Ariel Fernandez Diaz, aka Asho, believes it is important for artists and activists to create coalitions with the politicians who can legislate actual change in people's lives.
Ariel Fernández Díaz, Agent of Change :: 120 Seconds from friendswelove.com on Vimeo.
About Ariel Fernández Díaz: An internationally acclaimed journalist and cultural activist, Fernández Díaz is known as “The Cuban Hip-Hop Ambassador” for his pivotal role in shaping and documenting Cuba’s national Hip-Hop movement. Celebrated for his dynamic perspective and searing analysis of Cuban race relations, Fernández Díaz is a compelling, intellectual voice who enriches any event or forum he partakes in.
As new horizons on the U.S- Cuba relations front emerge under the Obama administration, new directions in the discourse around the future of the isolated island are becoming increasingly prominent in media and academic circuits. Fernández Díaz fills the void in these debates through his critical examination of race, Hip-Hop and popular culture, and contemporary politics in Cuba. Fernández Díaz's pragmatic view of Cuban socialism and its intersections with the aforementioned topics demystifies the reality of present-day life in Cuba. His constructive critique of his homeland offers a new lens through which to evaluate Cuban society.
Fernández Díaz has been featured as a lecturer/panelist at: New York University, Brown University, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Lehigh University, Medgar Evers College (CUNY), and other notable institutions.
Links: Ariel's Website