WE should grieve over these: to wake up one day with not one but two independent bookstores viciously vandalized, the signages ruined by red letters. Tagged. Branded. Judged.
The letters are done in a hurry as if illicitly committed by phantom markers. Or thieves ready to run. Or mad men. They are not real judges or arbiters of what these stores carry or else they would not have rushed things. They should have taken their time, unafraid to be questioned of their authorities.
Who possesses the power to pass judgement on Popular Bookstore and Solidaridad if not those who read their books. But for those who read, judgment is never passed on books and reading materials but an understanding, or an opposition to the ideas therein or, at gut level, the celebration of the joys that words can bring to a human being.
Who brands a bookstore with one ideology? Not the regular reader who is certain the shelves in his favorite shop contains tales of lust and love, of kinship and adventures, of romance in meters, and poems as free as the many forms they follow. Not the scholar who is ready always with his critique of the positionalities contained in books and books about gender and government, politics and faiths, society and solitude.
To carry a single ideology is a kiss of marketing death for a bookstore. Any kind of bookstore sells different ideologies, some difficult to comprehend, some easily adaptable to the social environment. Ideological, the contents of these books are, in fact, not necessarily in agreement with each other.
What is the mark of a good independent bookstore then? There are many good traits expected of a functioning bookstore. First, it should contain books that can explain societies from different perspectives. All the isms should be there. For inspection and introspection. The good bookstore should provide a room where the writers and the readers (and every now and then a beloved critic, which is rare) meet for a conversation. Or debate. A good bookstore should be about the inalienable liberty to peruse materials or even to condemn then. So long as you read the book first. You cannot condemn a book if you have not read and understood it.
The scholars of these decades and the past would remember how the Popular Bookstore, with their old branch in Doroteo Jose, at the corner of Avenida, and Solidaridad along P. Faura were the go-to places for rare books especially in the field of social sciences. They were rare only because rare were the bookstores that would invest on titles that have no critical mass support. These would include what students of politics, sociology, anthropology, economics and literature would call Marxist literatures. They should include Marx’s “Capital,” not an easy read. And yet these literatures cover also books written by Neo-Marxists and French Marxists, which to me remain exciting reading materials.
In these bookstores, Marx and his theories that have evolved in other thinkers’ minds or been subverted through the imaginations of other intellectuals, are not default guide to revolution, peaceful or violent. These literatures are used to articulate and crystallize researches on cinema and cultures, rituals and religions, myths and metaphors. Even dance.
With all the schools of thought represented in any independent bookstore, what dominant ideology can be pinpointed by those who may not have even swam through the waves of ideas in said place? In the splendor of colors present in the hundreds of books, a single color is a dumb choice to tag a place where minds are nurtured to respect varied worldviews. Within the limited spaces of bookstores and libraries can be found an endless area for individuals to elevate their thinking to one that is critical, daring, enjoyable and adventurous.
Let us situate this situation deeper in the context of what we are as a country. We are not a society of readers. Crucial to our education is the proliferation of reading programs, with the participation of nongovernmental development institutions at the forefront. It is not enough that a child learns lessons in a classroom; we expect the child to grow into one who reads and accumulates more information. We do not discriminate with regard to reading materials. Our educational system, both formal and non-formal, is so impoverished that we are happy enough that a citizen reads.
Eurocentric as it may be but the thoughts of John Locke remain relevant to our crisis when he said: “Education begins the gentleman, but reading, good company and reflection must finish him.”
We know why some individuals are into controlling bookstores, spaces that are already controlled by the realities of loss and profit. These men and women either do not believe in production of knowledge or they are deathly scared of knowledge because it is power. The pathos in the situation is how in the darkness of widespread illiteracy obscuring the development of our society, there exist enabling structures snuffing the tiny light of intellection present in reading, and propagated by books.
Bookstores in all forms proliferate freely in civilized, literate worlds. It is in our world that these bookstores are scarce and, where found, are threatened with cancellation or control. This threat began with individuals and small organizations and now it is moving into shelves of learning and thinking.
Are we moving out of the lockdowns of pandemic into another lockdown, one where masks are worn by those enforcing the control?
The case of the two independent bookstores happened while we were sleeping. The order seemed hurriedly issued, or surreptitiously enforced. Like rush jobs done, the acts of these men or women have only anonymity on their side. Or ignorance. Or ignominy.
One morning, we wake up with grief. One day, we should wake up with rage.
E-mail: titovaliente@yahoo.com
Image credits: Jimbo Albano