Forbidden Writers
by Andrei CodrescuWriting is the very opposite of "economic" anything -- it usually subverts the political establishments of all countries. In the '60s, American underground writers helped topple the totalitarian regimes of Eastern Europe, while Eastern European writing published in the United States made it difficult for hardline Cold Warriors to dehumanize the people over there. In those days, the CIA was smart: It actually promoted translation and facilitated exhibitions of modern art that upset the ideological commissars. These days, the CIA complains about not having enough Farsi and Arabic translators. Maybe there are, they just don't want to be spies. They'd rather translate literature. In my opinion, if there is enough literature you won't need so many spies. Of course, Treasury is not the CIA. In any case, nine months later, the Treasury Department relented. They issued the opinion that publishers can now work with writers from the economically proscribed countries as long as they aren't government officials. Makes sense to me. And how you know that they aren't government officials is that their governments want them dead.
