It takes courage…
...to start a library in castro's Cuba.
But two more groups of brave souls have done it. Very quietly, yet without secrecy, knowing full well the size and power of the state to come down upon them and break them.
Alone on an island, with their only defense the eyes of others from outside in freedom - people like you and me who now know this - these librarians have put together two more libraries, collections of words, dangerous words, for Cubans. These books must look rich and vivid and beautiful to them, given the bleakness of their surroundings and the grayness of their time horizons inside Cuba.
Nobody likes to live in slavery. Words and books and knowledge break chains and make people free. castro knows this - the librarians know castro knows this. They also know what he's done to other Cubans who have tried to build humble little home libraries - given them long prison terms in monstrous dungeons - and yet
They still do it. They build more libraries
And through bellisima Stefania, who lives on another island, the free and beautiful island of Sardinia, and who monitors all the little-known Web sites that can transfer this information, we get this news from inside Cuba. The 'Liberal' group identified in one of the photos refers to the word 'Liberal' in the international sense, which to us in the states, is Libertarian.
Stefania's short item, with photos and links to sites that have first learned of the new Cuban libraries being founded against all odds, is here and here.
Good for them!
The most encouraging aspect of this photograph, and the story, is to see that these valientes are quite young; which reinforces the reality that you can chain the island, the economy, the schools, the homes, and the bodies, but the mind can still be free.
You make some really good observations, Gigi. You're absolutely right. It is amazing that 47 years of castrodom has not crushed the human spirit, especially among these youthful freedom revolutionaries.
Can you IMAGINE how castro, in his raging dotage, must feel when he gets wind of these young people? Not only has he failed to stomp them out after 47 years, they are an utter repudiation of his horribleness and an utter rejection of his bogus and failed revolucion.
I have a library in my home. Nothing special, really. I buy books, I read them, keep the vast majority of them. It's sadly ironic that "an act of courage" in Cuba can be defined by starting a library.