Government's Restrictions on Publishing

Iranian blogger, Kamal Tehrani, Rooz Online:

In the capital of Iran, pressures on coffee shops, book centers, and bookstores have been mounting. Tehran's popular publishers have received fresh attacks from different quarters including the conservative Keyhan daily, while the new Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance has issued a warning over reprint of some books such as those by Akbar Ganji, the dissident writer and investigative journalist who continues to be in prison despite repeated promises of being released and who has made international headlines for months since his hunger strike to protest his living conditions and care. Some observers interpret these attacks as a new chapter in the publishing. READ MORE

In its first measure to crackdown on culture, the new Iranian hardline government has shut a publishing house's popular café and cyber café. This was a meeting place between intellectuals and writers, and a great source of motivation in guiding the youth to reader books.

The Guidance Ministry has ordered Sheshmeh bookstore and cyber café to shut its their operations in three weeks. This comes despite the earlier praise of Sheshmeh by the former Minister of Culture, Ahmad Masjed Jamei, for turning a bank into a bookstore.

Meanwhile, fundamentalist-conservatist Keyhan newspaper has started a campaign to destroy publishers that support intellectual and ideological books. Sheshmeh publishing house, its coffee shop and its book centre, including its respected publisher, have all recently come under pressure and attacks by the conservative media. The attacks revolve around accusations that some of these publishing houses have been selling their government provided paper quotas in the open market, something they are not allowed to do because of the difference in paper between the government price and the market one. Obviously such incidents and attacks have alarmed many who fear that this is just the starting wave of curtailments that Ahmadinejad’s government will advance in the cultural domain.

In Iran, centers such as "Coffee shop – Books" are places for the writers and interested young readers who have no other place to gather. Three years ago, the birth of such cafes and bookstores provided an opportunity for the youth to return to books. When they first appeared, Iranian law enforcement officials were hesitant and sensitive towards them. The support of the former Minister of Culture, however, provided some protection to them. But with the changes sweeping the executive branch and the whole atmosphere in the country, it appears that this incident may signal as the green light by the Ministry of Culture to others to began their serious encroachment on publishing houses, bookstores and their cafes.

For the first time in many years, the office of the Inspector at the Ministry of Culture recently once again raised the issue of the competence of some of those to whom the ministry had issued publishing licenses. It called for the revocation of those that it alleges have violated their commitments. In one case, Gatr publishing faces a possible revocation of its license on the alleges charges that family relatives have been running the publishing house. There are no such legal restrictions in the country laws, experts assert.

One cannot hide one’s surprise that such events are taking place by a government that claimed to be “kind to people”. Unless of course one views such acts as new forms of kindness.