Carlos Fuentes, arguably the greatest Mexican writer and intellectual of the twentieth century, is having some trouble in his home country. Fuentes" book "Aura" has been pulled from the high school library of the daughter of Mexico"s minister of labor, Carlos Abascal. Abascal asked the school to ban the book after expressing his outrage at a certain scene. The basic plot of the book is as follows. A young man enters the house of an old woman for whom he is about to work for. Only he quickly falls in love with her niece, who also lives in the house. The young man stays in the house for many days, and near the end of the book, while he is making love to the niece, he realizes that it has all been a mirage and that he is actually making love to the old aunt. The book is masterfully written, I think, and it embodies, passion, death and mystery. But the lovemaking scene with the old aunt is not what Abascal has objected to. He has instead objected to one scene in the book where the young man is making love to the young niece while a crucifix hangs on the wall above them.

When asked how he would respond to Abascal"s outrage and reactionary attitude at the scene, Fuentes responded that he would tell the minister that "over 99% of couples in Mexico have sex under a crucifix." He"s probably right. But he is also expressing his sentiments as to how ridiculous Abascal is acting. Fuentes went on, however, to express his real fear. He was not worried that this particular book was being singled out he was instead fearful that this initial act of censorship would lead to more repression of literary and intellectual freedom in Mexico. These acts of censorship can quickly become a "hydra-head," or, in other words, self-duplicate themselves into further acts of intellectual bowdlerization. What should concern us, however, is how we react to these acts. Do we blindly support governments and reactionary ministers around the world when they attempt to make such decrees? Or do we take upon ourselves to make our own decisions about what we wish to be exposed to in the intellectual and literary realms?

We have, of course, seen the kinds of effects these reactionary actions have had on societies and intellectuals around the world. Those who speak the voice of justice and the oppressed, such as Fuentes, Edward Said, Noam Chomsky, Norman Finkelstein and the like, face censorship and the suppression of their opinion wherever they enter into the intellectual debate. This is probably the most glaring sign that they are doing something worthy and respectable. But what is important for us to take notice of is that these attempts at intellectual censorship take many forms, and only rarely do they originate from religious concerns, such as in the case of Fuentes" "Aura." Usually censorship, or the endeavor to censor, is a function of a power relationship that manifests itself in a venture to muffle the voice of those whom it is attempting to oppress. We see this happening in nations like Iran, Turkey, Israel and now, Mexico. But it also happens under our nose everyday right here in America. The re-emerging attempts to throw evolution out of public schools are a blatant form of censorship. The clout and sway used by certain ethnic groups and political lobbies in this country to shut out and silence opposing political and social views is also a very acute brand of censorship. It"s the kind of arrogance of power that says: "Since I have the power, the money and the influence, my opinion matters and needs to be heard and yours doesn"t."

I, and most probably many others like me who attempt to speak a voice that belongs to the weak and subjugated, face this type of opinion silencing on a daily basis. While it should be fought against, it needs to be noticed as a price of speaking one"s mind, of not simply pulling the party line, albeit in an articulate manner. Many times, even, the censorship takes the crudest and most deliberate forms. In my many travels to different campuses, I have faced these attempts to silence my opinion constantly, as I have often on this campus. But it is the willingness to keep speaking and taking a hold of the real issues that makes the forces that attempt to censor so frustrated for censorship never works when the subject refuses to let it hinder his or her drive.

For now, it is upon us, those who aspire toward progressiveness and intellectualism, to de-censor the censorers, and to make their disgusting attempts to silence differing points of view part of the popular discourse.

Amer Zahr"s column runs every other Monday. He can be reached via e-mail at zahrag@umich.edu.