Posted by Jorge Cino on February 10th, 2011 1:41 PM
Now circulating virally: "The Cyber Police in Cuba" a filmed lecture
that appears to be directed at Cuban officials, asking them to be
extremely wary of social media. We've embedded a copy at the bottom of
this post, and have translated some key quotes as well.
(Remember that last month Facebook had reinstated Cubadebate's page on
the social network after the government complained about censorship.)
Sure, the spin given in the 53-minute video –- led by a 38-year-old
counterintelligence official–- is that it's the U.S. government that has
been purposefully trying to upset the Cuban revolution since 2008. Yes,
the video makes the Obama administration as responsible for this "plan"
as the Bush administration. "Social media is the base of all the actions
that are being taken against Cuba," says the man.
Although the lecture begins with a lucid statement, "It's not the tools
that are evil, but the people who can use them for evil purposes," it
quickly becomes focused on the U.S. government's supposed strategy for
provoking dissent among Cuban citizens through Facebook and Twitter.
It is also strangely fascinating to watch this man, whose aim is to
explain how social media poses a threat to Cuban society, go into great
detail about the connecting power of Facebook. "It is based on the way
we create real-life, physical connections," he explains. "You write that
you studied somewhere and that you graduated in whatever year, and in
ten minutes [Facebook] suggests all the people you may know."
"In Cuba, Facebook is the number one social networking site, and the
fourth most visited site overall," he explains… in order to make the
point that Cuban people have the same "psychology of the Internet" as
their peers in "China, Brazil, or Venezuela."
Might they be worried that what has been happening in the Middle East
may spread to other areas of the world? That would make sense if Cubans
were using the Internet to the extent that people in other parts of the
world.
In 2008, Cuba became one of the last countries on earth to legalize
mobile phones. Internet access continues to be mostly blocked unless it
is officially granted through the government. According to the Cuban
government, only 1 in 14 residents have access to the Internet at
all—costly, unstable, just-local access.
Readers, what do you think about the idea that a Cuban revolution might
result from postings by U.S. Facebook users?
Note: All translations from the video are the writer's. Apparently the
video's title came from Coral Negro, who uploaded the footage. The
actual title of the conference depicted is "Political and Dissident
Confrontative Campaigns Against Anti-Revolution Groups."
http://www.allfacebook.com/does-cuba-fear-a-possible-facebook-powered-revolution-2011-02
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