The Great Book Blockade of 2009

Posted by Robin Hemley on May 3, 2009 10:55 AM

I'm delighted to report that my latest McSweeney's Internet Tendency "Dispatches From Manila" (http://www.mcsweeneys.net/links/manila/1dispatch6.html) is getting some serious attention in the Philippines. The Philippines is a country that I have long loved -- I'm married into the culture, speak a fair amount of Tagalog, and have spent much time there. Over the years, I've made many great friends. But the country deserves a better government, as practically any Filipino will tell you. With corruption endemic, a common poll question is, "Is there any hope for this country?" I would like to think so. It's also a country that I believe more Americans should be aware of, as we fought a war over it and forcibly made the country our colony for fifty years.

In any case, my latest column, on a mind-boggling case of corruption that Philippine Customs officials have concocted to break international law and extort money from book sellers and book lovers in the Philippines (of which there are many), is something I had to write about when I saw it quickly sinking under the radar of the media in the Philippines. That doesn't appear to be the case anymore - there's been a good deal of blogging about the piece and a column by Manuel Quezon III will appear tomorrow in the Philippine Daily Inquirer in regard to the situation. He writes:

"My column tomorrow will be on Robin Hemley's latest Dispatch from Manila, as published in Timothy McSweeny's Internet Tendency. It details the months-long embargo on book importations that resulted from the Bureau of Internal Revenue's discovering it could reinterpret international treaties with impunity, until booksellers, faced with escalating storage costs, cried uncle and surrendered to the BIR by paying the fees it demanded."

I can't properly express how happy I am that writers and media folks in the Philippines are up in arms about the situation.

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