Illinois Fights Back against Book Bans, Philadelphia Uses Joy and Community to Resist Fascism, and More!

For the People Monthly Newsletter: August 2023

Spotlighting a Win for Libraries

Illinois Fights Back against Book Bans

In June, Illinois became the first U.S. state to “outlaw” book bans in its public schools and libraries, a win in the ongoing fight against those seeking to ban books. Legislators in other states, including Florida, Georgia, and Kentucky, have sought to pass laws aimed to limit access to books by or about people of color, books with LGBTQ+ characters and themes, and more.

The bill will go into effect January 1, 2024. After that time, in order to receive state funding, public libraries will have to adopt the American Library Association’s Library Bill of Rights, which states that “materials should not be excluded because of the origin, background, or views of those contributing to their creation,” or write a similar pledge.

The legislation was championed by Illinois Secretary of State and State Librarian Alexi Giannoulias, who explained that the law says “let’s trust our experience and education of our librarians to decide what books should be in circulation.”

The New Jersey Legislature is currently considering a similar anti-book ban bill.

Learn more about the Illinois law, including how it leaves out those who are most impacted by censorship here.

Philadelphia Uses Joy and Community to Resist Fascism

From June 29 to July 3, the people of Philadelphia turned out for a massive, multi-day protest that featured dancing, music, and solidarity. They came together to rally against the Moms for Liberty annual conference, which featured Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis as speakers, and was hosted at the Philadelphia Marriott and the Museum of the American Revolution. 

The protest started with weeks-long rallies, speeches, and actions organized by ACT UP Philadelphia, the Young Communist League, PENNSYLVANIA STOP Moms for Liberty, Defense of Democracy, a group of workers at the Free Library of Philadelphia, and others. Despite robust community support for the protestors, the hotel responded by calling security, and planning for the convention continued. 

On the night of the conference reception, the protest organizers responded by launching a four-hour dance party. The protestors returned every day of the conference and continued dancing, drawing, chanting, and singing, all in the face of a strong police presence. 

The organizers’ goal wasn’t to provoke the police but to use joy to combat Moms for Liberty’s hatred and draw attention to the harm they cause queer and BIPOC communities. The four-day protest is a perfect example of what can be accomplished when a community comes together to fight fascism with joy and love. 

Read Catherine Sorrentino’s fantastic article on the Philadelphia protests. 

Have you or your community experienced a library win? Let us know by completing this form and you may be featured in our next newsletter!

Calling All Library Board Candidates

Library Defenders, are you ready? More than 200 of you have said you’re serious about running for a library board seat or seeking an appointment—so let’s go!

For The People is assembling the first cohort of candidates who are ready to run for a library board seat or seek appointment, and we want YOU to be a part of it! Our cohort will receive 12 weeks of training in three 4-week sections. You’ll learn how to run for office, identify and pursue an appointment, and govern effectively as a leftist library board trustee. This cohort is aimed at candidates who are on track to run or seek appointment between January 1, 2024, and March 15, 2025. 

If you’re interested in running but not quite ready yet (or if your race is later than 3/15/25), stay tuned for our next cohort.

To apply for the 2023 Fall Cohort, complete our online application here—and congratulations on taking a huge step to defend public libraries!

Libraries and Lemonade Update

This summer folks have been using the good old “lemonade stand” format to talk with neighbors about strengthening and defending our public libraries. There are so many reasons to value and protect local libraries—they provide free public space, resources, and information. And there are so many ways to get involved: 

• Tell your elected officials to fully fund public libraries 

• Oppose book bans (where you live and around the country)

• Join (and participate in!) your local Friend of Library groups

• Run for or seek appointment to your local library board 

Check out these awesome photos from Arthur (thumbs up) and Brooke (serving lemonade) at their Libraries and Lemonade stand in Fresno, CA:

Data Collection Update

For The People is compiling the first-ever nationwide database of public library board seats to support leftists in running for, or seeking appointment to, office. Back in early March we launched our Data Collection Project Volunteer Task Force - since then we've had 230+ people help out in one way or another, and over 160 people have signed up to work on batches of 25+ public library systems.

Yesterday, we launched "Phase Two" of our data collection project. This new phase involves direct outreach to the public library systems that don't publish the info we're seeking on the web. 

We'll soon be sending out a reminder email to volunteers who have active batches that have been checked out for over a month. This email will encourage an end of August deadline for these “Phase One” batches. At the end of August, batches that aren't complete will be checked-back in so that we can re-assign them to new volunteers.

See the "Check-Outs" map in DataWrapper

See the “Returns” map in Datawrapper

Data Collection Project Volunteer Scoreboard

Huge congrats to Anonymous Volunteer Extraordinaire for coming in 1st place! And massive thanks to Molly Roy and Team CJM for being our next two highest level contributors. All volunteers will receive a prize package as described below.

We really appreciate all of the amazing volunteers who have helped out with this project so far. Sign up to help if you’d like to join the fun. The prizes are incredible, as you can see below:

• 1st place🥇: Two items from the For the People Bonfire Store (not to exceed $70 in total value) + A signed copy of Mariame Kaba's book Let This Radicalize You (or a $10 Bookshop gift certificate)

• 2nd place🥈: One item from the For the People Bonfire Store (not to exceed $30 in total value) + A signed copy of Mariame Kaba's book Let This Radicalize You (or a $10 Bookshop gift certificate)

• 3rd place🥉: A signed copy of Mariame Kaba's book Let This Radicalize You (or a $10 Bookshop gift certificate)

The scoreboard is an opt-in situation, so volunteers are named "Anonymous Volunteer Extraordinaire" by default unless they explicitly agree to have their name or an alias included on the scoreboard.

Take Action: Support ALA President Emily Drabinski against Right Wing Attacks

In an unprecedented decision, the Montana State Library Commission (MSLC) voted 5–1 to withdraw from the American Library Association, which provides libraries with funding, professional development, training, and other resources. The MSLC specifically cited ALA President and Marxist lesbian Emily Drabinski as a reason for their decision. In addition to cutting off Montana’s libraries from needed resources, the MSLC’s decision represents an escalation of right-wing attacks on libraries and individual library workers. This article from Jacobin contextualizes the red-baiting and homophobia that led to this decision, and what it means for our fight moving forward. 

Take Action: If you’re as mad as we are, check out this letter of support for Emily and her ALA presidency, which has over 1,700 signatories and counting. You don’t have to be a librarian or ALA member to sign on yourself! To do more, you can register for the free Intellectual Freedom Defense Talking Points webinar (more information below) to learn how to speak up against these kinds of attacks in your community.

Skill Building with Library Freedom Project

Our friends at the Library Freedom Project are putting on two free webinars to help you build the skills you need to be a more effective library defender! To help LFP keep these resources free for all, you can donate to their Patreon or Paypal.

Powermapping and Open Source Intelligence 101

Thursday, August 10, 2023, 6:00 PM Central

Virtual (Zoom)

Email info@libraryfreedom.org to RSVP and receive the Zoom link

Learn how to map relationships of power and money in your community with our special guests from Philly Power Research. PPR uses open-source intelligence methods and tools to understand money and relationships among people like local politicians, police, real estate

developers, landlords, and more.

Intellectual Freedom Defense Talking Points

Thursday, August 24, 2023, 6:00 PM Central

Virtual (Zoom) 

Email info@libraryfreedom.org to RSVP and receive the Zoom link

When we run our intellectual freedom defense workshops, one of the things that resonates the most with people is practicing talking points for dealing with opposition. In this webinar, we’ll review some of the typical arguments we hear from opposition, and then discuss strategies for responses, as well as how we can reclaim the narrative to be about our own positive agenda in libraries. This will be a highly participatory webinar. Attendees are asked to come thinking about the strategies that have worked for them, as well as areas where they still need help.

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