Want popcorn with your totalitarianism?

[UPDATE: Can't censor through thuggery & intimidation? Hack into the MIFF website.]

China. Australia's largest trading partner and world-class shameless smotherer of free speech. I'm sure the Melbourne International Film Festival was hoping to generate political heat -- preferably on-screen -- but it's become a victim of a Chinese 'Shut the f*ck up!' policy that extends far beyond that nation's borders.

A breakdown of the kerfuffle:

• MIFF plans to screen a documentary called The Ten Conditions of Love about exiled Uighur leader Rebiya Kadeer.
• China, which has accused Ms Kadeer -- currently residing in the notorious terrorist hiding place called the United States -- of being the mastermind behind the recent uprising of China's long-suffering Uighur community, demands that MIFF cancel the screening.
• MIFF rightfully tells China to go screw itself.
• Chinese producers pull three of their films from MIFF. One of those producers had this to say about her decision: "I don't want my director to be afterwards worried by the Chinese police."

Censorship. Just another tool in the totalitarian's garden shed.