Penultimos Dias is back (at least for now)

While the blog Penultimos Dias has been dormant for the past two weeks and a "Closed for Repairs" sign can be found hanging on the blog where new posts are usually placed, its author Ernesto Hernandez Busto, has just published this opinion article, "Los limites de la ciberdisidencia," at El Pais. 

The article is especially interesting given that Hernandez Busto has written enthusiastically on the topic of "cyber-dissidence" a number of previous times on his blog but now seems to be more doubtful than before about its effectiveness in combating authoritarian regimes.

In short his argument seems to be:

"The potential of bloggers and social networks to combat authoritarian regimes has been exaggerated. Examples from Cuba and Iran teach us that such systems have been able to use new information and communications technologies (ICT) to defend themselves. No regime has been overturned by ICT. Perhaps it is better to return to traditional forms of dissidence."