English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
Last Thursday the call went out for an event on new technologies and social networks that will be held in Havana on June 21-23, 2012. Under the name CLICK Festival, we want to meet to discuss new trends in Web 2.0 and also to address the challenges that lie ahead in the use of these … Continue reading “CLICK to turn on… never to turn off / Yoani Sánchez”
TU NIÑA… Infinitely more lucid, more 20th century, less cowardly than he. Infinitely more beautiful, more slutty, less reactionary than she. Infinitely better than he and infinitely better than the woman with whom he would contract marriage out of fear. She was a Virgo of 17 years. A Latin American virgin, (not by whim is … Continue reading “TU NIÑA… / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo”
When a political personality, in the exercise of power, is fired from or retires from his job, to refer to his opponents or whoever does not share his ideas or opinions, to use insults, disrespect, derogatory adjectives, taunts, insults, rudeness or even personal character attacks, shows, as well as bad manners and lack of ethics, … Continue reading “A Bad Example / Fernando Dámaso”
The term “national security” is fashionable in the world: in Mexico violence is an issue of national security; in Columbia it’s the narco-guerrillas; in the U.S. it’s illegal immigration. But here, not to be left out, we talk about it too. Issues of national security are important for countries, and so their governments dedicate preferential … Continue reading “One More Wildcard / Fernando Dámaso”
Men rarely recognize the shortcomings of those they love, nor are they accustomed to appreciating the virtues of those they hate. Confucius For some years there is painful and frequent news in various journalistic media, print and digital, which questions the ethics of teaching professionals in Cuban schools. Some teachers or teachers eat their students’ … Continue reading “Ethics in the Cuban Schools: Little of Confucius and Much of Puss in Boots / Dora Leonor Mesa”
(Work originally published in number 9, Voices magazine) Several weeks ago an interview appeared in the virtual space cubaencuentro.com. The two-part interview was conducted by Luis Manuel García Méndez, and the person interviewed was the young American scholar Ted Henken. Titled “Mapping Blogolandia” (May 2011), Henken traces, with remarkable objectivity, his map of the Cuban … Continue reading “Cuban Blogosphere: Stings and Irritations of the Internet in Cuba / Miriam Celaya”
Soon, May 19, will mark the anniversary of the fall in Dos Rios, former province of Oriente, of José Martí, the most universal and transcendent of all Cubans. Poet, writer, critic, journalist, humanist, diplomat, politician, revolutionary and the main organizer of the independence struggle of 1895 which, after fierce fighting, allowed the emergence of the … Continue reading “The Fall of the Apostle (Jose Marti) / Fernando Dámaso”
– From Josefina de Diego – I confess that I didn’t remember the full text known as “Words to the Intellectuals,” delivered by Fidel Castro on June 30, 1961, at the National Library to a group of intellectuals. I think that, like many people, the only thing I remembered from the text was his famous … Continue reading “Thoughts on Fidel’s “Words to the Intellectuals” and other texts / POLEMICA: The 2007 Intellectual Debate”
Enemy Campaigns and The Politics of Confrontation with Counterrevolutionary Groups Download a PDF of this transcript here. La ciber policia en Cuba from Coral Negro on Vimeo. Presenter: Eduardo Fontes Suárez Introduction The title more or less says it all, we can adjust [the talk to meet] your interests, comrades, when it’s time for discussion. … Continue reading “MININT Cyber Lecture Video – English Transcript”
José Julián Martí y Pérez was born on January 28, 1853 and died on May 19, 1895. For Cuban politicians, he is what Christ is to the Catholic Church. No matter the ideology or leaning. Everyone prides themselves on knowing him inside out. It is politically correct for any official or dissident document to be preceded by … Continue reading “José Martí , a Hero for New Generations to Discover / Iván García”
Hi, Gustavo, I am grateful that you sent me the debate. I don’t know how to get involved in the analysis but I think that I need to. If you can, send this opinion to whoever you want. Although I have to confess that I find it difficult to express myself and to organise my … Continue reading “Messages from Belkis Vega / POLEMICA: The 2007 Intellectual Debate”
“It is always good to be, even in serious cases, as least hypocritical as possible.” April started off with good news for Havana’s lovers of the seventh art. I refer to the exhibit in the Charles Chaplin cinema of Martí: the Eye of the Canary, a fictionalized feature-length film, passionate and emotional, that successfully explores … Continue reading “Martí: The Eye of the Canary, a paean to dignity / Dimas Castellanos”
My mother contracted the debt in my name, and hours later made me aware of it. She said: “I promised the Virgin that you would go today to her leave taking. At seven in the evening they are taking her to another community, so do not wait too long to go.” For a deluded second … Continue reading “The Departure of the Patroness / Ernesto Morales Licea”
I don’t think capitalism is the model of a perfect life. But it is more logical and possible at this stage of human development. Communist ideologies removed at the stroke of a pen competition and discrepancies. We already know what that has meant. Material poverty, lazy people with no motivation to work. It discourages individuality. … Continue reading “The Hard Road to Democracy in Cuba / Iván García”
The audience maintains a restless silence: it’s after six in the evening, night will fall in a few minutes. They’ve been waiting since five o’clock, waiting for the meeting’s hosts with discipline. The audience is hungry, they have headaches, they have family worries they can’t get out of their minds, even though the place is … Continue reading “Operation Blogger: Algorithm for a Disaster / Ernesto Morales Licea”
