In 1995, IDEE began publishing a series of pamphlets in Spanish called Los Caminos (“roads” or “ways”) as part of an initiative to provide Cuban dissidents with information and analysis of Eastern Europe’s human rights and democracy movements and their different strategies for the transition to democracy.
Los Caminos translated articles by Eastern Europeans from such journals as Uncaptive Minds about the changes in Eastern Europe and the strategies for bringing it about. IDEE’s interest in Cuba was long-standing. Indeed, the series title was based on a book IDEE published in Spanish already in the late 1980s called El Camino de Solidaridad (The Road to Solidarity).
As part of IDEE’s democracy for Cuba program, nearly 20 Eastern European veterans of democratic opposition traveled with IDEE to Cuba from 1995–1997, meeeting with Cuban workers, peasants, human rights activists, priests, and others. These Eastern Europeans brought with them Los Caminos, computers, tape recorders, paper, and basic materials, but most of all they brought their knowledge and their commitment to breaking the isolation of Cuban democrats after almost forty years of socialist dictatorship. Many of the Eastern Europeans returned to their countries committed to do something to aid those seeking to bring about democratic change to a country where the imposition of socialist rule was still in full force. For example, after Russia’s Alexander Podrabinek made his first trip to Cuba with IDEE, he helped inspire a Duma committee on Cuban human rights and developed a special Cuban service of his human rights press agency, Prima.
Beginning in 1999 IDEE continued its publications in Spanish in a series called Democracia that featured a combination of essays on freedom and opposition, international human rights documents with original commentary aimed at the Cuban audience, translations of current articles describing democratic changes in Eastern Europe, and original essays by prominent figures on the fall of communism and transition to democracy, such as former Estonian prime minister Mart Laar and Fidesz’s parliamentary caucus leader in Hungary, Joszef Szajer. The pamphlets were published in themes: Ideas (4), International Norms (4), Democratic Transitions (8), and Civil Society (presented in 4 newsletters). In addition, IDEE published Jakub Karpinski’s Democracy Manual, also called The ABCs of Democracy. Each of the pamphlets was published in around 1,500 copies (about 30,000 total) and most have been distributed inside Cuba. Like the first series, these pamphlets have been distributed to independent libraries, educators, civic groups and activists, trade unionists, journalists, democracy leaders, and others. According to reports, the pamphlets have met a strong demand among Cubans for any information about the Eastern European experience, which they believe will be most relevant for their own struggle against tyranny.
We present some of these publications below with any links
available Spanish and/or English texts. Some are reprinted with permission
only and we provide a link or reference.
Democracy Manual
The ABCs of Democracy, by Jakub Karpinski
No 1: UN Covenant on Civil and Political Rights with commentary by Marek Nowicki [English version] [Spanish version]
No. 3: Don't Believe, Don't Fear,
Don't Beg, by Alexander Podrabinek
Ideas
Common Elements of Opposition in Eastern
Europe, by Eric Chenoweth and Irena Lasota
Democratic Transitions
Russia - Less Than Democracy, by Alexander
Podrabinek
with No Vivas en
la Mentira, por Aleksanr Solzhenitsyn (in Spanish)
Estonia - The Small Country that Could, by Mart Laar
Hungary - The Negotiated Transition and its
Lessons, by Jozsef Szajer
Civil Society
Newsletter 1: What is an NGO?
Civil Society in Postcommunist Countries,
by Irena Lasota
Pluralism and the Strength of NGOs is the Basis of Civil Society, by Agu Laius
About NGOs, by Katarzyna Kadziela
Slovakia's NGOs Mobilize and Get the Last Laugh, by Rodger Potocki(in Spanish)
What is a Non-governmental Organization, by Lufti Osman
NGOs: A Simple Guide, by Luminita Petrescu
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