Internet Censorship in Cuba Backfires

Internet Censorship in Cuba Backfires
May 16, 2013
Fernando Ravsberg

HAVANA TIMES — Young Cuba (La Joven Cuba, LJC) has returned to the
blogosphere after tearing down the barriers that denied it access to the
Internet.

We had a feeling this would happen when we saw the authors of this blog
from the province of Matanzas in a photograph, standing next to Cuba's
First Vice-President Miguel Diaz Canel.

The picture was taken following a meeting where a debate on the topics
of cyberspace, social networks and connectivity was held. "We had a
meeting with him, we debated about the blogosphere, he asked us for our
opinion and he explained his," LJC blogger Roberto Peralo told me.

They had been off-line for months (the tactic had been to simply cut off
the outspoken bloggers' access to the Internet). There was no need for
an official ban. A discrete phone call to the University of Matanzas and
the mention of "ideological problems" sufficed to immediately deprive
them of their Internet connection.

This was how the authorities sought to get rid of a blog whose
irreverence, critical edge, youthful spirit and communist leanings made
it quite hard to swallow. It was also a way of sending a warning to all
other cybernauts: "we own the pipeline; whoever disobeys us gets their
water and electricity cut off."

Of course, there's always the possibility of getting Internet access at
the diplomatic headquarters of the United States, which houses a
cybercafé that dissidents can use for free. In fact, an American
diplomat, disguised as a naïve tourist, attended the last public meeting
of Cuban Twitter users to offer participants his friendship and help.

The offer is tempting: when a blogger becomes a dissident, they
immediately obtain a travel visa, get a better laptop, Internet
connection problems disappear under the powerful embassy antennas or
with the broadband available at hotels and censors stop bothering them,
whatever they choose to write.

The "Protectors of the Faith" would have loved for the young people
responsible for LJC to have gone down this road. It would have been
exactly what they needed to justify their measure, to "prove" that,
behind their public façade of committed revolutionaries, LJC bloggers
were concealing the enemy and its cyber-war against the Revolution.

But, this time, the censors shot themselves in the foot, because the
young bloggers decided to fight for their rights without foreign aid,
using their own resources and securing the help of a number of Cuban
bloggers, among whom they found a space to continue divulging their
opinions.

Some Cuban Internet users applauded the censors, writing that "the
people of LJC had Internet access thanks to the University of Matanzas,
a State connection. They were making use of that connection to address
irrelevant issues, they flirted with the opposition, they crossed the
line." (1)

These cybernauts concluded that "they didn't heed the advice of people
who tried to warn them whenever they overdid things." And they are
surprised for, years before, such "warnings" would have constituted
strong enough reins to bring even the wildest of steeds to a halt.

The world, however, has changed, even if the censors don't appear to
notice this. Some days ago, Vice-President Miguel Diaz Canel tried to
explain to them that, with the state of development of information
technologies, social networks, computer science and the Internet,
"trying to prohibit something is next to impossible."

He added that "today news from everywhere, be them good or bad,
manipulated or truthful, even half-truths are divulged online, they
reach people, people read them, and the worst thing, therefore, is silence."

But, since no one is as deaf as someone who does not want to hear, the
response was to "silence" the opinion of Cuba's Vice-President also. His
statements were not aired on television and, despite the importance of
his message, no official newspaper chose to print them.
Harold (l) was happily welcomed by the participants of Twitthab. The
battle for reclaiming LJC's Internet connection is part of the war
fought by the entire blogosphere. Photo: Raquel Perez

Harold (l) was happily welcomed by the participants of Twitthab. The
battle for reclaiming LJC's Internet connection is part of the war
fought by the entire blogosphere. Photo: Raquel Perez

In any event, LJC's return helps weaken the wall of silence. According
to Roberto, the bloggers were deprived of their Internet connection
because "of our opinions about Cuban reality". Ironically, now they are
being asked to "continue doing what you were doing before."

I ran into him at a gathering of Twitter users (2) and he assured me
that "we're back, pitching in ideas to the debate about Cuban society
(…) saying what we really think (…) the day we are not able to say what
we think will be the day we stop blogging."

Roberto and Harold were given a warm welcome by the cybernauts who had
convened for Twitthab. In a way, many of them feel that the battle to
get LJC back on line was part of their own war, that it helped ward off
the day when the bells could also toll for them.
—–

(1)
http://capitulocubano.blogspot.it/2013/05/bloqueo-la-joven-cuba-peligrosos.html

(2) http://www.cubano1erplano.com/2013/05/los-acordes-del-twitthab-20.html

(*) An authorized Havana Times translation of the original published by
BBC Mundo."

http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=93229