We’ve read several articles on the lawsuit filed against the U.S. Treasury Department on behalf of American publishers. What we have learned is that the law appears to be, in the words of a former boss, intentionally vague. Which is great if you want everyone to agree and pass it, but not so great when nobody can figure out what it means.
Without getting too political, we want to note that countries under economic sanctions from the United States are often those countries where speech is particularly restricted. We would also like to note that storytelling — art — is a time-honored way to get messages to a wider audiences (see: women’s literature in the late 18th and early 19th century). We also understand, even if in some cases, we don’t understand, the reason for economic sanctions. Does silencing art achieve national goals?
