The Offensive Art: Political Satire and Its Censorship around the World from Beerbohm to Borat

212 Pages·2008·2.64 MB·English

by  Leonard Freedman

THE OFFENSIVE ART
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THE OFFENSIVE ART
Political Satire and Its Censorship around
the World from Beerbohm to Borat
Leonard Freedman
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Freedman,Leonard
Theoffensiveart:politicalsatireanditscensorshiparoundtheworldfromBeerbohm
toBorat/LeonardFreedman.
p.cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN978–0–313-–35600–1(alk.paper)
1.Politicalsatire—Historyandcriticism.2.Politicalsatire—Censorship.I.Title
PN6149.P64F742009
813’.54—dc22 2008032635
BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationDataisavailable.
Copyright©2009byLeonardFreedman
Allrightsreserved.Noportionofthisbookmaybe
reproduced,byanyprocessortechnique,withoutthe
expresswrittenconsentofthepublisher.
LibraryofCongressCatalogCardNumber:2008032635
ISBN–978–0–313–35600–1
Firstpublishedin2009
PraegerPublishers,88PostRoadWest,Westport,CT06881
AnimprintofGreenwoodPublishingGroup,Inc.
www.praeger.com
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
Thepaperusedinthisbookcomplieswiththe
PermanentPaperStandardissuedbytheNational
InformationStandardsOrganization(Z39.48–1984).
10987654321
CONTENTS
ListofIllustrations vii
Preface ix
Introduction:SatiristsandCensors 1
PARTI:(ALMOST)ANYTHINGGOES:POLITICALSATIREIN 9
AMERICAANDBRITAIN
1.PuncturingtheImperialPresidency:FDRtoGeorgeW.Bush 11
2.Censorship,AmericanStyle 34
3.Britain:FromBulldogstoPoodles 56
4.Censorship,BritishStyle 73
PARTII:ADANGEROUSGAME:POLITICALSATIREIN 89
AUTHORITARIANSYSTEMS
5.What’sFunnyAboutHitler? 91
6.StalinandMao:NoLaughingMatter 107
7.ImperialIronies:IndiaandtheRaj 128
8.TheMiddleEast:RagingAgainstCartoons 141
Conclusion:StillMoreSatire—AndWhyWeNeedIt 157
Notes 167
Index 191
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FIGURES
LBJbyHerbBlock(1965) 17
NixonbyPatOliphant(1999) 19
ClintonbyTonyAuth(1988) 24
‘‘Inheritance”byBruceBeattie(2006) 29
GeorgeW.BushbyGaryB.Trudeau/Doonesbury(2007) 31
NixonbyPaulConrad(1993) 35
PogobyWaltKelly(1953) 40
‘‘Why?”byMikeLuckovich(2005) 45
MallardFillmorebyBruceTinsley(2004) 53
ThatcherbyNickyTaylor(2001) 62
BlairandBushbySteveBell(2001) 68
ThatcherbyKAL(1981) 80
AdolfHitlerbyanon.(1930) 92
AdolfHitlerbyBernardPartridge(1940) 102
AdolfHitlerbyDr.Seuss/TheodoreGeisel(1941) 103
Sovietbureaucracybyanon.inKrokodil(1925) 108
TheDoctors’Plotbyanon.inKrokodil(1953) 115
Mao/GooglebyPatrickChappatte(2006) 127
BritishGovernorofBengalbyGaganendranathTagore(1917) 132
IndiraGandhibyAbuAbraham(1975) 134
IrrationalityinCourtbyAliFarzat(2001) 146
‘‘BombintheTurban”byKurtWestergaard(2005) 153
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PREFACE
This is a book about political satire and the efforts to constrain it within
several countries withdiverse politicalsystems,fromthebeginningofthe
twentiethcenturytothepresenttime.
Therearemanyotherbooksonpoliticalsatire,somebythesatiriststhem-
selves and some by commentators on the subject; there is also a large
amount of literature on censorship, some of which draws examples from
political satire. The Offensive Art, however, is the first effort to draw
togethermaterialonthestrugglebetweensatiristsandcensorsonanexten-
sive,comparativebasis.
Extensive—but,inevitably,farshortofcomprehensive.Readersmaywell
complainthatIhavenotincludedtheirfavoritesatirist,oroverlookedcoun-
trieswithrichstoresofpoliticalwit,ormadeonlypassingreferencetothe
vast array of political satire that stretches from Aristophanes through
Daumier.IcanonlypleadthatthematerialfromwhichIhavedrawnisinex-
haustible,withnewabsurditiesburstingontothepoliticalsceneallaround
the world every day; and in undertaking to explore so much territory in
onemodestlysizedvolume,Ihavehadtobehighlyselective.Evenso,The
OffensiveArtprovidessubstantialmaterialonsevenmajorcountries,draws
onexamplesfrom20more,andincludesbothdemocraticsystems(PartI),
andauthoritarianregimes(PartII).
Sufficient,then,toilluminatethreecentralpoints.
First:Therehasbeenpoliticalsatireinmostsocieties.Theextentvaries
considerably, and in some extremely repressive regimes none of it is pub-
lished,butalwayssomejokesters,somewhere,willmocktherulers.
Second:Thereisconsiderablymoresatireindemocraticthaninauthori-
tarian regimes. This, in fact, is part of the argument for democracy,
and the bias of this book favors the relative openness of democracies—
though, as this bookmakes abundantly clear,there is plentytosatirize in
democracies.
Third:Nowherearesatiristscompletelyfreefromcensorsofonekindor
another.Ascomparedwithotherdissenters,satiristsenjoyacertainamount
ofprotectionbyencasingtheirhostilityinhumor.Andthroughouthistory
thejesterhas beenallowedtospeaktruthtopower.Yetfewpeopleenjoy