Archive for the ‘Internet Freedoms’ Category
Facebook and Cancellation of Harud Literature festival
Online campaigns are viewed as the most democratic medium in contemporary times. There are numerous examples of social media resulting in change and enhancing accountability in countries, towns and villages. As someone who studies the positive impact of social media on civil society interactions, it’s heartening to witness these developments. Various forms on online protests, exchange of ideas on Twitter and open discussion forums available on Facebook have demonstrated the power of social media.
But a recent incident has forced me to accept the inevitable – social media is an open forum and can be misused if the users so intend. I am referring to the cancellation of the Harud Autumn Literature Festival in Kashmir, India. The festival scheduled to be held in the last week of September was a unique opportunity for the budding literary minds of Kashmir, Jammu and Ladakh to engage with stalwarts from across the country. The reason for cancellation was spelled out by Namita Gokhale, the festival advisor: “What would you do if 5,000 people on Facebook are running a campaign for boycott of the festival and plan violence.”
Valuing Social Capital of the Internet
Map of the Internet by The Opte Project
The recent popular uprisings in MENA (Middle East, North Africa) have combined the concern for democracy with the urgent need to ensure Internet freedom. Internet freedom has become an essential part of the narrative of human rights across the globe. Though tools of social media facilitated (if not essentially caused) the pro-democracy protests, the portrayal of new media as a tool for political change is somewhat disturbing. This will lead to renewed emphasis on the ‘instrumental’ approach to Internet freedom while neglecting the ‘environmental’ dimension. Clay Shirky distinguished between the two dimensions of Internet freedom in an article, “The political power of social media,” in Foreign Affairs. The ‘instrumental’ dimension relates to efforts to pressure repressive regimes to open access to online information sources, while the ‘environmental’ aspect focuses on the more traditional theme of opening civil society in general, taking the long view to social and political change. Internet is not simply an instrument to empower the citizen against the government but is an opportunity to contribute to individual and social well-being.
Excitement about Internet as a tool for political revolutions shall adversely impact it’s broader and more positive social role in two ways. Click to continue…