Ellery Roberts Biddle
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I am a Philadelphia native living in San Francisco, where I work for the Center for Democracy and Technology. Since 2008, I have focused my research and writing on the politics of Internet access and digital expression in Cuba. Read more of my work on half-wired, my blog, or follow me on Twitter.
Latest posts by Ellery Roberts Biddle
18 May 2012
Cuba: Questioning Digital Expression within the Revolution
The recent Encuentro de Blogueros Cubanos en Revolución [Meeting of Cuban Bloggers in Revolution] brought together a group of “official” bloggers—chiefly journalists and communications professionals who are employed by the state and maintain their blogs as part of their work. Since the meeting, bitter controversy has unfolded around this new iteration of a decades-old question: does the expression of criticism automatically put one “outside” the revolution, especially when the criticism is happening online?
23 April 2012
Cuba
Penúltimos Días author Ernesto Hernández Busto, who lives in Barcelona, describes the “gap” or divide between Cubans living off the island, when it comes to their desires for Cuba's future; Regina Coyula, a blogger who resides in Cuba, responds. Hernández writes that there is a “deep gap between Cubans with different interests as they face the prospect of a radical change, and of the inevitable price that this implies.” English translation available at Translating Cuba.
Cuba
El Yuma writes about the visit of Cuban experimental art group Omni Zona Franca to New Orleans. Omni is on tour in the US this spring, performing various works, and showing a documentary about their work. They describe the documentary as follows: “Their lives are marked by the actual performance of life, giving communities other ways to enjoy life and art to the fullest. What's going on in the country? What's going on in the spirits of the people? What about freedom?”
19 April 2012
Human Rights
At The Cuban Triangle, Phil Peters blogs about Cuba's absence at the Summit of the Americas, which was held this week in Cartagena, Colombia. Juan Manuel Santos, Colombia's president, addressed the issue of the US trade embargo on Cuba, calling it an “anachronism.” “We cannot be indifferent to a process of change inside Cuba that is becoming more and more broadly recognized,” Santos said. “It is time to overcome the paralysis that comes from ideological stubbornness, and to look for minimal consensus so that this process of change may succeed.”
Freedom of Speech
Penultimos Días alerts readers to a series of videos, “Un Cubano Más,” produced and posted on YouTube by Eliécer Avila, the University of Information Sciences student who famously questioned former president of Cuba's National Assembly Ricardo Alarcón about why Internet access is heavily restricted in Cuba.
15 April 2012
Cuba: Uproar Over Ozzie Guillen's “Love” for Fidel Castro
Across digital and mainstream media, in the United States and Cuba, Miami Marlins baseball team manager Ozzie Guillén's comments on Fidel Castro unleashed a searing debate between baseball fans, political junkies, Cuban-American Miamians, and Cubans themselves.
13 April 2012
Chile
During her visit to Cuba this week, for a meeting of the Union of Communist Youth, Chilean Student Federation leader Camila Vallejo declined an invitation to meet with acclaimed Cuban blogger Yoani Sánchez. Vallejo generated much controversy on Twitter when she told CNN that she saw this as neither “necessary nor relevant” to her trip to the island.
Cuba
David Vásquez Abella blogs at La Pupila Insomne [es] about Chilean student and communist youth leader Camila Vallejo's visit to Cuba this week for a meeting of Cuba's Union of Communist Youth. A leading member of the Confederation of Chilean Students, a group that has led massive demonstrations advocating for equal access to quality education in Chile, Vallejo met with Fidel during her visit. Cuban folk singer Silvio Rodriguez also commented on her visit.
Cuba
At En 2310 y 8225 [es] Cuba-based blogger Yasmín Portales writes of an upcoming academic symposium in Havana on ciberfeminismo, or “cyberfeminism.” Though glad to be participating, Portales questions the definition of the term, and the value of hypertext in relationship to analogue literature.
4 April 2012
Cuba: Heated Controversy Over Scholarly Forum Continues
Over the last few weeks, state media in Cuba have alleged that the independent scholarly forum, Estado de SATS (State of SATS), is supported by United States government agencies that wish to subvert the Cuban government. Bloggers reflect on the debate.
I want to ask, there is not software to change from letter to letter Latin...