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(Censorship) in Iran TextScreening(Censorship)inIran:A Historical Perspective HusseinMollanazar AllamehTabataba’iUniversity,Iran [email protected] Abstract Censorshiphasa longhistoryinIranthathasinterferedwithtextproduction, i.e., original writing as well as translation. This phenomenon seems to have marked the borderline between the government and the ‘enlightened’ intellectuals throughout history in Iran. Different governments have delineated ‘redlines’ for authors and translators and dealt with these constructorsofculturebasedonthedefinitionstheysetforthose‘redlines’. Thishistoricalresearchaimsatexploringandfindingoutthefeaturesofthese ‘redlines’aswellasthemechanismsandrulesoftextscreening(censorship) throughoutIran’smodernerasincetheimportingoftheprintingpress. Keywords: Censorship, Self-censorship, Bowdlerization, Text Screening, Mobtazal,Moh/reb,Z/lleh,Sanctities,SensitiveTexts,Taboos Received:January2010; Accepted:December2010 IranianJournalofAppliedLanguageStudies,Vol3,No2,2011 1. Introduction InanarticlepublishedintheEconomist, ananonymousauthorwrites, TwodecadesafterthefatwawasimposedonMrRushdie,itappearsthat manyWesternartists,publishersandgovernmentsaremorewillingtoday tosacrificesomeoftheirfreedomofspeechthanwasthecasein1989.To manycriticsthatwillbeseenasself-censorshipthathasgonetoofar.Buta difficultbalancemustbestruck:nocountrypermitscompletelyfreespeech. Typically,itislimitedbyprohibitionsagainstlibel,defamation,obscenity, judicialorparliamentaryprivilegeandthelike.Protectingfreeexpression willoftenrequirehurtingthefeelingsofindividualsorgroups;equallythe useoffreespeechshouldbetemperedbya senseofresponsibility.1 Inanarticle2, AliMazrui(1997),professorattheStateUniversityofNewYork atBighamton,talksofthewesternhypocrisyinthecaseofRushdie, CensorshipisoneissueonwhichtheculturaldividebetweentheWestand Islam turns out to be less wide than Westerners ordinarily assume. The mostcelebratedcaseofthelastdecade– thatofSalmanRushdie’snovel The Satanic Verses, published in Britain in 1988 but banned in most Muslimcountries – brought the Westernworld and the Muslim world in conflict,butalsouncoveredsomesurprisingsimilaritiesandlargehelpings ofWesternhypocrisy.Furtherscrutinyrevealswidespreadcensorshipinthe West,ifimposedbydifferentforcesthaninMuslimsocieties.[…] ManydevoutMuslimsfeltthatRushdiehadnorighttopokefunatand twistintoobscenitysomeofthemostsacredsymbolsofIslam.MostMuslim countries banned the novel because officials there considered it morally 1 ‘Self-CensorshipintheWest:SpeechImpediments’,theEconomist, February14,2009. 2Ali Mazrui, “Islamic Values, the Liberal Ethic and the West,” Foreign Affairs (1997, September/October,Vol.76,No.5,pp.118–132) 160 TextScreening(Censorship)inIran…. repugnant.Westernintellectualsarguedthatasanartist,Rushdiehadthe sacredrightandevendutytogowhereverhisimaginationledhiminhis writing. Yet until the 1960s Lady Chatterley’s Lover was regarded as morallyrepugnantunderBritishlawfordaringtodepictanaffairbetween a marriedmemberofthegentryanda workerontheestate.[…] ComparingcensorshipinMuslimandWesterncountries,healsoadds, Targets,sources,andmethodsofcensorshipdiffer,butcensorshipisjustas mucha factoflifeinWesternsocietiesasintheMuslimworld.Censorship inthelatterisoftencrude,imposedbygovernments,mullahsandimams, and,morerecently,militantIslamicmovements.Censorshipinthe West, ontheotherhand,ismorepolishedanddecentralized.Itspractitionersare financialbackersofculturalactivityandentertainment,advertiserswhobuy time on commercial television, subscribers of the Public Broadcasting System(PBS),influentialinterestgroupsincludingethnicpressuregroups, and editors, publishers, and other controllers of the means of communication. In Europe, governments, too, sometimes get into the businessofcensorship. Censorshiporscreeninghasa longhistoryallovertheworld.Itismingled withinquisitionintheCatholicEuropeintheMiddleAges. AccordingtoRajabzadeh,thebirthofcensorshipinthewestgoesbackto AncientRomeinwhichtwocensorshipcenters(referredtoastwocensorsin Khosravi’sresearch)wereinchargeofcontrollingpeople’slives,givingthem dutiesandcheckingtoseehowwelltheyobeytheorders.Thepowerofthese censorship authorities was even sometimes more than the king. Later in the MiddleAges,newtypesofcensorshipcameintobeing.Writerswereobligedto hand a copy of their work to higher authorities first in order to show their respect and second in order to let them censor what they determine to be 161 IranianJournalofAppliedLanguageStudies,Vol3,No2,2011 harmfulorunnecessary.Catholiccathedralinthethirteenthcenturyseta court forinvestigatingbeliefsandnoonewasoutofit.Theyevenhadtherightto accusebookswhichwerepreviouslyallowedbythepopehimself. Systematiccensorshipstartedwiththeinventionofprintmachine.Inthe First World War, there existed no specific rule for censoring the press. An informal and internal agreement had been formed between government and thepressfornotprintinginformationwhichmighthavecausedsensitivity. Censorship has always had its ups and downs in the west. Though these daysitisclaimedthatcensorshipislimitedandfreeexpressionofthoughtisthe currenttrendofwesterncountries,stillonecanseecasesofformalandmany informalcensorshipcases.Consideringthateventheterm“censorship”isitself consideredtobetaboo,inwesterncountries,therearenoregulationscovering particularstrategiesorcasesofcensorshipclearly. There are different types of censorship. The World Book Encyclopedia (1976,p.258)classifiesmajortypesofcensorshipasfollows:moral,military, political, and religious. Khosravi (1378 AH/1999, p. 73) classifies censorship types as follows: socio-political, ethical, and religious. Rajabzadeh (1380 AH/2001,p.18)addsanothertypetotheaboveones,i.e.,economiccensorship. Rajabzadeh (ibid.) writes that other types of censorship can also exist, for instance, cultural censorship which refers to self-censorship and academic censorship which refers to obstacles and limitations to the publication of scientificresearches’conclusions. Religionsandpoliticalregimestrytoprotecttheirveryexistenceagainstall sortsofhostilitiesandthreats.Duringcrises,thesepowerfulbodiestreatquite harshly,particularlywhentheircontrolisshaky. Translationisanongoingconflictbetweenloyaltytotheoriginaltextandits agendaorpurposeontheonehand,andloyaltytothetargetlanguage,culture, 162 TextScreening(Censorship)inIran…. society and their norms on the other. In each country, or more precisely, in eachculture,thereexistsa numberofnormsthatdeterminethestrategiesfor translating. Thesenormsaregeneratedfromtheideologyandvaluesdominantinthat society, all together forming its culture. Based on society’s norms, the commissioner,initiator, publisher andothers, who arein fact determiners of norms,convertthesenormstosocialregularities.Socialregularitiesshapeour mindinallaspectsoflife.Theybeardifferentlevelsofstrengthanddepthand are era-specific. One of the most controversial issues in translation, and to some extent other human sciences, are cultural differences including taboos, sensitivereligious,moral,politicalpointsofconcernandvariousapproachesto lifeandreality;a majorconcernhereishowtodealwiththemwiththeleast negativeeffect. Asa conventionalandinextricablyintertwinedactwithwriters,publishers andtranslators,censorshipperformsa verydiscreetthoughsignificantrolein our society, by filtering data and letting in the pre-defined material which is safe to the culture and social regularities. So far little attention has been devotedtothecommonlyusedcensorshipstrategiesintranslation. 2. HistoryofCensorshipinIran Inanannouncementpublishedinissuenumber552(of22December1863)of theROzn/me-yeDowlat-e‘PlQye-yeIran(‘thejournaloftheExaltedStateof Iran’), censorship (the need to inhibit publication of material harmful to moralityandthe stateand alsocontraryto religiouslaw) startedofficially in 163 IranianJournalofAppliedLanguageStudies,Vol3,No2,2011 Iran.3 Sani’ol-MolkorSani’od-Dowle(1840–96)(laternamedE’atemados- Saltane4) who was in charge of the newspaper as well as the head of the Governmental Translation, Printing, and Publishing Office was appointed to supervisethematerialstobeprinted.Heorderedthatallthematerialstobe printedhadtobestampedbyhimandcalledthisprocedure‘theestablishment ofinternalcensorship’.5 However,thefirstcodeofcensorshipwasissuedwithina statuteofcriminal lawsin1879proposedbytheCountdeMonteFarte,anItalianadventurerwho served as the commander of the police (or NazmQye) of the Naser od-Din Shah’scourt.Inthesectionconcerningthefreedomofexpressionandwritingit prescribes: Ifsomeonepublishesa bookthatisagainstthereligion,orgovernmentor people,hewillbeimprisonedfrom5 monthstofiveyears.(…)Ifsomeone darestostickannouncementsoranykindofwrittenmaterialsinthestreets againsttheking,whoeverheis,(…)hewillbeimprisonedfromonemonth 3 Asregardstheincidentthatinstigatedthisannouncement,ithasbeensaid,‘Censorshipwasfirst introduced in Nasir al-Din Shah’s time when he became incensed over a verse satire published in Bombay.Theauthorwasa ShaikhHasan-iShirazi,whoridiculedtheaspirantstolearningpatronized by the Court. The Shah demanded of the I’timad al-Saltana how such pernicious attacks printed abroadandcriticalofhisregimemightbestoppedenteringIran.TheI‘timadal-Saltanaexplained how European states had an arrangement called s/nsOr, “censor”. The Shah commanded the establishment of such a system so that “henceforth the way of this vice might be blocked and the threatofthistrafficbroken”.’ (Avery,inTheCambridgeHistoryofIran, vol.7, p.828) 4 Concerninggentlemen’stitlesinIranduringtheQajardynasty,EdwardBrownewrites, EverybodyofanyconsequenceinPersiahasa
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