WEBVTT 00:00:00.303 --> 00:00:04.087 --- 16 July 2011 --- 00:00:04.764 --> 00:00:09.943 The main idea is to try to create a free space for discussion and debate… 00:00:09.943 --> 00:00:15.749 … where you can see all of the diversity in thinking in Cuban society. 00:00:15.749 --> 00:00:22.022 Unfortunately, for a long time a very vertical thinking has been maintained… 00:00:22.022 --> 00:00:28.259 … a thinking that makes it seem all Cubans think along the same lines… 00:00:28.259 --> 00:00:32.996 … which is false, and I think that is becoming increasingly obvious. 00:00:32.996 --> 00:00:40.942 All these types of spaces help us to display different types of thinking, and at the same time to have a dialog between them. 00:00:42.511 --> 00:00:47.438 No, really, there are not many, there are almost none… 00:00:47.438 --> 00:00:55.658 … because one of the things that has happened in Cuba is that since the beginning of the Revolution they said: 00:00:55.658 --> 00:00:59.860 “Within the Revolution everything, against the Revolution nothing.” 00:00:59.860 --> 00:01:06.066 And this concept of Revolution has been extremely variable, always in line with the government’s interest. 00:01:06.066 --> 00:01:13.766 And that has made it very difficult for a substantial difference from the official line to really exist. 00:01:14.689 --> 00:01:17.926 No, this is the sixth time we have done that… 00:01:17.926 --> 00:01:23.054 … but last year we did one in a semi-official space that was much larger. 00:01:23.685 --> 00:01:27.921 The first one this year we did on March 5th… 00:01:27.921 --> 00:01:34.889 …and it was with a hiphop artist and another friend who has a a project called “Cuban Talent.” 00:01:35.766 --> 00:01:38.569 Well, on one occasion they called me to talk… 00:01:38.569 --> 00:01:45.140 … really I can’t say there was some kind a furious attack or anything like that, there wasn’t. 00:01:45.140 --> 00:01:48.742 We talked about some opinions on which we disagree… 00:01:48.742 --> 00:01:54.997 … some scratches, but fine, I hope they will come to understand that these spaces are needed. 00:01:55.720 --> 00:01:58.909 Yes, the idea is to try to make the space become bigger… 00:01:58.909 --> 00:02:06.727 … and especially to involve people, intellectuals who belong to, who maintain the official government line… 00:02:06.727 --> 00:02:13.635 … and people can also come from all kinds of thinking and expand the space as a forum for debate. 00:02:14.327 --> 00:02:18.252 Well I don’t know all the artists who will be there in the afternoon… 00:02:18.252 --> 00:02:21.141 …I’m sorry, but I wasn’t the one who organized the afternoon panel. 00:02:21.141 --> 00:02:25.310 There have been other friends who know perfectly well who they were. 00:02:25.310 --> 00:02:30.669 I don’t know exactly… the afternoon panel is going to be about art and society. 00:02:31.685 --> 00:02:34.988 Well I think the role of the United States will be huge… 00:02:34.988 --> 00:02:40.659 ... especially because there is a very large Cuban community in Miami… 00:02:40.659 --> 00:02:46.836 … that right now is injecting a lot of money into the country, fundamentally so that people can live a little better. 00:02:46.836 --> 00:02:51.672 I think they are going to have, all the Cubans in the diaspora are going to have, a very important role… 00:02:51.672 --> 00:02:55.599 … and especially the community in Miami. 00:02:55.599 --> 00:03:02.082 The American government I believe should support the exchange between Cubans in some way… 00:03:02.082 --> 00:03:09.359 … which does not mean that they should always accept the conditions set by the Cuban government… 00:03:09.359 --> 00:03:11.774 … which I consider totally illogical. 00:03:11.774 --> 00:03:17.181 But I do think they should promote the ever-growing exchange among Cubans. 00:03:17.796 --> 00:03:22.130 Well look, the problem of the issue of relations between governments is… 00:03:22.130 --> 00:03:28.167 …at times, a little complicated because there are a lot of factors that may escape our knowledge. 00:03:28.167 --> 00:03:37.803 I do believe that in the aspect of… between Cubans, between Cubans in the U.S. and we here in Cuba… 00:03:37.803 --> 00:03:46.186 … that is those who live on one side and those who live on the other, there needs to be more communication… 00:03:46.186 --> 00:03:48.647 … a flow of information, of exchange. 00:03:48.647 --> 00:03:55.984 Because I believe that really, the more Cubans come here, or the Europeans come here, or the Spanish or Canadians… 00:03:55.984 --> 00:04:02.347 … I believe that the real change is in the Cubans, and Cubans should be the ones holding the reins of that change. 00:04:02.347 --> 00:04:08.152 So I think this is what should be primarily encouraged and promoted. 00:04:08.152 --> 00:04:12.912 In the other aspects, well, they may have different views about the matter… 00:04:12.912 --> 00:04:21.328 …but I really think that those aspects aren’t essentials that are going to cause a transformation in Cuban society. 00:04:21.328 --> 00:04:24.371 I think that the transformation comes more between us Cubas. 00:04:25.371 --> 00:04:29.970 Look, I have no exact knowledge of how they handle these funds… 00:04:29.970 --> 00:04:38.361 … and I can’t say specifically if one way or another in which these funds are spent has been correct or not. 00:04:38.361 --> 00:04:44.793 What I can comment on is that for the people within Cuban civil society trying to make a change… 00:04:44.793 --> 00:04:49.622 …it’s extremely difficult to do this because they have no resources. Resources don't exist. 00:04:49.622 --> 00:04:57.130 The government has a complete monopoly over the press, radio, television… 00:04:57.130 --> 00:05:05.372 … so to try to reach the rest of Cubans, to exchange viewpoints and opinions, it makes it very very complicated. 00:05:05.372 --> 00:05:11.194 On the other hand, if the government also has a monopoly of being the only employer… 00:05:11.194 --> 00:05:15.549 … this makes the task of civil society even more difficult. 00:05:15.549 --> 00:05:21.621 Then there is the contentious issue, because it is very contentious, around the management of the funds… 00:05:21.621 --> 00:05:29.296 … but I think that in some way, I don’t know exactly what would be the most appropriate… 00:05:29.296 --> 00:05:36.269 … but I do believe that Cuban society had to have to opportunity to develop its own media. 00:05:36.269 --> 00:05:41.852 I think that perhaps some variant in which Cubans themselves can generate their own resources would be best. 00:05:42.776 --> 00:05:49.382 Well I think that changes are already underway and will continue. 00:05:49.382 --> 00:06:01.813 I think the time is over, I think that people, most Cubans, want the country to take another path. 00:06:01.813 --> 00:06:07.386 That is, we have seen that up to now the government has not come up with a solution to our serious problems… 00:06:07.386 --> 00:06:11.751 … like, for example, emigration, all the problems of demographics we talk about… 00:06:11.751 --> 00:06:17.944 … the economic problems. Then people simply want another kind of reality. 00:06:17.944 --> 00:06:20.157 Another kind of future.