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French Government Withholds Funds from Rightist-Controlled LibrariesThe French government has withheld funding from the library administration in the town of Orange and has expressed its displeasure over the political control the ultra-right-wing National Front mayors there and elsewhere in southern France are exerting over public libraries. The British Library Association Record reported this month that the action was taken to express disapproval of the Front's censorious regime of employing unqualified Front-friendly staff to fill senior positions. The National Front won majorities in the towns of Orange, Marignane, and Toulon in 1995. The Swedish library magazine DIK Forum reported that in Orange, the chief librarian quit after enduring harassment and pressure; she was replaced by a 25-year-old without a high school diploma who is, however, faithful to the National Front. The Front continues to exert pressure on libraries to favor its own publications and remove dissenting material. In Vitrolles, where the front gained power in 1997, local officials have forbidden journalists to visit or photograph the public library without permission. Posted December 14, 1998. |
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