You've heard of Big Brother. Meet Little Brother.

There's a great new blog on the block.

It is called El pequeño hermano (Little Brother) and is written by Ernesto Morales Licea.  Parts of the blog are also available in German and English thanx to HemosOido. 

Morales is a Cuban journalist from Bayamo.  It's unclear to me wheather he still lives on Bayamo, has moved to Havana, or has left Cuba altogether.  However, he has a perceptive eye and sharp tongue.

Though he started blogging over the summer, I first came across his name back in April of this year when he published this long interview of Reinaldo Escobar and Yoani Sánchez, "Un límite para todos los odios," at Claudia Cadelo's blog Octavo Cerco.

He has also interviewed a number of other leading Cuban cultural figures such as Leonardo Padura, Pedro Luis Ferrer, and Aldo (of the hip-hop duo Los Aldeanos).  [I leave it to readers to guess which of the two photos below depict Morales with which artiste].  Check out his blog and take a look at his profile and photos.  The red ciudadana (citizen network) seems to be growing and growing.

On July 9, 2010, he put up his first post at El pequeño hermano which follows:

Prologue to The Little Brother, 9 July, 2010

"Finally, yes, I yielded to necessity. I often wondered how long I could resist the stimulus, the temptation, and I delayed my response as if it had something to do with the uncomfortable or inevitable.

Because to admit the need for a blog, these days, is a bit like adopting the latest style, and I am ashamed to admit that over every trendy fashion hangs the suspicion of childishness. At times without discrimination. And so, as so often, I renege.

Eventually, circumstances overcame my stupidity, and I told myself: there are times when fashion saves and redeems us. We fill our lungs with oxygen when we feel overcome by routine, and find new paths, beautiful solutions.

Thus was born my abdication. And in consequence, thus arises The Little Brother. From the recognition that without our own voices, men strangle us in their thoughts. The cumulative thinking becomes a matter that needs expansion, otherwise it turns against itself, crashes against the cranial walls, and self-destructs.

To avoid this, we have our voice. Oral or written. Nut we need to use it. And if no one around you gives you a place to extend it, if all the parks and plazas are closed to you, if they prevent you from screaming or writing in a newspaper, something must be sought, no? The alternative word had become so essential that if we didn’t have it in our language, we would have to invent it.

So, I repeat, thus arises The Little Brother.

This blog is a view from below. A camera from underneath. But it is a view that doesn’t admit bandages nor tolerate disadvantages. Because even though Big Brother outweighs you, and even though he will put a lot of effort into stopping you (like the one who burned the scores of Johann Sebastian Bach, and didn’t let him play the harpsichord with freedom), the Little Brother has eyes to see.

And, fortunately, a clear voice, very sincere, that also knows how to speak."