Book purging: A tactic straight from a tyrant’s playbook
November 11, 2021

by Gia Boragay

Hands off our libraries.

This is the emerging call of various university officials, academics, and students, as a series of “book purging,” or the systematic removal of certain materials labeled as “subversive” in school libraries took place in the past months.

Libraries in Philippine universities are under threat as the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) focuses on removing what it brands as “subversive materials” in schools as part of its bid to fight insurgency.

Academics, however, view this book purging campaign as an “assault to academic freedom” and a form of censorship. “Academic freedom is a useless concept if people do not have access to educational materials,” the group Academics Unite for Democracy and Human Rights (ADHR) noted.

‘Preemptive repression’

Last October 21, the Commission on Higher Education in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CHED-CAR) issued Memorandum Order No. 113, which called on higher education institutions to join the “region-wide removal of subversive materials both in libraries and online platforms.” The memorandum defined subversive materials as “literature, references, publications, resources, and items that contain pervasive ideologies of the Communist-Terrorist Groups (CTGs).”

According to CHED-CAR, the materials need to be removed because these would radicalize the minds of students.

Human rights group Karapatan criticized the memorandum as it counters CHED’s own mandate to “guarantee and protect academic freedom” under Republic Act No. 7722 or the Higher Education Act of 1994. The said law mandates CHED to “ensure and protect academic freedom” and “promote its exercise and observance for the continuing intellectual growth.”

“This campaign of book purging and online censorship incites a chilling effect and opens a slippery slope to clamp down on the public’s right to access information and suppress the freedom of academic inquiry and thought,” Karapatan Secretary General Cristina Palabay said.

Pulling out books and materials branded as subversive from libraries may also translate to the surveillance of “academics, scholars, authors, teachers, and students who read, write, and use them,” Palabay added.

Before the issuance of CHED-CAR Memorandum Order No. 113, several book purging incidents have already been reported, including cases in Aklan State University (ASU), Isabela State University (ISU), and Kalinga State University (KSU). CHED provincial offices reportedly “reached out” to the said universities and ordered the removal of “subversive” books in their libraries.

Books targeted for removal include historical documents signed during past peace negotiations between the Philippine government and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP).

Dr. Gerry Lanuza of the Congress of Teachers/Educators for Nationalism and Democracy (CONTEND), called the book purging campaign a “direct affront to academic freedom.”

“Para bang sinasabi ng militar na sila ‘yung tumatayong chief librarian ng mga paaralang ito kahit na wala naman silang kwalipikasyon. Malala ito sapagkat pinipigil nila ang paglago ng dunong ng mga mag-aaral at mamamayan at mga guro dahil nag-aakala ang estado na hawak na niya ang absolutong katotohanan”, Lanuza explained.

Lanuza added that throughout history, book purging has been used as a “desperate tactic” of those who wish to quell dissident thought.

During German dictator Adolf Hitler’s time, the Nazis conducted a massive book-burning campaign that targeted literature that was deemed subversive and opposed to the dominant party’s ideals. Blacklists were created to purge libraries of the works of literary and political figures including Bertolt Brecht, Erich Maria Remarque, and Ernest Hemingway.

In more recent times, in 2015, the Japanese government also made efforts to pressure a Tokyo-based textbook publisher to remove the depiction of comfort women from textbooks. The Japanese government particularly targeted the book “Traditions & Encounters: A Global Perspective on the Past,” and called on the publisher to revise depictions of “comfort women” and remove details on how thousands of comfort women were forced to provide sexual services to Japanese soldiers before and during World War II.

One primary goal of such book purging campaigns is to “revise history,” Lanuza explained. “Kaya dapat tumindig ang ating mga librarians. Dapat sumama sa mga unyon ng mga manggagawa sa edukasyon ang mga librarian upang maiwasan ang ganitong pressure sa mga makabagong barbaro sa ating lipunan,” Lanuza stressed.

‘Defend our libraries and universities’

In response to such attacks on academic freedom, members of the academic community have jumpstarted initiatives to fight back, issuing strongly-worded statements and organizing creative forms of resistance in the past weeks.

“If we are to be truly free and democratic, we allow our citizens to have free and open access to information for them to critically think about their decisions and fully participate in democratic processes and uphold human rights and social justice, all of which are embedded in our Constitution,” read a joint statement by the faculty of the University of the Philippines Diliman School of Library and Information Studies (SLIS). “It is insulting how they undervalue our capability as critical thinkers participating in a democratic society,” the statement stressed.

Several other campaigns under the banner #HandsOffOurLibraries have also been launched. ADHR, in particular, launched the “Aswang sa Aklatan” (Aswang in the Library), which features updates on the campaign, and collates links to news articles and statements by different sectors on the issue.

Another initiative also sought to provide digital access to books and materials targeted by the book purging campaign. Resources can be accessed through this link.

“We hope that more university and library officials will speak up and uphold democratic rights and academic freedom. What Duterte’s minions in the NTF-ELCAC do not understand is that they may remove all materials in libraries to suppress information, but as long as social injustice remains, the people and most especially the youth, will read, learn and seek information, as they look for analysis and answers to our current situation,” Palabay said.###

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