Iran Regime Aims to 'Strangle' Literature
NCRI - So widespread is the level of censorship in Iran that one state-media writer recently stated that “government policy is aimed at strangling literature.”
The widespread crisis of censorship is imposed by the Iranian regime in the form of repressive measures such as the prohibition of publications, disrupting literary readings and poetry gatherings, setting up surveillance against writers and carrying out arrests.
On January 1, the writer in an interview with the state-run ILNA news agency explicitly referred to censorship by Rouhani's government. He stated: "The disaster is much bigger. Censorship is one side of the story. I write a book and yet it does not get the permission to be published. That is a small part of censorship. The bigger censorship is imposed when the media, radio, and TV eliminate my name. The national library removes the books which I have previously published. We do not have to think that censorship is only in the form of not giving license to a book. In other parts, they broaden the censorship by boycotting a large number of writers who, in my opinion, are the genuine authors of this country. We know these writers such as Sadegh Hedayat and others. Unfortunately, they treat literature this way."
The atrocious censorship imposed by the Iranian regime aims to control the society in different cultural, literary, historical, social and political aspects. This repressive practice brings destructive consequences on the mentality of the society as well as culture and literature.
According to official data, the Iranian regime’s destructive policies are resulting in a sharp decline in the number of books and newspapers that are published. The young and energetic people of Iran have been the target of these destructive consequences. Families avoid buying books which are affiliated with the regime.
According to official data, the Iranian regime’s destructive policies are resulting in a sharp decline in the number of books and newspapers that are published. The young and energetic people of Iran have been the target of these destructive consequences. Families avoid buying books which are affiliated with the regime.
Additionally, censorship has become a crisis among young Iranians. There is no trace of cultural creativity, poetry, prose and the works of historic Iranian poets such as Ferdowsi, Khayyam, Hafez, and Saadi. The Iranian regime has a large budget to train religious panegyrists and rebuttal writers, as the so-called Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution passed an enactment in this regard.
