Hear, hear!

Re Mr Kent's latest missive, I'd have thought a professional librarian could
give more helpful citations than "IFLA's landmark report", "confirmed by
Amnesty International" and "verified by the Chornicle [sic] of Higher
Education"; allow me to offer a quotation from -

"Our LAN in Havana: Networking with People and Computers in Cuba," by Steve
Cisler, 1994. Published on the IFLA's web site at-

http://www.ifla.org/IV/misc/cubasc.txt

"The human rights abuses cited by the State Department are real, but they
are far less compared to those of many countries we count as our allies, and
as journalists have asked, why deal with China,Vietnam, and North Korea and
not Cuba. Because Cuba is a domestic issue, not an international one. And,
of course, Clinton's relative in Miami (daughter of the owner of Cuba's
largest department store at the time of Batista) has his ear, at least for
now."

And from that "IFLA landmark report" published by the IFLA at-

http://www.faife.dk/faife/cubarepo.htm

...
"Marta Terry (Chair) reported that she and other members of the Executive
Board of ASCUBI [Cuban Library Association - our colleagues, please note, Mr
Kent] conducted an inquiry on the issues put forward by the press release
(political troubles for Cuban librarians), as well as on the very existence
of the libraries referred to, since we had no information on them at all,
and the persons mentioned in the press release had no contact with ASCUBI or
the profession at large in Cuba. Contacts with the authorities concerned
resulted in the confirmation that the persons mentioned in the press release
were never subject to arrest or imprisonment."
...
"Nevertheless the general situation regarding the independent libraries in
Cuba and the incidents reported by FCL and CubaNet have been confirmed by
the FAIFE investigations on Cuba by the people concerned."

These "investigations" consisted of contacting "representatives of the
Independent Libraries directly by phone". These people, whom the IFLA calls
"A dissident group, encouraged and probably also partly financed by foreign
interests, [which] has established some amateur libraries to challenge the
current government of Cuba in regard to intellectual freedom",
unsurprisingly confirmed their own allegations - and that is the substance
of this "landmark report"!

The report has an annex which the IFLA calls "Background information on the
Independent Libraries Project"; this is copied verbatim from Cubanet [Kent's
web site].

That's all from me on this for now, lest I be accused of list abuse,

Cheers, Aran Lewis.


Aran Lewis

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Nick Moore [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Tuesday, June 26, 2001 3:08 PM
> To:   [log in to unmask]
> Subject:      Re: More Books Confiscated
>
> Goodness, it clearly takes a lot to keep the good man down.  May I
> respectfully suggest that instead of cluttering up this, and possibly
> other listservs, Mr Kent should direct his efforts towards his own
> government.  Lifting the economic blockade and engaging in constructive
> discussion is much more likely to produce a more tolerant regime.
>
> I look forward to future reports of his discussions with George W.  In
> the meantime, he might usefully ponder on the comparative literacy rates
> as between Cuba and the USA
>
> Nick Moore
>
>
>
> In message <[log in to unmask]>, [log in to unmask] writes
> >Dear Readers of Lis-Link:
> >
> >     Thanks are due to all who have stood up against the censorship of
> >information about the oppression of our colleagues in Cuba.  Regarding
> Aran
> >Lewis's comments as to "lies" allegedly told by the Friends of Cuban
> >Libraries, IFLA's landmark report on Cuba's independent librarians
> confirmed
> >each and every report made by our organisation regarding the Cuban
> >government's campaign of death threats, intimidation, arrests, evictions
> and
> >confiscations.  The persecution of the independent librarians has also
> been
> >confirmed by Amnesty International.  As verified by the Chornicle of
> Higher
> >Education, in recent months the Cuban government has resorted to violence
> in
> >order to suppress a group of courageous people whose only crime is to
> oppose
> >censorship and to offer public access to uncensored library materials.
> The
> >size of a library collection, and whether it is privately or publicly
> owned,
> >is irrelevant.  In our view, librarians without a university degree who
> >endure persecution for defending intellectual freedom are more
> "professional"
> >than librarians with a degree who support censorship, fail to oppose it,
> or
> >deny that it exists.
> >
> >    The accuracy and crediblity of those presenting arguments on both
> sides
> >of this important issue are left to the judgement and conscience of you,
> the
> >people who read this listserv.  We encourage all people of conscience to
> take
> >up this matter with the Library Association, which until now has failed
> to do
> >its duty.  How will history judge us if we let this infamy continue
> without,
> >at the very least, making a  protest against the only country in the
> world
> >where librarians are being systematically persecuted?
> >
> >Sincerely,
> >
> >Friends of Cuban Libraries
>
> --
> Nick Moore
> Acumen                          Tel +44 1984 623668
> Brompton Ralph                  Fax +44 1984 624838
> Taunton TA4 2RU                 Email [log in to unmask]
> United Kingdom                  www.acumenuk.co.uk