News stories world-wide About music censorship About Freemuse Publications Study room Articles Speeches Radio programmes Music albums Books Films Video clips Freemusepedia - History of music censorship before 2001 Activities Links Press room

ARTICLE07 February 2002 Limits of Musical Freedom By Johan Fornäs, Head of the Advanced Cultural Studies Institute of Sweden and Professor at the National Institute for Working Life Program for Work and Culture in Norrköping, Sweden Music has power. It moves people. This is a value, but also a responsibility, and a threat to some. Which kinds of limits are there to the freedom of musical expression in the world today? How can it be decided whether any of these limits are justifiable or not? And what may be done to remove the unfair limits? This text discusses some problems concerning state laws, market rules and life-world constraints in the field of music. Read article as PDF Read more: Limits of Musical Freedom Which kinds of limits are there to the freedom of musical expression in the world today? 07 February 2002 Book by John Street: 'Music and Politics' This is the first book to examine systematically music's political power. A guide to how musicians make politics and politicians manipulate music 26 October 2011 Mixing Pop & Politics: Music Making Change Forthcoming conference on popular music’s important place in the struggle for human rights and democratic freedoms. Panel discussions will examine topics including: Music as a Human Right; Bridging the North / South Divide Through Music; and Musical Activism 20 September 2004 Making Marx in the Music: A HyperHistory of New Music and Politics Classical music and jazz seem to have a more long-term, measured, even sublimated approach to political protest, slower to react and more deeply embedded in the structure of the music itself 07 November 2003 Russia: Detention of Pussy Riot members extended to three months The detention of the alleged members of Pussy Riot has been extended until 24 June. The three women have been in custody for over a month. Amnesty International calls for their immediate and unconditional release. 20 April 2012 Russia: Punk band arrested after protesting against Putin Shortly before the presidential elections in Russia, authorities put an end to punk band Pussy Riot's anti-Putin protest concerts by arresting six members of the band 07 March 2012 Pakistan: Under the censorship radar, anti-establishment songs flourish Using humour and satire, song writers increasingly enjoy a new sense of openness and freedom of speech in Pakistan nowadays, reported Times of India 02 November 2011 Commentary from South Africa: Music Freedom from self-censorship Day “Buying artists to advance some political party’s cause may not be censorship, but more often than not, it will lead to self-censorship,” writes Mike van Graan from South Africa 03 March 2011 Egypt and Tunisia: The artistic revolution in the Middle East An article about music censorship and the role of music in the Middle Eastern struggle for democracy was published in The Observer on 27 February 2011 28 February 2011 Generation Wave Audio interview with Generation Wave - a group of Burmese hip-hop artists and activists - about freedom of expression and censorship among musicians in their country 11 February 2011