[liberationtech] Please welcome Cuba bloggers...

Sun Apr 17 15:50:38 PDT 2011

Folks,

This word "repressive" gets bandied about in such away that it automatically excludes one of the world's most "repressive" societies: the US.

There are more folk imprisoned in the US per capita than anywhere else on the planet. Black & Latino youth of any gender are systematically under educated, arrested and rendered jobless by policies and laws sanctioned by the US federal, state and local governments. 

The US media is dominated by an oligarchy that continues to gobble up radio, TV, cyberspace and all forms of print media successfully silencing millions of creative and oppositional voices.

Need I mention the "repressive" healthcare-insurance industry that has defined good healthcare as a privilege for the rich?

Need I mention the "repressive" environmental policies that let big corporations pollute at will while severely arresting and repressing the entire environmental justice movement?

Need I mention the fact that this nation- the US -creates, then harbors some of the world's most notorious terrorists like Luis Posada?

I can go on such as with the fact of some 125+ Black, Latino and Native American political prisoners languishing in maximum security prisons with longer prison sentences than any member of the Mafia ever had! Or that the Death Penalty is used consciously disproportionately against Black and Latino men than against white men... and that many on Death Row are and have been proven innocent.

But... suffice it is to say that the "repressive" society of Cuba has a birthrate better than the vast majority of the world including Black America and Latinos. That this "repressive" society has a higher literacy and education rate than workingclass US. That this "repressive" society has more doctors per capita than the US AND trains more doctors for free than the total number of doctors graduating inside the US with an average of $150,000 debt! And over the past 50 years, Cuba has struggled rather successfully to begin the process of undoing Machismo and racism while the US has repressed a national discussion of Race and Gender issues so as to chart a more egalitarian human rights-based path forward.

Please, before you apply this term "repressive" out to a nation like Cuba, at least study the society beyond what you may read in the NY Times or News week or see on CNN or ABC TV.

Of course, Cuba has serious problems. What nation in the world of a global crisis of capital does not? The West's propaganda machinery wants you to see nothing but grinding repression unfolding in Cuba so that you don't see the achievements of this underdeveloped former US colony. 

No. Those achievements may inspire you to take another path than capitalism.

In Struggle,

Sam Anderson

A,ANAMNAMAMAMAMAAMAMAM
On Apr 17, 2011, at 6:22 PM, Larry Diamond wrote:

> Robert,
> I share you concern, but it is not clear what we can do about it, for the reasons Yosem explains.  I think there has been some sensitivity, from time to time, about the need to take certain discussions "offline" from the general listerve.  Any time someone posts something that is specifically intimidating or inappropriate, we can intervene and not allow it to go forward.  But I don't know how to deal with the problem of penetration by intelligence agencies except with more transparency, including about the actions of these agencies.
> 
> If you have any specific suggestions of people we can invite to the listserve or encourage to become vocal, please do let us know.
> 
> best,
> Larry
> 
> Larry Diamond
> Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution & Freeman Spogli Institute
> Director, Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law
> Peter E. Haas Faculty Co-Director, Haas Center for Public Service
> Stanford University
> Stanford, CA 94305-6055
> tel 650-724-6448  fax 650-723-1928
> ldiamond at stanford.edu, www.stanford.edu/~ldiamond
> http://cddrl.stanford.edu/ and http://studentaffairs.stanford.edu/haas
> 
> 
> 
> From: "Yosem Companys" <companys at stanford.edu>
> To: "Robert Guerra" <lists at privaterra.org>
> Cc: "Liberation Technologies" <liberationtech at lists.stanford.edu>
> Sent: Saturday, April 16, 2011 4:29:36 PM
> Subject: Re: [liberationtech] Please welcome Cuba bloggers...
> 
> Hi Robert,
> 
> I appreciate your concern, but here are a few things to keep in mind:
> 
> 1) Liberationtech is a public list, so anyone can join.  To the extent that agents of repressive regimes are interested in "infiltrating" the list, they can already do so.
> 2) Members may always choose to forward list emails to others. We can't control that. 
> 3) Even if the list were private, the Majordomo mailman technology isn't secure (see http://www.greatcircle.com/majordomo/OLD/majordomo.CERT-Advisory).  Thus, as is the case in most places online, we cannot provide security assurances to list members.
> 
> We already tell activists who choose to join the list to take the necessary precautions they take elsewhere.  In fact, we even encourage them to use anonymous (or fake) email addresses, if they feel more comfortable doing so.
> 
> Best,
> 
> Yosem
> 
>     
> 
> On Sat, Apr 16, 2011 at 3:56 PM, Robert Guerra <lists at privaterra.org> wrote:
> 
> I would ask that the list take into consideration research by OpenNet, The Information Warfare Project, and Freedom House that indicates that in many non-democratic regimes bloggers are paid to represent and promote a pro-govt agenda and view. 
> 
> I would recommend that a variety of voices - both from inside and outside the repressive countries be sought and invited to this list. Otherwise, we'll have people on here who are well known govt agents who might have threatened, intimidated and lead people to have been arrested or worse.
> 
> Having open discussion about "liberation technologies" with those who support repression, well, will make it unsafe for many ...
> 
> Something to keep in mind.
> 
> regards
> 
> Robert
> 
> 
> 
> On Thu, Apr 14, 2011 at 9:05 PM, Yosem Companys <companys at stanford.edu> wrote:
> Hi All,
> 
> Some Cuba bloggers have joined our mailing list.  Please welcome them.  Here's a post they want to share with you:
> 
> http://www.yohandry.com/index.php/component/content/article/57-yohandry/284-decision-por-la-qcosaq
> 
> Best,
> 
> Yosem
> 
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