Can the internet deliver democracy? >Re-examination<
source: http://aljazeera.com/programmes/frostovertheworld/2011/01/201112285444196868.html
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Following the upheaval in Tunisia over the last few weeks, Sir David discusses whether the internet can play a role in bringing about freedom and democracy around the world. He is joined by Evgeny Morozov, the author of The Net Delusion - how not to Liberate the World, and Noureddine Miladi, a Tunisian academic and media expert.-"
This video also features a couple other topics, but my interest lies in the one concerning internet and democracy. Noureddine Miladi makes a fairly empassioned series of statements as a Tunisian himself about how the internet in an anotherwise media maligned environment can lead greatly to the people informing and organizing themselves with what he refers to as a "Peoples' Power", and how integral these social sites are for getting the underexposed horrors in an area international attention while allowing the people to perhaps finally get thier voices heard by the international media.
These particular comments caught my attention so I decided to look a little more into Tunisia's "Twitter Revolution" and into the several similar occurances since. Knowing full well this subject could find many facts I would not want to hear as well as others that could bring me hope. With the events since in Egypt, Libya, Syria, Jordan, and Yemen that have had evidence or speculation of similar methods of organization this has certainly merited more investigation.
A good first source is "The death of fear", a two part ducumentary by Rageh Omaar at:
http://aljazeera.com/programmes/ragehomaarreport/2011/03/20113993920597144.html
Early in this video is an eerily honest comment concerning the politically motivated self immolation(burning) of Mohammed Bouazizi "One person who is not afraid to die can start a revolution; but it is only when hundreds and then thousands have lost thier fear that a revolution becomes inevitable." Omaar goes on to state that the events in Tunisia are "Proof possitive that ordinary people can overthrow a regime."
"We are proud to see our people, our youth, with thier bare hands fight the Dictactor and bring him down." says Khemais Chammari.
All of these events and sentiments are the result of what would have normally been a media repressed event making waves on the internet via Facebook. This poor man's suicide had a message, and that message went viral, and the virus bred revolution in Tunisia.
My further looks into this led to a large string of articles about how Twitter was not the primary contributor to this revolution. As I sit and look at a few pages of these articles I become fuming mad at these pointless assertions. Twitter most certainly was not a motivating factor in all of this, it was simply a tool to inform others about the real issues. With frustration mounting I second guess myself as I proceed to click on a link to an article entitled "Twitter Can't Topple Dictators" by Jay Rosen, but thankfully my fears are aleviated as I read such quotes as
-"The name I am giving to these cries is Twitter Can’t Topple Dictators, a genre that is starting to get a swelled head about itself. Here it is in condensed form, from a lead-in to an On the Media segment:
-Demonstrators flooded the streets in Tunisia this week calling for an end to corruption and ousting President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. Many have attributed the wave of protests to the rise of the internet and social media in a country notorious for its censorship but Foreign Policy blogger Marc Lynch says it’s not that simple.
As if we thought it was."-
Jay Rosen's tongue-in-cheek comments about something that should be mostly common sense to the open eyed, the other side of this facet has started to get heated as well. This is demonstrated in "The new nightmare of all tyrants" posting on mediaflr.com where it becomes OVERLY articulated that indeed the internet's social networking sites facilitated at least logistical means for the revolution to take place.
However this now leads to the further questions of why are both sides of this debate getting heated over social networkings role in these events? And then two other news worthy items occured to me at this time, firstly the recent purchase of software by the Pentagon to allow users to simultaneously impersonate multiple non-enteties from a single work station, and secondly something John McCain said according to Pat Summers at FoxNews.com
-" "What happens in Egypt will be vital to what happens in the rest of the region."
He cautioned against the appearance of outside interference in Cairo, and insisted the best move for the U.S. to make was to help with job creation. To that end, he advised, "I hope the high tech community and friends of ours like John Chambers and Bill Gates and all of these people would come out and say, ‘Ok we're gonna invest in Egypt, we're gonna help people create jobs and opportunity.'"-
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- groups:
- Community, US Corporatocracy, The Reform Revolution
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The_Wanderer_KS
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Why is Mcain already a cheerleader for major coorporate involvement in Egypt, from companies that are not known specifically for humanitarian, cultural, agri-cultiral, or basic infrastructural products? Is this job creation or potential revenue stream?
Then EUREKA! It hit's me, the source of this uneasy feeling I have had for a few months now. A "disturbance in the force" if you will, has been haunting me. There have been other disturbances in 08 and 09 in other less liberated nations that have had at least rumored connections to social networking. These last few months there have been a string of volatile events linked to social networking sites and the internet. The government has purchased already functional social networking "spy" software.
Those who know how our government (specifically the military) works. knows they would only invest in a software package that allows one person to immitate multiple others if it was a concern of effeciency. This means they have had people doing this work through less effecient means before now. For the government to be concerned about the effeciency of a program like this it would have to provide measurable results, typically through a field test of theoretical concepts. It would take a number of months or perhaps two to three years for such a complex software system to be developed succesfully and made ready to market. The military would not make such an investment in untested software either, so there would be another field trial of the technology that must provide measurable results. This test would take place some weeks before the sale to the Pentagon would be finalized.
So the military has purchased "Multiplicity" software a few weeks after the conclusion of a test of the products effectiveness that has produced measurable results. The software was developed in it's full complexity over a period of two to three years at the military's request after a less effecient testing of the base concept that also produced a measurable result if in a lessened sense. These statements are only theoretical and by no means suppose at the intended result of such testing.
Here is my theory, the uprisings in Moldova and Iran in 09 were at least partially facilitated by the internet and particularly the social networking sites. The government had at least some involvement in the social networking media of these locations at that time, extent and purpose are both questionable. These events spurred further government interest in this program, and the government never intends on paying for non-reprodusable results. Is the real goal "democracy" or is it something else? Is there some reason debate on social networkings' involvement in these events seems to be unbelieveable inflated? Why did Pres. Ben Ali repeatedly assert that protests were the result of the involvement of "foriegners and agitators", words echoed by several involved in other overthrown governments? Will similar things be said in Libya and Egypt over the next few weeks?
But lets look further.
If my rantings and rambling observances capture your interest at all and let me know! As this will be turning into a MAJOR project if I pursue it I need to know there is interest my theories on this, and I will willingly put forth more research into these questions to share my answers with you.In "Can the internet deliver democracy? >Re-examination< pt2
A research into the evidence of social media's role in these events.
A focus on social networking in Iran and Moldova before/during thier uprisings.
A look into the resulting events of the uprisings of Iran and Moldova in 09.
A forward into what Libya and Egypt may expect as new democracies. - 1 year ago
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The_Wanderer_KS
