CLICK to turn on… never to turn off / Yoani Sánchez

CLICK to turn on… never to turn off / Yoani Sánchez
Translator: Unstated, Yoani Sánchez

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 tools for dissemination and communication. We are particularly
interested in the future projection of Cuba as a country immersed in
modern technology and also want to respond to the question of what we
can do to accelerate the time when each citizen in this country will
have full access to cyberspace.

The event is being promoted by various organizations, groups and
individuals from civil society, but is not bounded by the particular
interests of any of them. Its character is technological, not
ideological or political. It is not intended to be a forum for
complaints about what happens to us, but rather a constructive space to
plan for tomorrow. Which does not imply, in any way, that we give up our
right to raise our voices against the harsh reality of a country with
the lowest Internet connectivity in the hemisphere. We do not want to
engage in any type of political segregation nor use any kind of
ideological screen to choose the participants, much less fall into the
exclusions that have characterized previous meetings of Cuban bloggers
and twitterers.

The CLICK Festival will not have a final declaration insulting anyone or
engaging in character assassination, much less will it consider the web
to be a battlefield against any other group, event or tendency. As at
the table of the poet Walt Whitman, everyone is invited to this event,
without exception. In the coming days invitations will be sent out by
email and in person, but everyone who reads this text can consider
themselves invited. The foundations of the Click Festival are the
energy, talent and labor of many people. The resources that will be
employed during the three days will come from the organizers themselves
and the participants. NO party, government or institution has funded the
event, participated in the design of the program, or influenced the
initial idea of holding it. Of course, we have received words of
encouragement and emotional support from hundreds of Internauts,
ordinary citizens, voluntary translators and other friends. Also of note
is the solidarity and dissemination provided by Event Blog Spain (EBE)
that has had a hand in creating the website and inspired us with its
example of plurality and debate.

We have before us two weeks decisive for the quality of the CLICK
Festival. So on behalf of the various organizers I would like to ask all
the readers, to share with us any ideas that come to mind. Your
contributions can range from sending a presentation to be distributed
electronically to the participants or included in the discussion, to
helping us advertise the event. A post in a blog, a brief tweet with the
hashtag #festivalclic, or a simple message of encouragement would be
most appreciated. We would be delighted to let every citizen interested
in this topic know what is going to happen during the three days of the
festival. If you are a foreign tourist visiting the Island and want to
join us, the doors of the CLICK Festival will be open to you. This
visibility and transparency will be the greatest protection we could
count on.

I have the feeling that technology and knowledge are going to win.

CLICK Festival from 21 to 23 June
1st Street # 4606 between 46 and 60, Playa
Havana
http://festivalclic.com
@FestivalCLIC
#FestivalCLIC

10 June 2012

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