Posted By Ellery Roberts Biddle On 23 November 2011 @ 2:19 am In Citizen
Media,Cuba,Digital Activism,English,Freedom of Speech,Human Rights,Latin
America,Photos,Spanish,Technology & Internet,Weblog | 2 Comments
The first post [1] in this two-post series featured highlights from a
discussion between bloggers in Cuba, the United States (US), and Spain
focusing on the use of new media in Cuba, where Internet access and
technological tools are extremely scarce [2].
For this post, I interviewed City University of New York (CUNY)
Professor of Sociology, Ted Henken, a Cuba expert who is the author of
El Yuma [3], a blog that explores social currents in contemporary Cuba
and closely follows the Cuban blogosphere.
I discussed with Henken his recent appearance on Radio Martí where he
helped facilitate a dialogue between several of the most prominent Cuban
bloggers writing today and his students at Baruch College in New York
City. This was a unique event for Radio Martí [4]. Funding and oversight
of the station come from the Broadcasting Board of Governors [5], a US
federal agency devoted to broadcasting radio and television into
countries where media outlets independent of the state are either scarce
or heavily censored.
Ted Henken (on the right) with blogger Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo. Posted
with permission of photographer. [6]
Much of Radio Martí programming is explicitly anti-Castro and supportive
of US policy towards Cuba; the station is seen by many as a symbol of
the political gridlock that has defined US-Cuba policy for decades.
Henken shared his perspective on the political nature of Radio Martí:
You can describe their goals in different ways. You can say that
it's intended as a way to overthrow the Cuban government, or as a way to
get information to people.
Ted Henken is a unique contributor to the online conversation about
Internet use and blogging in Cuba. He is both a scholar of, and active
participant in, the Cuba-focused blogosphere. Henken also takes an
objective approach to studying Cuban politics and culture; he does not
come down firmly "for" or "against" the revolution.
In our conversation, he explained that while he had never wholly
dismissed Radio and TV Martí, he has long been wary of the program. "In
a perfect world, Radio Martí wouldn't exist," he told me. "But the world
is not perfect."
Yoani Sánchez [7] and Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo [8] [es], two of Cuba's
best-known "critical" bloggers were featured on the program. Both are
members of the Voces Cubanas [9] [es] blogging collective, where most
bloggers are explicitly critical of the government. While members of
this group are often thought of as "dissident" bloggers, many of them,
including Sánchez, reject this label. Henken commented on the
distinction between "citizens" and "dissidents."
"Even though they have clear systemic criticisms of the
government,their main thing is civic action, working [their voices]
into the dominant discourse. To me that is what the story is."
People try to adopt them as political dissidents, and sometimes
they're presented that way because of their criticisms. Yoani [says],
people try to call me a dissident but I think of myself really as a citizen.
According to Henken, under the Obama administration, Radio Martí
producers are making greater efforts to diversify political viewpoints
in their programming. As part of this effort, they have solicited
interviews with bloggers who have been classified as supporters of the
Cuban revolution, including Global Voices contributor [10] and La
Polémica Digital [11] [es] author Elaine Díaz, who declined the
opportunity [12] [es].
Henken noted that many bloggers who are not explicitly against Cuban
government policies "would not agree to do this, because of the
repercussions it could have for them."
He acknowledged that Radio Martí, a broadcast station that fits cleanly
into the "old media" model of "one-to-many" communication, provided an
unusual setting for discussing the power and importance of independent,
citizen-driven social media. He paraphrased a quote from Reinaldo
Escobar [13] [es], husband of Yoani Sánchez, and an active blogger in
Cuba, who acknowledges that Radio Martí is not the ideal venue for their
message.
"The last thing we want to do is rely on the propaganda of a
foreign government to get our voices out.
We need to communicate with other Cubans. We use the Internet, and
that's limited for all the reasons we know, and we listen to Radio Martí."
In the radio interview, Sánchez mentions that Cubans who want to speak
out critically about their government have very limited options as far
as different media are concerned. So, as Escobar says, they use any
channel to which they can gain access.
"People like Yoani or Reinaldo will talk to anyone who wants to listen
to them," Henken told me. "They're just responding to people who are
interested in hearing what they have to say."
Though scarce, the availability of access to cell phones and the
Internet has strengthened communications between people in Cuba and the
rest of the world. These new technologies, along with the old, have
created a unique collage of new and old media spaces in which Cubans are
able to initiate critical conversations about government policy, human
rights, and the direction in which Cuba is headed, without having to
rely on government entities for support.
Of course these media remain politicized, but civic dialogue in a
politically complex space is better than no civic dialogue at all.
Henken believes that what Sánchez and others are trying to do is
exercise "real rights."
[Yoani] tries to say what she really thinks. She tries to exercise
real rights. This is in some way more radical. Luckily she's eloquent
and responsible. I think she appeals to a group of people who are, if
not middle of the road, at least responsible.
URL to article:
http://globalvoicesonline.org/2011/11/23/cuba-blogger-and-scholar-ted-henken-on-new-media-in-cuba/
URLs in this post:
[1] The first post:
http://globalvoicesonline.org../2011/11/04/cuba-bloggers-discuss-the-internet-offline-on-radio-marti/
[2] Internet access and technological tools are extremely scarce:
http://www.policyinnovations.org/ideas/briefings/data/000195
[3] El Yuma: http://elyuma.blogspot.com/
[4] Radio Martí:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_y_Televisi%C3%B3n_Mart%C3%AD
[5] Broadcasting Board of Governors: http://www.bbg.gov/
[7] Yoani Sánchez: http://www.desdecuba.com/generaciony/
[8] Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo: http://vocescubanas.com/boringhomeutopics/
[9] Voces Cubanas: http://vocescubanas.com/
[10] Global Voices contributor:
http://globalvoicesonline.org../author/elaine-diaz/
[11] La Polémica Digital: http://espaciodeelaine.wordpress.com/
[12] who declined the opportunity:
http://espaciodeelaine.wordpress.com/2011/05/04/a-radio-marti-n-u-n-c-a/
[13] Reinaldo Escobar: http://www.desdecuba.com/reinaldoescobar/
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