Untitled - Convivencia

INTERNET: INFORMATION, SOLIDARITYAND LIVING TOGETHEREditorial 13. Jan-Feb-2010. Convivencia Magazine. www.convivenciacuba.esInternet is 40 years old. No one could haveimagined in the distant December of 1969when the first steps for this giantinternational net were taken, that fourdecades later it would be the most powerfulinstrument for communication and easy touse.The connexions between the computers inthe Universities of Los Angeles, Stanford,Utah and California, in Saint Barbra and oneCentre of investigation for the Defence wentimmediately beyond the threshold of theinvestigation and the Defence. The studentworld, the university young people, theenterprises, the State institutions and thecomplex fabric of the civil society tookimmediate control of this efficient, simple,close, personalized and global tool for work.The world has substantially changed afterInternet appeared. Two aspects of the humanperson’s essence have acquired universaldimensions: freedom and solidarity.Internet has granted human freedom achannel for expression without boundariesand with no other limitation than the veryethical exercise of freedom. Internet is themost inclusive door for the adulthoodresponsible freedom. That is why in Internetappear the same human miseries anddeviations that exist in real life. Noteverybody uses this freedom for the good,the beauty and the truth; but this is the storyof every progress of humankind. Only theeducation for using the own freedom and tohave access to ethical and civic responsibilityis the way for everyone to learn how tochoose between the weaknesses and thestrengths of the greatest net of freedom thathuman genre has achieved ever.Only the ones who oppose to the freedom ofcitizens restrict or block the access to Internet.It shows the tremendous efficiency and powerof this net. Cuba is one of the few countries inthe world that exercise this restriction tofreedom from a position of power for fear toinformation, to communication, to supportivesolidarity.…FOR FEAR TO FREEDOMBut what can we expect from a system that, atthis stage of civilization grant the governmentand its security bodies the right to decide whois going to own a telephone, a car or a house…?They decide who is going to travel inside thecountry or abroad, who can publish or not theirliterary, artistic or opinion works. But nobodylistens to this. Or almost no one sees this. Anda few take this seriously as a proof of thenature of the system that blockades Cuba. Thecommercial interests are unscrupulously placedabove the freedom and the dignity of eachCuban, woman and man.Meanwhile, hypocritically, a few governmentsand institutions want to censor Internetbecause of the moral miseries related to sex orbecause of the execrable incitement to bloodyviolence. It’s true that we have to find a way todo that without violating the essential freedom.But why not acting with the same intensityabout the violations of the rights that don’thave to do with sex? Or is it that the dignity ofthe human person is determined only by thesouth hemisphere of the human body? Whenwill come the day in which the hemispheresEdiciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 201253