Culture
Editorials •
If bookshops do not see eye to eye with pro-Israel advocates and critics of gender theory
The Ubik chain has asked Rubbettino to replace Marzano’s “Ancelle” and Panella’s “Israel: The Necessary State” with titles more in keeping with the issues of the day. Readers believe they are making free choices in bookshops, but the display has already been filtered in advance according to criteria of expediency and conformity. The result is an apparent plurality
Photo by Olena Bohovyk on Unsplash
According to the Ubik bookshop chain, Israel and violence against nuns (during International Week Against Violence Against Women) do not fit in with end-of-year window displays. The Rubbettino publishing house is releasing four topical books: “Ancelle” by sociologist Marco Marzano on abuse of nuns in women’s convents, “Israel. The Necessary State’ by Carlo Panella, ‘Trans Children’ by Corriere journalist Alessandra Arachi, and ‘Ghosting’ by journalist and psychologist Francesco Musolino. According to the publisher, Ubik later requested that Marzano’s book on nuns and Panella’s on Israel be replaced with titles more in keeping with the themes of the season. When the publisher refused, Ubik unilaterally cancelled the agreement reached. “The fact that a major bookshop chain decides there are topics that should not be addressed or that should not find a place on the shelves strikes me as a sign that should not be underestimated,” commented Florindo Rubbettino.
Arachi’s book also had a launch event cancelled by the Bologna Academy of Sciences. We had already seen this happen with "Irreversible Damage", the book by journalist Abigail Shrier criticising transgender practices for children. Bookshop and retail chains, such as Target, have removed the book from their shelves. An executive at the American Civil Liberties Union, the long-standing civil rights organisation, called for it to be banned. And as the author told the Wall Street Journal, lecturers at the University of California wrote: “We encourage people to burn Shrier’s book”. The American Booksellers Association subsequently apologised for having recommended the book.
This mechanism works better than any blatant or state-imposed censorship, because it is commercial and self-referential. The reader believes they are choosing freely in the bookshop, but the display has already been filtered in advance according to criteria of expediency and conformity. The result is an apparent plurality.