A museum director who helped organize an exhibition of censored Soviet and post-Soviet art to protest alleged infringement of artistic freedoms under Russia’s current leadership now faces censorship himself.
Prosecutors have summoned Yuri Samodurov, director of the Sakharov Museum in Moscow, to a hearing, where he will be charged for his role in organizing the March 2007 exhibition, “Forbidden Art – 2006,” according to a subpoena delivered to Samodurov last week and then faxed to The New York Times.
The charges stem from an investigation that was opened shortly after the exhibition debuted into whether Samodurov had incited religious hatred by displaying pornography-infused art works, some mocking the Russian Orthodox Church.
The Orthodox Church and nonconformist artists suffered similar oppression under the Soviet government. In recent years, however, the church, which has attained an exalted position vis-à-vis the Kremlin, has often sought to punish what it sees as criticism of Orthodox Christianity, now considered by many to be Russia’s de facto state religion…
Samodurov has previously been convicted of inciting religious hatred for an exhibition the court declared blasphemous.
This confirms from my post from a couple weeks ago.
Most religions would prefer to be the state religion, of course.
There is one state religion and that is the mind of man.
The really great thing about censorship, which has reached its’ zenith in the enforcement of self-censoring political correctness, is that once it starts, it never, ever retracts or runs out of new targets. There was, is and always will be, more things to censor.
Oh my god is that the techno viking
I seem to recall Guilianni doing something very similar in NY about ten years ago, involving a (not unattractive) picture of the virgin which was partially made of elephant dung.
I really do hate it when churches try to censor. When so-called Christians just sit back quietly, refusing to protest while other so-called Christian accept the force of the state to oppress reformers in the name of “we are too holy to be criticized,” it proves that all of them are genuinely apostate.
I enjoy the idea that a people once oppressed seem to have no problem oppressing now that they are in power.
John S
More than any other group the Christian Orthodox poeple of Russia suffered under the terrorist atheists of the Soviet State. Acts of artistic blasphemy against Christianity cannot be allowed.
It would be the same as ridiculing the gas chambers of Jews in an art exhibit.