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Freedom
award to ALA questioned
The
Friends of Cuban Libraries,
October 16, 2003.
On October 20 in Los Angeles, PEN USA, an American
branch of the worldwide association of authors,
will hold an awards ceremony to honor individuals
and organizations that defend intellectual freedom.
Among the recipients will be the Intellectual
Freedom Office of the American Library Association
(ALA), which opposes the USA Patriot Act.
The PEN USA award to the ALA is being questioned
by the Friends of Cuban Libraries, an independent,
non-partisan support group for volunteers in Cuba
who are opening a network of uncensored libraries
to challenge government control of information.
According to Amnesty International, the Castro
regime is persecuting the island's independent
librarians because of their efforts to provide
public access to uncensored books.
"We have the greatest respect for PEN USA,"
stated Radames Suarez of the Friends of Cuban
Libraries, "but some PEN USA members are
regrettably unaware that the ALA leadership has
been taken over by an extremist faction which
denies the existence of censorship and all other
human rights violations in Cuba. The ALA leaders
refuse to defend the librarians in Cuba who are
being imprisoned for upholding intellectual freedom,
which is supposed to be the ALA's most cherished
principle."
In March, human rights groups reported that 22
of Cuba's independent libraries were raided by
the police, and thousands of books and library
records were confiscated. After one-day trials,
14 of the librarians were sentenced to prison
terms of up to 25 years. They have been declared
"prisoners of conscience" by Amnesty
International, which is demanding their release.
"We hope PEN USA members at the award ceremony
will ask ALA officials about this alarming discrepancy,"
said Mr. Suarez. "For example, why is the
ALA violating its own Code of Ethics by refusing
to defend Cuba's independent librarians from persecution?
And how can the ALA claim to be a principled defender
of intellectual freedom in the U.S. while ignoring
the ALA's stated commitment to oppose censorship
all over the world?"
ALA policy on Cuba is also being questioned by
critics such as civil liberties author Nat Hentoff,
who has declared: "It would be astonishing
- and shameful - if the American Library Association
does not support - and gather support for - the
courageous independent librarians of Cuba, some
of whom have been imprisoned by Castro for very
long terms for advocating the very principles
of the freedom to read and think that the American
Library Association has so long fought for in
this country."
BACKGROUND INFORMATION: (www.friendsofcubanlibraries.org)
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