Can the internet help democratize Cuba?
The New York Times has an interesting article about young Cubans using the Internet to communicate their political dissatisfaction, as well as damaging videos of politicians to the outside world. This despite the government’s attempts to limit access by closing Internet cafe’s, charging the equivalent of a month’s wages for an hour’s access, and targeting unauthorized satellite dishes.
In one example, a video was leaked to CNN and BBC showing Ricardo Alarcón, the president of the National Assembly, responded to complaints about the limits of travel by “suggesting that if everyone who wished to were allowed to travel, there would not be enough airspace for the planes”.
The article also noted how the Internet is being used to download American culture (tv shoes, movies, etc). Though it isn’t addressed, it would be interesting investigate whether access to American culture or access to outside media contributes more to internal discontent with the government.
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skass
March 7, 2008 @ 1:51 am
Unlikely at the present time I think. According to statistics reported by the Open Net Initiative, less than 2% of the population has regular Internet access. Also, as of 2005, there were just 3.3 computers per 100 inhabitants. With those sorts of numbers, it seems unlikely that the Internet could breed any sort of political sea change. The statistics are available at http://opennet.net/research/profiles/cuba.