Myanmar/Burma: Corporate censorship is gaining control
Thangyat is a traditional form of entertainment performed for the New Year Thingyan Water Festival in Burma / Myanmar which takes place this week. Thangyat was banned by the military government after the uprising in 1988 but was kept alive in exile before being allowed back last year. But corporate censorship is now comfortably stepping [...]
Myanmar/Burma: Censorship on art has relaxed, three artists say
“While censorship of print media has ended, restrictions on the visual arts are still officially in place,” said visual artist Maung Khine Mar from Yangon to The Myanmar Times. “Censorship on art has relaxed quite a bit, but they still have a blinkered attitude towards any art that goes beyond Myanmar’s cultural norms, such as [...]
Myanmar/Burma: City ban on graffiti art
On 10 December 2012, Yangon city authorities imposed a ban prohibiting anyone from drawing on public buildings, roads and bridges, as well as in schools and parks. Authorities said anyone defying the ban would face an unspecified punishment. According to an article in Huffington Post, Yangon’s graffiti artists said they expected many to continue drawing, [...]
Exiled Burmese artist: “Self-censorship is second nature”
Interviews with two Burmese artists: Chaw Ei Thein, who now lives in exile in the United States, on the situation in Burma in 2012, and Htein Lin, who describes how he maintained his artistic work while in prison. Chaw Ei Thein was briefly imprisoned after having made a political performance piece in the streets of [...]
Myanmar/Burma: Publication of censored fiction novels
“For the past 50 years, literature lovers in Myanmar have been able to read only the bowdlerised versions of the short stories, novels and poems published by local writers, with much of the best material left on the cutting room floor as a result of the relentless assault of the censor’s red pen. But now, [...]
Myanmar/Burma: Seven performance artists face charges
Seven Burmese performance artists will face charges in a Mandalay court on 31 May 2012 after they allegedly broke an obscure law last week by performing in public with five foreigners who were subsequently deported. Irrawaddy’s Man Thar Lay writes: Officials from Mandalay’s Police Station No. 2 charged seven artists on Tuesday 29 May 2012 [...]
Myanmar/Burma: Comedy film about censorship awarded
An 18-minute comedy film, ‘Ban That Scene!’, makes a daring mockery of Burma’s dreaded film censorship board. It was first shown in Rangoon in January 2012 during a film festival titled ‘Art of Freedom’, where it was awarded with the top prize. The film festival ‘Art of Freedom’ was hosted by opposition leader Aung San [...]
Myanmar/Burma: ‘Will censorship of music end?’
In April 2012, BBC News’ reporter in Rangoon, Jonah Fisher, interviewed Ye Ngwe Soe, lead-singer of the punk band No U Turn, which is one of the best-known acts on the Rangoon punk scene, about the restrictions and censorship musicians face in Myanmar / Burma. Here is an excerpt of the article: “For decades all [...]
Myanmar/Burma: Filmfestival about censorship: ‘The Art of Freedom’
The Art of Freedom film festival in January 2012 was a first in Burma, pushing the limits of expression, and screening a wide range of films that were uncensored and critical of the former military regime that ruled the country for decades. The Guardian newspaper described the scene at the festival as a daring bid [...]
