Library censorship has become a major concern in the United States this past year, but the issue is not limited to America. Other nations are ahead of us, and as such, perhaps, provide a road map as to where we are going.
Recent stories out of Hong Kong have reported that books critical of the government have been disappearing from local libraries. Hong Kong was the once an autonomous part of China where relative freedom survived. That has been changing over the years so that now it is virtually indistiguishable from the rest of China. The last vestiges of free speech have been slipping away. However, the processes of censorship have been very different in China from America.
In America, censorship has arisen at the state and local level, sometimes by government but other times from private individuals intent on preventing others from reading opinions different from their own. In China, it has been led by the central government. In America, the censors, be they politicians or private parties, seek publicity. Much of their incentive is to gain political and personal support from like-minded people. In China, the government acts quietly, behind the scenes, seeking to impose its will while the public doesn't see what is happening. Finally, in America, there is usually specificity, a list of books to be banned from school and other libraries are presented to authorities. China prefers the nonspecific route, citing general themes such as national security, not in the public interest, misleading, not factual, etc. This leaves it to local libraries to make choices, which tend to be broad as they seek to protect themselves by getting rid of anything that might be considered undesirable by the government. It also has the effect of getting publishers to stop publishing and booksellers from selling potentially controversial material, to protect themselves from what might come next. Uncertainty can breed greater fear than clear boundaries.
The Spanish news agency EFE, and its writer, Shirley Lau, have been out front reporting on what has been going on beneath the surface. She reported that the current wave of censorship began when the Ming Pao newspaper dropped its cartoonist, “Zunzi,” after 40 years. Zunzi was noted for his pro-democracy cartoons. The government had criticized them for being “misleading,” “ridiculous,” and “lacking in fact.” The newspaper got the hint. It coincided with crackdowns on protests in Hong Kong. Books censored from libraries have been political, and opposed to the government. She wrote about a person who has been tracking titles that have been removed from libraries. Nine titles by a now jailed activist and other pro-democracy writers have disappeared. That list has expanded over time although there have been no public announcements concerning them. It has required searching through library catalogues to know which books have been removed. EFE discovered that dozens of political books still on the shelves of Hong Kong's largest library in November 2022 have now been removed. Some books not political have also been removed if their authors are critical of the government.
Japan Times reported that among the titles no longer available in Hong Kong libraries are People Won't Forget and People's Republic of Amnesia. They commemorate the 1989 Tienanmen uprising and seek to keep its memory alive. The government allowed these books to be read for 30 years after the incident, but it's now erasing the event from history, in hopes future generations will not even know it happened. It quoted Hong Kong's leader as saying “Public libraries need to ensure that there is no breach of any laws in Hong Kong, including, of course, copyrights, etc; and also, if they spread any kinds of messages that are not in the interests of Hong Kong.” The interests of Hong Kong, of course, have nothing to do with the interests of the people of Hong Kong, only those of the dictator that rules China with an iron fist.
Meanwhile, to China's north, its Russian ally has moved even farther down the road to censorship, despotism, and brutality. Its heavy-handed brutality is harder to disguise from the world though its censorship has been effective in blinding Russia's own people from understanding the atrocities being committed in their name.
We, in America, are not like this. Censorship has not reached anywhere near as far as it has in these countries. Still, it needs to be remembered it has to start somewhere, and if left untreated, it will lead to what is happening in China and Russia. Americans will need to decide whether China and Russia have governments we wish to emulate, as sadly, many people in America now believe the answer to this question is “yes.” They will be the ones choosing our future if we permit it.
