[An old man, outwardly weathered but with an enthusiastic spirit]
My first book denounced the atrocities and abuses of my country’s oppressive government.
It was immediately censored. But I paid for a run of a hundred copies in an illegal printer shop. And then I gave all the copies away for free. I only asked people to pass the book onto someone else after reading it.
I couldn’t tell you how many people read it. Probably in the thousands as it was later distributed in photocopy. One thing I know for sure; people were talking about it and my ideas started to spread, to connect with people.
The proof is that the government sent me into exile soon after.
But that didn’t stop me. Shortly after migrating here, I started writing my second book. It was even more critical of my country’s government, but it also pointed out the traps and deficiencies I had experienced in this democracy I was living in.
I worked as fast as I could, always thankful for the freedom of speech that allowed me to write whatever I wanted.
And, of course, I anticipated it’d be hard to find a publisher for my new book; but not nearly impossible. In my country, they wouldn’t print it out of fear of going to jail. Here, out of fear of losing money.
I ended up self-publishing it. Just like my first book. And then I distributed it in some small bookstores.
No one bought it.
I cut the price in half. That only made it worse. People assume cheap things have no value.
I only gave up when I realized I was the victim of the most efficient censorship ever devised. The free market. A system that understands that suppressing ideas is just a way to advertise them; that people crave what’s forbidden. So they let these ideas free in a world filled with silly movies, escapist fiction, grandiose mass spectacles… where they’ll fade away, ignored by the public, disregarded because of their lack of profitability.
But that’s not the end of me. I now plan to sneak back into my country and write a third book.
I really hope they censor it like the first one.
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Copyright Abel Gonzalez 2016