FLASHPOINT Screening: Women In White

Women In White

Thursday, 20 January 2011  – 5:00 p.m.
Friday, 21 Januray 2011 – 10:00 a.m.

2009-Col-52 min
Director: Gry Winther

From the moment he came to power in 1959, Fidel Castro led Cuba with an iron fist. A system of informants and secret police ensured that dissidents were given no chance to voice their views. When, in March 2003, all eyes were directed at the invasion of Iraq, seventy-five journalists, writers and human rights activists were arrested. They received prison sentences of 20 to 30 years. Two weeks later, the wives, sisters and daughters of the prisoners decided to come together to pray for their loved ones. Since then, Las Damas de Blanco, or the women in white, walk silently through the streets of Havana. Their actions are not without success: twenty men have been released since they began. In 2005, the European Parliament awarded the women a freedom of speech award. Although the regime keeps a close eye on the women, they continue on with their silent protest. Now only 12 are left in prison. The women’s fight led to the release of the others, but the ones released were forced to live in exile. The 12 refused to leave Cuba and therefore are still in prison. The women therefore still march through the streets of Havana.