In recent weeks, anti-government activists have staged several public demonstrations in Havana and eastern Cuba. News and video clips of the events were posted on social-networking sites and broadcast on Miami television channels. But the opponents of the Castro government have gained little momentum.
The video clips show small groups of activists banging cookware, chanting anti-Castro slogans and “Freedom!” until police and state-security agents arrive to whisk them away.
In some of the videos, larger crowds of Cubans stand around watching the protesters, but they do not join in.
The incidents come after a period of relative calm that followed the Castro government’s move last year to release scores of imprisoned political prisoners, with the Catholic Church playing a mediating role. The amnesty briefly ameliorated criticisms by Western governments and human-rights groups of Cuba’s one-party socialist system and its treatment of non-violent dissenters.
One disadvantage often cited by Cuban activists is that they operate at a significant technology deficit. The island is one of the least-connected countries in the world, and though many young people have mobile phones, most lack access to Facebook, Twitter and video-sharing sites because of Internet restrictions and scarce bandwidth.
Still, activists are once more testing Raul Castro’s tolerance for public protest – and whether the tactics used by tweeting insurgents in the Middle East could spread anti-government sentiment here.
So far: not much.
Source: Salon (September 15)
Eric Koch’s book, The Weimar Triangle, is available at Indigo-Chapters and in your local bookstore. 
Cuban society is riddled with Communist Party spies ready to snitch on the folks next door, whether such accusations have substance or not.