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[canadawsisworld] War and marginalized groups, e-democracy, regulating culture in TAs
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Mar 26th, 2003 - 10:45:11 |
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Hi All,
I hope you are not too put off by the geopolitical situation to keep participating and I think this week's theme ties closely into what is on everyone's mind these days: the "war on Iraq."
Marginalized groups tend to get further marginalized in war situations and ICTs have the potential to draw attention and amplify the cry for help of the most vulnerable groups such as the elderly, children, women caring for children, the disabled and the displaced people. As media and other ICTs are so important in shaping today's global 'net' opinion, the question of ethics and morality arises: what kind of responsibility do the media have to relay the messages of the marginalized groups in times of war? And how can this be done when these messages do nothing to sway public opinion in the direction that suits decision makers and funders of media houses? What kind of responsibility do Canadian media, in particular, have, and what role should Canadians working abroad as journalists, reporters and technical staff play in this case?
On the question of e-democracy, I would like to share a little story: Being an immigrant from Belgrade, Serbia and Montenegro, I have not been able to vote in that country since moving to Canada unless I was in the country at the time of elections. Due to a highly corrupt political system that ravaged the country in the 1990s, I (and many others) have a suspicion that names and votes of citizens living abroad have been used to support the political party in power. While this kind of identity fraud, like most other crimes, will be possible no matter how sophisticated security systems get, the potential of establishing an e-democracy would lower the chance of it happening. Had citizens been able to vote electronically between 1994 and 2000, over 2,000,000 Serbian votes from the diaspora may have made a difference in the 10-year effort to topple the regime of the 1990s.
On the topic of culture - I am a bit concerned about the way cultural content broadcast by ICTs is regulated under international bi- and multi-lateral agreements. For example, a couple of years ago, Mexico tried to regulate its television broadcast content in order to help preserve local culture. The government proposed that at least 20% of content appearing on Mexican TV be local content. However, this proposal was rejected because of the North American Free Trade Agreement on the accuse of protectionism. This example makes me wonder if international trade agreements can ever be effective in regulating cultural content? What do you think? For more food for thought on NAFTA and culture, here is a link of a 1997 article that looks at some of Canada-US cultural content disputes and questions under NAFTA. I don't entirely agree with the author but find the article thought provoking nonetheless: http://www.dbtrade.com/publications/nafta.htm
Maja Andjelkovic
E-consultation Facilitator
-----Original Message-----
From: Alexandra [mailto:alexandra (at) alternatives.ca]
Sent: Tue 3/25/2003 4:53 PM
To: Maja Andjelkovic
Cc:
Subject: [canadawsisworld] Week 2: Culture and Marginalized Groups
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