Mangoes and Eggs - A Cautionary Tale - Report from the Residential Conference on Emerging Democracies and Freedom of Information, Somerville College, Oxford, 2-4 September 1994

• Main Author: John Pateman
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: ISC Collective 1994-12-01
• Series: Information for Social Change
• Subjects: library conference; emerging democracies; capitalism; communism; international group of the library association; russell bowden; international federation of library associations; ifla; ifla conference; havana; cuban democracy; cuba; cuban politics; cuban election 1993; libraries; library
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4603881

What do mangoes and eggs have to do with a library conference about emerging democracies? They emerged as symbols of capitalism and communism during the International Group of the Library Association's weekend school. The tone was set by Russell Bowden, First Vice-President of the International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA). In his report on this year's IFLA conference in Havana and the "implications for Cuban democracy", Russell failed to mention the general election held in Cuba in February 1993. 99% of the population took part and only 7% spoilt their ballot papers in protest against the government. 585 of the 589 candidates polled more than 90% of the vote. The Communist Party had no role in the nomination of candidates, nor were candidates to be members of the Party.