But isn't this just the same attitude problem in reverse?

-----Original Message-----
From: [log in to unmask] [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 17 November 2000 14:59
To: David Little; [log in to unmask]
Subject: RE: Librarian Besieged and Threatened

I'm with David Little, Alison Hall, J. Hart and Nick Moore on this
one.
Never mind making one's own mind up, this is propaganda and has no
place on lis-link. If you agree, maybe you too could write to our
list owner, who is:
Andrew Williamson ([log in to unmask])
I too have tried writing direct to Mr Kent in the past - and I agree
with Nick Moore when he says "I have in the past expressed this view
to him direct but he seems rather intolerant of those of us who do not
share his prejudices."
When I wrote to Andrew (last month) I said, replying to his
questions:
Mr Kent keeps sending mail to lis-link which perhaps *is* overly
political. I'm no particular fan of the Castro government in Cuba,
but I can recognise right-wing propaganda when I see it. (And so can
other colleagues, as noted in the lis-link archives). The point is
surely not just to wince when I see his stuff and delete it unread,
which I could easily do, but to query whether lis-link should be
publicising his messages at all.
You'll recall the debate on lis-link some time ago sparked off by this
same debate under the title "What's all this stuff about Cuba?".
Ok, opinion is divided. Following the IFLA Conference in Cuba a few
years ago many favourable reports on the state of libraries there came
out. More recently Mr Kent and his self-styled friends have started
an anti-Castro campaign. There may be a degree of truth in what he
says - I even went so far as to check with the Canadian Library
Association whether their ex-President had said what Mr Kent said she
had said, and yes, she had said it.
Against that are the damning reports on Mr Kent and his band from
fellow Americans who have actually been there and established that his
so-called 'Independent Libraries' don't actually exist. One famously
concludes "I hope you get no more trouble from the fellow" or words to
that effect - I haven't the time to look it up now but it's all there
in the lis-link archives ...
You ask if Mr Kent's postings are too frequent. Well, I've checked,
and I've seen 13 messages from him in the last 12 months. That seems
a bit excessive.
You might also wonder why it's only oppressed librarians in Cuba that
Mr Kent seems to care about. Incidentally, my spell-checker has just
noticed he can't spell "Besieged"!
Tom
Tom French
Head of Modern British Collections
The British Library
96 Euston Road
London
NW1 2DB
England

Tel: 020 7412 7623
Fax: 020 7412 7557
Email: [log in to unmask]

-----Original Message-----
From: "David Little" <[log in to unmask]> at Internet
Sent: 16 November 2000 16:34
To: [log in to unmask] at Internet
Subject: re: Librarian Beseiged and Threatened


Dear lis-linkers
I would like to enquire of other list members as to whether they links
this is an appropriate posting (Robert Kent, Friends of Cuban
Libraries update (15/11/00) - text pasted below).
While I personally believe it is of paramount importance to debate big
issues on this list (in addition to asking to borrow videos etc), it
seems to me this report is very partisan and biased and Mr Kent is
seeking very much to push his own personal agenda (which it has been
*alleged* is the agenda of the US government which has adopted an
agressively hostile policy towards Cuba for the last 40 years).
Would it not be more appropriate to send an email with a link to a
site where this kind of report can be read rather than bombarding list
members with the full-text?
If people would be interested to hear *both* sides of the story about
Cuban libraries, a good place to look is at the Library Juice Website
( http://www.libr.org/Juice/ ) which produces digests of news items
and has given good coverage to the Cuba debate and is not just the
propaganda of one organisation.
David Little









Date: Wed, 15 Nov 2000 10:35:36 EST
From: [log in to unmask]
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Librarian Beseiged and Threatened
Message-Id: <[log in to unmask]>

News Bulletin
The Friends of Cuban Libraries
                          Date: November 15, 2000

LIBRARIAN BESIEGED AND THREATENED
Recent news reports indicate an intensification of government efforts
to halt the expansion of Cuba's independent library movement,
especially in the eastern provinces of the island. In an innovative
challenge to a government monopoly on sources of information, more
than sixty independent, uncensored libraries have now opened their
doors throughout Cuba, offering public access to reading materials
which reflect all points of view, not just the officially-approved
ideology. The government's persecution of Cuba's beleaguered
independent librarians has been condemned by the International
Federation of Library Associations (IFLA), Amnesty International, and
a growing number of library associations and human rights groups
throughout the world. This news bulletin will focus on events in the
eastern city of Santiago, where the security forces have been
especially active in recent weeks.
On Thursday, November 9, the independent Antonio Maceo Grajales
Library, located at 14 Escudero Street in Santiago, was scheduled to
be the site of a seminar conducted by a non-government teachers'
organization. The theme of the seminar was "Pre-University Education
and a Point of Departure for Democratic Education in Cuba." Before
the event could took place, however, a detachment of State Security
police blocked off nearby streets and banned public access to the
library, forcing a cancelation of the seminar.
This news is contained in report filed by Ricardo Gonzales and
published in the Nov. 13 issue of the CubaNet database
(www.cubanet.org).
Later the same day, at about nine o'clock at night, the director of
the Antonio Maceo Grajales Library, Marcia Perez Castillo, was
accosted by an unidentified man while walking in a street near the
library. The man, dressed in civilian clothes, reportedly threatened
Ms. Perez Castillo, telling her: "If you continue using your house and
telephone to carry out counterrevolutionary activities, you're going
to have big problems." This news is contained in a report filed by
Milagros Beaton of the APLO press agency (CubaNet, Nov. 15, 2000).
  This incident is not the first time independent librarians have been
threatened in Santiago. As confirmed in a landmark report published
 by IFLA in Septmber, 1999, a children's librarian, Alfredo Dennis
Camps, was the target of death threats by unidentified persons. On
two occasions, also confirmed by IFLA, Santiago's Eduardo Rene Chibas
Library was surrounded by groups of uniformed men who fired volleys of
gunfire into the air as an act of intimidation.
In other recent events, the director of Santiago's independent
Jose
Mayia Rodriguez Library, Zocima Simoneau Vidal, was questioned
by the State
Security police on November 7. After an interrogation recorded on
videotape, she was released with a warning that she could be charged
with "defamation."
In September two other independent librarians were arrested in
Santiago.
Edel Jimenez was fined after being convicted of "disobedience," while
unknown charges are still pending against Rolando Bestart. In in
early 1999 Mr.
Bestart was arrested for allegedly "selling illegal drugs," although
he was not prosecuted. On December 24, 1999, Mr. Bestart was removed
from Christmas Eve mass in Santiago's cathedral and beaten by agents
of the State Security police.
ACTION TO BE TAKEN: The Friends of Cuban Libraries ask you to send
courteous e-mail messages to Cuban officials requesting an end to the
persecution of the independent librarians. Judging from an
unprecedented flurry of responses from government officials, your
message WILL have an impact. President Fidel Castro may be contacted
via the following e-mail address:
[log in to unmask]
. Please send any responses received to the
Friends of Cuban Libraries.

MEDIA COVERAGE: The government is showing a heightened
sensitivity to
negative publicity by the international mass media. For example,
please read
a new Associated Press article ("Independent Libraries Crop Up in
Communist
Cuba") published on CNN.COM at
(www.cnn.com/2000/WORLD/americas/11/12/reading.freedom.ap/in
dex.html).
BACKGROUND: The Friends of Cuban Libraries, founded in June, 1999, is
an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit support group for the
independent librarians. We are concerned exclusively with
intellectual freedom issues, as defined by the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights, regardless of whatever government may be in office in
Cuba. We are funded entirely be our members and do not seek or accept
funding from other sources. For more information, contact us by
e-mail ([log in to unmask] or telephone (USA)
718-340-8494. Mailing address: Robert Kent, 4-74 48th Avenue, #3-C,
Long Island City, NY 11109 USA.



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