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In Castro's Gulag
Librarians abandoned by the American Library
Association
Nat Hentoff. The
Village Voice. December 12, 2003.
In the July 2003 issue of The
Progressive, a monthly magazine for
which I write, there was an ad: "Anti-War,
Social Justice and Human Rights Advocates
Oppose Repression in Cuba." The signers
were a number of prominent, persistent critics
of Bush, Ashcroft, and others in the government.
Among them: Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, Matt
Rothschild (editor of The Progressive),
the late Edward Said, and Cornel West. They
oppose the Bush embargo and other economic
sanctions on Cuba, but they condemn:
"The arrests of scores of opponents
of the Cuban government for their nonviolent
political activities, and the shockingly
long prison sentences-some as high as 28
years-imposed after unfair trials. According
to Amnesty International, the arrestees
include journalists, owners of [independent]
private libraries, and members of illegal
opposition parties. . . .
"The imprisonment of people for attempting
to exercise their rights of free expression
is outrageous and unacceptable. We call
on the Castro government to release all
political prisoners and let the Cuban people
speak, write and organize freely."
There has been no answer from the Cuban
dictator. And in his gulag, as Blanca Reyes-wife
of imprisoned independent journalist and
poet Raúl Rivero-reports: "Even
Fidel Castro, when he was jailed for armed
rebellion against dictator Fulgencio Batista,
didn't have to suffer such conditions. .
. . The filthy cells are infested with cockroaches
and mosquitos." Rivero is afflicted
with phlebitis and other aliments.
There are prisoners who urgently need medicine,
which many are not getting. Amnesty International
declares all these 75 prisoners-sentenced
in April after a one-day trial from which
foreign journalists were banned-"prisoners
of conscience." José Miguel
Vivanco-executive director of the Americas
Division of Human Rights Watch-charges that
"Cuba is flouting fundamental human
rights norms."
And in the Hague, Netherlands, the International
Federation of Library Associations and Institutions,
declaring "the fundamental right of
all human beings to access information without
restriction," has condemned this brutal
exercise of Castro's dictatorial power.
It is worth noting that since many of these
prisoners of conscience are more than 50
years old, they will spend the rest of their
lives in the gulag-suffering, in some cases,
lives shortened by disease and the eventual
abandonment by the world press.
In this country, the 10 independent librarians
have been abandoned by, of all people, America's
public librarians-that is, by the democratically
elected American Library Association Council
that sets policy for the ALA's
64,000 members, the largest organization
of librarians in the world.
The American
Library Association annually sponsors
Banned Books Week in the nation's libraries
with the rallying cry: "Free People
Read Freely," and its membership booklet
proclaims "the public's right to explore
in their libraries many points of view on
all questions and issues facing them."
In our libraries, anyone can borrow George
Orwell's 1984 or a copy of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights-but these and
many other "subversive" titles
are banned in Cuba's state-run-and-controlled
libraries. However, until Castro's April
crackdown on Cuba's dissenters for the crime
of advocating freedom of thought, the independent
librarians, from their homes, did make these
proscribed publications available.
The refusal of the American
Library Association to join the demand
to release the prisoners of conscience by
Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch,
and the American dissenters against Bush
in The Progressive is all the more shameful
in view of its members' rebellion against
John Ashcroft in this country.
In an increasing number of libraries here,
signs are up warning patrons that under
Section 215 of the Patriot Act, the FBI
is empowered to come into libraries with
a list of books to be matched with the names
of their borrowers in a search for links
to terrorist activity. The signs also point
out that the law forbids the librarian from
telling anyone-including the names of borrowers
matched with certain books-that the FBI
has come.
In resistance, at many public libraries,
as soon as books are returned the records
of their borrowers are shredded so that
there will be nothing for the FBI to find.
This has greatly irritated John Ashcroft,
who finally said he has not implemented
Section 215 of the Patriot Act. But he carefully
did not say that he will never send in the
FBI to find out what you're reading. So
the shredding goes on.
While American librarians-whom Ashcroft
calls "hysterics"-deserve credit
for being on the front line against this
secret fishing for subversives, none have
been threatened with prison time by Ashcroft.
But 10 librarians in Cuba have been put
away for 20 years and more for not going
along with Castro's endless Banned Books
weeks.
In June, at the American Library Association's
main annual meeting in Toronto, there were
members who wanted the ALA to live up to
its principles. But Cuban independent librarians
were denied a speaking place on the program
while Castro's librarians were given the
freedom to speak for nearly three hours.
There was no demand from the ALA to release
the imprisoned independent librarians, and
the issue was sent to various committees
for further discussion at ALA's Midwinter
Meeting in San Diego from January 9 to 14.
I am not optimistic that a majority of
the ALA Council will, at last, recognize
in January what José Miguel Vivanco
of Human Rights Watch said in September
at the New School University in New York,
at a discussion honoring five Cuban dissidents
with the school's University in Exile Award:
"I hope we can all agree . . . that
no one should have any illusions about the
character of the Cuban government. No one
should romanticize any aspect of this cruel
system or make any excuses for Fidel Castro's
abuses. The crackdown on dissent in Cuba
is not the fault of the United States or
the fault of the U.S. embargo or the fault
of the Cuban American community. The responsibility
lies with Fidel Castro, period."
Ask your public librarians if they will
insist that the American Library Association
finally speak for the librarians in Castro's
gulag. To be continued.
Copyright © 2003
Village Voice Media, Inc., 36 Cooper Square,
New York, NY 10003 The Village Voice and
Voice are registered trademarks. All rights
reserved.
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