In Cuba "You Will Learn, but not Too Much"

In Cuba: "You Will Learn, but not Too Much"
June 3, 2013
Alfredo Fernández

HAVANA TIMES — "You will learn, but not too much" – this was the maxim
that a number of martial arts masters in ancient China stuck to, fearing
that, one day, their disciples could outdo them.

It would appear that the Cuban government, whose most recent and
predictably timid reform has afforded Cubans a bit more access to the
Internet, is founded on precisely that idea.

How else could we explain the creation of new cybercafés, which will
offer Internet services in several municipalities across the country at
the "affordable" price of US $5 the hour?

Never before have we seen such clear proof that the Cuban government
isn't interested in providing its citizens with Internet access.

The same generation of revolutionaries who, on taking power, shut down
all dissenting newspapers and forced citizens to break ties with
relatives living in the capitalist "outside", now shows itself incapable
of making possible the free access to information available to those of
whom it "asked" for so much sacrifice.

By the looks of it, this was too much to ask, and Raul continues to
implement reforms as he promised he would, "slowly but surely", showing
a particularly firm commitment to the first half of the formula.

In a world with increasingly less expensive web services, where
countries like the United States and Argentina envisage providing all
citizens with Wi-Fi services by 2020, the opening of a few cybercafés
offering limited Internet access (with many blocked pages) is a
laughably insignificant step.

The Cuban State continues to act like a strict father who disciplines
his children with antiquated methods, who uses medieval punishments like
forcing a kid to kneel on a grater, out in the hot sun, for misbehaving.

This, at least, is what the penalty of closing down a user's account,
for accessing forbidden sites or using an e-mail account to send out
anti-government information, recalls.

To top things off, the cute fellas responsible for the blog "La joven
Cuba" ("Young Cuba") called for measures that punish those who they
consider are making "inappropriate" use of the Internet. Do these young
men actually know the Internet as much as they claim? If so, why do they
insist on forgetting that it is as free as the wind?

I feel sorry for them and for anyone opposed to the unrestricted use of
the Internet. The World Wide Web is here to stay, and, if it's here to
stay, this is precisely because of its libertarian nature and not
because of any restriction that may be imposed on its use.

Whoever attempts to control, evade or ignore the Internet will only
discover, after wasting their time miserably, that they have shot
themselves in the foot.

http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=94039