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Week 2: Culture and Marginalized Groups
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Mar 25th, 2003 - 17:53:57 |
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Hello everyone,
Here is the English translation of this week's topic background paper on
culture and marginalised groups.
I do hope to hear from you on these debates.
Week 2: Culture and Marginalized Groups
"The development of Information and Communication Technologies, (ICT)
did not only widen the possibilities for communication, but also, it is
the very reach that this communication has that has changed, which has
altered and caused new implications in all the domains of social
coexistence. Never before has humanity had access to such large
communication capacity,impeded nevertheless, by the tendency to
monopolize these technologies,
under the guise of taxable norms by the dictatorship of the market."
(Quoted from:
The ALAI Declaration, Agencia Latinomericana de la Informacion, at the
time of preparation for the World Social Forum,January 2001, Porto
Alegre, Brazil.)
The Internet is a vast and powerful communication platform, notably
owing its success to the convergence of the existing media and ICT.
Access to the Internet has developed even though most communities and
most of the marginalized populations of the world still in the process
of development are excluded from this technological advancement. At the
same time, these new technologies are being marketed, institutionalized
and appropriated. ICT carries out the process of globalization
established under inequality, which often increases social and economic
disparities at the heart of developing countries. On the other hand,
these technologies can also be a powerful tool of resistance, social
mobilization and development, for the creation of liberty and justice.
For this reason, ICT remain a powerful tool and we must engage ourselves
to take full advantage of the rights to free expression, communication,
association and protest and ensure that these are effectively protected
on the internet by national, regional and international laws
Again, many fascinating experiences of numerous democracies have
attracted much attention by showcasing the capacity of ICT in
reinforcing local democracy. Powerful ICT offer practical possibilities
for directing democracies in many ways. For example, innovative methods
of consultation of populations have already had huge success; 'the
I-VOTES' appear inevitable in the near future which could replace the
traditional poll station vote. It is evident that the changes in
technology have a great effect on the ways in which democracy might
improve.
The newest of the implementation of ICT in democracy building is a new
tendency to use the internet in the electoral process by establishing
the use of an 'I- voting' (to vote online). Can the internet strengths
revitalize local democracy by encouraging effective communication with
the citizens?
According to the innovation of one Vikas Nath, the potential use of the
internet in developing countries lies in his capacity to transform
corporations by quick and effective broadcasting of mass knowledge.
Basing itself on a cluster of case studies on internet usage and ICT
(cellular phones in particular), in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Cameroon, and
in other countries, Nath and others have showed how ICT have radically
transformed the ways in which the citizen can actively engage themselves
politically.
Indymedia.org is a collective of media-activists and journalists engaged
in writing and transmitting alternatives views to current global
issues. Their goal is the production, broadcasting and the promotion of
information, ideas, debate and culture, as well as the constant critique
of traditional media. It is a physical place for encounters and a
potential platform for exchanging alternative and independent
information. It aims at
achieving the real exercise of democracy by encouraging citizen
engagement via their appropriation of information.
Some of the more promising experiences in the matter of democracy at the
present time include: better establishing of public benefits by linking
to information technologies; linking municipalities and regions, as well
as national and international linkages. Holding online council meetings
has also fostered transparency and collective action by the creation of
a 'portal' which allows for decentralized participation.
The use of an online vote can breathe new life into a democracy. This
has been the case in some municipalities in Switzerland which should be
considered very avant-garde for using this new method of engagement.
In 2002, the Geneva district was designated to be the first obligatory
vote in the world - a referendum ? in which the electorate would have
the option to vote in line. This experience raised a number of
questions such as the security or information and the prevention of the
fraud. The results of an investigation showed that the option to vote
online can increase voter turn out by 9%. The I -VOTE also raises a
number of normative problems, such as if direct democracy will become
more trivial if citizens can vote on all of the political themes that
face their communities. The election will not only address one simple
referendum question. It will also allow for the measurement of whether
or not the I -VOTE is simply a new convenience, or if it can transform
the nature of electoral participation and, by this, democracy itself.
Civil cooperation may sometimes extend its hand towards marginalized
groups. When the confidence in local authorities is weak, civil society
will extend its hand toward marginalized groups in the community. An
example among others is the usage of minority languages on various
websites. The internet has become more multi-lingual in order to improve
relations between represented, elected and minority groups. Certain
cities in the Netherlands - Amsterdam and The Hague in particular - were
witnesses to the success of the organizations within their communities
when they extended their hands toward immigrants and other minority
populations that arrived.
The main obstacle impeding the usage of ICT is the obvious inequality
that exists with regard to access. Access is a condition that either
enables or hinders data processing. In most countries, and particularly
in developing countries, access to online services limited to the
minority.
Many experiments are taking place in world in order to put ICT within
reach for the citizens of developing countries. Today, a country that
does not stress the need for ICT will inevitably will be left behind.
In 1999, one out of every 9 000 Africans had access to the internet
(excluding South Africa), while the world-wide average is of one in 40.
Having said this, how does one offer an illiterate peasant in the middle
of Africa the power of world-wide knowledge? How does the world take on
the task of introducing marginalized communities to the era of
information?
The obstacle is not merely technical in nature. Thanks to the new
networks of satellites one can now use a cellular telephone from any
corner of the African continent. But these telephones cost ten times
what the average annual income is for an African. If one wants to use a
network, the cost for rural subscribers in Africa is five to ten times
higher than the cost for city-dwellers.
Traditionally, in developing countries, the owners of televisions,
radios and telephones would share these luxuries with their neighbours.
Today, tele-centers, some equipped only with a telephone and a fax,
others with computers, printing services and an internet connection are
stemming up everywhere.
The situation in Latin America
Access to the internet has grown quickly in Latin America, thanks to the
cost being fairly reasonable, the proliferation of cybercaf
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