Smallzone’s Shane Chebsey has taken out a petition on the 10 Downing Street website calling on the British government to ensure that recent legislation will not be twisted to justify prosecuting comics readers, creators or sellers:
“The Criminal Justice & Immigration Act 2008 came in to effect in January 2009, and Section 49 of the Coroners and Justice Bill is currently being reviewed. Both of these Acts could impact on the creation of comic books and how they are sold, both have the potential to land innocent people in court, on the sex offender register or in jail. We ask that the PM and the government as a whole respect the concerns of artists, writers, publishers, readers and retailers all over the UK and include a specific clarification in the law that ensures that no innocent comic creators or owners of comics can ever be prosecuted unfairly by a mis interpretation of the current laws.
By comics we mean all forms of the medium, including newspaper strips, web comics, Graphic Novels and serial comic books either imported or UK produced.”
The legislation in question is rather worrying; like that old bugbear (and often opponent of freedom of expression) the Obscene Publications Act too much of it is vague and can be wilfully (mis) interpreted by some authorities to use as they wish, should they decide they want to attempt to prosecute a creator, reader or seller with it, supposedly in the ‘public interest’ but in reality its down to their personal standards and interpretation (and we all know how that sort of thing has been abused in the past in this country). If you are a UK citizen who cares about freedom of speech and the comics art then I’d urge you to add your name to the petition.The Independent yesterday (thanks to Karen Wenborn for that link) carried a decent article on the entire thing and how legislation aimed to protect the vulnerable (which no-one objects to) is too vague and undefined and could easily be abused to the detriment of the freedom of speech and even criminalising innocents:
““If you accept – and I do – that freedom of speech is important then you are going to have to defend the indefensible. That means you are going to be defending the right of people to read, or to write, or to say, what you don’t say or like or want said. The Law is a huge blunt weapon that does not and will not make distinctions between what you find acceptable and what you don’t. This is how the Law is made,” Neil Gaiman speaking on the subject.
Tue, Mar 24, 2009
Comics and cartoons