"How the sudden availability of mobile internet in Cuba makes these protests absolutely unprecedented, and gives them a ghost of a chance of succeeding.
Also, a summary of the crazy way Cuban internet works." #Cuba
https://www.thepullrequest.com/p/the-contrarevolucion-will-be-livestreamed
What hardware? Like Huawei? 🤔
Sorry, but the stories about sanctions preventing Cuba from flourishing economically and socially are very much like Western left 80's fables about life in the country I was born in: the communist Poland. In short, they didn't know a shit but very much wanted the socialist dream to be true, no matter what cost.
@kravietz
I've met a bunch of people who've been to Cuba, so I'm not basing my assessment purely on talking points floating around the net. Cuba and Poland are very different cases. It seems to be you have a confirmation bias at work here, which is all the more reason for you to question anti-Cuba narratives. The sanctions and their negative effects on the Cuban population are a matter of historical record.
US has its sanctions again Cuba for reasons they very clearly voiced for over half century - takeover of US property in Cuba after the revolution.
But to be honest, I think *every* country has the right to say "we don't trade with X because".
Since US has such a dominating position in world trade, its sanctions *are* quite severe.
But nothing prevents Cuba from buying any equipment they like from Russia or China, which both will happily provide.
@kravietz
> But to be honest, I think *every* country has the right to say "we don't trade with X because".
Sure, but the sanctions against Cuba were more like the US saying 'nobody trades with Cuba because we say so'. Most countries couldn't trade with Cuba, even if they wanted to, unless they were strong enough to stand up to US hegemony. The sanctions were lifted without any of the putative reasons for them being addressed so those were clearly not the reasons for them.
China and Russia do trade with whomever they want without looking at US, so this argument makes no sense in 2021.
So I believe the only reason for poor Cuba connectivity is precisely what authoritarian regimes around the world were always doing - prevent its people from accessing information and working remotely.
Cuba has a long history in exploiting its people for what accounts to forced labour:
1) prevent your citizens from leaving the country
2) hire their labour to outside countries
3) keep most of the profits.
@kravietz
"According to a report by Prisoners Defenders, a Spain-based NGO that campaigns for human rights in Cuba and is linked to the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU) opposition group..."
A classic example of propaganda seeded into news media via astroturf "NGO" groups. To be taken with a pretty big grain of salt.
A fundamental question when talking about countries such as Eastern Bloc or Cuba is — can its citizens freely leave their country?
The answer determines everything else.
@kravietz
You really think questions of political-economic structure can be reduced to simple dichotomies? Where does China fit in this schema?
If you can't leave your country, the whole further debate on advantages or disadvantages of its system is pointless, isn't it?
At least for the people living in that country, that is.
Because intellectuals worldwide will happily waste air debating how great that country is, and well, inability to leave it is a small price to pay.
And of course it's small, because they aren't those who pay it. Those who do pay it aren't even part of the debate.
As for China or Russia, these are closer to the authoritarian end of the spectrum in social and political terms, quite free economically, and you are free to leave these countries, which thousands of people still do.
Countries that aren't allowing its citizens to leave at will, such as NK or Cuba, have removed themselves from any political debate by walkover. Keeping their citizens hostage contradicts any arguments they could be raising in support of their systems.
For example *this* is certainly not "US sanctions":
> Cellphones were illegal in Cuba until 2008
@kravietz
OK, but have you checked if that's even true?
Yes. Not only mobiles, but also personal computers were illegal before 2007, as "counterrevolutionary".
@kravietz
Citation please?
"President Raul Castro's government said Friday that it will allow anyone in the country to get cell phone service, a right previously limited to executives working for foreign companies or high communist party officials."
https://www.cnet.com/news/ban-on-cell-phones-lifted-in-cuba/
" The first legalised home computers have gone on sale in Cuba, but a ban remains on internet access. "
@kravietz
Ok, that's new information to me, thanks for the links. I agree that legal bans can't be justified on the basis of lack of equipment or connectivity. Will be interesting to see what difference access to computers and the net makes to people's lives in Cuba.
And then there's this wonderful 2004 Cuban ambassador in New Zealand explaining how they *have* to censor Internet because of satanism
A brief reminder: you yourself are right now enjoying Internet access unhindered by government on every single Mastodon instance you use, but you deny the same right to Cubans.
@kravietz
Beware of CIA propaganda. AFAIK the main reason for the woeful network infrastructure in China is the US sanctions, which for decades prevented Cuba from connecting to the internet and limited their ability to import hardware.
#Cuba