Estado de SATS Celebrates Three Years

Estado de SATS Celebrates Three Years / David Canela
Posted on July 30, 2013

HAVANA, Cuba, July 29, 2013, David Canela / www.cubanet.org.-The civic
project Estado de SATS this Saturday celebrated its three years of
existence with a children's party. About 10:30 in the morning Rodiles'
house was full. At the party two clowns performed, exciting the children
with games, dances, songs and puppets. Children's music videos were also
projected.

Estado de SATS was born as an event of dialog between the actors of
civil society, who attended in many voices and independent groups
(artistic, religious, legal, community) to talk about the the future of
Cuba. It was held in Gaia House in Old Havana, between 23rd and 25th on
25 July 2010. As the meeting led to open debate, outside an established
script, the project was censored, and no other State institution was
permitted (or risked) to host it again.

For this reason, Antonio González-Rodiles, one of the principal
coordinators, decided to resume it in his own house, in the municipality
of Playa. The original idea of the project, of being a marketplace of
social diversity, and a public space for alternative ideas–beyond the
narrow limits of official discourse ideological–crystallized again on
March 5, 2011, when Raudel Collazo and Adrián Monzón were invited to
speak about their artistic projects. Since then (and with the exception
of Festival Click), the sessions are no longer structured as a
"mini-conference" but as a meeting for a specific topic.

Since then, in March 2011, it adopted the slogan Where art and thought
converge. In its three years of work, they have held panels, interviews,
screened documentaries and films–which had not been shown before in
Cuba–poetry recitals and one of short stories (with the writer Ángel
Santiesteban), parties, presentations and music concerts, independent
project fairs, exhibitions of photographs, art, cartoons and publicity
spots.

Over time they have created some spaces or specialized programs, such as
Analysis Forum (FORA), for political, social and legal debate, Cinema at
All Costs, for the display of audiovisuals, and recently CafeSatso,
devoted to literature.

Other independent projects have collaborated with Estado de SATS:
Omni-Zona Franca, the Endless Poetry Festival, Voces Cubanas, the Cuban
Law Association, Cubalex, EBE (of Spain), Talento Cubano, among others.
Many people in the diaspora and Cubans in exile, through speeches and
videotaped interviews, media outreach, or the donation of works (for
example, the exposition of CoCodriloSmile graphic humor). In addition,
Radio and TV Marti and Cubanet have helped to broadcast some of their
programs.

From March 2011 to June of the current year, there have been around 66
meetings (one of them when Antonio Rodiles was imprisoned in November of
last year). Of these programs, 30 were held with the public and 35 with
no audience. One had to be suspended due to police repression; those who
could were able to get there recorded his testimony.

Estado de SATS is also the civil society project that promotes the
Citizen Demand For Another Cuba, which calls on the Cuban government to
ratify the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

Monday, 29 July 2013, from CubaNet

29 July 2013

Source: "Estado de SATS Celebrates Three Years / David Canela |
Translating Cuba" -
http://translatingcuba.com/estado-de-sats-celebrates-three-years-david-canela-hemosoido/