Citizen Reasons / Reinaldo Escobar

A television program, in order to be classified as such, needs to be broadcast through a channel and aired on television. For now, we Cuban citizens disconnected from the State institutions lack the necessary resources to produce a program completely within the law. We have to content ourselves recording from an amateur cameraman or two, and then try to edit a version on the computer. Then, if the file isn’t too big, we will upload it to the Internet and interested people will find the URL to download it. Some will copy it onto a CD or a DVD or a flash memory and pass it onto someone else who will play it who will also reproduce it and pass it on to someone else as if it were the flu.

This is the experience we recently shared with a group of friends. Dagoberto Valdés, Miriam Celaya, Dimas Castellanos, Yoani Wilfredo Sánchez Vallin and this writer. For half an hour we talked about a very general theme: The capacity of Cuban citizens to be citizens, independently of the official institutions. The result: An audiovisual titled “Citizen Reasons.”

In this space we offer no revelations, nor do we call anyone to action. In a respectful way we address a topic about which participants express themselves freely. If conditions were favorable and if we agree that the effort makes sense, we will repeat the experience as often as we can, to touch on other aspects of our reality. There will be other guests.

Click on the link to see the video: Citizen Reasons