The same American Library Association that opposes Internet filtering to keep pornography and hate sites from the eyes of children now refuses to condemn Fidel Castro for imprisoning, for terms of up to 28 years, ten independent Cuban librarians who were rounded up along with 75 independent journalists, union organizers, economists, human rights workers and other dissidents in last April's crackdown on free speech.
The librarians' sole "crime" was resisting Castro's censorship of ideas, yet ALA policy-making governing council member Mark Rosenzweig smugly pronounces that "we cannot presume that all countries are capable of the same level of intellectual freedom that we have in the U.S. Cuba is caught in an extremely sharp conflict with the U.S. . . . I don't think [Cuba] is a dictatorship. It's a republic" [Emphasis mine]. Some of the directorate and some rank-and-file members agree with the Castro regime that the librarians are guilty as "agents of the US government," hence the ALA refusal to condemn the imprisonments.
At its Midwinter Meeting from Jan. 9 to Jan. 14 in San Diego, the ALA will have an opportunity to reverse its position of silence on this issue, but don't hold your breath. The organization's positions run comfortably in line with far left dogma, prompting one periodical to dub the ALA "Castro's favorite librarians."
Nevertheless, you can express your disgust to the ALA at this link, and use our Take Action page to let your representatives know you oppose the ALA position and support long overdue regime change in that small, enslaved nation just 90 miles from our shore.
(If you find this site useful and would like to help make political devotions a mass movement, please tell others about PoliticalDevotions.com or place a link to it on your website. Then when you've done so, be sure to e-mail me so I can thank you personally! - Tim.)
