It’s National Library Week, so I’ve been thinking a lot about knowledge and the idea that knowledge should be readily available – for all. An informed populace is crucial to the health of the nation and a bulwark of democracy. The ability to think, to reason, to avoid being fooled, all these notions are tied to reading and easy access to the wisdom of the ages.
And this is exactly why libraries – and their contents – are under siege these days.
HuffPost’s Jennifer Bendery recently told readers:
“Librarians are living in constant fear. They have become the targets
of Republican politicians and far-right groups like Moms forLiberty
Liberty that are hellbent on burning books about LGBTQ+ people,
people of color and racism. Some librarians are quitting their jobs
because of constant harassment; others are getting fired for
refusing to clear shelves of books that conservatives don’t like.”
If that’s not bad enough – and it is – Bendery informs us there’s another evil twist in the tale: “The GOP’s censorship campaign has shifted from book bans to legislation threatening librarians with jail time.” Idaho’s tried several times to enact such legislation; this February, West Virginia passed a bill “making librarians criminally liable if a minor comes across content that some might consider obscene.” Idaho, Iowa, Alabama, and Georgia are also considering various means of keeping books they don’t like off the shelves...and they’re not alone.
The American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom shared some frightening statistics: “The number of titles targeted for censorship at public libraries increased by 92% over the previous year, accounting for about 46% of all book challenges in 2023; school libraries saw an 11% increase over 2022 numbers.”
Given these ever-more-frequent, ever-more-strident attacks, what can a concerned reader do to stem the tide of book-banning?
PEN America, an organization whose mission “is to unite writers and their allies to celebrate creative expression and defend the liberties that make it possible,” offers a number of ways to make one’s voice heard. Whether you’re a student, a parent, an author, or a librarian, PEN America provides advice, assistance, and resources to keep you informed and ready to push back.
The need to support the nation’s libraries is more urgent than ever. In Bendery’s HuffPost piece, American Library Association President Emily Drabinski draws a chilling conclusion: “What gets lost in conversations about book banning is that it’s really about eliminating the institution of the library, period. It’s not about the books. Well, it is about the books, but the books are the way in to gut one of the last public institutions that serves everyone.”
“You don't have to burn books to destroy a culture,” Ray Bradbury once said. “Just get people to stop reading them.”
Bradbury was one of the 20th century’s finest fabulists, the author of The Martian Chronicles, Something Wicked This Way Comes, and the worldwide blockbuster Fahrenheit 451. Published in 1952, the novel Fahrenheit 451 is set in a future where books are illegal and firemen don’t put out fires – they start them. Printed matter is what they burn.
Bradbury was writing in the tense, paranoid early years of the McCarthy era. But he might as well have penned those words last Thursday.
Support your local library. Speak up for the voices the hate-mongers would shut down. Before – as history’s proven again and again – they try to shut down yours.
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Students fight a book ban by giving away free banned bookswww.youtube.com
The New York Public Library has also weighed in on the matter, you can find its suggestions here.
The Worst Thing We Can Do Is Stop Hoping — On The Loss of Alexey Navalny
Written by Stanislav Kucher
With the brutal death of Alexey Navalny, there's a lot of pain, anger, and despair on the Internet. I’m talking about normal people, not moral monsters, scoundrels, and prostitutes — and people feel powerless. Many are crying not only over Alexey Navalny but also over the loss of hope: “Hope has died”, they write. But these words are a manifestation of self-pity — a quality that Alexey would least like to see in his compatriots.
And not for the sake of the words Navalny called upon people not to give up. Not for the cool pose he was showing everyone an example of true fearlessness and fortitude again and again while going in and out of the punishment cell.
He was encouraging his adherent — was laughing at his jailers, he joked and always smiled. He never slipped into cynicism, pathos, or vulgarity. He remained a human, a person, “my guy” proving “I could do it, and you can too.”
The worst thing we can do — all of us, who are shocked by Alexei’s death — is to stop hoping. We need to turn hope into a goal, and goals into reality. Yes, only a few are capable of self-sacrifice, as demonstrated by Navalny. From each according to his ability . . . But everyone, no matter where they are, can wipe away their tears, figure out what exactly they can do in their place, make a decision, and act to bring about change. Alexey has said more than once — in his videos recorded while free and in his posts from prison — that there are many ways, you can fight, the main thing is not to lose hope and faith in yourself, not to give up.
By dying, idealists become paragons for their contemporaries' children. Navalny and Nemtsov are heroes: the way they lived will frighten thieves and slaves, and inspire generations of free people around the world. Russia will also change, perhaps not as quickly as Boris and Alexey dreamed, but it will change. And the grandchildren of idiots who are posting abominations in Z-publics will stroll along avenues and squares named after the very heroes their ancestors spread rot about. It’s hard to believe now, but it will happen — just as Nemtsov and Navalny dreamed.
This will happen. Let’s not drown the pain in a cocktail of tears, vodka, despair, and apathy. Ask yourself the question . . .
“What can I do if I don’t want my grandchildren to live in a country of lies and death?”
Depending on your place of residence, occupation, age, talent, and personal qualities, the answers will be different for different people. This is fine. It's important that the question itself be asked first.
