Yoani Sanchez and the Power of Internet Blogging - Coursework Example

Yoani Sanchez and the Power of Internet Blogging For a long time now, human rights issues in Cuba have been taking centre stage. The country has been under stringent scrutiny from human rights organizations and the international community because of the numerous human rights abuses that range from extrajudicial executions, unfair trials, and arbitrary imprisonment among others. Cuba has faced oppression for more than 50 years. People have been forced to sit silent and watch as their rights and freedoms are abused. The Castro brothers, Fidel and Raul, have been in power in Cuba since 1950s. Under the rule of the two brothers, the country has experienced the worst forms of constant repression of basic human rights and individual freedoms. Due process has often been denied on many instances, and, as a result, many feel that Cuban laws are unethical and oppressive. Despite all these, Cubans have lacked a voice to fight for them. Many have been afraid to come out in the open and oppose the constant oppression and violation of human rights by the government. People have feared the consequences of opposing the violations against their rights because those who speak out against such oppression are mostly the ones who suffer the most since the government does not want to be opposed or criticized (Sweig 47). Yoani Maria Sanchez Cordero has been acting as a voice for the voiceless in Cuba. She has been standing up for the rights of the many oppressed Cubans who have been afraid to question the current regime over the common human rights violations. Sanchez has been using the internet as her main tool in fighting the oppression being netted out by the government. This paper will critically analyze the power of internet blogging as used by Yoani Sanchez in creating a window into the harsh realities of oppression that have been facing the people of Cuba. Yoani Maria Sanchez Cordero is a renowned Cuban blogger with international recognition and global awards for her efforts in criticizing the current rot in the Cuban government. Sanchez has been lauded for the creation of Generation Y. She has been using her words as a voice for the oppressed. Sanchez has been using the internet to inform the rest of the world about the sad state of affairs in Cuba. She has been instrumental in informing the international community about the injustices and arbitrary punishments that have been facing the people of Cuba (Henken 1). Her aim of exposing these injustices via the internet has been to let the world see what innocent Cubans have to go through every single day of their lives. Internet blogging is can be a powerful tool of informing the world about human rights violations, arbitrary punishments, extrajudicial killings, and unfair trials. People who live in democratic states which respect and uphold human rights may hardly be aware of other countries like Cuba where lack of respect for human rights is the order of the day. They may not know that there are certain governments which are not concerned about the rights of their people. This is where the power of internet blogging can be helpful (Treto 115). Yoani Sanchez has been using various internet platforms to keep the rest of the world informed about the state of affairs in Cuba. This has gained her a lot of popularity to the extent that she is referred to as the most famous Cuban who does not have the name Castro. Her messages on her internet blogs have been so powerful that the entire world is aware of what is happening in Cuba (Ringmar 31). She has been able to expose issues dealing with abuse of freedoms, oppression, and her own life as a dissident in her own home country. In 2002, Sanchez has immigrated to Switzerland with the hopes of escaping the harsh life that was in Cuba. She wanted to build her own life and that of her family. After two years, she made a bold decision to return to Cuba and be the voice of her oppressed people. She went back with the desire to live as a free person. She launched her own blog named Generation Y. This blog is also dubbed “an exercise in cowardice” because it grants her the opportunity to speak out what has been forbidden in the public circles. Her blog is powerful and effective because it can be easily accessed by readers from anywhere in the globe in twenty different languages (Sanchez 12). Yoani Sanchez has been able to demonstrate the tremendous power of internet blogging. For instance, in November 2009, the US President, Barrack Obama, wrote that, “Sanchez’s blog provides the world a unique window into the realities of daily life in Cuba”. Obama further praised the efforts of Sanchez of empowering her fellow Cubans to have the freedom to express themselves by using technology. To further prove that Yoani Sanchez has made internet blogging very powerful, Times Magazine listed her in the list of the top 100 most influential individuals in 2008 as a result of the respect she had commanded through her blogging. Her internet blogging has been so powerful to such an extent that she has had to deal with being followed daily and spied on by undercover policemen who wanted to be aware of her every move. The blogger has also been abducted and arrested on numerous occasions because of the work she has been doing of informing people about how Cubans are suffering under the hands of their own government (Sanchez 19). The power of internet blogging has also been demonstrated by Sanchez in the sense that the government of Cuba has been trying to muffle internet communication. The government of Cuba realized how Sanchez has been having the ability to inform the rest of the world about the numerous human rights abuses that have been taking place in Cuba. This has been giving the government sleepless nights. For this reason, the government has been frustrating all her efforts of letting the world know about the rot in Cuba in regard to human rights (Nasrin 33). For example, Sanchez has been blocked and censored from the internet on several occasions because the government knows how powerful her internet blogging is. Internet access in Cuba has also been elusive for sometime because the government has been controlling how people access and use the internet. If internet blogging was not powerful, the government would not have gone to such extremes to prevent people from using the internet. Sanchez has also been using Twitter as a platform to express the injustices taking place in Cuba. Her Twitter handle is followed by many people from all walks of life all over the world. The high number of followers she has also proves that her internet blogging is very powerful and influential. Every tweet she posts is able to reach millions of people who tweet and re-tweet that information. Sanchez was inspired to start a blog by the unfair twist of events at the debate of the intellectuals in January 2007. Sanchez and like-minded individuals were not allowed into the formal debate room because of the strong views that they held. According to Sanchez, the debate was hijacked by groups that were not really concerned about the welfare of Cuban people but their own. Sanchez’s internet blogging has had so much influence that The Huffington Post invited her in November 2008 to post her blog entries. Sanchez has been doing an exceptional job in describing the real life that Cubans are forced to live. In summary, Yoani Sanchez has demonstrated the power if internet blogging. Her success is owed to among other things the respectful yet stern tone that she uses. She also requires all those who leave comments on her blog to use a respectful and professional tone to make their points. Her blogs are widely read and are accessible in many different languages. Her words have been able to get the attention of the world about what is happening in Cuba. Works Cited Alavi, Nasrin. We Are Iran: The Persian Blogs. New York: Soft Skull Press, 2005. Print. Julia E. Sweig. Inside the Cuban Revolution. Harvard: Harvard University Press, 2004. Print. Raul Gomez Treto. “Thirty Years of Cuban Revolutionary Penal Law.” Latin American Perspectives 18.2 (1991): 114-25. Ringmar, Erik. A Blogger's Manifesto: Free Speech and Censorship in the Age of the Internet. London: Anthem Press, 2007. Print. Ted Henken. “Cuban blogger Yoani Sánchez Launches Independent News Site.” Committee to Protect Journalists. 22 May 2014. Web. 3 Dec. 2014. Yoani Sanchez. Havana Real: One Woman Fights to Tell the Truth about Cuba Today. New York: Melville House, 2011. Print. Read More