IP: Borders -- censorship & capitalism

[Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

As usual if anyone wants to give a responsible contrary position, like
Borders, I will be happy to forward it to IP djf]


Date: Wed, 20 Nov 1996 08:36:25 -0400 (AST)
From: Amey, Larry <lamey () Kilcom1 UCIS Dal Ca>


A forwarded message of interest:


Here is a *great* illustration of the greatest threat to free speech and
intellectual freedom today--corporate control, at least as powerful and
insistent as government attempts.
People on this list will especially enjoy the image of the Hoarders (umm,
Borders) execs
censoring speech while under a "Banned Books Week" banner.


> Banned by Borders 
> by Michael Moore 
>
>
>       On November 9, as I write this, I was supposed to have
>       been at the Borders bookstore in Fort Lauderdale,
>       Florida, speaking and signing copies of my book
>       Downsize This! Random Threats from an Unarmed
>       American. It was to have been the final stop of my
>       forty-seven-city tour. But on October 30 I was told that
>       the book-signing had been canceled. The Fort
>       Lauderdale Borders had received a memo from its
>       corporate headquarters in Ann Arbor, Michigan,
>       banning me from speaking or signing at any Borders
>       store in the country. 
>
>       When I was growing up in Michigan, the original
>       Borders was a store that actively championed free
>       expression. In fact, when I was publishing the
>       Michigan Voice, Borders would carry my paper when
>       other establishments would not. Now, Borders is a
>       huge nationwide chain, and its "liberal" views have
>       earned it the reputation as the "Ben & Jerry's of the
>       book chains." 
>
>       So why was I banned from Borders? My book was
>       doing well. It has been on the New York Times
>       best-seller list for a month and was the number two
>       best-selling Random House book for the entire Borders
>       chain.. I've been banned, I found out, because I made
>       the mistake of uttering a five-letter word, the dirtiest
>       word in all of corporate America -- "union." 
>
>       Back in September, on the second day of my tour,
>       when I arrived at the Borders store in downtown
>       Philadelphia, I found nearly 100 people picketing the
>       place because Borders had fired a woman named
>       Miriam Fried. She had led a drive to organize workers
>       at the store into a union. The effort failed, and, a few
>       weeks later, Miriam was given the boot. 
>
>       When I found this out I told the Borders people that I
>       have never crossed a picket line and would not cross
>       this one. I asked the demonstrators if they wanted to
>       take the protest inside. They thought it was a good idea.
>       I had no desire to cause a ruckus, so I asked Borders
>       management if it was O.K. to allow the protesters in.
>       They said yes. So we all came into the store, I gave my
>       talk, I gave Miriam the microphone so she could talk,
>       everyone behaved themselves and it was a good day all
>       around -- including for Borders, which ended up selling
>       a lot of books, breaking the record for a noontime
>       author at that location. (The record had been held by
>       George Foreman, and I now like to tell people only Ali
>       and I have beaten Foreman.) I also announced that I
>       would donate all my royalties for the day to help Miriam
>       out. 
>
>       Although Anne Kubek, Borders' corporate V.P. in
>       charge of labor relations, had approved my bringing the
>       protesters inside, upper management decided that she
>       had made a mistake -- and they were going to take it out
>       on me. On the following Tuesday I was scheduled to
>       speak at the new Borders store in New York's World
>       Trade Center. When I arrived, I was met by two
>       Borders executives. They had flown in from Michigan
>       just to stop me from speaking. The executives, flanked
>       by two security guards, explained that I could come into
>       the store and sign books, but I would not be allowed to
>       talk to the people who had come to hear me. They said
>       that the "commotion" I had caused in Philly raised
>       "security concerns." I couldn't believe I was being
>       censored in a bookstore. 
>
>       The Borders manager told the assembled crowd that I
>       would not be speaking because "Port Authority police
>       and fire marshals have banned all daytime gatherings at
>       Borders." When I heard this, I stepped forward and told
>       the people this was a lie, that I was forbidden to speak
>       because of my support for the workers in Philly. Under
>       protest, I signed the books of those who stayed --
>       beneath a big banner celebrating "Banned Books
>       Week." 
>
>       On October 13, I spoke to a large crowd in a Des
>       Moines auditorium. After the speech I went out front
>       and started signing books. "What store are these from?"
>       I innocently asked. "Oh, these are from the local
>       Borders," I was told. Well, I thought, they don't mind
>       if I make them some money -- as long as it's not on
>       their premises! Then someone slipped me an
>       anonymous note. It read: "We are employees of the Des
>       Moines Borders. We were told that we could not work
>       the book table tonight, that only management was
>       working the table, because they said they wanted to
>       'protect us' from you." 
>
>       An hour later, I went out to the parking lot and saw
>       some people standing there in the dark -- the employees
>       from the Des Moines Borders! They said they were
>       hiding out there because they had spotted Borders'
>       regional director with another man inside. "He flew in
>       to spy on you, or us, or both," they told me. "He saw
>       us so we may not have jobs on Monday." (Bookstore
>       employees afraid they might be fired for attending a
>       public speech at the Herbert Hoover High School
>       auditorium!) The executive had not introduced himself
>       to me -- or his colleague, who employees believe is a
>       unionbusting "consultant" hired by Borders. 
>
>       I wished the workers well, and the next night they held
>       their first union meeting. The previous week, the
>       Borders store in the Lincoln Park section of Chicago
>       had become the first Borders in the country to vote in a
>       union (United Food and Commercial Workers).
>       Recently, workers in Des Moines signed enough cards
>       to hold a union election. It is a victory that should
>       inspire not only Borders workers but underpaid
>       employees everywhere. That's why I am not in Fort
>       Lauderdale as I write this. Borders is "protecting" its
>       workers from me. 
>
>       Well, they're really going to need protection now. First,
>       I am donating my royalties from the next 1,000 sales of
>       Downsize This! to the organizing drive at Borders.
>       Second, I am asking each of you to support the Borders
>       workers in your city. Bring up the union when you're
>       in the store and thank that kid with the nose ring and
>       green hair for helping to revive the labor movement in
>       America. 
>
>       Note to Borders Executives: If, after this column is
>       published, you retaliate by removing my book from
>       your shelves, or hiding it in the "humor" section or
>       underreporting its sales to the New York Times list, I
>       will come at you with everything I've got. You
>       sandbagged me in Philly, and the only decent way for
>       you to resolve this is to give Miriam Fried her job back
>       and let the workers form their union without
>       intimidation or harassment. 






Larry Amey
Professor
School of Library and Information Studies
Dalhousie University
Halifax, N.S. 
Canada  
B3H 4H8
902-494-2488(tel) 902-494-2451(fax) e-mail AMEY () IS DAL CA