00:00And in Cuba, the Granma Rebelde International Festival continues on its second day.
00:04Let's go live with our correspondent Belén de los Santos for all the details.
00:13Hello Luis, exactly as you were saying, we are here live from Havana, Cuba
00:18in this festival that is really about journalism and revolutionary journalism.
00:24This is the Granma Rebelde Festival, the festival that is honoring the 60 years of this festival.
00:30It's two media outlets, Granma and Juventil Rebelde, the two revolutionary media outlets here in Cuba
00:37after the great victory of 1959.
00:40And we are here, we continue to share experiences and visit different stands as well.
00:46We have participants from over 30 countries.
00:49And at this moment, we have the pleasure of being joined by Tim Hoyt.
00:53He's from Belgium, from the organization Medic for the People.
00:57Thank you and welcome, Tim, for joining us here in Tell us the English.
01:01Thank you for inviting me.
01:04I'm really happy to be here today.
01:06And I must say, when I entered this morning, I was immediately impressed.
01:11It's really a fantastic festival, yeah.
01:14It is a fantastic festival.
01:15It's full of debates, but also so much culture.
01:19We can tell the viewers as well that there are actually cultural activities happening at this moment.
01:24We have panels debating some key issues like, for example, the key role of Fidel in journalism, but also great cultural activities.
01:34La Colmenita, Cuban classic theatre, a young theatre company that is a classic here in Cuba.
01:43It's actually performing right now.
01:45You'll probably, in a few minutes afterwards, see some images.
01:49And we continue to debate about journalism today.
01:51So, Tim, please tell us, what is your first insights being here at the festival?
01:57What was your first impression?
01:59Well, I was mostly impressed to see how much new initiatives are also here present today.
02:05I see a lot of young people, new media initiatives, people who are trying to take a progressive message to the world by all kinds of new media.
02:17And that's something interesting to bring all these people together and to exchange ideas because the world is changing very rapidly.
02:25And we as progressive people need to bring analysis and a message of hope to people.
02:33And we need to find new ways to interact with all those people.
02:37And it's fun to have this exchange today with all these young people trying to do the same.
02:42It's the same.
02:43And it calls my attention the idea that...
02:48So, the Edamonic Narrative usually sets the Global South as a place where people are looking towards the North for, like, a prospect of development.
02:59And you are talking about coming to the Global South for ideas of hope, for ideas of moving forward with a working class agenda.
03:08So, I wanted to ask you, from your perspective, you come from a European country, why is it important to be in contact with the Global South in order to foster those perspectives?
03:18Well, I must say, I'm from Belgium and we have an organization of health centers in our country.
03:26And I must say, in one year time, a lot has changed because there is really a fastly growing idea of more militarization.
03:36Our government decided to expand the budget for military expenses from one and a half percent to three and a half percent.
03:46So, this is about 20 billion euros for our country.
03:51And the government is going to take that budget from social security.
03:55So, our healthcare is really degrading very rapidly.
03:59And, yeah, we try to create more resistance against the story of militarization, nationalism, us against the rest of the world.
04:10And, yeah, what I witnessed in the few days I've been to Cuba this week is the opposite.
04:17It's an idea of collaboration, an idea of peace, an idea of prosperity and an idea of defending our social rights instead of diminishing them, yeah.
04:30Definitely one of the key aspects to keep in mind is the possibility of thinking of another way of structuring those priorities when in the north.
04:40Because you were talking about cuts to healthcare and, of course, that's a reality in Belgium.
04:45But that has been and continues to be a reality in many countries in the north and many liberal countries in the south as well.
04:53And just coming together to share those perspectives just gives us a little bit of a broader margin to understand that it's really all about global economics,
05:03not just what happens in one territory.
05:06So, finally, you're going back home. What would you take back in order to really continue fostering this narrative and the possibility of just spreading in the world the idea that there are other alternatives,
05:20or at least there are people in search of new alternatives every day?
05:25Well, I think the most important thing to learn is that we don't have to be afraid.
05:30So a lot of people in Europe are afraid of the future. They do not want war. They do not want cuts and austerity and healthcare.
05:40They want to keep their social rights, but they are afraid. And I think there's also fear in Latin America.
05:47Fear of what is Donald Trump going to do? What is the US going to do? What will be our future?
05:52But there is resistance and there is hope and there is a willingness to win. And I think this is something we also need to take back to Europe,
06:01where there is also resistance, but we have to foster the message of hope. If we are afraid and if we let us guide by fear, then we will not win.
06:10We need to spread that message of hope. I love those words. Thank you so much, Tim, for joining us.
06:16So just a little bit of what is happening here in Havana. Of course, Luis, we will continue to bring you all the updates.
06:23We have more panels, more guests, and more cultural events here in the Gran Marrebelde Festival.
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