To the trolls "not one inch"*

About a year ago I devoted a few lines to the trolls. For you, my commentators, I now dedicate some more. Obviously the trolls in Octavo Cerco are not exercising freedom of expression, they want to intimidate, insult and threaten. To write in Persian on a Spanish blog and repeat the same nonsense hundreds of times is not a sign of freedom, it is simply verbal violence or virtual sabotage.

Because of all these things to which my readers and I are condemned, I feel I have to explain my reasons for not moderating comments, or more to the point my reasons for not eliminating the trolls, which is the same thing. I ask for your understanding, I know that solidarity is the force that most unites us.

- I have no access to the Internet that would allow me to systematically moderate comments, it is a slow process and requires a lot of connectivity, time and money.

- I do not want to ask anyone else to moderate the blog, I consider it my responsibility.

- In the last months I have experienced several “repudiation rallies” in my real life. Depending on the level of excitement of the primal horde representing the Cuban government, I emerge more or less affected; that is the reality of my life, that is the daily life of those who think differently.

The trolls in my blog exist in the same way that the so-called “rapid response brigades” exist in my reality. It may not be obvious to every web-surfer, but for me they are the way the government has found to contain the tired voices of the longest revolution in the world: insults, threats and punishment.

I have listed my explanations according to their level of importance: perhaps if I could spend more time on the network the third reason wouldn’t even exist. However, for every difficulty that presents itself so that I continue writing, a new idea pops into to my brain and meets the objective part, to say it in another way. I know I am asking you to live every day in a repudiation rally, I know it’s too much.

I apologize and ask you to have the tolerance that neither they nor the government they represent will ever have for any of us.

Translator’s note: Claudia’s original phrase is “ni un tantico asi” which is a phrase used by Che Guevara with regards to the United States: To imperialism… give not one tiny bit… nothing, not a single concession.