New York/The Guy Pérez Cisneros Center for the Promotion of Human Rights, of Citizenship and Freedom, presents the report in New York Youth, power and social networks in Cubadedicated to documenting patterns of state repression against the rights to freedom of association and peaceful assembly of young Cubans.
The meeting is held as a side event to the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly, coinciding with High Level Week in New York. The presentation seeks to focus on the new Cuban generations, especially on the ways in which they organize, express and mobilize through social networks and on the response of the authorities to these initiatives.
The panel will feature Gina Romero, United Nations special rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association; Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, artist, co-founder of the San Isidro Movement and political prisoner in Cuba, and Carolina Barrero, president of Citizenship and Freedom, who will be in charge of presenting the report and moderating the meeting.
The title of the report points to an issue that has gained particular relevance since the expansion of mobile internet access in Cuba: the role of digital platforms as spaces for denunciation, civic articulation and convocation. The protests of July 11, 2021 showed the extent to which networks could contribute to breaking the isolation between different localities and making visible, practically in real time, demonstrations that spread throughout numerous cities on the Island.
The presentation has the academic collaboration of the Bildner Center for Western Hemisphere Studies, CUNY, and they also appear linked to the Civil Rights Defenders and Consorcio Justicia call. Under the motto “Behind fear is the country we dream of,” the meeting proposes listening to “the voices of a generation that organizes, expresses itself and resists” against the restrictions of civic spaces in Cuba.
Mode: In person, in Spanish. Limited capacity.
Registration: Please confirm attendance (RSVP) to contacto@ciudadaniaylibertad.org or bildner@gc.cuny.edu.
