Group wants US-Cuba cultural exchange
p2pnet news | Freedom:- Nobody has a monopoly on truth.
That’s the premise of Cubaresponde.org whose goal is to allow a free press in Cuba.
The Net is a wonderful thing. It’s allowing People to People power to flourish, lighting dark corners and opening doors which could otherwise never have been opened and allowing freedom of speech in a way that’s never been popssible before.
And one of the most striking examples of what P2P can do is the way it’s allowing music to flourish, freed from the chains of corporate greed.
That’s the case online, but offline, the Powers that Used to Be are hanging on like grim death and US president George W. Bush in 2003 started using visa denials to close the door to Cuban musicians, as well as implementing visa restrictions to bar American musicians from travelling there.
His administration, “also reversed the Clinton administration’s policy of ‘people-to-people exchange,’ which in the late ’90s started something of a renaissance for Cuban musicians and their work in the States,” says Reuters, going on among those involved in the “celebrated cross-cultural performances” was jazz musician Chuco Valdes.
His son, Chuchito Valdes, lives in Mexico and can perform in the US, but in Cuba, Chuco is forbidden from doing so, says the story, going on that more than 200 musicians, activists and government policymakers met in late April in Washington, DC, for a two-day summit on changing US policies on Cuba.
They gathered at HR-57, a nonprofit arts organization named for a 1987 House resolution authored by John Conyers which designated jazz a “rare and valuable American national treasure” worthy of federal support, says the story.
‘Why are these concerned citizens not saying anything about it’
But Jose A Hernandez, MD, president of CubaResponde, wonders if their concern goes far enough.
If an ‘open cultural exchange’ was their aim, why did they not also focus attention on of plights of other creators such as writer Yoani Sánchez, named by Time magazine one of the 100 most influential people in the world but who wasn’t allowed to go to Madrid in Spain to receive her award?
“Is this not preventing ‘open cultural exchange’?” – wonders Hernandez.
And if that’s so, “why are these concerned citizens not saying anything about it?”
There’s also the case of the Cuban doctors who aren’t allowed to leave the island , says Hernandez, going on, “just because an individual works in this health field, he/she cannot travel abroad.
“Do physician not contribute to the cultural life of a nation?
“When one sees the one sided concern of these organizations and individuals, that is to say all focus on USA policy while other greater violations of their stated aims are perpetrated by the Cuban government, one has to wonder what is their true purpose.”
Meanwhile, Louis Head, executive director of US Cuba Cultural Exchange, a national network of artists and presenters, has launched online letter petitioning the Bush administration to reverse its policy, says Reuters, adding:
“Head hopes that since Fidel Castro has stepped down and a new U.S. administration will soon take office, the climate may be right for change. ‘What’s important,’ he says, ‘is that we’ve organized arts presenters, agents, record company executives and educators to let Congress know how we feel’.”
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Reuters – Group urges U.S. to open cultural exchange with Cuba, May 11, 2008
Yoani Sánchez – Cuba’s Yoani Sánchez barred from award, May 12, 2008
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August 3rd, 2008 at 4:09 pm
[...] Group wants US-Cuba cultural exchangeThey gathered at HR-57, a nonprofit arts organization named for a 1987 House resolution authored by John Conyers which designated jazz a “rare and valuable American national treasure” worthy of federal support, says the story. … [...]