Ray Bradbury condemns Cuban
book burning
'Fahrenheit 451' author
takes stance while U.S. librarians ignore
counterparts
By Walter Skold. © 2005
WorldNetDaily.com,
June 29, 2005.
After giving a keynote speech this week
at the American Library Association's annual
convention, science fiction author Ray Bradbury
joined a growing list of international writers
and human rights activists in condemning
the persecution of Cuba's Independent Library
Project.
The American Library Association, or ALA,
has ignored a request by imprisoned Cuban
counterparts to demand leader Fidel Castro
release them, but the author of "Fahrenheit
451" responded after viewing evidence
of court-ordered book burning.
"I stand against any library or any
librarian anywhere in the world being imprisoned
or punished in any way for the books they
circulate," Bradbury said. "I
plead with Castro and his government to
immediately take their hands off the independent
librarians and release all those librarians
in prison, and to send them back into Cuban
culture to inform the people."
Seeking to stay out of internal politics,
Bradbury did not make his comments during
his ALA appearance. But he hopes the ALA
will support him in his call for Castro
to stop intimidating the independent library
movement, which receives funding through
congressionally-approved USAID and other
agency grants.
The author made his remarks after American
librarians showed him recently translated
court documents from 2003 show-trials that
discussed how "subversive" books
and magazines held by the librarians should
be destroyed, and, in several cases, "incinerated."
In the case of Julio Antoniao Guevara,
for example, the trial judge ordered: "As
to the disposition of the photographic negatives,
the audio cassette, medicines, books, magazines,
pamphlets and the rest of the documents,
they are to be destroyed by means of incineration
because they lack usefulness."
Among some of the many thousands of materials
burned or destroyed by the Cuban Department
of Interior were books on the U.S. Constitution,
Martin Luther King, journalism manuals,
a book called "Fidel's Secret Wars,"
and in one case, even a book by Jose Marti,
the Cuban hero of independence beloved by
most Cubans and often quoted by Castro.
When contacted by WND and asked if they
would consider supporting Bradbury's request
to join him in calling for the release of
the prisoners, top officials responded through
a press office statement that reiterated
a 2004 policy report crafted as a "result
of almost a year of discussion and investigation."
Among the statements made in that report
were, "This political climate brought
on primarily by U.S. Government and Cuban
Government legislation and policies in recent
years should not be countered by censorship
and imprisonment," and, "Neither
the Cuban Government nor any other government
has the right to stifle or obstruct the
free expression of opinions and ideas."
The statement, which was seen as a consensus
compromise by many ALA councilors at the
time, also expressed association's "deep
concern," and urged the Cuban Government
"to respect, defend and promote the
basic human rights defined in Article 19
of the United Nations Universal Declaration
of Human Rights."
In the startling court documents Bradbury
considered before issuing his statement,
the UN's Universal Declaration of Human
Rights was one of the pamphlets ordered
burned. Ramon Colas, the exiled founder
of the Independent Library Project, also
has presented ALA leaders in the past with
evidence that Cuban customs officials on
occasion have not allowed the U.N. Declaration
into the country.
The 2004 ALA policy statement did not,
however, call for the release of the independent
librarians, who are all considered prisoners
of conscience by Amnesty International,
or call for the return of confiscated collections.
A small minority of councilors, out of
nearly 200, wanted those issues to be added
to last year's policy statement, but they
were overruled by the majority.
That led to charges by a few Council and
regular ALA members that a hard-core, pro-Marxist
faction had hijacked ALA's foreign policy
to Cuba on this issue.
Reacting to Ray Bradbury's plea, councilor
Ellen Zyroff told WND, "All who cherish
freedom must redouble their efforts to let
Fidel Castro know that he will no longer
get away with scoffing at the many cries
from around the world to free all of the
jailed independent librarians and return
their book collections."
Zyroff, principal librarian for the San
Diego County Library, emphasized she was
speaking for herself.
She said she agreed with the charges leveled
by columnist Nat Hentoff and others, who
say that ALA reactions to human rights abuses
in Cuba have been hypocritical "for
an association which claims to champion
free access to books and information."
WND also asked the ALA's chief spokeswoman
on intellectual freedom and book banning
issues, Judith Krug, why the documented
cases of book burning in Cuba were not on
the ALA's official book burning website.
The site has numerous examples of book burning
by governments or groups, from 2005 to all
the way back before Christ.
By late yesterday the ALA press office
still had not been able to reach Krug for
comment.
When Michael Gorman, the incoming president
of the ALA, was asked by WND Monday to comment
on the current Cuban situation, the press
office responded with a statement reiterating
the 2004 policy and saying that the ALA
is a "large and complex organization
whose members have diverse perspectives
and opinions."
The statement also said, "The full
ALA and IFLA reports on these complex and
politically charged issues can be found
online.
In his campaign for the ALA presidency
last December, however, Gorman did respond
to a member's question as to what he thought
of the repression of Cuba's unique independent
libraries.
"I am utterly and unalterably opposed
to restrictions on freedom of speech and
expression by any government or government
agency in any country," he said then,
adding, "I believe in intellectual
freedom and the right of free expression
and wish those were available to all people
in all countries."
Bradbury's explosive comments also come
just weeks after Human Rights First issued
an regarding the health of Hector Palacios,
whose wife, Gisela Delgado, is the director
of Cuba's Independent Library Project. The
entire book collection of the 68-year old
human- rights activist and his wife, which
was available for public use, was confiscated
in 2003 when he was arrested and has not
been returned.
The HRF alert says Palacios is near death
due to harsh prison conditions and the group
has called for his immediate release and
the release of other dissidents arrested
in Castro's controversial 2003 crackdown
on independent writers, dissident-librarians,
and political activists.
Last June, after Delgado made an emergency
appeal to the ALA for support, the organization
did respond by sending a letter to the Cuban
Foreign Minister, in which John Berry, chairman
of the ALA's International Relations Committee,
wrote "We thank you very much for your
attention and assistance to ensure the health
and welfare of these detained individuals."
Since then several of the 75 dissidents
imprisoned in 2003, a few of whom were librarians,
have in fact been released, but the current
condition of Palacios was not placed on
the ALA agenda this year.
In the past several years, critics of the
ALA's position on Cuba have charged the
well-regarded association with double standards
with regards to Cuba and other communist
nations. They point out that the government
of Israel, for instance, was criticized
by the ALA for the destruction of Palestinian
libraries, which were alleged to have been
destroyed intentionally by Israeli troops.
These critics have pointed out that official
ALA policy "deplores the destruction
of libraries ... whether it be done by individuals
or groups of individuals and whether it
be in the name of honest dissent, the desire
to control or limit thought or ideas,"
but feel that such policies are not being
applied evenly.
Other Council members are reported to be
weary of political controversies that take
focus off other vital library issues and
are said to favor the ALA making fewer pronouncements
about all international matters in general.
But Bradbury's public call for the ALA
to support him in his stand against Castro
is expected to spark more debate within
the 65,000-member strong organization, and
he is not the first prominent writer to
voice his concerns.
Nat Hentoff, the Village Voice columnist
and defender of the Bill of Rights, told
WND he is now a "persona-non grata"
among ALA leaders for his strong criticisms
of the organization's Cuba policies.
Also, in December 2003, Yale professor
and Cuban author Carlos N. M. Eire wrote
a public letter in which he urged the ALA
"to openly and unconditionally censure
the repression of human rights in Cuba and
to do so immediately and in the strongest
possible terms."
The Cuban-born scholar, whose "Waiting
for Snow in Havana" won the coveted
National Book Award, said the ALA should
call for the immediate release of the independent
librarians.
He asked "how can the ALA mount a
successful campaign in the United States
to protest the Patriot Act when it refuses
to condemn one of the most flagrant violations
of its own principles a mere ninety miles
from American shores?"
The exiled founders of the Independent
Library Project now living in Florida could
not be reached for comment, but in past
statements they have said that clear support
from the world's largest library organization
would be a great boost for those in Cuba
who struggle to maintain uncensored libraries.
Walter Skold is an independent journalist
and librarian living in Freeport, Maine.
Related stories:
Soviet-bloc dissidents
condemn Castro
Librarians: Anti-Castro
columnist 'hyperbolic'
Award rejected over
group's bow to Castro
Librarians ignore
plea of Cuban prisoners
U.S. Castro backers
squelch prisoners' plea
American librarians
silence Cuban pleas
|