[Reader-list] Don't Buy Harry Potter Books

[Anivar Aravind]

Don't Buy Harry Potter Books

Richard Stallman
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http://stallman.org/harry-potter.html

Canadians have been ordered not to read books that were sold to them
"by mistake" . Read that article,
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1691805,00.html
then don't buy any Harry Potter books. Everyone who participated in
requesting, issuing, enforcing, or trying to excuse this injunction is
the enemy of human rights in Canada, and they all deserve to pay for
their part in it. Not buying these books will at least make the
publisher pay.

Unlike the publisher, who demands that people not read these books, I
simply call on people not to buy them. If you wish to read them, wait,
and you will meet someone who did get a copy. Borrow that copy--don't
buy one. Even better, read something else--there are plenty of other
books just as good, or (dare one suggest) even better.

Making Canada respect human rights will be hard, but a good first step
is to identify the officials and legislators who do not support them.
The article quotes a lawyer as saying, "There is no human right to
read." Any official, judge, or legislator who is not outraged by this
position does not deserve to be in office.

On what conditions should we end this boycott? Forgiveness is called
for when someone recognizes what he did wrong and acts accordingly. I
think we should forgive the publisher when it

   1. Recognizes that this injunction was wrong.
   2. Promises not to do anything like it again.
   3. Calls for changes in the law so that nobody can get such an
injunction again.

When I say "the publisher" I mean the principal publisher, the one
that licenses out the rights for other countries such a Canada. It
clearly is in a position to control what the others do, so the
responsibility falls there.

__
Anivar Aravind
GAIA