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 for Liberty
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.
Daniel Ortega: From Revolutionary to Oppressor
Ortega's found it difficult to live up to his revolutionary ideals now that he's in charge.
Following years of occupation under Napoleon's armies during the Peninsular War, the Spanish Empire was severely crippled. In the decades that followed, many of Spain's colonies, emboldened by their years of self-governance during the Napoleonic wars, began splitting off and declaring independence. For Spain, the 19th century was marked by a decline in influence in the geopolitical sphere and the end of their status as a colonial power. The culmination of this decline was the Spanish-American war, in which Spain lost Puerto Rico, Cuba, the Philippines, and Guam to the United States. More importantly however, the end of the 19th century transformed the Western Hemisphere. The United States, not Spain, was now the leader on this side of the Atlantic, and while the U.S. didn't outright conquer the Central American nations (all of which were Spanish possessions until the mid 19th century) U.S. presence in the region was definitely felt.
Almost immediately following the Spanish American war, the United States found itself embroiled in conflicts all over Central America and the Caribbean, in what was later dubbed the Banana Wars. Perhaps more so than any other country, Nicaragua faced the full force of American intervention, being occupied virtually uninterrupted from 1898 to 1934, when the Great Depression forced the U.S. to pull its troops. This period of occupation saw U.S. soldiers clashing with the rebel forces of Augusto C. Sandino, also known as the Sandinistas. Following the withdrawal of the U.S. marines, Sandino was assassinated by Anastasio Somoza García, and the Somoza dynasty, a dictatorial regime that would rule Nicaragua until 1979, was born.
Like most dictatorships, the Somoza regime was rife with corruption and ultimately unsustainable. Starting in the early 1960s, the Sandinista National Liberation Front, named after Sandino's 1930s Sandinistas began openly opposing the Somozas. As these new Sandinistas began fighting a guerrilla war against the American-backed Somoza government, Daniel Ortega and his brother Humberto worked to consolidate the various anti-Somoza factions. Ultimately the revolution was successful, and the socialist Sandinistas took power in 1979.
Many businesses left Nicaragua for greener pastures, sensing that their profit margins were about to shrink. In response to their declining influence in the region, the U.S. government backed a conservative guerrilla group known as the Contras, who waged open war on the Sandinista government, murdering civilians and committing terrorist attacks throughout the country. The conflict reached a climax during the elections of 1990, when the U.S. government donated millions to Daniel Ortega's political opponent Violeta Chamorro. This was the first free election since the Sandinistas gained power, but ironically it was plagued by foreign intervention and assassinations. Violeta Chamorro went on to win the presidency, ending the Sandinista regime. Many political commentators speculate that the Sandinistas failed because Nicaragua's civilian population feared the Contra War wouldn't end until the Sandinistas were ousted from power.
Still, many of the socialist reforms put in place during the 80s were already in effect, and despite the gripes of wealthy industrialists, many people in Nicaragua were happier with their new lives. Some formerly wealthy people, like Luis Montoya Carrion, had even embraced the socialist cause. Before the revolution in 1979, Carrion had servants and chauffeurs. After, he began to "accept the fact [he] has to put [his] own case of Coke in the car." Carrion states that while there are still rich people and large businesses in Nicaragua, "the freedom to do whatever you want to your workers" is thankfully gone. Before the election in 1990, the culture of Nicaragua was shifting towards egalitarianism.
In recent years however, it's been a different story. The idealism of the Sandinistas has been all but drained from Nicaraguan society. When running in the 2006 presidential election, Daniel Ortega partnered with former Contra leader Jaime Morales Carazo in a move which Ortega claimed was designed to heal the divide. He also, in a complete reversal of his staunch leftist views, sought foreign investment to spur economic growth. Ortega is now in his third consecutive term as president after amending the constitution to eliminate term limits. Back in April of this year, Ortega's government violently suppressed student protestors using rubber bullets and in the months of unrest that have followed, hundreds of people have been killed. For many Nicaraguans, there's a cognitive dissonance attached to Daniel Ortega; a communist revolutionary repressing youth demonstrations now that he's the president. There is still a large portion of the population that sees Ortega as a hero and a patriot, but others believe him to be corrupt and that his government is exactly like that of the Somozas.
He's also drawn ire from many of Nicaragua's progressives for his very public turn to Catholicism. Instead of featuring the black and red Sandinista flags and overtly marxist taglines, Ortega's 2006 campaign feature pink posters that spoke about "Christianity, Socialism, and solidarity." He also, to the chagrin of liberal and leftist voters, refused to overturn the complete ban on abortion, a law that's still in place. It's extremely tempting to speculate what's caused Ortega to do a complete 180˚. Some believe his wife, who is also the Vice President of Nicaragua, has pushed him towards religion and the far right. Others look at Ortega's $50 million net worth and his newfound penchant for business and believe he's a man who has been thoroughly corrupted by money. There are even some reports that his campaign was financed via the drug trade and that his ties to criminal activity prove him incapable of being the leader Nicaragua needs as the 2nd poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Perhaps it's a combination of the three, or something else entirely.
What's clear, is that Daniel Ortega no longer represents the revolutionary Sandinistas– the ones who simultaneously inspired the poor to rise up and fight for their rights and rich men like Luis Montoya Carrion to embrace civic responsibility. As the civil unrest grows, Ortega points fingers at American interventionism in the press and flat out denies any responsibilities for his government's recent crimes, blaming a "satanic sect" for the protests. The recent uprisings have seemingly confirmed people's worst fears about Ortega, and leave many wondering about Nicaragua's immediate future. It seems as though it's hard to stay true to the ideals of a revolution after you've won it. That said, Ortega isn't the first to change his political stance after seizing power and more likely than not, he won't be the last.