~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1.
Meet Library Willie
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Subject: Formal Introduction of librarywillie
Greetings from librarywillie@hotmail.com! Actually I
am Willie Braudaway, the Reference Librarian at the Val Verde County Library in
Del Rio, Texas (see Lety Ramos' previous introduction). By the way, I
am female, as "Flaco" soon discovered.
I'm looking forward to being properly edified by the
information you all will freely share. I met Marie Kaneko at FIL in
Guadalajara this year -- she has lots to offer! If I have anything worthwhile
to share, you can bet you'll hear from me. Thanks for the opportunity to
learn.
Willie Braudaway
librarywillie@hotmail.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
2.
Librarian Martin Vera on the UNAM strike
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I'm a member from
Mexico City and I'm part of the new Mexican Study Circle on Political
Librarianship http://libr.org/PLG/study_circle.html
This message is only to ask for your support and to inform
that paramilitary forces occupied the major Mexican Autonomous
University (UNAM) and ended a nine-month student strike with repression. This
was ordered by President Zedillo with a false sense of the law and cheered
by politicians, pseudo human-rights officials and mass media commentators.
The repression was not violent, it was without weapons, but
the government knew how to act: using mass-media manipulation and breaking
their promise that the only solution to this problem was going to be
through open public dialogue.
The result: more than 800 students in jail. ¿Why? Only
for asking for more financial resources for higher education. Only for asking
for justice. They didn't have weapons. Only ideas.
One of the main occupied departments of the campus was
Philosophy, where the Library School is located.
This is only a call to be aware that librarians in every
country must fight against the intolerance and injustice that comes as a result
of world globalization. We must not let libraries and education
be driven only tosatisfy market requirements. In other words, don't put
libraries in the hands of the capitalism. Thanks for your attention.
If you're interested in reading "official" news
about the conflict, see
http://www.cnn.com/2000/WORLD/americas/02/06/mexico.universitystri.ap/
index.html
but don't believe that is says all the truth.
My best regards, (with sad feelings...)
Martin Vera
