http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/04/opinion/sunday/a-bold-attempt-to-redefine-dissidence-in-cuba.html 2016-09-05 09:39:05 A Bold Attempt to Redefine ‘Dissidence’ in Cuba Through a digital “museum of dissidence,” a Havana couple sets out to remind Cubans that Fidel and Raúl Castro were once dissidents. === “Dissident” is a loaded word in This year, with expectations reset by the normalization of relations between Cuba and the United States, Luis Manuel Otero and Yanelis Nuñez Leyva, a couple in Havana, figured it was time to redefine what it means to be a dissident. They created t Among the dissidents they feature are Mr. Otero, who is a sculptor, has pushed the boundaries of free speech before through performance art. But Ms. Nuñez’s involvement with the website was particularly gutsy, since she worked as a staff writer at a magazine published by the Ministry of Culture when the site was created in April. “We set out to dismantle the pejorative meaning the word ‘dissident’ has had in Cuba,” Ms. Nuñez said in an interview. “It was designed to be a space to generate dialogue.” A few years ago, this act would have immediately turned its creators into outcasts. But Ms. Nuñez said she had been hopeful that with the culture of self-censorship and fear eroding, her supervisors might simply look the other way. The site, after all, is not aligned with dissident groups, nor does it challenge the government’s policies directly. In late May, though, it became clear she was in trouble. After meeting with the vice minister of culture, Ms. Nuñez’s boss told her that it would be in her best interest to resign quietly because of her involvement with the project. She refused and was told to take two weeks of vacation. Before her leave was up, she was suspended without pay for a month, pending the results of an investigation into whether she visited websites at the office that were not relevant to her work. On July 1, she was fired. Several Cuban state employees who have run afoul of the government have chosen to walk away quietly. Not Ms. Nuñez, who chose to challenge the decision. “Even if I don’t prevail, I think it’s worthwhile to fight,” she said. “There’s a pretense here that freedom of expression is respected. What I’m doing could help build pressure to force them to follow the law.” Luisa Campuzano Last month, a labor board rejected Ms. Nuñez’s challenge to the dismissal. She is now appealing her case to a municipal court, hoping it will be assigned to a maverick judge. “The museum has a noble intent,” she said. “If we’re acting nobly, we can’t be afraid.”