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February 15, 2006
Andrei Codrescu Versus ALA on Cuban Libraries
Hats off to Andrei Codrescu for taking on the mealy-mouthed moonbats of the American Library Association. Codrescu was the keynote speaker at the ALA's Midwinter Meeting. Much to the chagrin of ALA President Michael Gorman, he used the opportunity to hold the organization's feet to the fire regarding its lack of support for underground or "independent" libraries in Cuba, a place where traditional libraries aren't going to carry anything that isn't approved by the totalitarian State.
Possibly in deference to lefty icon Fidel Castro, the ALA refuses to recognize these as "real" libraries. But they are the only real libraries you will find in the penal colony Castro has made out of Cuba.
Although Codrescu maintains that the ALA didn't try to tell him what to say in his keynote address, Gorman pouts that he did not deliver the speech he told ALA apparatchiks he would.
Nat Hentoff has also expressed outrage at the ALA, renouncing his Immroth Award in protest of its lack of support for Cuba's independent libraries.
Lest you get the idea that the ALA cares more about political correctness than it does about libraries, ALA members have traveled to Cuba and have expressed "deep concern" over the political prisoners rotting away in Castro's dungeons. No doubt Castro will soon set them all free and announce open elections as a result.
The ALA's stand on the independent libraries is that they are "questionable" and that recognizing them would "harm real efforts for a professional exchange." But as Codrescu, who spent his youth in communist Romania, points out:
The simple truth is that their fellow librarians are in prison for defending the human right to read.
If he really wants the ALA to take the side of freedom in Cuba, he should tell them that Castro is oppressing his slaves with the Patriot Act, which of course the organization vehemently opposes.
Hat tip: Varla
Posted by Van Helsing at February 15, 2006 8:58 PM
Comments
Codrescu is one really badass dude.
I used to listen to him on NPR before I saw the light baout the Bolshevik propaganda arm (I'm sure he's banned from it now).
His distinctive voice is like a mellow vampire drunk on Moonbat blood.
Posted by: Doug at February 16, 2006 3:21 PM
" mellow vampire drunk on Moonbat blood"
Wow! What imagery that conjures up!
Glad someone is poking a stick in the cage of the lefty librarian commie apologists.
Posted by: Mike's America at February 17, 2006 2:40 AM
