Cuba's digital revolution

The Documentary Podcast

BBC

Society & Culture, Documentary, Personal Journals

4.3 • 2.6K Ratings

🗓️ 13 October 2019

⏱️ 50 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

A revolution is underway in Cuba. The country’s communist leaders, who normally retain tight control of the media, have encouraged Cubans to become more connected online. Internet access used to be the preserve of a privileged (and relatively rich) few. But prices have come down, public wifi spots are popular, and less than a year ago 3G data access became available on Cuban phones. Along with a huge uptake in the internet has come a flood of Cubans signing up to social media accounts. Even President Miguel Diaz-Canel is on Twitter. And unlike staid and traditional state-run media, Cuban social media is relatively open, freewheeling, full of jokes, criticism of the government and, of course, memes. Prices are still high and the government keeps a close eye on dissidents or “counter-revolutionaries”. But online, Cubans are exploring new ways to communicate that would have been unheard of just a few years ago. The BBC’s Cuba correspondent Will Grant and BBC Trending reporter Reha Kansara have been meeting the Cubans at the forefront of their country’s digital revolution. They meet political podcasters, a lesbian activist, a pro-government blogger, a gamer-turned-protester, a dissident journalist and one of Cuba’s biggest YouTube stars. How are Cubans making their voices heard in a way they never have before – and how might social media transform the country?

Transcript

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0:00.0	Recently we were at the famous Malachon. It was early in the evening and we were
0:09.5	sat on the vast seabaw that hugs the coast of Cuba's capital, Havana.
0:14.9	In front of us was a beautiful sunset full of rich pink and purple hues.
0:19.6	Families turned out in the warm evening to shoot the breeze with their children.
0:23.0	Behind me by the road there was a man selling flavored ice pops
0:26.7	and some were enjoying a cigarette after work or sharing a small carton of cheap white rum
0:32.2	known as a plan chow.
0:34.0	Gentle waves slap the surface of the rocks below me.
0:37.0	And we were paging through a piece of old media, a state newspaper.
0:42.0	So you have a copy of Grandma, which is the, which is Cuba's official newspaper in your hand.
0:50.0	Tell me more about it.
0:51.0	Yeah, Grandma is officially the Communist Party's mouthpiece and
0:56.2	this is today's copy and it, I mean, as you, it's sort of unchanged in decades really. You can see it's pretty thin. It's just two
1:06.0	double pages at the moment. That's partly because of a lack of paper, a lack of
1:10.9	ink. It's a kind of tangible example of the cuts and the
1:15.1	austerity that Cuba is having to go through. A lot packed in it though. Yeah quite a
1:19.2	lot packed down. And so it's pretty dense typeface and kind of kind of you know a lot there but but I guess
1:28.0	what's interesting is just it's sort of unchanged editorially in all that time as well, you know. It knows what it is,
1:37.0	Grandma, it knows that it is there to speak for the Cuban Communist Party and by extension the Cuban government.
1:46.2	It is revolutionary through and through.
1:48.6	Don't come to this looking for sophisticated comment or criticism of what's been done here, this will give you the party
1:56.3	line and this is what this is used for.
	...

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