"We are living through a coordinated assault on knowledge. In a moment when Big Tech is waging war on complex thought, a fascist government is targeting higher education, and the media landscape is being demolished by the same oligarchs driving this era of smash-and-grab politics, libraries are under-appreciated outposts of struggle, sharing and survival. They are sites of refuge, where curiosity is nurtured, where people find shelter, education, entertainment, job assistance, skill-building programs, and access to resources that would otherwise be out of reach."
"As models of the kind of community care, education, and learning infrastructure we need not only to fight fascism but to build the world we want, public libraries should be fortified and expanded. Instead, they are often targeted during budget battles - and that is precisely what's happening in Chicago right now. The proposed budget put forward by Mayor Brandon Johnson includes catastrophic cuts to an already underfunded library system."
Society faces a coordinated assault on knowledge from Big Tech, authoritarian political forces targeting higher education, and oligarch-driven media consolidation. Public libraries function as underappreciated community hubs that preserve curiosity and provide shelter, education, entertainment, job assistance, skill-building programs, tax and small-business help, and mental-health resources. Many library branches operate under chronic understaffing and scarce funding. Public libraries offer community care and learning infrastructure needed to resist authoritarianism and build resilient communities. Proposed municipal budget cuts in Chicago would inflict catastrophic reductions on an already underfunded library system and threaten essential services.
Read at Truthout
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