Free Range Librarian

Arthur Miller, “A Visit with Castro.” The Nation: January 12, 2004
Miller reports on a visit to Cuba, in which Castro is “a handsome old clock that no longer tells the time correctly and bongs haphazardly in the middle of the night, disturbing the house.”
Joan Smith & Adolfo Fernandez Sainz, “Writers in prison: [...]

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http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0405/hentoff.php
“It is hard for me to believe that the majority of rank-and-file librarians agree with the spinelessness of their governing council, which couldn’t bring itself to ask the luminous Fidel Castro to let these people go. … I now publicly renounce the Immroth Award and demand that the American Library Association remove me from the [...]

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See:
Carrying Fidel’s water, http://washingtontimes.com/op-ed/nhentoff.htm
This is pretty much how it went down at ALA Midwinter, although I hope we can later see the transcripts and look more closely at the discussion.
In all fairness to my association, our internal discussion about Cuba has long been co-opted by the more extreme voices on the right, leaving this [...]

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Sandy Berman, who was honored in absentia at ALA’s January, 2004 midwinter meeting in San Diego, wrote this after the conference:
“If any SRRTer [member of the Social Responsibilities Roundtable] truly believes that opposing the Draconian 2003 crackdown on Cuban dissidents and demanding both their release from prison and return of all confiscated materials fully [...]

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http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/27/politics/27PATR.html
And it happened right here in the Golden State: “In Los Angeles, the judge, Audrey B. Collins of Federal District Court, said in a decision made public on Monday that a provision in the law banning certain types of support for terrorist groups was so vague that it risked running afoul of the First Amendment.” [...]

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The Campaign for Peace and Democracy has two excellent statements about Cuba on its Web site to add to your collection of sensible critiques of the policies of both the United States and Cuba. These statements strike exactly the right balance, neither forgiving of ludicrous, jingoistic U.S. policies or unsparing of the spring [...]

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This is a short, readable discussion about human rights in Cuba, from Human Rights Watch.
http://hrw.org/english/docs/2003/12/31/cuba7002.htm
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Good for him! He made reference to being a “good patriot,” wink wink, nudge nudge. Catch his comments online, once the program is archived, at http://www.prairiehome.org/.
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Nat Hentoff’s response to “ALA AND CUBA: who’s afraid of Nat Hentoff”
FROM Library Journal Academic newswire. Jan. 22, 2004
The letter that follows my comments below was republished with Mr. Hentoff’s permission and encouragement. Nat, good for you! This morning I was spending thought and prayer on this issue, trying to decide how to put [...]

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http://aclunc.org/pressrel/040122-safeact.html
Jessamyn on librarian.net rightly called this a “can of whup-ass.” Quickly donning my hat as state IFC chair, I’ll add that it has been a blast working with the ACLU on this issue. Like her, I can’t resist putting the graphic in my blog. I’ve written ACLU to ask if we can get a [...]

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