Yoani Sanchez & Tania Bruguera: Using Technology to Attack Intolerance in Cuba
Vicente Morin Aguado
HAVANA TIMES — On December 30 last year, Cuban authorities prevented the staging of a performance by Tania Bruguera at Havana’s Plaza de la Revolucion, located in front of the nation’s government headquarters.
Previously, during the 7th Havana Arts Biennale in 2009, dissident blogger Yoani Sanchez had taken the limelight at another of Tania’s performances, making headlines in many newspapers around the world.
The unexpected appearance of Sanchez (wearing a wig and all) at one of the debates organized by the Cuban journal Temas on October 30, 2009, revealed the blogger’s now proven theatrical skills, capable of successfully provoking and mocking the Ministry of the Interior agents tasked with monitoring her activities.
These two Cuban women – Sanchez and Bruguera – individually and directly attack the intolerance that reigns in Cuba. Their way of questioning this reality varies. There are indeed more than enough reasons to make such criticisms and, without a doubt, the performances they stage defy authoritarianism and promote freedom of expression in Cuba.
When she was the US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton expressed regarding the most renowned Cuban blogger:
“She has used technology to promote positive change. She has created an interactive space for the exchange of ideas and free expression. She has given voice to the concerns and aspirations of her fellow citizens. And, as governments are learning around the world, you cannot stop the internet.”
I included all of her praise for ethical reasons, even though I do not believe Sanchez expressed “the concerns and aspirations of her fellow citizens” – that is something of a sweeping statement.
The essential point is that both women are taking advantage of the possibilities afforded by technology within the mass media. It is easy to take on an opponent who is protesting with a sign in the middle of the street. It is nearly impossible to oppose art and the infinite mechanisms offered by the Internet.
I am always on the alert against the dangers of the “mass media,” precisely because they tend to simplify information and appeal to sentiments that constitute a primary means to knowledge. I believe it is crucial to read, study and explore the world, approach the truth only after a significant effort at understanding.
When it comes to my country, the issue is that media spectacles such as the performance planned by Tania Bruguera or the theatrical gestures of Yoani Sanchez have become intelligent ways of fighting authoritarianism, even if they aren’t more than isolated incidents whose main impact is felt abroad.
Paraphrasing the lyrics of a song by a renowned Cuban folk musician, “They have the floor, I keep silent out of respect.” I personally choose to keep my critical observations to myself at this point, because the future of Cuba needs proposals and consensuses that go much further than media spectacles.
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Vicente Morín Aguado: [email protected]
This must be the most repeated nonsense I have ever heard. When someone wants to discredit a dissident, they just claim that they are in the payroll of the USA.
I am blessed that I live in a country that has dissidents paid by several countries, companies, organizations, media… ETC ETC. God bless them all.
Ali – You need some new material.
TROJAN HORSE,
The use of plc’s or programable logic controllers as was demonstrated in major problems in Iran and led to catostrophic failures of critical industrial equipment .
A remote wifi hack can destroy a process and cause unimagineable loss.
The solution requires the use of a little more copper in the electrical plan to hard wire the inputs and outputs and military action at the plant control centre to monitor and protect sensitive relays and systems from physical hands on manipulation
to defeat a sabotage.
What this means is, you have to use military action against digital wifi computer hacking and we all know that is happening globally . So instead of a fire wall as is
difficult to maintain avoid the digital programing risk by illimination. Intead build a fool proof copper communication line wire that can not be defeated .
Your probably asking yourself ,what does this have to do with cell phones?
This technology allows anarcists and dead beats to make lines of communication
as was seen in Egypt , Ukraine and others to be successful in overthrowing a system and destroying national interests. Evil doers have demonstrated globally
the social disease that follows these devices.Once again the world is fooled by greed and a lost generation to overuse and addiction to a lot of none sense.
Yoani Sanchez? Sustained by CIA dollars; “The Ego has landed”!
I think that there is a world of difference between the two women.
Good analogy, Moses. And I must agree…long live media spectacles!
These “media spectacles” date back to the time of the medieval court jester. In the US, political satirists and late night talk show hosts serve the same purpose. In France, the now tragic satirical magazine ‘Charlie Hebdo’ is a media spectacle substitute. In all of these cases and many others, these indirect attacks on the status quo are necessary because direct criticism is either illegal or ill-advised. Long live the court jester. Long live media spectacles!