The American Library Association, long a hotbed of pro-Castro sentiments, will this week consider a resolution condemning the Cuban government for its persecution of independent librarians on the island. Robert Kent of Friends of Cuban Libraries has the details and how you can help, via Misceláneas de Cuba:
Three members of the ALA Council, Barbara Silverman, Shixing Wen and Cristina Ramirez, have introduced a resolution condemning the persecution of Cuba's independent library movement and calling for the release of imprisoned librarians. The resolution also takes note of the burning of confiscated library books in Cuba and demands that surviving books be returned to their lawful owners.
Fierce opposition to the resolution is being organized by the ALA's entrenched pro-Castro faction. Even at this late date, these folks still have the gall (we New Yorkers call it "chutzpah") to flatly deny the existence of censorship, library persecution and book burning in Cuba.
The key battleground in this fight will be the majority of ALA Councilors who are poorly informed about Cuba's grim reality. While making up their minds on Cuba resolutions in past years, this well-meaning but unfocused majority on the ALA Council got its information from biased committees dominated by the pro-Castro faction, with results that could be expected.
But thanks to the new resolution on the ALA Council's agenda, NOW is the time to change ALA policy. Ms. Silverman, Mr. Wen and Ms. Ramirez are being attacked for daring to speak the truth about Cuba. We need to let them know how much we appreciate their principled support for intellectual freedom and justice. They need our encouragement in standing up for truth and freedom.
ACTION NEEDED... PLEASE ACT IMMEDIATELY TO SEND MESSAGES OF SUPPORT TO: Barbara Silverman (kidzread@aol.com), Shixing Wen (shwen@umich.edu) and Cristina Ramirez (cdramirez@vcu.edu).
You don't need to be an ALA member, a librarian or a U.S. citizen to make your voice heard on this crucial issue.
Every message counts. Your message can be short or long, but the main thing is that you send a message today! And please express support for the principle of intellectual freedom, avoiding any language that could be regarded as "political."
Among the points you can make in your messages are:
The issue of library repression in Cuba is a matter of principle, not politics.
Express thanks for their defense of jailed library workers who cannot defend themselves.
The ALA has a duty to speak out against book burning wherever it takes place.
Among the independent librarians imprisoned in Cuba are Blas Giraldo Reyes Rodríguez, Leonel Grave de Peralta Almenares and Fidel Suarez Cruz, who are each serving lengthy prison terms handed down during the "black spring" crackdown of March-April 2003.
Hopefully, the librarians voting this week in California will remember that they have colleagues in jail for exercising the freedom that I would guess too many of them take for granted.
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