Rapid Roundup: The revolution will not be "tuiteada," Cuban masculinities, Correa under attack, and official ICT #s for Cuba

Lots going on around the web and around the world today:

Even though I get the New Yorker magazine delivered directly to my apartment here in New York, as usual Penultimos Dias scooped us all on this very timely article, "Why the Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted," by perhaps the leading essayist writing today in the English language, yes - I mean Malcolm Gladwell.  Ernesto Hernandez Busto has the article up on his blog already translated into Spanish  (Traducción: Juan Carlos Castillón).  He also has a link to a critique of Gladwell's article already up at the Economist.  And go here for the transcript of a Q&A with Gladwell about the article that took place - how else - via the Internet.

The last time I was in Cuba I gave Yoani a Spanish language copy of Gladwell's The Tipping Point (El punto clave) - because I thought (or perhaps hoped) that blogging was "tipping" there.  Gladwell's new article is a sharp and sobering reminder that social networks and social media do not (alone) social change make.

There's a new blog on the block (or at least on my block).  A few years ago my good friend in Havana, Julio Cesar Gonzalez Pages, helped to found the Red iberoamericana de masculinidades (Ibero-American Masculinities Network).

The network is doing some really cutting edge stuff with gender roles, machismo, feminism, etc. in Cuba and elsewhere in Latin America.  Here are their two blogs (Cuba and Latin America) for you to take a look.  Julio has written a number of books including, "Por andar vestida de hombre," a history of the life of Enriqueta Favez, the first Cuban woman to practice medicine back in the 19th century.  However, she had to cross-dress as a man most of her life in order to do it!  (Cuban journalist Dalia Acosta has a review/interview with Julio at Havana Times in English here). 

As if that kind of historical sociology weren't enough, Julio is also a true organic intellectual who teaches courses against gender violence to men in Cuban prisons.

Breaking news: Rafael Correa, the president of Ecuador, has been cornered in a hospital and attacked violently by a group of renegade police after attempting to push through a set of economic reforms.  The government seems to have even issued a call to the population to descend upon the hospital en masse to free the president.  See the coverage at CNN and the NYT.

Finally, yesterday Cuba released a detailed report on citizen use of and access to the Internet.  You can also go here to view a previous report from this summer.  Marc Frank's story on the report is here at Reuters and Will Weissert's story is here.  (H/T: Penultimos Dias for the Reuter's story.) 

Ernesto indicates that the report reveals that just 2.9% of the Cuban population connected to the Internet over the past 12 months and that only 5.8% of Cuba's 11 millon inhabitants used e-mail during 2009.  He also says that the government's own survey inadvertantly reveals the funny math behind connectivity stats usually reported for Cuba.  In 2009, for example, 1.6 millon Cubans are reported to have had access to the Internet - that is 14.2% of the population.  However, this statistic combines Internet users (www) together with national Intranet users (.cu), as if they were one and the same.

Melba Ruffo reads Yoani Sanchez message at Internet For Peace event in N...

Yoani sounds off with skepticism

The newest post up at Generation Y, Chaplinesque, contains Yoani Sanchez's deeply skeptical reaction to last Friday's Granma article detailing forthcoming regulations on self-employment.

El Yuma is working hard for you and reading all he can about the new regs and the various reactions and interpretations to this new experiment with self-employment. Later this week I will post my own take on all these reactions and give you links to them so you can read them for yourself.

For now, let's just say that there is a wide spectrum of reactions, ranging from:

Naive: Hooray, here comes capitalism!  Let's hope it's not too late.

to Hopeful: This looks good, I hope they follow through...

to Doubtful: They keep talking only about order, control, and taxes, not real promotion - don't hold your breath.

to Skeptical: I've seen this movie before back in the 1990s and it doesn't end well.

to Cynical: They just wanted to get rid of half-a-million workers. This is just neo-liberalism under the guise of a "new kind" of socialism. Nothing will change in Cuba until the Castro brothers are dead and gone.

I, myself, am hovering somewhere between hopeful and doubtful.  Like a good academic, I want data and am withholding judgement until I see how this plays out en la practica.  But remember for some people who've been burned before by Big Brother (or the "Big Brothers"), what may sound to you and me like cynicism is for them simple reality.

Order at the Foot of the Highway - Granma

The most recent article on the expansion of self-employment in Cuba, "Orden al pie de la carretera," from Granma on Monday, September 27 (my new favorite morning read) leaves me with decidedly mixed feelings.

On the one hand, the article seems to channel the voice of Fidel, always emphasizing the need to impose a strict "order" and "control" as the new self-employed sector begins to expand.  The article also engages in the old tactic of singling out evil "intermediaries" who were supposedly making it rich without doing much work.  Finally, it emphasizes that these new self-employed workers must "pagar lo que deben," or pay what they owe in taxes.

There's even a new dress code being imposed - reminding me of my good-ole-days as a Catholic school student - along with the exhortation for growers/sellers to act orderly and keep their kiosks clean.  You've heard, "you kids get off my lawn."  Well this is the Cuban version: "Hey, you kids go clean your room!"

NINGÚN KIOSCO PUEDE EXCEDER LOS 25 METROS CUADRADOS; QUIENES VENDAN PRODUCTOS EN ELLOS DEBEN PERMANECER CORRECTAMENTE VESTIDOS Y MANTENER EL ORDEN Y LA LIMPIEZA EN EL ESPACIO QUE OCUPAN.  

(Photo credit: Jose Antonio Torres for Granma)

Goldberg @ Goldblog: America's Absurd and Self-Defeating Cuba Policy

What with all the goings on in Cuba these days following Fidel's slip of the tongue, El Yuma neglected to draw your attention to the following provocative and quite perceptive blog post by Jeffrey Goldberg at his blog "Goldblog."

Also check out the developing polemic over his interview with El Jefe between him and the ever fulminating Mary Anastasia O'Grady at the Wall Street Journal.

I also had the pleasure of being present tonight at the 92Y where Goldberg was a discussant on a panel entitled, "America & Israel: The Idea of Divine Election."

The panel featured Alana Newhouse and Jeffrey Goldberg as co-moderators with authors Todd Gitlin and Liel Liebovitz who were presenting their new book, "The Chosen Peoples: America, Israel, and the Ordeals of Divine Election."

Essentially the panel attempted to resolve the question: The Chosen People - Privilege or Burden?

Thinking of his loyal readers, El Yuma even managed to snap a photo of Goldberg and ask him what he really thought of Fidel's answer to his question about the exportability of the Cuban model: "The Cuban model doesn't even work for us anymore."

Goldberg said that despite Fidel's backtracking later all we need to know about his answer came four days later when Granma announced the layoffs of half-a-million workers.  "He was simply saying how things really are in Cuba," Goldberg said. "Their economy is in shambles."  Go here for more from Goldberg on this.

America's Absurd and Self-Defeating Cuba Policy
By Jeffrey Goldberg

Criticism of my series (ongoing) of interviews with Fidel Castro has been diverse and enthusiastic. Much of it has come from Cuban-Americans who dislike Castro with a ferocity I haven't seen since the days when I covered the Middle East (which, if memory serves, was three weeks ago).

There are three main criticisms. The first is that I have too benign a view of Fidel Castro. The evidence for this includes the fact that I accompanied him to the Havana Aquarium and portrayed him as an old man who likes dolphins. The second criticism is that I have failed to take adequate note of Fidel's lousy human rights record. The third, related critique, is that I too easily bought the left-wing argument that the American embargo of Cuba, and the travel ban imposed by America to keep its citizens from visiting Cuba, are hypocritical and self-defeating.

Levantar Cabeza - From the Vault - By Dagoberto Valdés

The pull quote:

"The greatest and worst blockade is that which has been implanted on the creativity, the self-management, and the independent labor of Cubans."


“El mayor y peor bloqueo es aquel que se ha implantado sobre la creatividad, la gestión propia y el trabajo independiente de los cubanos.”

- Dagoberto Valdés, Vitral, January 19, 2004

* * *

A Number of years ago I came across this extraordinary essay by the former editor-in-chief of Vitral Magazine, Dagoberto Valdés. While Valdés can now be found at the new publication Convivencia (and at its blog Intramuros), his wise and deeply humane words from 2004 are especially pertinent NOW, as the Cuban government declares its new policy of not just tolerating self-employment, but promoting it.

Let's hope that Raul's advisors consider the arguments in this document as they consider the details of he new self-employment regulations to be announced in October.

It's perhaps the most powerful and succinct argument in favor of self-employment and a private enterprise sector that I encountered during all the research related to my thesis.

«LEVANTAR CABEZA»

Por Dagoberto Valdés Hernández, Revista Vitral - Pinar del Río

Enero 19, 2004

Casi todos los días, mientras espero la carreta para ir a las yaguas, me encuentro con un amigo, antiguo maestro, que siempre anda apurado en su bicicleta.

Siempre le pregunto: ¿cómo va la cosa? Y siempre me contesta igual: ¡Ahí, tratando de levantar cabeza!

Mucho mas que una "alternativa" - Granma details new Self-Employment regulations

Today's Granma has a long and detailed article about the "new rules" that will regulate Self-Employment in Cuba, entitled, "Much more than an alternative." The article includes a list of the 178 legal occupations, 83 of which will be permitted to hire labor. (Thanx to my friend Carlos Alzugaray for alerting me to the article.)

It's easily the most the national daily newspaper has ever said about self-employment. And while there is still an underlying attitude of control, the article includes some breathtaking passages of economic pragmatism and autocritica (self-criticism) that I, for one, never thought I'd read in this "Organo Oficial del Comite Central del Partido Comunista de Cuba."

Given that my own dissertation on the struggles of the self-employed workers was entitled "Condemned to Informality," I felt a special surge of vindication when I read the following words:

"The aim is to distance ourselves from those policies that condemned self-employment to near extinction and stigmatized those who decided to joint its ranks legally in the decade of the 90s."

I guess I can safely say that Granma and I now finally agree on at least one thing! (Perhaps I should sue for plagarism or at least demand a footnote!)

What follows is my own quick description and assessment of today's announcement.  You can also go to The Cuban Triangle for Phil Peter's adept analysis of the article.

Persepolis goes to Cuba, or "My Revolution" comes to Brooklyn

CUBA: MY REVOLUTION 

The Making of the Graphic Novel & Related Drawings by

Inverna Lockpez & Dean Haspiel

October 2 - December 12

Mariella Bisson, Curator

Artists’ Talk with Moderator Calvin Reid Saturday, October 2nd, 4pm

Reception: Saturday, October 2nd, 5 - 7pm

Open free to the public: Thursday - Sunday, 12 - 5pm

@

KENTLER INTERNATIONAL DRAWING SPACE

353 Van Brunt Street, (RED HOOK) Brooklyn, New York 11231
Telephone: 718.875.2098 / email 
OPEN TO THE PUBLIC : Thursday - Sunday, 12 - 5pm

¡Ñooo! ¡Que Barato!

Near Cuba, Wary Kin Wait for Proof of a New Path

Serafin Blanco is the owner of Ñooo! ¡Que Barato!, a huge discount store in
Hialeah, Fla., where recent arrivals stock up on $1.99 flip-flops and other
items for relatives to resell in Cuba.
Photo: Oscar Hidalgo for The New York Times


By DAMIEN CAVE

Published: September 21, 2010

Here's a great article by Damien Cave in Today's Times.  It gives a good idea of the mix of hope and cynicism with which Cubans in Havana and Miami are reacting to the news of an expansion in private enterprise.  It also raises the issue of the participation of Cuban exiles in this whole process as potential investors.

Below I have selected some key passages from the article - which I think raises many key questions:

Yoani and Mobile Technology: Obama, Tear Down This Wall!

From Yoani's cell phone to your computer screen via today's Miami Herald.

New weapon against regime: Immediacy

My favorite pull quote:

"[T]his explosion in cellphone use is not matched by a corresponding development in ETECSA's infrastructure. The number of clients grows, but the number of antennas and the satellite capacity does not keep up. Thus, we get frequent messages telling us 'there is congestion on the lines,' and on holidays it becomes impossible to send or receive messages. Trapped between excessive costs and poor services, users cannot choose to switch to a more efficient company, because the state monopoly does not allow other companies to compete."


"Thus, the request to President Obama from the firms Nokia, AT&T and Verizon, asking for an easing of the embargo and trade with Cuba, is a ray of hope for us."


"If we have managed to do so much with so little, what will happen when having a cellphone, sending a text, connecting to the Internet, all become as easy as talking, walking, shouting a slogan?"