Treasury Dept. Warning Publishers of the Perils of 'Criminal Editing'

[mumon]

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/28/national/28PUBL.html

Writers often grumble about the criminal things editors do to their prose. The federal government has recently weighed in on the same issue — literally.

It has warned publishers they may face grave legal consequences for editing manuscripts from Iran and other disfavored nations, on the ground that such tinkering amounts to trading with the enemy.




Anyone who publishes material from a country under a trade embargo is forbidden to reorder paragraphs or sentences, correct syntax or grammar, or replace "inappropriate words," according to several advisory letters from the Treasury Department in recent months.

Adding illustrations is prohibited, too. To the baffled dismay of publishers, editors and translators who have been briefed about the policy, only publication of "camera-ready copies of manuscripts" is allowed



I didn't see this anywhere, hope it's not a dupe, but this is incredible! It's like we're the Soviet Union now! We can't read any translations from "enemy" nations? What about the internet???

These people are nailing shut the Constitutional guarantees of free speech and assembly.

They must be stopped; to use a metaphor from Rod Paige; they are terrorists, IMO.

[La_Serpiente]

1. It's f'n crazy

here is a related thread

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=116x4192

The sad thing is that it pertains not just to literature of commercial value, but cultural, societal, and religious importance. Is this anti-intellectualism? Yes.

Instead of trying bridge the gap between two different nations, we are cutting off communication with it. What a stupid move and I am appalled that Condileeza Rice would sit back and allow this to happen. I thought she would know better.

[mumon]

3. Not just bridging the gap....

they really don't want us to know what life is like "over there."

Does China count in this?

I don't know. China's regime's issues on human rights are well reported in the West. What's not reported is the sheer shockingness of economic growth in the past 20 years.

Cuba counts. God forbid we should learn about happy Cubans in Cuba.

We might get pregnant I guess...

[theorist]

6. China definitely does not count. n/t

[Judi Lynn]

10. The only writing they want to make it out of Cuba

is the writing done by the U.S. supported Cuban "independent journalists" who send their material to the U.S. taxpayer-supported CubaNet in Coral Gables, Florida. They really crank it out.

It's more objective that way if our own authorities tell them what we want to hear, and they write it for us!

[JusticeForAll]

12. I totally agree!

By the way I love your tagline photo :)

[Zhade]

19. No surprise - she sat back and let 9/11 happen.

This is just too easy for her.

[UpInArms]

2. do we live under the direction of Stalin?

Laws and regulations prohibiting trade with various nations have been enforced for decades, generally applied to items like oil, wheat, nuclear reactors and, sometimes, tourism. Applying them to grammar, spelling and punctuation is an infuriating interpretation, several people in the publishing industry said.

"It is against the principles of scholarship and freedom of expression, as well as the interests of science, to require publishers to get U.S. government permission to publish the works of scholars and researchers who happen to live in countries with oppressive regimes," said Eric A. Swanson, a senior vice president at John Wiley & Sons, which publishes scientific, technical and medical books and journals.

Nahid Mozaffari, a scholar and editor specializing in literature from Iran, called the implications staggering. "A story, a poem, an article on history, archaeology, linguistics, engineering, physics, mathematics, or any other area of knowledge cannot be translated, and even if submitted in English, cannot be edited in the U.S.," she said.

"This means that the publication of the PEN Anthology of Contemporary Persian Literature that I have been editing for the last three years," she said, "would constitute aiding and abetting the enemy."

[boobooday]

4. Oh hello

These people think the First Amendment is like the first pancake -- needs to be thrown out.

http://www.wgoeshome.com

[theorist]

5. This is directed at scientists.

The treasury dept. holds that the act of "editing" a manuscript, as submitted to a scientific journal, for example, is providing a service to these foreign countries, and is equivalent to "trading with the enemy". All other editorial processes (such as peer review and the actual publication) do not apply to the restrictions.

The anomaly in all this is that many international scientists (in these countries especially) do not have a firm grasp of English, the current universal language of science. These articles probably have an average length of three printed pages, so the reviewers tend to fix the language where necessary.

This movement by the Treasury Dept. is an attempt to control scientific journals and the dissemination of scientific findings made by international scientists. It is akin to what the Nazi regime did to Jewish scientists. If you can get your hands on it, read "The Pragmatic and the Dogmatic Spirit in Physics" by the great German spectroscopist J. Stark, which was published in Nature, one of the most prestigious journals in the world. In it, he outlines the Nazi argument for what was called "Jewish science" (quantum theory, relativity, etc.). It is thought that Nature published the article to give scientists an idea of the madness going on in Germany during the early 1930s.

[Mika]

7. Imagine if the WH transcripts had to follow the same rules

... is forbidden to reorder paragraphs or sentences, correct syntax or grammar, or replace "inappropriate words," ...

How would w* read if unedited? :puke:

[Enraged_Ape]

8. Berlin Wall, my a**. The Soviets conquered us and the world.

How else to explain the massive outsourcing of American jobs and industry to Communist China and Socialist India?

Or the straight-outta-Moscow Patriot Act and Homeland Security Department?

Or our centralized Pravda press that cleans up every bit of idiocy that spills out of our little dictator's mouth, then underreports or flat out ignores his obvious heinous and illegal deeds?

Or the right-wing hate radio that continues, unabated, 24 hours a day?

Or this adminstration's Lysenkoist embrace of pseudoscience, while the rest of the world is marching on in cloning and stem-cell research.

And now we have restricted access to publications from "unfavored" nations?

Sound familiar, anyone?

[ex_jew]

11. Lysenkoist - that's good !

I hadn't seen that connection, but it's exactly correct.

Apparently the collapse of the Soviet Union was very bad news for the rest of the world. With the contest for world opinion over, the US is free to embrace all the worst parts of its former enemy.

Should we make a donation to Putin ?

[kysrsoze]

9. This deserves a great big WTF???

I can't believe what I'm hearing. Add this to shutting Stern down, and this is REALLY scary stuff.

[amber dog democrat]

13. Control of information

This is the way totolitarian states behave, be it fascist or otherwise.
So we are actually at war with disfavored nations?

More censorship just creates a worsening situation, breeding more fear and mistrust.

[Muddleoftheroad]

14. I'd love to test this

It violates the 1st Amendment.

[bagnana]

15. trading w/the enemy? Hello? Cheney, Halliburton?

Jesus these people are amazing. Cheney was trading w/Iraq (through subsidiaries) AND Iran, AND Nigeria (which had grave human rights problems although was not an "enemy" per se). But god forbid we should read anything coming from those countries. Unbelievable.

[givemedeath]

16. Criminal Editing

I'd like to comment on two different aspects of this. First, this is probably a prelude to military action against Iran as spelled out in the PNAC plan. Iran will not be allowed to plead directly to the american people. While the warning does not specifically forbid publishing Iranian documents, it does effectively. This lets anyone publishing Iranian documents know that they are being watched and can expect to meet some federal agents soon. This will be enough to scare anybody with any sense out of the business. Secondly, The warning fits into the larger picture of government control of international trade. Only government sanctioned (croanied) organizations can take the risk of conducting international trade due to trafficing in arms restrictions. What are arms? They are whatever the government says they are, which can change on a case by case basis by thier whim. What is aiding and abetting the enemy? Whatever they say it is. Effectively, an individual or small business cannot particate in international trade without being at risk of violating these laws. Trade in truth is controlled to the benifit croanies.

[Zhade]

20. Good points. Welcome to DU, GMD.

NT!

[tlcandie]

17. So, does this mean that any foreign internet news site is now off limits

to Americans if it has been translated? Every day something else that just pushes you beyond belief that it could really happen :(

How much more before we collapse or revolt?

[On the Road]

22. No, I Think it Means That We Can READ But Not Alter or Translate

Hmmm...Makes you wonder if snipping an article translated from Farsi in order to post on DU is "aiding and abetting the enemy.

It's a preposterous interpretation. It would be even if it were confined to government-supported political articles. There's no official enemy. There's no aiding and abetting.

The application to scientific and artistic material is unbelievable. Take Iranian cinema, which has become the rave among foreign filmgoers. Many (eg, "The Circle", about prostitution) are explicitly critical of Iranian government and society. What on earth would the charge be against the translator of that film?

They know this will never stand up in court. As usual, they're just trying to cow as many people as possible. And making more enemies among people with the slightest awareness of the Bill of Rights.

[muriel_volestrangler]

18. maybe they should have redefined editing

as a manufacturing job first, and then hoped we wouldn't notice.

[Just Me]

21. Publisher's response BETTER be,..."Fuck you"!!!!

I've been reading a book by Robert Baer which has blacked-out sentences and whole paragraphs. My immediate thought was,..."Is this a sign",...not in the religious way,...but, more in the real-life "if you cannot find your way between the lines of political bullshit,...perhaps you can recognize the fucking obvious black-ink-scrapped lines in this book" kinda' thingy.

Of course,...that is just my wee corner of the world take,...on such matters.

[burrowowl]

23. The resurrection of

McCarthyism. When the House Committee on Un-American Activities?

[lostnfound]

24. DemocracyNow! covered this on Tuesday (3 days earlier than NYT as usual)

Almost the entire show on Tuesday of DemocracyNow! was devoted to Bush's disregard for science -- not only this issue of http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/02/24/1557214">restraint on publishers of material from those countries, but also http://www.democracynow.org/index.pl?issue=20040224">the petition from Nobel laureates criticizing the Bush Administration for politicizing science, and http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/02/24/1555250">the Pentagon report on climate change.

[mrdmk]

25. Here is the link to the Democracy Now! 02/24/04

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/02/24/1552245

A must listen. Includes Alden Meyer, Director of Policy and Government Relations for the Union of Concerned Scientists.

Russell Train, Environmental Administrator under Presidents Nixon and Ford. He currently serves as Chairman emeritus at the World Wildlife Fund.

<snip>
A group of scientists, including 20 Nobel laureates, last week signed a petition condemning the White House for deliberately and systematically distorting scientific fact in the service of policy goals on the environment, health, biomedical research and nuclear weaponry at home and abroad.
<snip>

Also included Robert Bovenschulte, president of the publications division of the American Chemical Society, which decided this week decided to challenge the government and risk criminal prosecution by editing articles submitted from the five embargoed nations.

<snip>
The U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control recently declared that American publishers cannot edit works authored in nations under trade embargoes which include Iran, Iraq, Sudan, Libya and Cuba.

Although publishing the articles is legal, editing is a "service" and the treasury department says it is illegal to perform services for embargoed nations. It can be punishable by fines of up to a half-million dollars or jail terms as long as 10 years.
<snip>

This is a first amendment issue plus manipulation of facts by the Bush Jr. Administration for political reasons.