Sunday, July 31, 2022

Criminalizing Reproduction: Margaret Atwood: Kudo's to this renowned author for her response to book bans with an 'unburnable' edition of 'Handmaid's Tale," published on the occasion of the U.S. Supreme Court's then-pending reversing of the right to abortion..."Amid political firestorms over books deemed by rightwingers to be unsuitable for school libraries, the author Margaret Atwood has announced an “unburnable” edition of her most famous novel, The Handmaid’s Tale. The Canadian author, 82, appeared in a short YouTube video to announce the project, attempting to flambé the one-off tome with a flame-thrower. Announcing the book, Penguin Random House said: “Across the United States and around the world, books are being challenged, banned and even burned. So we created a special edition of a book that’s been challenged and banned for decades. “Printed and bound using fireproof materials, this edition of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale was made to be completely un-burnable. It is designed to protect this vital story and stand as a powerful symbol against censorship.” As described by the Guardian in 2010, the 25th anniversary of publication, The Handmaid’s Tale “tells the story of Offred – not her real name, but the patronymic she has been given by the new regime in an oppressive parallel America of the future – and her role as a Handmaid. “The Handmaids are forced to provide children by proxy for infertile women of a higher social status, the wives of Commanders. They undergo regular medical tests, and in many ways become invisible, the sum total of their biological parts.” According to the American Library Association, The Handmaid’s Tale is among books most often challenged or banned in US schools.:


CRIMINALIZING REPRODUCTION: (Attacks on Science, Medicine and the Right To Choose):In recent years, I have taken on the  theme of criminalizing reproduction - a natural theme for a Blog concerned with  flawed science in its myriad forms  - as I am utterly opposed to the current movement in the United States (and some other countries) embodied by the overturning of Roe Versus Wade,  towards imprisoning women and their physicians and others who help them secure a safe abortion,  on the basis of sham science (or any other basis). I can’t remember the source, but agree  totally with the sentiment that control over their reproductive lives is far too important to women in America - or anywhere else -  so they can  participate  equally in the economic and social life of their nations without fear for  loss their freedom at the hands of political opportunists and fanatics. (Far too many of those those around these days.) 

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog.

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PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "The auction of an “unburnable” edition of The Handmaid’s Tale comes ahead of an expected ruling reversing the right to abortion, to be handed down by a supreme court dominated by conservative justices. In a new essay collection, Burning Questions, Atwood writes: “Women who cannot make their own decisions about whether or not to have babies are enslaved because the state claims ownership of their bodies and the right to dictate the use to which their bodies must be put.”

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STORY: "Atwood responds to books bans with 'unburnable' edition of 'Handmaid's Tale,'" by Reporter Martin Pengelly, published by The Guardian, on May 24, 2022. (Martin Pengelly is breaking news editor for Guardian US.)

SUB-HEADING: "Auction of fire-resistant  edition  comes ahead of U.S. Supreme Court ruling reversing  the right to abortion."  

GIST: "Amid political firestorms over books deemed by rightwingers to be unsuitable for school libraries, the author Margaret Atwood has announced an “unburnable” edition of her most famous novel, The Handmaid’s Tale.


The Canadian author, 82, appeared in a short YouTube video to announce the project, attempting to flambé the one-off tome with a flame-thrower.


Announcing the book, Penguin Random House said: “Across the United States and around the world, books are being challenged, banned and even burned. So we created a special edition of a book that’s been challenged and banned for decades.


“Printed and bound using fireproof materials, this edition of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale was made to be completely un-burnable. It is designed to protect this vital story and stand as a powerful symbol against censorship.”


As described by the Guardian in 2010, the 25th anniversary of publication, The Handmaid’s Tale “tells the story of Offred – not her real name, but the patronymic she has been given by the new regime in an oppressive parallel America of the future – and her role as a Handmaid.


“The Handmaids are forced to provide children by proxy for infertile women of a higher social status, the wives of Commanders. They undergo regular medical tests, and in many ways become invisible, the sum total of their biological parts.”


According to the American Library Association, The Handmaid’s Tale is among books most often challenged or banned in US schools.


In 2006, in an open letter to a school district which attempted to ban the book, Atwood said: “First, the remark: ‘Offensive to Christians’ amazes me. Nowhere in the book is the regime identified as Christian. As for sexual explicitness, The Handmaid’s Tale is a lot less interested in sex than is much of the Bible.”


Atwood’s book has risen to new prominence thanks to a TV adaptation starring Elisabeth Moss and a 2019 sequel, The Testaments, which won Atwood a second Booker prize. “Handmaid” costumes, red cloaks with white headdresses, have become a familiar sight at protests for reproductive and women’s rights.


The auction of an “unburnable” edition of The Handmaid’s Tale comes ahead of an expected ruling reversing the right to abortion, to be handed down by a supreme court dominated by conservative justices.


In a new essay collection, Burning Questions, Atwood writes: “Women who cannot make their own decisions about whether or not to have babies are enslaved because the state claims ownership of their bodies and the right to dictate the use to which their bodies must be put.”


Her “unburnable” book is being auctioned by Sotheby’s in New York until 7 June. By mid-morning on Tuesday, the price stood at $40,000. All proceeds will go to support Pen America in its “work in support of free expression”.

Hosting a Pen gala in New York on Monday night, Faith Salie, a writer and comedian, said the book was “made to withstand not only the fire-breathing censors and blazing bigots but actual flames – the ones they would like to use to burn down our democracy”."

The entire story can be read at:

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/may/24/margaret-atwood-handmaids-tale-unburnable-edition

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic"  section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith. Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at: http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com.  Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog;



SEE BREAKDOWN OF  SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG,  AT THE LINK BELOW:  HL:




FINAL WORD:  (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases):  "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."
Lawyer Radha Natarajan:
Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;

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FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions.   They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!
Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;