By Jordan Allott & Daniel Allott on 2.5.09 @ 6:08AM
In America, 2009 has thus far been dominated by discussions about how
best to alleviate a recession that began just over a year ago. But in
communist Cuba, 2009 has been dominated by the commemoration of a
revolution that helped induce 50 years of economic depression and
instability.
But after half a century of broken promises of justice and prosperity,
there is a new revolution stirring in Cuba. Not a revolution marked by
murder and repression of human rights and waged with guns and
explosives. It is, rather, a revolution of ideas and information
undertaken with flash drives, digital cameras, memory cards and other
technologies that are giving voice to a new generation of Cubans.
Perhaps most prominent among Cuba's new cyber revolutionaries is Yoani
Sánchez, who writes an influential blog called Generaciòn Y.
During a December trip to Cuba, one of this column's authors, Jordan
Allott, spoke with Yoani about how her writing is helping to bring
change to Cuba.
Though Yoani sometimes interjects politics into her writing, she focuses
mainly on the frustrations of daily life in Cuba. "I don't have a list
of themes to write about," Yoani says. "I'm not a journalist. I am a
citizen who is writing about what is happening in my life. I only write
about things that I experience personally, whether it is Fidel Castro or
the potatoes at the supermarket."
As it happens, Yoani's personal experiences reveal a lot about political
realities in Cuba. Which is why, she says, "The process of making
Generación Y wasn't easy. There's a personal cost and a family cost, but
I don't want to play the victim. I'm responsible. I prefer not to be
constantly looking over my shoulder, even if I know they are watching."
The "they" to which Yoani refers are the Cuban authorities, who monitor
her blog and make it virtually inaccessible to those on the island.
Yoani is regularly threatened with jail time. But she continues to
write, because, she says, it "allows me to say…what is forbidden to me
in my public action."
Yoani was recently hauled into a police station and read the following
script: "We want to warn you that you have transgressed all the limits
of tolerance with your rapprochement and contacts with
counter-revolutionary elements. This totally disqualifies you for
dialogue with Cuban authorities."
Though "disqualifie[d]" from dialogue with the Cuban government, Yoani
is engaged in a rich dialogue with millions outside Cuba who are
sympathetic to the plight of a citizenry held hostage. Yoani's simple
blog has been so influential (Generación Y receives about 2 million hits
a month) that she was recently named by Time magazine as one of the
world's 100 most influential people.
Because access to the Internet is severely restricted in Cuba, Yoani
goes through a lot to get her dispatches out to the world, e-mailing
them to friends across the globe who translate and post her writing on
her blog. Yoani is often forced to pose as a tourist to get into cafes
or Western hotelsto access the Internet.
Traveling in Cuba, one is struck by the sense of hopelessness among
Cuba's youth. Thousands study computer programming at Cuba's University
of Information Sciences, and increased Internet access means more young
Cubans are catching a glimpse of what life is like in free nations
across the globe.
Yoani says, "Most young people's eyes are looking to the outside,
because they see that they cannot make change in their country. They
only see the status quo. Most young people desire to take a plane to
Miami or Europe and in 10 hours change their lives completely. They know
they cannot realize their dreams here."
But Cuba needs young Cubans like Yoani who are willing to stay and work
for freedom from within.
When Jordan spoke with Yoani in Havana in early December, they met at
the prestigious foreigner-only National Hotel, which was hosting the
Latin American Film Festival the same weekend. This made for an
interesting scene. Numerous Western journalists were present for the
film festival and to laud Che, a sympathetic biopic about the life of
Ernesto "Che" Guevara, the Castro lieutenant, mass murderer and cult
hero to leftwing radicals. Meanwhile, a short distance away, Jordan met
with Yoani to discuss what she and other democracy advocates are doing
to help tear down the legacy of Che, Fidel, and a government that keeps
its people in bondage.
Yoani remains hopeful and believes "change will come not through
government agencies but through the citizens and the spread of
information and exchange with the outside world." The Western media can
assist with this exchange or turn a blind eye. Either way, with Yoani
and a new generation of cyber revolutionaries casting the bright light
of reality on the failed Castro regime, the truth will no longer be easy
to ignore.
http://spectator.org/archives/2009/02/05/cubas-cyber-revolutionary
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