 |
 |
And here's another quote from Jeff Jacoby, whom Honest Bob cites presumably on the assumption that we are stupid enough to accept the ramblings of a right-wing hack as evidence: "Real courage would mean standing up to the army of special interests and narrow constituencies that feed at the public trough and telling them to make do with less. True grit would mean saying no to the teachers unions and the welfare lobby and all the other liberal pressure groups that clamor for government subsidies and lavish entitlements." (full text available from Bob's link). Unsurprisingly, neither Honest Bob or Jacoby refer to the fatal air crash in Cuba at the weekend which killed, among others, a British couple on their honeymoon, and was caused by the American blockade of Cuba, which does not allow spare parts into the country. Jacoby does confirm that the "librarians" are not librarians, they are just political dissidents with some books who have lent them to "friends and neighbours." By this definition America's barbaric prison camp at Guantanamo Bay (arbitrary arrest, drugging of prisoners, no legal representation, indefinite detention without trial, sensory deprivation, the threat of summary execution - precisely the conduct condemned so eloquently in "Darkness at noon") probably contains quite a number of "librarians". One line of Jacoby's about a couple of these phoney librarians amused me rather- "Government persecution eventually drove them from Cuba". Eh? I thought Honest Bob's line was that Cuba has such an evil, oppressive regime that people were desperate to leave. My mistake, obviously. Or perhaps Jacoby is referring to American government persecution, which has been strangling this small, innocuous country for years. For the truth behind Honest Bob's propaganda campaign, see http://libr.org/Juice/issues/vol4/LJ_4.9.sup.html Those with a genuine rather than propagandist interest in Cuban libraries can find out more at http://www.libr.org/CLSG/ Regards, Aran Lewis > -----Original Message----- > From: [log in to unmask] [SMTP:[log in to unmask]] > Sent: Sunday, March 17, 2002 1:39 PM > To: [log in to unmask] > Subject: "Keeping Hope, Conscience Alive..." > > From Jeff Jacoby's column in the March 17 edition of the "Boston Globe," > describing his recent visit to Cuba: > > "And so was born the first of Cuba's independent libraries - independent > of > state control, of censorship, and of any ideology save the conviction that > it > is no crime to read a book.... The Castro regime boasts of having wiped > out > illiteracy. That makes it all the more unforgivable that it has turned the > lending of books into an act of defiance. Dissent in Cuba takes many > forms, > but there is none that shames the regime more." > > Full text available at: (www.boston.com/globe/columns/jacoby). > > Also, appearing SOON in translation on our website, the March 15 speech by > Berta Mexidor in the concert hall of Sweden's Parliament building, > accepting > the Democracy Prize awarded to her by Sweden's Liberal Party. > > Sincerely, > > Friends of Cuban Libraries > (WWW.FRIENDSOFCUBANLIBRARIES.ORG)