Edinburgh City Council (in conjunction with Scottish Women's Action Network) are using public funds to promote a torchlit political demonstration followed by a public book-burning. They may be calling it a ''Pornfire'', but let us be clear about it: the Scottish Campaign Against Pornography are burning books and magazines they disagree with on Calton Hill this Thursday.
The occasion of this event, with its echoes of book-burnings in Berlin, is ''Sixteen Days of Action against violence against women''. Nobody wants to oppose such a worthy cause, and indeed we unreservedly condemn violence against anyone.
However, there is a second programme being promoted by this campaign; an attack upon our freedom of speech and thought, justified by an assertion that pornography causes violence against women.
Violence against women pre-dates pornography. Violence against women is endemic in countries and cultures that have the strictest of censorship laws (such as Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Afghanistan). Studies have repeatedly failed to demonstrate a link between pornography and violence against women.
We do not agree with the politics of censorship; regardless of whether it is presented as gagging pornographers or defending public morals, it subverts the basic right to freedom of expression guaranteed by the European Convention on Human Rights. Burning books of any kind, whether they are pornography or prayer books, is wrong.
We believe that Edinburgh City Council has no business providing support for politically motivated book-burnings and witch-hunts that attempt to blame society's ills on an unpopular group. We call on the council to respect the civil rights of all citizens equally, and to distance itself from the politics of intolerance. Expressing indignation about violence against women is not an acceptable justification for abolishing freedom of expression.
Yamam Akdeniz, Director, Cyber-Rights and Cyber Liberties (UK); Sister Athletica de la Bain, Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence; Iain Banks, Author; Paul F Burton, Senior Lecturer, University of Strathclyde; Kay Carmichael, Writer; Avedon Carol, Feminists Against Censorship; David Donnison, Emeritus Professor, University of Glasgow; Owen Dudley Edwards, Historian; Dr Ian D Goodyer; Alex Hamilton, Lawyer; Sharon Hart, Editor-in-Chief, MacNow Magazine; Mary Hayward, Campaign Against Censorship; John Hein, Editor, ScotsGay Magazine; Karen Hetherington, The Liberal Party in Scotland; Mike Holmes; Colin Johnson, Consultant Philosopher; Ken MacLeod, Author; Stiubh Macmhicean, Edinburgh Freethinkers; Michael Meadowcroft, President of the Liberal Party; Dr Arabella Melville, Author of Difficult Men; Chris Morris, Editor, Outcast; Helena Ravenscroft, Author, Erotic Fiction for Women; Charles Stross,
Author and Journalist; Peter Tatchell, Queer Rights Activist; Ruth Morgan Thomas, Prostitutes' Rights Activist.
December 1.
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