Nat Hentoff in Village Voice – ALA should help Cuba

Steve Fesenmaier writes “One of the great champions of freedom in this country is Nat Hentoff. For decades he has been writing about challenges to human rights, both in the US and around the world. He has received many awards for his human rights prose – and now is asking American librarians to stand up against the last remaining Communist dictatorship in the world – Cuba.

full story“

December 15, 2003 by Uncategorized 4

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4 Responses

  1. Anonymous Patron says:
    December 15, 2003 at 9:06 pm

    defending Castro
    I can’t wait to read the usual suspects’ denunciations of Nat Hentoff as a running dog of the bourgeoisie.

    Reply
  2. Anonymous Patron says:
    December 15, 2003 at 10:27 pm

    Re:defending Castro
    ALA should not have its own foreign policy! Do some research on this paticular group and you will see that this particular dog won’t hunt.

    Reply
  3. Brian says:
    December 17, 2003 at 5:46 am

    ALA and IFLA
    Wouldn’t the American Library Association’s membership in the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions be the appropriate venue for ALA to address this international issue? Is anyone claiming that ALA’s rep to IFLA opposed or abstained from IFLA’s condemnation of human rights violations in Cuba? If ALA supports IFLA’s statement, how can one speak truthfully of a “refusal of the American Library Association to join the demand to release the prisoners of conscience”?

    Reply
  4. tomeboy says:
    December 17, 2003 at 6:56 am

    Re:defending Castro
    Public policy statements by ALA’s International Relations Committee are nothing new. And many are directly associated with US foreign policy. Recent history shows us this with the Iraq war where ALA formalized their criticism of US foreign policy via a resolution.

    Unfortunately ALA considers the loss of museum antiquities as a more pressing issue than Cuban librarians held in gulags.

    There are many sources to cite. I’ll leave the digging to you.

    For now:

    ALA Council
    Gordon Flagg
    American Libraries Aug 2003. pg. 79

    …A resolution submitted by the International Relations Committee in response to the loss of cultural resources in Iraq following the U.S.-led invasion (CD#18.4) passed unanimously, but not before receiving a thorough going-over from Council. Michael Gorman pointed out that the resolution was based on a document he had drafted with fellow councilor Michael Malinconico, but that the wording had been changed to make it less critical of the U.S. actions. ..

    Reply

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