The Friends of American Librarians
Press Release
Date: 11 August 2001 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Robert Kent, the well known American librarian and freedom fighter has
been prevented by his government from attending professional events in
Cuba. The oppressive regime under which Robert Kent struggles has taken
a range of harsh measures to limit and curtail the freedom of all its
citizens to travel to this small and rather innocuous island.
This constitutes a gross invasion of personal freedom and violates both
the government's own American Constitution to say nothing of the UN
Convention on Human Rights.
Not only does the US Government restrict the freedom of its own citizens
it is attempting to exert its will on citizens of other countries.
Senior executives of companies that do business in Cuba are, for
example, daily being prevented from entering the USA. Innocent
individuals who have voiced support for Cuba, or who have travelled
there, now face difficulties in getting entry visas to the USA. In
these and in many other ways the vastly powerful US government machine
is attempting to crush a small state that has simply tried to swim
against the mainstream of American hegemony.
American librarians as guardians of intellectual freedom are severely
affected by these pernicious restrictions. Their freedom to travel and
to communicate freely with their fellow Cuban professionals is being
trampled on by a government that purports to uphold individual and
collective freedoms.
We call on all of you professional librarians throughout the free world
to rise up and help our American colleagues to free themselves from the
oppressive yoke imposed on them by George W Bush and his predecessors.
Write, fax and email in your thousands to Robert Kent to support his
lonely struggle against an unjust regime.
Nick Moore
Hon Secretary of the Friends of American Librarians
In message <[log in to unmask]>, [log in to unmask] writes
> The Friends of Cuban Libraries
>
> PRESS RELEASE
>
>Date: August 10, 2001 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
>
> CUBAN LIBRARIAN FORBIDDEN TO ATTEND IFLA CONFERENCE
>
>Ramon Colas, the co-founder of Cuba's independent library movement, has
>been
>denied permission by the Cuban government to attend the annual conference of
>the International Federation of Library Associations. The IFLA conference
>will be held in Boston, Massachusetts USA from August 16-25. The invitation
>to Mr. Colas has been extended by the Friends of Cuban Libraries, a support
>group for Cuba's embattled independent library movement, which has become a
>worldwide focus of attention for human rights organizations. Of particular
>interest to Ramon Colas and intellectual freedom activists attending the IFLA
>conference will be an August 24 panel discussion on the theme "That We
>Should
>Support Cuba's Independent Librarians." The panel discussion will be
>sponsored by IFLA's intellectual freedom committee, known by the acronym
>FAIFE.
>
>According to reports received by the Friends of Cuban Libraries, the Cuban
>government denied Ramon Colas permission to leave the country after he
>submitted the standard paperwork and the $140.00 fee required of Cuban
>citizens seeking a passport. The passport application fee of $140.00 is
>equivalent to fourteen month's salary for a citizen of Cuba, where the
>average salary is approximately eleven dollars per month.
>
>Ramon Colas is an Afro-Cuban psychologist who was fired from his job as a
>hospital director after he and his wife, Berta Mexidor, founded Cuba's first
>independent library in early 1998. The goal of the independent library
>movement, which has now opened more than ninety institutions throughout the
>country, is to challenge Cuba's pervasive system of censorship by offering
>uncensored reading materials to the people of the island nation. As
>confirmed by IFLA, Amnesty International, the New York Times, the
>Washington
>Post, the Chronicle of Higher Education and other sources, the Cuban
>government has responded to the independent librarians with a campaign of
>harassment, intimidation, death threats, evictions, police raids,
>confiscations and arrests. In recent months the persecution of the
>independent librarians has escalated to the level of physical violence.
>Ramon Colas and Berta Mexidor, as the leaders of the growing library
>movement, have been a focus of repression on the part of the Cuban
>government, which has denounced the independent librarians as "criminals" and
>"traitors."
>
>Comments on the refusal of the Cuban government to allow Ramon Colas to
>attend the IFLA conference may be sent to the Cuban Minister of Foreign
>Affairs, Mr. Felipe Perez Roque. His e-mail address is:
>([log in to unmask]), with copies to: ([log in to unmask]).
>Please forward any responses to the Friends of Cuban Libraries.
>
>CONTACTS: The Friends of Cuban Libraries, founded in June, 1999, is an
>independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit support group for the independent
>librarians. We oppose censorship and all other violations of intellectual
>freedom, as defined by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, regardless
>of whatever government may be in office in Cuba. We are funded entirely by
>our members and do not seek or accept funds from other sources. For more
>information, send e-mail to: ([log in to unmask]) or telephone (USA)
>718-340-8494. Address: 4-74 48th Avenue, Apt. 3-C, Long Island City, NY
>11109 USA.
> ###
--
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
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