What is it?

Presently, the common opinion is that a civil society is regarded as an area of citizen participation which is contrary to state participation.  It is part of our participation which is often called the third sector, meaning a domain of activity that is neither the State's nor Market's. Here there are all the organizations called non-governmental, associations, clubs, and societies where citizens could fulfill their needs and achieve their common goals together.  An active and a conscious civil society determines the foundation of a present and efficient democratic state.

Does it exist in Cuba?

Independent journalists, small, independent, and illegal press agencies, and independent authors and artists who are not only trying to use art to expose the malfunctions of  the system but are also mutually revealing the direction towards change as well. A special atmosphere is created where individual and entrepreneurial thinking and self-effort could be beneficial while working and thinking simultaneously about profits, its sense and usage is found.  Small, family companies are founded - still substantially restrained in its possibilities, for example, private transport on a small scale - rickshaws and fast-food places, etc. This all creates a situation where people naturally shift from socialistic, propaganda aberration to the market logic of the capitalistic system.

The new market conditions demand new administrative and political conditions and thus new social needs are arising and the perception of reality is changing. A group of people are appearing who possess certain funds owing to self-employment in market conditions and want to spend and invest them.  However, the socialistic reality of Cuba does not allow them to do that.

How has it emerged?

Since the time of great crisis in Cuba in the 90's called the ''Special Period”  (Periodo Special), which was caused by the collapse of the Soviet Union and the withdrawal of the Soviet camp, was a gigantic economic aid for Cuba and has begun a new phase in the relations between the State and the Society. We can safely say that the process of the resurgence of a civil society in the conditions of serious economic and political crisis has begun.

What exactly has started to change? After forty years of a repressive and incapacitating regime and after forty years of the intensive indoctrination of society and enslavement of Cuban minds, it turns out that it is close to this time when the propaganda is so far from reality that it is impossible to make everyone believe any falsehood. Some people, who are mostly educated and mainly from the big cities, above all in Havana, started to express their anxieties and criticism against all that that was happening. We can not forget that it was a time when perestroika and glasnost (restructuring and openness) had triumphed in Russia and had found many enthusiastic supporters among the elite of the middle class of the Cuban administration:  diplomats, city clerks, and journalists.

It was not happening in aggreeance or with the support of the regime, but against it in spite of severe repressive measures:  detentions, long-term imprisonment in inhumane conditions, intimidation of families, blackmail, threats, and the loss of jobs and peace and quite in their own homes.

In this chapter, we are writing about the chosen groups which form the civil society in Cuba.