VIDEO-MESSAGE FROM YOANI SÁNCHEZ

AS PLAYED DURING THE 2009 "MARIA MOORS CABOT" AWARDS CEREMONY AT COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY*

Youtube link: http://bit.ly/3VWcPQ

It is unfortunate that I cannot join you today on the occasion of the Maria Moor Cabot Awards ceremony.  It is regretful, but nevertheless, in spite of repeated requests over the past year, I’ve become accustomed to the thought of not being able to travel outside my homeland.  We, the Cubans [inside the island], are like children who must have their parents’ authorization to leave our homes.  In the case of that girl named “Yoani Sanchez”, the personal and social cost of writing her impressions of reality on a Web Page has been a sentence into a motionless existence, which has turned me into a stationary pilgrim within this island.  To be nominated for the Maria Moor Cabot Prize has been a surprise, yet it has served as a protective shield against the repression and, above all, the Cuban State’s control over anyone with a distinct view.  The fact that one of the World’s oldest journalistic awards has been bestowed upon me, one who is a simple citizen-journalist [i.e., a blogger], a person who writes her impressions on the Internet, has been of great value to continue this personal project, which serves as a form of exorcism or therapy that has been named “Generation Y”.  Someday that Virtual Cuba that we have attempted to describe or to propel on the Internet might have its counterpart in the real Cuba.  I dream of a future, in which anyone who writes an Internet blog, posts his opinions or critiques on reality, whether it is opposite, antagonistic, or simply different from the government’s view, will not be penalized or chastised for his actions;   A day in which no one stops another from traveling because he holds a different view; that day in which no one stops another from opining simply because his views do not concur with the party line or an ideology.  Although I cannot physically be with you today, I’ve traveled virtually and have arrived in that room where a very talented group of journalists will be awarded.  I am delighted and it’s my hope that this virtual contact will someday become a reality. 

*Transcribed from Spanish-language video-message by: Roberto Sánchez 10/17/09