Resistance with a Cuban face
Saturday's Wall Street Journal featured a moving article on the Cuban blogger Yoani Sánchez. It makes the perfect companion to John's post on "Socialism with a pretty face." The Journal's article is "Cuban revolution."
Ms. Sanchez is a believer in a particularly daring version of "the philosophy of as if." She lives as if she is free in a slave state. The Journal article concludes:
In addition to publishing her blog, she talks freely about taboo subjects. She tells neighbors that she doesn't vote, a shocking admission in Cuba. She isn't a member of any of Cuba's quasi-compulsory political organizations.It's an inspirational and humbling story for this holiday season. Thanks to David Patton and the Journal for making it available."There are many ways to pretend in Cuba: you can say things that you don't believe, or you can stay quiet about the things you don't like," she says. "I have the tranquility of being able to look at my son and he knows that I don't fake it."
At the same time, she tries not to cross a line that will give the government a reason to shut her blog down. She uses only public Internet sites, instead of trying to set up an illegal Internet link from home, as some Cubans do. The family lives on between $20 and $60 a month, she says, earned from working with tourists. She confines her writing to the Web. Critiques published on paper are considered propaganda, while the Internet is a gray area.
Still, there is no guarantee that Ms. Sánchez's activities won't land her in legal trouble. Even if jailed, Ms. Sánchez says she would find ways to publish her blog. "You have to believe that you are free and try to act like it," she says. "Little by little, acting as though you are free can be contagious."
