Twitter in Cuba
When the internet allows us to hear from people within Cuba about their reality, that reality, not surprisingly, continues to bear little resemblance to the jingoistic, mind-numbing official version put out by Granma and other government-controlled media. One such window into Cuba is Yoani Sanchez ( @yoanisanchez ). Her work has been published in her blog GeneracionY and carried outside Cuba by a number of publications, including the Washington Post (that is her latest piece, on Hugo Chavez's illness and its political significance).
This past July 1, 2011, Twitter users in Cuba met for the first time in Havana. The meeting was organized by Leunam Rodriguez, who works for a government-controlled radio station (that is redundant because all media is government-controlled in Cuba, but I want to make sure the point is obvious). Some independent Twitter users such as Mario ( @maritovoz ) traveled literally half-way across the island to be there, in Mario's case from Villa Clara province, not a small feat in a country in which traveling any sort of distance is extremely difficult.
When Mario got to the gathering, there was some confusion. The meeting was supposed to have taken place at a Havana pizzeria. When Mario got there, there were few Cuban twitter users around. He was interviewed by the foreign press who were there to cover the event, all more or less confused as to whether the event was taking place at all or if it had been cancelled by official edict. Eventually it was discovered that the meeting had been moved at the last minute to a government-provided pavilion, lest there be any confusion as to who was in control of the proceedings.
Mario made it to the officially-sanctioned pavilion, only to be disgusted by what he found. "What I found in the Pavilion, "he tweeted shortly thereafter, "has little to do with the freedom of Twitter and much to do with the prison that is Cuba." Yoani Sanchez was not impressed either. With her usual crystal-clear understanding of official Cuba's methods, she stated the meeting had been kidnapped by officialdom and declined to participate.
What happened here is clear. This meeting was organized by a state media employee, who was probably well-intentioned but who forgot that in Cuba everything is political and that the government will not allow even the smallest hint that it is not fully in control. Thus, he made a tactical mistake when he arranged for a "non-government" space in which to have the meeting. At the last minute, the government exercised its control, as it does on a daily basis in all facets of Cuban life, and transferred the venue to a location with an official imprimatur attached lest there be any doubt as to who is in charge in Cuba.
What is different, of course, is that a few years back none of us would have been able to hear the dissenting voices so easily and so quickly. Simply being able to express a different opinion from the government line is monumental, and having others be able to hear that opinion is a victory. That is precisely what the Cuban government has been trying to prevent for the past 50 years through its monopoly on information and communication.
Commenting on the event, Ted Henken, a professor of sociology and Latin American studies at Baruch College in New York, just about nailed it: "I think Twitter is political even when it's not political," he said. "The (Cuban) system is very monolithic; therefore even if you use Twitter to promote a sewing circle ... it's political because it is unfiltered."
When I first read about the meeting, I looked up some of the people involved by their Twitter names. To my disappointment, the first few were doing little more than providing links to official Cuban media stories and (a dead giveaway as to affiliation) sending warm wishes to Hugo Chavez on his recovery.
But then I started to read Mario's tweets and I knew that, like Yoani Sanchez, here was the real thing. Here was someone inside Cuba willing to speak his mind and state his truth and refusing to play along with the government. That takes courage when you live in a country with an all-pervasive security apparatus and no due process rights. Tomorrow, he and Yoani Sanchez and others like them could be accused of almost anything and be put in jail for 2, 5, 10 years without anything resembling a fair trial. Just like that. And they know it. And they still go on speaking their mind. That blows me away. I wish under similar circumstances I would have that courage, but I don't know if I would. I really don't know.
Which goes to show you that while technology may have great potential, it is what some people have the courage to do with it that counts.
Source
This past July 1, 2011, Twitter users in Cuba met for the first time in Havana. The meeting was organized by Leunam Rodriguez, who works for a government-controlled radio station (that is redundant because all media is government-controlled in Cuba, but I want to make sure the point is obvious). Some independent Twitter users such as Mario ( @maritovoz ) traveled literally half-way across the island to be there, in Mario's case from Villa Clara province, not a small feat in a country in which traveling any sort of distance is extremely difficult.
When Mario got to the gathering, there was some confusion. The meeting was supposed to have taken place at a Havana pizzeria. When Mario got there, there were few Cuban twitter users around. He was interviewed by the foreign press who were there to cover the event, all more or less confused as to whether the event was taking place at all or if it had been cancelled by official edict. Eventually it was discovered that the meeting had been moved at the last minute to a government-provided pavilion, lest there be any confusion as to who was in control of the proceedings.
Mario made it to the officially-sanctioned pavilion, only to be disgusted by what he found. "What I found in the Pavilion, "he tweeted shortly thereafter, "has little to do with the freedom of Twitter and much to do with the prison that is Cuba." Yoani Sanchez was not impressed either. With her usual crystal-clear understanding of official Cuba's methods, she stated the meeting had been kidnapped by officialdom and declined to participate.
What happened here is clear. This meeting was organized by a state media employee, who was probably well-intentioned but who forgot that in Cuba everything is political and that the government will not allow even the smallest hint that it is not fully in control. Thus, he made a tactical mistake when he arranged for a "non-government" space in which to have the meeting. At the last minute, the government exercised its control, as it does on a daily basis in all facets of Cuban life, and transferred the venue to a location with an official imprimatur attached lest there be any doubt as to who is in charge in Cuba.
What is different, of course, is that a few years back none of us would have been able to hear the dissenting voices so easily and so quickly. Simply being able to express a different opinion from the government line is monumental, and having others be able to hear that opinion is a victory. That is precisely what the Cuban government has been trying to prevent for the past 50 years through its monopoly on information and communication.
Commenting on the event, Ted Henken, a professor of sociology and Latin American studies at Baruch College in New York, just about nailed it: "I think Twitter is political even when it's not political," he said. "The (Cuban) system is very monolithic; therefore even if you use Twitter to promote a sewing circle ... it's political because it is unfiltered."
When I first read about the meeting, I looked up some of the people involved by their Twitter names. To my disappointment, the first few were doing little more than providing links to official Cuban media stories and (a dead giveaway as to affiliation) sending warm wishes to Hugo Chavez on his recovery.
But then I started to read Mario's tweets and I knew that, like Yoani Sanchez, here was the real thing. Here was someone inside Cuba willing to speak his mind and state his truth and refusing to play along with the government. That takes courage when you live in a country with an all-pervasive security apparatus and no due process rights. Tomorrow, he and Yoani Sanchez and others like them could be accused of almost anything and be put in jail for 2, 5, 10 years without anything resembling a fair trial. Just like that. And they know it. And they still go on speaking their mind. That blows me away. I wish under similar circumstances I would have that courage, but I don't know if I would. I really don't know.
Which goes to show you that while technology may have great potential, it is what some people have the courage to do with it that counts.
Source
Labels: cuba, felix, generaciony, mario, sanchez, twitter, yoani
posted by Yimboro | 9:52 AM
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