LJ Talks to Andrei Codrescu

Andrew Richard Albanese -- Library Journal, 2/9/2006

At the recent ALA Midwinter Meeting, Romanian-born author Andrei Codrescu used the keynote address to chastise ALA for not standing up for Cuba's so-called independent libraries. For conference organizers, who have engaged and addressed the issue of Cuba's independent libraries since 2000, the topic came as a surprise. LJ caught up with Codrescu last week, and asked him about his views.

LJ: Who first brought the Cuba issue to your attention? Have you visited Cuba, perhaps even visited an "independent library" in Cuba?

AC: I saw press reports in the U.S. on Cuban arrests of librarians and I got the facts in good order from civil liberties columnist Nat Hentoff and Robert Kent of Friends of Cuban Libraries. I have visited Cuba, in 1997. I would have dearly loved to meet a private librarian, but I did not even notice any books in Cuba, leave alone bookstores or librarians. I saw some book peddlers in Havana's old city hawking dusty speeches by Che and Fidel. The only printed matter, mostly unavailable, was the pathetic cliche-filled four page official rag of the Communist Party, "Granma," which carried soporific speeches by El Maximo Leader.

Since 2000, a number of ALA members have traveled to Cuba, finding the independent libraries issue "questionable" and deciding that a resolution in support of them would endanger hopes of a true professional exchange. How would you respond to that argument?

That kind of twisted thinking is their problem. The simple truth is that their fellow librarians are in prison for defending the human right to read, and the ALA would rather indulge in sophistry than feel human or professional sympathy.

Many in ALA have applauded your stance while others feel you sandbagged conference organizers, who expected you to address other topics. What made you decide to address the Cuba issue?

The conference organizers asked me to dedicate some of my keynote to librarians in my past who were influential to my writing. This I did, by paying homage to the illegal librarian in my youth, in communist Romania, who lent books forbidden by the State to young writers. Such librarians are why there are writers in dictatorships. In Cuba today, illegal librarians are the only hope for future Reinaldo Arenas or Cabrera-Infantes. No ALA organizer told me what to say, and it's a good thing too, because this is still a free country. I had one amiable telephone conversation with Michael Gorman, President of the ALA, who had the good sense not to ask me what to address. About 60 percent of my speech was dedicated to the theme of the conference: the future of libraries and librarians. I also made an impassioned plea for helping the New Orleans Public libraries, damaged by the hurricanes.

Recently, Google has announced it that will take the money and censor in China. They argue, essentially, that "some" information is better than none." How do you view that decision?

It is despicable. Google is immoral.

I can't let the opportunity pass to ask you about your adopted hometown of New Orleans. What is the situation like on the ground there for you, and how do you feel the city will rebound?

New Orleans is now a testing ground for our national will to deal with cities and their problems. Roughly 80 percent of public libraries in New Orleans have been destroyed and most of their staffs have been laid off. The rare and marvelous music collection of the Tulane University Library is gone. With help from everywhere, New Orleans libraries will come back, but some long-term thinking about the role of these libraries and their architecture is in order. The city will rebound for some, it will be lost for others.

ALA will be there in June—any plans to keep the heat on over Cuba while ALA is in your city?

I wish I had the time to keep the heat on the ALA, but June in New Orleans should be heat enough for most participants. The issue of Cuba is very much alive, however, and I wouldn't be surprised to see the current leadership overthrown by the vote of sensible people because of this issue. The current leaders deny reality, and that can't be the case for the rank and file.