QED.
Michael Robbins,
Senior Library Assistant,
University of East Anglia Library,
Norwich,
NR4 7TJ
Tel: 01603 592437/592421
On Thu, 11 May 2000 10:43:17 EDT [log in to unmask] wrote:
> In respectful disagreement with Michael Robbins, we feel it is entirely
> appropriate to publicize, on a librarians' listserv, information about a
> country where librarians are being persecuted. It cannot be a crime to
> oppose censorship or to open a library, and opposition to human rights
> violations, wherever they occur, should be above politics.
>
> Yes, as Mr. Robbins states, contradictory information is being
> circulated, but does this mean it is impossible to verify the truth or to act
> upon it? Systematic violations of intellectual freedom in Cuba have been
> documented by every reputable human rights organization that has studied the
> country over the past four decades. With specific regard to the persecution
> of Cuba's independent librarians, Amnesty International assigned Prisoner of
> Conscience status to Ramon Colas, the co-founder of the library movement,
> after his most recent arrest
> (http://www.Cubanet.org/CNews/y99/nov99/15e25.htm). Every charge made by the
> Friends of Cuban Libraries about the campaign of threats, intimidation,
> harassment, arrests, evictions and confiscations being directed against the
> independent librarians was confirmed and documented in IFLA's investigative
> report on this subject (http://www.faife.dk, in the "news and events"
> section).
>
> With every press release issued by the Friends of Cuban Libraries, more
> and more librarians around the world are being awakened to the grim reality
> of Cuba. For forty years, the standard response of Cuban officials to
> criticism of human rights violations has been to issue flat denials of
> wrongdoing or to remain silent. In pressing Cuban officials to end the
> shameful persecution of our colleagues, we refuse to take "no" for an answer,
> and silence is no answer at all.
>
> Subscribers to lis-link are encouraged to contact the Friends as to how
> they can take part in our growing worldwide movement for justice.
>
> Robert Kent
> Friends of Cuban Libraries
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