Description of Incident: Since 1983, schools throughout the United States have tried to ban "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" even though it is celebrated for its elegant prose. Parents, schools and related organizations have argued that the book encourages deviant behavior because of its references to lesbianism, premarital sex, cohabitation, pornography and violence. The book's profanity has also caused its removal from school curriculum and library shelves. The Alabama State Textbook Committee accused it of encouraging "bitterness and hatred toward white people."

Results of Incident: Some schools have removed the book from their classes and libraries, however, many have decided to retain the book. Today, the book is still among the most challenged books in American schools.

Description of Incident: Cheney negoiated with Chinese officials to be allowed to give a speech, free from censor, at Fudan University during his visit to China; the Chinese government granted him permission to do so. The speech, which recieved no prior promotion, aired at 10am on CCTV, China's all news network. After the speech, edited versions were posted on the internet and in newspapers. All references to North Korea's nuclear arms proliferation, Taiwan's right to arm itself against possible Chinese incursion and free expression were struck from the written record of the speech. In China's Xinjiang province, where a large Muslim population resides, references to the right of "legitimate dissent" were removed.

Results of Incident: No tapes of the speech were released and it will not be repeated. The Bush adminstration suggested that it wished it had negotiated plans for post-speech censorship.

Description of Incident: Throughout his career as a filmmaker, Angelopoulos has dealt with censorship. His films are often accused of anti-nationalism. In addition, he has been accused of distorting historical facts to dramatize his works. "The Travelling Players" and "The Hunter" were both refused export rights. During the filming of one of his recent films, "The Suspended Stride of the Stork (1991)," in towns where Angelopoulos shot his movie Orthodox churches would ring church bells throughout the day and arrange demonstrations to interupt the filming.

Results of Incident: Angelopoulos referred to the tactics of the Orthodox churches in his latest film, "Ulysses' Gaze." Censorship of his work continued as Greece experienced a nationalist movement after the break up of former Yugoslavia.

Description of Incident: "Anaphase" was celebrated both in Israel and in the United States. However, the haredim opposed its performance at the celebration of Israel's 50th anniversary of independence from British mandate. The religious conservatives, supported by the deputy mayor of Jerusalem, opposed the stripping scene and the rock version of Echad Mi Yodea, a song traditionally played at Passover. "Anaphase" was struck from the festival.

Results of Incident: In 1991 the Theater Censorship Board was abolished; subsequently, Israelis have enjoyed more artistic freedom. Naharin and the Batsheva Dance Company produced a response to the censorship, depicting the obstinance of the religious right.

Description of Incident: Amos 'n' Andy was attacked by African American Civil Rights groups for many years before it was banned from television. In 1931 the African American press petitioned the Federal Radio Commission to cancel the show because it was an unfair representation of African Americans. They believed that the show could be used, through its racially stereotypical character personalities, for whites to justify slavery and maintain segregation. CBS cancelled the television program in 1953 in response to pressure from the NAACP and other civil rights organizations. In 1963, CBS sent reruns of Amos 'n' Andy to Kenya and Nigeria. Kenya banned the show in 1963. In 1964 a Chicago television station announced that it would air reruns of the show, however, ceased after national protest.

Results of Incident: Currently, the show is being examined for its complex historical context. Some academics believe that the characters were more intricate than they appeared during the years of its production.

Description of Incident: Amado's work has been censored at various times during his life. He was imprisoned in 1935 for his support for a left wing party called the National Liberation Alliance. In 1937, after this organization attempted a coup, the government banned Amado's books and burned over 1,500 copies of his novels. His books were banned in both Brazil and Portugal. Amado escaped to Uraguay and Argentina, where he lived until 1942, when the ban on Amado's work was lifted. He was arrested and imprisoned shortly after his return. In addition to his novels, a television program that he worked on, called "Man's Hope," was banned in 1970. When the Brazilian government asked Amado to submit all of his original manuscripts for prior censorships, he refused and asserted that he would prefer to publish outside of Brazil than kneel to the censor.

Results of Incident: Amado's novels were banned and circulated as various Brazilian governments ebbed and flowed throughout his life. This did not hinder his success as a salient Latin American writer. Amado achieved international notoriety; his works were printed in 50 languages; in Brazil, he is national icon.

Description of Incident: Alleg, a French settler in Algeria, wrote "La Question" while in prison. He was arrested for editting the "Alger Republican," a left wing periodical banned by the French colonial government. After his imprisonment he returned to France and wrote the book. Two weeks after its publication, "La Question" was banned and all stocks were siezed. The French government was notorious for banning writing critical of their position in Algeria. The French government also banned the book "La Gangrene," five students' accounts of torture inflicted by French troops, and various periodicals.

Results of Incident: George Braziller, an American publisher, released "La Question" in English shortly after it was censored. When the French occupation of Algeria ended in 1962, the ban was lifted.

Description of Incident: Alata was once an advisor to Guinean President, Sekou Toure. In 1970 he was arrested for allegedly plotting against the state. Without charge or trial, he went to prison for five years, and witnessed conditions that he compared to Nazi brutality. He documented his experience in his book after he returned to France in 1975. The French government siezed his book, claiming that it violated the "de provenance etrangere" clause of French press law, which allows the government to ban work by foreign authors. However, Alata wrote the book in French, it was written while he lived in France and Alata held a French passport. The government also suggested that the publication of the book could disrupt French-Guinean relations.

Results of Incident: The French government siezed the book and asserted that since it was an issue of foreign relations, the government had jurisdiction over the courts in this matter of censorship. Letters of protest from the publisher, Editions du Seuil, and The League of Human and Civil Rights, were ignored by the Ministry of Foreign Relations.

Description of Incident: Both stations aired footage of hooded men threatening to kill members of the U.S. appointed Iraqi governing council. The U.S. State Department called this, "irresponsible in the extreme." On 24 November, 2003, al Arabiya aired an audio tape reportedly made by Saddam Hussein, which Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld called, "openly hostile to America." It must be noted that in a poll takenin the Middle East, 63% of the population prefer either al Jazeera or al Arabiya to other news stations.

Results of Incident: The governing council banned the two stations from reporting in Iraq for several weeks.

Description of Incident: In July 2003, the CPA and Iraqi police closed the offices of the Baghdad bi-weekly paper, al Mustaqilla. Authorities accused the paper of writing that could incite violence against the Coalition forces. One remark in the paper read, "those who cooperate with the Americans should be killed as a matter of patriotic and religious duty." According to a CPA spokesperson, the Iraqi police decided to close the paper, as it breached mass media and international law.

Results of Incident: The newspaper office was sealed, equipment was confiscated and employees were detained.

Description of Incident: Akhmatova had been censored by Soviet authorities throughout her life. Her first husband was executed for his alleged involvement in an anti-revolutionary plot. She blamed his death and her son Lev's imprisonment partly on her poetry. In the 1920s, a two volume collection of her work was planned, however critics were able to prevent its production. In the 1940s another attempt was made to publish a collection of her work; this time, Stalin took offense to her poem, "Slander," and blocked its publication.

Results of Incident: In 1946, Akhmatova was expelled from the Union of Soviet Writers. She was known to share many of her poems with only her close friends, who scribbled her work onto scraps of paper, memorized her words and burned them. Akhmatova was also known to incinerate her own work. The censorship of her work was not lifted until the Soviet period of glasnost, when the government introduced cultural and literary freedom.

Description of Incident: During the 15th century the Scottish church and law considered blasphemy as severe a crime as treason. Aikenhead was charged for being a priest at a time of anti-Roman Catholic sentiment in Scotland. He was also indicted for ridiculing theology and hell; referring to Jesus and Moses as magicians; and rejecting the Holy Trinity.

Results of Incident: Aikenhead was hung in January 1697, with a bible in his hand; he was 18 years old.

Description of Incident: In the 1930s, the Nationalist government imprisoned Ai Qing for participating in a Marxist study group. Following the Communist revolution, Qing disagreed with the party platform, separating politics from culture by silencing critical writers. Qing was sent for "re-education" in the Chinese countryside. When he returned, Mao implemented a more liberal cultural plan. Qing returned from his toil in the countryside and continued expressing his grievances with the party. When Qing argued in defence of another writer, Ding Ling, the party scrutinized Qing's work; he returned to the countryside.

Results of Incident: Qing was repeatedly sent to the countryside for re-education and farm labor. In 1958, after defending the writings of Ding Ling, Qing's work was banned in schools and universities. He was exiled and forbidden to publish for 20 years. Qing was exonerated in 1978.

Description of Incident: Acosta was a Jesuit missionary in South America and the Caribbean during the late 16th century. In his journal, which he presented to the king of Spain, Felipe II, Acosta described the horrific treatment inflicted upon native Americans by Spanish officials. His primary objections were the conditions that the missionaries condoned. Acosta wrote, "not only have we failed to bring them the news of Christ with sincerity and honest faith, but we have betrayed in our deeds what we professed in our words." Acosta also referred to the encomienda system, that turned Indians into slave laborers.

Results of Incident: Acosta's report was suppressed by a professor of theology at Colegio Romano and the head of the Jesuit order in Spain, Claudio Aquaviva. It was discovered in 1985 in the University of Salamanca and published by the Higher Council for Scientific Research.

Description of Incident: Das Gespenst was celebrated at the Internationale Hofer Filmtage in Hof, Germany in 1982; however, religious groups disagreed to the film's content. In April 1984, the FSK, a semi-official government film-rating organization, denounced the film and threatened to withhold a payment promised to Achternbusch because the film "injured religious feelings and human dignity." In 1983, Munich's public prosecutor took action in response to 2,000 complaints against the film, influenced by the European Citizen's Initiative for the Protection of Human Rights and Dignity. The prosecutor responded by by confiscating the film and accusing the film distributor of slandering a religious community. In Austria, the film recieved similar opposition. The film was confiscated and screenings were cancelled.

Results of Incident: In Germany, charges against the film distributor were dropped because the film was supposedly "too weak" to be considered a work of art, and incapable of disparaging anyone. A German court ordered Achternbusch's subsidy paid, suggesting that artist's lives depend on government commitments. Although the German ministers of education and science and research opposed the ban, confiscation of the film and companion book was enforced. In Austria, author Gerhard Ruiss went to trial for screening the film: he paid a fine and spent 25 days in prison. Achternbusch appealed to the Austrian court in 1989, however his request to lift the ban was denied.