Lebanon Artists Confront Rise in Censorship

THE NEW YORK TIMES
By Rod Norland

An underground screening in Beirut on Monday of “Mamnou3!,"
a “mockumentary” set in a recreated censorship bureau.

LEBANON---With a new government dominated by allies of Hezbollah, long a proxy of Syria, censorship has been on the rise. Intellectually and artistically, Beirut has long been freer than other places in the Middle East; some now fear that that is under threat as never before. With the rise of the Shiite Islamists of Hezbollah, Lebanon’s Sunni Muslims — traditionally moderate — have been increasingly challenged by extremists, including Salafi mullahs in Sidon and Al Qaeda in the northern city of Tripoli. All of them have been pushing back against secular license. Christian groups have also been joining the call for censorship. [link]