The Madness of Library Closures

THE MADNESS MUST STOP!


The proposed library cuts will hit Bolton hard. According to the Bolton News: "libraries in Breightmet, Astley Bridge, Bromley Cross, Heaton, High Street in Daubhill, Castle Hill, Tonge Moor, Oxford Grove in Halliwell, The Orchards in Farnworth and Harwood could all face the axe." This is not only attack on literacy and access to education and culture, but an attack on ordinary people. A savage denial of the right to be entertained through civic effort, of the right to a quiet space of learning, to a repository of human culture. The "Big Society" so lauded by the Conservative led coalition is made so utterly bankrupt, so hollow and duplicitous as to totally invalidate any legitimacy and mandate the government has.

The Central Library in Bolton is an exceptional piece of the cultural framework of the town, housed in the beautiful Le Mans Crescent it is the centre of an excellent set of community libraries. The classical facade is a  natural meeting place, a place to greet and cherish a freshly withdrawn book, to chat with friends and share a lingering cigarette as the clouds gather in another Lancashire town. It was fitting that as part of the resistance and opposition to the travesty of the Library closures policy a demonstration was held there on Saturday the 5th of February by community groups and library users. Sadly it was a day of torrential rainfall which somewhat dampened the turnout and staying power of the protest. Nonetheless there was vigour and conviction in the opposition to the cuts, shared across the generations.

Bolton Green Party was there, demonstrating the Green Party's commitment to an alternative to the harsh and destructive ConLib cuts. The lack of other visible political parties compounded this and spoke of the bankruptcy of the Labour Party, especially damaging in a working class mill town such a Bolton, right in the heart of the traditional Labour strongholds.

PLEASE JOIN US AND SAVE OUR LIBRARIES!