In the Fight Against Fascism, Libraries Should Be Defended

We are living through a coordinated assault on knowledge. In a moment when Big Tech is waging war on complex thought, a fascist government is targeting higher education, and the media landscape is being demolished by the same oligarchs driving this era of smash-and-grab politics, libraries are under-appreciated outposts of struggle, sharing and survival. They are sites of refuge, where curiosity is nurtured, where people find shelter, education, entertainment, job assistance, skill-building programs, and access to resources that would otherwise be out of reach. “We do it all at the library,” Sara Heymann, a library associate in the Chicago Public Library (CPL) system, recently told me. “We do a lot of arts, science, and literacy programming. We host movie nights. We have programs for helpi