Untitled - Convivencia

prisoners of conscience. This group ofprisoners used to have a diverse origin but itbecame a symbol of unity and commitment tothe Cuba cause. Among the efforts forconceiving projects for Cuba also was theAssembly to promote Civil Society.Other many projects show that Cuba civilsociety has learned how to take its first stepsof group organization designed to create, indue time, strong and efficient democraticinstitutions which should be mutuallycontrolled and should put a stop to newleaderships or sectarianisms. There are inCuba today projects and programs of liberalinspiration such as the liberal Alliances andparties; projects of Christian Democratinspiration such as “Todos Cubanos” (AllCubans) and the “Heredia” Project; there areprograms of social democratic inspiration;projects and programs of socialist inspirationsuch as the Cuba Democratic Socialist Trend,the Arco Progresista (Progressive Arch) theproject “Nuevo País” (New Country) and itsForum; projects of Marxist inspiration such asthe “Observatorio Crítico” and others; besidesthe present official project which is expressedto be an updating of socialism, etc.Other examples of associations that have theirprojects and programs are: La CorrienteMartiana, the Committee of Cuban Citizens,the Party of Workers and Farmers, CubaLiberal Movement, Democratic Solidarity Party,30 de noviembre Party; Eastern DemocraticAlliance and Pinar del Río Democratic Alliance;Young Men for Democracy Cuban Movement;Cuba Human Rights Foundation; Liberal Partyof Cuba; Young men from Bayamo Movement;Unión Patriótica de Cuba (Patriotic Union ofCuba) (UNPACU); Latin American Federation ofRural Women (FLAMUR); Unitary Council ofCuban Workers (CUTC); CorrienteAgramontista de Abogados; Movement forRace Integration; the Human Rights LawtonFoundation; Asociación Jurídica de Cuba(Juridic Association of Cuba) and a long mixedetcetera. They exist all along Cuba and notonly in Havana. Some present themselves astypically partisan projects, others as union orlabor union movements; some of them as newkind social movements; others as sociocultural projects, or social communication, oreconomic studies, or genre programs orprograms of respect for sex preference oragainst discrimination or exclusions of allkinds. The Ladies in White, the bloggerMovement, the independent journalists, theCuban Network of CommunitarianCommunicators and each one of the diverseindependent press agencies all over thecountry; they not only open windows tofreedom of expression and association butthey turn the life of the Nation, theprominence of civil society and the events inall corners of the Country more and moretransparent. This movement, the program ofwhich is to reach a society of information andcommunication among citizens has alreadybecome unstoppable and it has changed thequality of transparency in the information andassociation in Cuba.“In the processes of human associationprogress is marked by differentiation”.We can’t mention all of them but it isnecessary to show, through examples, thatthey exist and they have programs, more andmore, which are either in a process ofconception, or consolidated or under way.Each one of them with its ideological andhumanist orientation, all of them pacific, all ofthem put Cuba in the first place. Someobservers argue as a deficiency that theseassociations are many, that they are dispersedand small and that they are muchdifferentiated to each other. This cannot beconsidered a handicap because we are at thebeginning of a new projection toward a plural,inclusive and democratic society. This phraseby Medardo Vitier, written in one of the booksthat every Cuban must read and study,describes the foundational moment which hasan astonishing and urgent validity nowadays:“The outstanding Cubans who projectedpolitical reforms in the colony in the early19th century were based on a certain degreeof maturity reached by the communitygradually. The mere human aggregate wasgaining features of nationality though stillincipient. Declared or not by them that wasthe sociological fact. In the processes ofhuman association the progress is marked bydifferentiation. They originate slowly in thedemographic, economic and intellectualaspects… and in a certain period (rather thanin a moment) there is a sense of communitywhich is suitable for governing itself or atEdiciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 2012118