Cuba Futures: Past and Present - Bildner Center Conference, March 31-April 2, 2011

Call for Papers | Registration | Program | Schedule |

Accomodations | Events

See also: 

http://www.cubasymposium.org

International Symposium

March 31 - April 2, 2011

The Graduate Center

City University of New York

Since the early part of the 19th century, Cuban intellectuals, political leaders, civil society organizations and institutions have created multiple visions, projects and blueprints for building an independent Cuba. External and transnational groups, including governments, have also participated in generating ways of improving society. These efforts continue in the present. Past or present, these visions can often clash with each other, fail to attract support, or much less induce change consensually perceived as desirable. However, they have generated legacies that stand and shape realities, memories, perceptions, and diverse plans for reforming Cuba.

Organized by the Bildner Center/Cuba Project (www.bildner.org), this international and interdisciplinary conference builds on the expertise of Cuba specialists at the City University of New York and participants in past Cuba Project conferences and seminars. As in the past, we expect specialists from across the globe. The conference continues a dialogue begun at the previous symposia, "A Changing Cuba in a Changing World." 

The main aim of this international symposium is to reflect and advance excellent academic work on Cuban studies. Participants and attendees will generally come from academic and professional institutions/endeavors. We highly value academic accomplishments and expertise in Cuban studies.

If you would like to participate with a paper presentation, please send a one page paper proposal to cubaproject@gc.cuny.edu. See the link above for Call for Papers.

Preliminary Organizing Committee

Maria Isabel Alfonso, St. Joseph's College
Samuel Farber, Brooklyn College

Mauricio Font, Bildner Center and The Graduate Center
Katrin Hansing, Baruch College, CUNY

Ted Henken, Baruch College, CUNY
Ana Maria Hernandez, LaGuardia Community College, CUNY

Alfonso Quiroz, The Graduate Center and Baruch College, CUNY
Carlos Riobo, The City College of New York, CUNY

Raul Rubio, John Jay College, CUNY
Julie Skurski, The Graduate Center, CUNY

Araceli Tinajero, The Graduate and City College of New York, CUNY

*Further Details: To Be Announced*

For comments and inquiries please contact us at cubaproject@gc.cuny.edu.

U.S. Interest Section offers a free distance learning course on using the Internet

El Yuma just received a note from the Office of Press and Culture at the U.S. Interest Section in Havana announcing a new distance learning course for Cubans on how to use the Internet offered by the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP).

It will take place from September 21 through October 21 at the USIS. There is space for 16 students (8 in the morning class and another 8 in the afternoon).

The original Spanish announcement is below.

Here is my quickie translation:

The Office of Press and Culture is pleased to offer to our Cuban contacts another Distance Learning Course in collaboration with the University of Texas at El Paso. The course, which will last 5 weeks, will help participants acquire the necessary abilities to navigate and utilize the Internet for on-line study and research. The course will be self-taught, on-line, and in Spanish. The course is also a prerequisite for later UTEP courses offered by the USIS.

Please, share the attached brochure with friends, family, and other contacts who could be interested in taking advantage of this and future UTEP opportunities. Participants should register through the Office of Press and Culture, have completed high-school, and have some computer experience.

* * *

La Oficina de Prensa y Cultura se complace en ofrecer a nuestros contactos cubanos otro Curso a Distancia en colaboración con la Universidad de Texas en El Paso. El curso que durará 5 semanas ayudará a los participantes a adquirir las habilidades necesarias para navegar y utilizar la Internet para estudios e investigaciones en línea. El mismo será auto dosificado, en línea y en español. Constituye un pre-requisito para posteriores inscripciones en cursos de UTEP ofrecidos por la Sección.

Por favor, comparta el folleto adjunto con amigos, familiares y contactos que puedan estar interesados en aprovechar esta oportunidad y futuros cursos de UTEP. Los participantes deben inscribirse a través de la Oficina de Prensa y Cultura, debe haberse graduado de Secundaria Básica, y tener alguna experiencia en computación.

Cuban blogger starts digital magazine - By Juan Tamayo, Miami Herald

You gotta love OLPL (aka, Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo) for the final lines from the Tamayo interview:
Asked about the possibility that Cuban authorities will try to block him from publishing a second edition, he told El Nuevo Herald that he was optimistic.

"This is a magazine that is nowhere and everywhere," Pardo said. "Now we'll see if this yeast ferments and we can make a delicious bread."

Read on below for the full article:

Also, you also gotta love your Crackberry.

Though I'm currently on holiday in La Madre Patria -or is that La Patria de Madre? (Spain)- Tamayo managed to track me down here via e-mail and I used my handy Blackberry to send him my comments on Voces, which he kindly included the today's article.

By the way, as you can see from the end of this message, I'm posting it directly from my BB while en route to Granada - nunca fui a Granada!

Que viva la tecnologia!

Viva!

* * *

Cuban blogger starts digital magazine
Friday, August 8, 2010

Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo said `Voces' is `a vehicle for the rainbow of opinions in this critical moment that Cuba is going through.'

By JUAN O. TAMAYO jtamayo@ElNuevoHerald.com

An independent Cuban blogger has launched the island's first digital magazine, with a variety of contributions from well-known authors in and out of the country but free of "any type of -isms." "It's a vehicle for the rainbow of opinions in this critical moment that Cuba is going through," said Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo, editor of Voces, or Voices.

"We want a more rational Cuba, without any type of -isms," the 38-year-old Pardo said by phone from his home in Havana. The magazine's debut Monday marked yet another expansion of the island's blogosphere, where Cubans are increasingly writing about everything from their frustrations with daily life to dissident activities and praise for the government.

Still fighting the Cold War

BOSTON GLOBE
CUBAN TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS | GLOBE EDITORIAL
Still fighting the Cold War

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2010/08/20/still_fighting_the_cold_war/

August 20, 2010

IF THE impoverishing, repressive regime of the Castro brothers in Cuba has degenerated into a sad mockery of its romantic-revolutionary origins, America’s embargo of Cuba has taken on the mindless rigidity of a tribal vendetta that continues to be pursued no matter how stultifying it may be to new generations. So reports that the Obama administration is preparing to loosen some restrictions on travel to Cuba for academic, cultural, and religious groups merit only tepid applause.

This adjustment to a counter-productive travel ban would merely undo restrictions that the George W. Bush administration added to Bill Clinton’s people-to-people liberalization of the draconian travel ban imposed in 1967. Obama, who has already made it easier for Cuban-Americans to visit the island, can extend the exception to academic and religious travelers without a need for congressional action.

He should exercise that presidential prerogative. But he should also push for congressional abolition of the more encompassing embargo on Cuba. At this point, the embargo only serves to prolong the material deprivation of Cubans, allowing Fidel Castro, 84, and his brother Raul, 79, to go on claiming that all Cuba’s miseries are caused by the yanqui embargo. If American tourists and US products were allowed to pour into Cuba, the economic effects would be positive for the Cuban people and American businesses, and a revolution of rising expectations could be set in motion.

There are no more Soviet missiles going to Cuba. Cuban troops are no longer fighting in Angola. The Cold War has long since vanished into the mists of history. America, no less than Cuba, needs to catch up with the 21st century.
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Padura toma mas "Cafe Fuerte" con Cancio

Here is another portion of the interview I mentioned in my previous post - this time Padura gives his thoughts on Obama.

My favorite line: "Without a doubt closing off space only feeds the policy of 'plaza sitiada' (seige mentality) that has been practiced in Cuba during these years."

"Obama, una ganancia enorme"

WCI: ¿Cómo evalúas estos dos primeros años de la presidencia de Barack Obama para Cuba?

LP: Te digo que en esencia soy un admirador de Obama y pienso que es en general, una ganancia enorme con respecto a lo que significó la administración Bush. Con respecto a las relaciones con Cuba se esperaban cambios mucho más significativos. Todavía las relaciones no han llegado al punto donde estuvieron en la época del 90 durante el gobierno de Bill Clinton, cuando fluyó mucho más fácilmente el fenómeno de los intercambios académicos, deportivos, culturales.

Pero algo se está moviendo al menos. Y una visión diferente, más abierta hacia la sociedad cubana, es fundamental en estos momentos. Cerrar espacios es, en definitiva, alimentar la política de plaza sitiada que se ha practicado en Cuba durante estos años. Confío en que la flexibilización de posiciones avance y se profundice.
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Leonardo Padura toma un "Café Fuerte" con Wilfredo Cancio Isla

El Yuma highly recommends the following extensive and provocative interview done by Wilfredo Cancio Isla with leading Cuban writer Leonardo Padura during his recent visit to Miami.

Go to the new blog "Café Fuerte" (http://cafefuerte.com) to read the full interview (in Spanish) published Tuesday, August 17, 2010.

The interview is entitled "Cuba vive un cansancio historico" (Cuba is living in an historical exhaustion), taken from the following excerpt.

WCI: Tú has contado ampliamente la realidad cubana a través de tus novelas y cuentos, pero quiero saber cómo tú describirías la situación actual de la isla no como el escritor de ficción, sino desde la perspectiva del ciudadano común. ¿Cuál es el futuro con este presente agotado?

LP: Hay un problema fundamental en Cuba del que yo hablo en mi novela La neblina del ayer (2005), y que se ha ido agudizando con los años: el cansancio histórico. Creo que Cuba es un país que vive un cansancio histórico. La gente está cansada de sentir o que se le diga que está viviendo un momento histórico y quiere vivir una normalidad.

Esto ha generado además un desgaste moral bastante serio en la sociedad cubana. En un país donde la prostitución deja de ser un oficio reprobable y se convierte muchas veces en una salvación para la economía hogareña con el beneplácito y la admiración de la familia, hay algo que funciona mal, como funcionaba mal en el reino de Dinamarca en la época de Hamlet.

Un país donde la mayoría de las personas tiene que buscar alternativas de supervivencia en los márgenes o más allá de los márgenes de la legalidad y lo hacen con total desenfado, como una actividad absolutamente normal, es un problema serio. El propio gobierno –que es el empleador del 90 por ciento de los cubanos- ha reconocido que los salarios que les paga a sus asalariados son insuficientes para vivir, lo que es un reconocimiento a que las personas tienen que buscar alternativas de supervivencia.

Y cuando alguien en Cuba, por ejemplo, espera poder resolver sus problemas con los 100 ó 200 dólares que les puede mandar un pariente desde Estados Unidos, México, España, o espera resolver los problemas haciendo un determinado negocio que está más allá de los márgenes de la legalidad, es una sociedad que tiene problemas. Y estos problemas tienen un costo social y moral que va a ser lo más difícil de poder superar en un futuro inmediato.
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Cuban blogger arrested after writing about human rights violations

Knight Center
News from the Blog JOURNALISM IN THE AMERICAS

Cuban blogger arrested after writing about human rights violations

http://knightcenter2.communication.utexas.edu/email/lt.php?c=1372&m=1490&nl=2&s=cc2bda1fd1a2a0cc2e98162b7cb9f7c6&lid=20889&l=-http--knightcenter.utexas.edu/blog/--Q-q--E-en/node/8279

The release of various political prisoners does not mean Cuban authorities are tolerating any type of free expression on the island.

Blogger Luis Felipe Rojas was arrested for publishing a "horror report" about abuses committed against dissidents in the eastern provinces of Cuba, reported Radio Martí and EcoDiario.

According to ABC, Rojas on Saturday posted on his blog a report denouncing 128 arbitrary arrests and 49 beatings, among other human rights violations throughout several Cuban provinces.

"There is physical torture and cruel and degrading treatment in Santiago de Cuba, Banes, San Germán and Guantánamo from the olive green government," the blogger wrote.

On his Twitter feed, Rojas explained he was released after 12 hours in the police station.
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On Fidel's Return - Ernesto, Nick, and Yoani

Here are three reflections on the return of El Caballo by Ernesto Hernandez Busto of Penultimos Dias, Nick Miroff of the Global Post, and Yoani Sanchez of Generacion Y.

The Return
By Ernesto Hernández Busto
I think it is a mistake to underestimate the importance of Fidel Castro's return to the media spotlight. The comandante turned capricious foreign minister has abandoned his insignias of rank to dedicate himself to recovering an international role, one jeopardized by his younger brother following criticism of human rights violations on the island, not to mention the dullness that suffuses anything touched by Raul.

The real Cuban newspaper of today is the on-line Cubadebate. It sets the tone for the Cuban press and dictates the information priorities which are then picked up by the daily broadsheet Granma. In this sense, Fidel Castro and his advisers have understood the relative importance of Internet news versus the printed press. Fidel has launched his propaganda campaigns from Cubadebate, which has much greater resonance than many analysts have been willing to grant it.

Brookings Policy Brief on U.S. Cultural Diplomacy in Cuba

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

From Emily Alinikoff, Brookings Latin America Initiative

Dear Colleague,

I am happy to share with you the link to the latest policy brief from the Brookings Latin America Initiative on U.S. cultural diplomacy in Cuba. Linked below is a brief by Dora Beszterczey, Damian Fernandez and Andy Gomez, titled "Seizing the Opportunity to Expand People to People Contacts."

This paper argues that if U.S. policy toward Cuba is to be truly forward looking it should further expand its focus away from the Castro government to the well-being of the Cuban people. This can be achieved through instituting a cultural diplomacy strategy that authorizes a broad cross-section of American private citizens and civil society to travel to the island to engage Cuban society and share their experiences as citizens of a democratic country. Recent developments on the island, including the ongoing release of dozens of political prisoners, have helped create the right political moment to take action.

The authors make the case that since 2004, when such travel was curtailed, U.S. insights about the needs, interests and organizational capacities of community groups and grassroots organizations were severely limited. Today, as Cuba's nascent civil society stretches far beyond the dissident movement to encompass the blogosphere, religious groups, youth organizations, and agricultural cooperatives, among others their objectives, too, are more multifaceted and fast evolving. At a time of change in Cuba, increased people-to-people contacts would allow a more fluid, nimble response to engage with the needs and interests of the Cuban people.

To access full article, please see:
http://www.brookings.edu/papers/2010/08_cuba_beszterczey.aspx

Warm regards,

Emily Alinikoff | Senior Research Assistant
Foreign Policy at BROOKINGS
1775 Massachusetts Ave NW
Washington, DC 20036
202-797-6141 | ealinikoff@brookings.edu

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U.S. Said to Plan Easing Rules for Travel to Cuba - AP/NYT

By GINGER THOMPSON
Published: August 17, 2010

WASHINGTON - The Obama administration is planning to expand opportunities for Americans to travel to Cuba, the latest step aimed at encouraging more contact between people in both countries, while leaving intact the decades-old embargo against the island's Communist government, according to Congressional and administration officials.

The officials, who asked not to be identified because they had not been authorized to discuss the policy before it was announced, said it was meant to loosen restrictions on academic, religious and cultural groups that were adopted under President George W. Bush, and return to the "people to people" policies followed under President Bill Clinton.

Those policies, officials said, fostered robust exchanges between the United States and Cuba, allowing groups - including universities, sports teams, museums and chambers of commerce - to share expertise as well as life experiences. Policy analysts said the intended changes would mark a significant shift in Cuba policy. In early 2009, President Obama lifted restrictions on travel and remittances only for Americans with relatives on the island.

Congressional aides cautioned that some administration officials still saw the proposals as too politically volatile to announce until after the coming midterm elections, and they said revisions could still be made. But others said the policy, which does not need legislative approval, would be announced before Congress returned from its break in mid-September, partly to avoid a political backlash from outspoken groups within the Cuban American lobby - backed by Senator Robert Menendez, Democrat of New Jersey - that oppose any softening in Washington's position toward Havana.