova's contracts for performing or recording.

Results of Incident: 15 months later Kubisova filed a lawsuit against Dr. Hrabal and won. Hrabal claimed he never thought it was her in the photographs. Regardless, she remained on the blacklists until the collapse of the USSR.

Description of Incident: Although the film saw permission for a release in the rest of Canada, the Ontario Film Censorship Board determined that it was unfit for a commercial release in their city. The board admitted that it was an important study, but were worried that images of fellatio and masturbation in the movie may be abused (They were not worried about the violent images).

Results of Incident: The Ontario Film Censorship Board was defeated in a lawsuit filed by the National Film Board on behalf of "Not a Love Story" and several other banned films.

Description of Incident: In the middle of their performance run at city hall, the company was summoned to police headquarters and told, without reason, that the play should be cancelled. When they returned to city hall, it was surrounded by police.

Results of Incident: A month later it was decided that all manuscripts would have to be cleared by the government before being preformed.

Kargbo and company found it difficult to cope. After another uncompromising play, Karbgo was transfered to the city of Bo by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. The decision was based on the idea that he could cause less damage there. Another of the comapnies plays was critical of female circumcision, but this was censored due to complaints from the secret society that practiced it. After continued harassment, the group disbanded.

Description of Incident: Before the story was even published, it had been censored of numerous sexual and excretion references by the New York "Little Review," a magazine who was to release it in serial publications. However, in 1920, on three separate occasions, the US Post Office intercepted the magazines and had them burned (At the time they had the right to halt any indecent materials). In particular, the episode "Nausicaa" caused a stir through its heavy, although comic, focus on masturbation. The New York Society for the Suppression of Vice found out about this and brought the owners of the magazine to court, where they were forced to stop printing episodes of "Ulysses."

The trial scared off any potential publishers and printers who saw it as filth, but eventually Joyce had the book released in France. However, Joyce still found resistance to it in English speaking countries. The US Post Office held any copies of the book it found and had them burned. British customs officials also confiscated it and had it sent to the Home Office for examining. In 1922, the Director of Public Prosecution deemed it indecent and ordered that customs not let the book get through to Britain. He made this decision having read only 40 pages.

Results of Incident: Not until 1933 was the ban challenged. US publisher Random House brought the book before a judge who, upon reading the sexual passages, declared, "nowhere does it tend to be an aphrodisiac. Ulysses may, therefore, be admitted into the United States." This decision, made based on effects that the writing has on the average reader, became the new standard by which obscenity was judged in America.

Description of Incident: Judge Juan Del Olmo ordered that the magazine be confiscated and for the artist's name to be given, as he may receive 2 years in prison for libel against to royal family.

This is the first time since 1986 that a magazine in Spain has been censored and the third time for El Jeuves, which has run for over 1500 issues.

Results of Incident: The final ruling was that the magazine be pulled. The royal palace has commented that it had nothing to do with the incident.

Description of Incident: Judge Juan Del Olmo ordered that the magazine be confiscated and for the artist's name to be given, as he may receive 2 years in prison for libel against to royal family.

This is the first time since 1986 that a magazine in Spain has been censored and the third time for El Jeuves, which has run for over 1500 issues.

Results of Incident: The final ruling was that the magazine be pulled. The royal palace has commented that it had nothing to do with the incident.

Description of Incident: In December 1977, the military closed off the theater where the group was performing and took Albert Boadella (The group director) to jail. All the actors in the company were sentenced to at least 2 years in prison for insulting the military. This provoked an international reaction from artistic communities and there were theater strikes in Spain. Boadella was offered a pardon, but still insisted no civilian should be put on military trial. He was imprisoned by the military for four months until King Juan Carlos pardoned the actors.

Results of Incident: The group continued to perform successfully afterwards, but still caused violent reactions from the community over their scandalous subject matter. They have never had another official censorship, but have been physically attacked by extremist groups for their performances.

The film disempowers the working class by showing them as financially and spiritually weak. What's more, it challenges the idea that history is a linear and unalterable narrative. This challenged the goal-oriented nature of history that the party wanted to push.

Description of Incident: The film was completely banned in Hungary due to its questioning of the official ideology. Jeles continued to work afterwards, but continuous censorship and criticism from bureaucrats eventually caused him to quit film and instead work in theater.

Results of Incident: The movie remained banned until the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Description of Incident: Mr. Steele called Pat Oleszko and asked her to change her performance to something less political, so as not to offend donators to the non-profit organization. She rejected the request and Steele cancelled the show, saying it was because of weak ticket sales.

Results of Incident: The board was split on the decision that Steele made. More than half were not in favor of censorship. One member even resigned and left a plan to resurrect the board completely. However, most members respected the fact that Steele made a choice within a very small timeframe and did not blame him for it.

Steele's reasoning for the cut was in the interests of those who paid. He believes that a piece relying on shock value should not have been sprung upon them without notice. He offered to reschedule and place warnings on the new flyers, but Oleszko refused. Oleszko said her defense was a matter of principles. She was doing the piece as a favor to someone on the board and would barely cover her expenses.

Description of Incident: The scene in question is a 4 second incident in which the main character witnesses a woman in an open doorway giving oral sex to a man with a pistol. This is supposed to represent the lack of civilized culture in the West. However, the Film Censorship Board saw this as gratuitous sexual violence and made the decision that the film should be banned.

Results of Incident: The Board of Review overturned the decision and allowed the film to be released as R-rated. The 4 second scene was debated in small details such as how the gun was held and how the unnamed and unimportant character was supposed to be portrayed.

Australia is the only western country to ever propose a ban on "Dead Man."

Description of Incident: The first of his censored films was "Sebastiane," which is about an early Christian saint. A homoerotic story emerges between two Roman soldiers and one scene includes a penis swinging into the frame. For the cinema, censors decided to project the film the wrong ratio to obscure the penis. The television rights were acquired early on, but it was never shown.

Results of Incident: Eventually it was agreed to be transmitted if another penis, during an orgy scene, were blurred out.

This was not the last time his films were cut by television stations. In 1978, his film "Jubilee," caused an outrage over its showing violence against police. The prompted the station to place a red triangle in the corner of the screen to warn the public that a program might be offensive, but instead the triangle enticed more people to watch.

In 1988, a small portion of "Edward II" was cut by the BCC. Jarman demanded that during the cut a banner saying, "Censored by the BBC" would go up, but he had no legal right to insist on this.

Nearly all of Jarman's works saw cuts or resistance of some sort in an attempt to de-homosexualize them.