A GREAT deal of debate has arisen over the importance of the Internet as a force for democratic empowerment and socio-political change. Many people within the human rights community believe that the Internet holds the key to a truly global civil society, unhindered by national boundaries and characterized by social justice and equality. Others warn that the Internet is set to create a widening poverty gap between information-rich and information-poor countries, and between rich and poor within every society.
Africa - where the technology is still in its infancy, but is spreading fast - provides an important test case to explore both sides of this debate. The Internet's potential as a vehicle for free speech and access to information and ideas is unprecedented. From its roots in the scientific and academic world it has grown into the most participatory medium for mass communication ever invented. It has revolutionized global communications, enabling almost instant access to virtually unlimited information and the ability to communicate in ways that defy the barriers of distance and time.
As a medium, it combines elements of all other media - press, radio and television - as well as postal services. Anyone with a computer, modem and telephone line can be a broadcaster with a potential audience of millions. Some 100 million people in more than 240 countries are now estimated to have access to the Net, and a staggering 350 million Web pages provide news and information on every topic imaginable.
The Internet is spreading faster in developing countries than anywhere else. All but 3 of the 54 countries in Africa have some form of access to the Internet. Despite prohibitively high costs and poor quality phone lines, the Net has shown its capacity for free expression, democratic empowerment and the advancement of human rights and development in Africa. Electronic mail, especially, has been quickly embraced by the media, educational institutions, businesses and civil society organizations as a powerful tool for sharing information and ideas and promoting scientific, cultural, social and economic progress.
However, while providing new opportunities for social and political dialogue, there is a danger that the new technologies will create a new form of information poverty, as those who do not have access to the potential benefits become further marginalized. Africa, with the world's worst telecommunications network, is in danger of being left behind. On current estimates, it is predicted that three-quarters of Africans will never make a phone call, let alone use the Internet. Access is largely confined to a tiny elite in the capital cities.
This issue clearly demonstrates the interdependence of freedom of expression, access to information and socio-economic development. The right to freedom of expression is well-established in international law and applies as much to the Internet as to any other medium. It includes the freedom to 'seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.' In the era of the so-called 'global information society', the right of access to the means of expression - the right to communicate - is increasingly being recognized as a fundamental human right.
As the power of the Net becomes more widely realized-in Africa, as elsewhere-it faces serious threats from several quarters. Governments are increasingly looking for ways to censor and control the Internet-either to silence political opposition, in the case of authoritarian regimes, or to curb pornography and 'hate speech', in the case of more democratic governments. In both instances, governments are threatening to undermine the principles of free expression enshrined in international law.
Freedom of expression activists are also concerned at potential implications of the Internet for hard-earned gains in standards of media freedom and independence in the more traditional forms of media. With the growing convergence of broadcasting and telecommunications via the Internet, there are concerns that the relatively higher standards of broadcasting regulations will be undermined by the currently lower standards of the telecommunications sector.
Perhaps an even greater overall threat to free expression online is the rampant commercialization of cyberspace, which threatens to clog the Net with advertisements and drown out the authentic voices of civil society. The result is an increasingly bland and depoliticized medium, with fewer alternative opinions and less cultural diversity.
The Internet is unique as a vehicle for freedom of expression and a tool for democratic empowerment. Its authentic, uncontrolled character must be preserved if it is to realize its promise for democracy, social and economic development and human rights, and it must be extended to allow all members of civil society the chance to benefit from participation in the global information society. African governments have committed themselves to developing Africa's telecommunications infrastructure in order to benefit the masses, but whether they have sufficient resources or political will to carry this through remains to be seen.
While often too slow and expensive, e-mail has transformed communications for those who have access. It is the fastest, cheapest and most reliable means of communication and is a major improvement over Africa's notoriously unreliable telephone, fax and postal services. Journalists and human rights organizations in Africa have been quick to embrace e-mail because of its relative speed and reliability, as well as its ability to circumvent government censorship and control. Although still in its infancy, the new technology has clearly demonstrated its value and potential for the advancement of human rights and democracy in Africa.
Human rights campaigning depends on access to information and the means of communication in order to monitor and publicize violations. For many activists, e-mail has enhanced the accuracy and reliability of information. Sensitive, urgent or important information is no longer at the mercy of inaudible telephone conversations or letters and faxes which never appear at their destination.
Speed is often critical in human rights advocacy. If someone is to be tortured, according to Amnesty International, it usually occurs in the first 24 hours after arrest. E-mail enables activists to initiate urgent action on behalf of political prisoners and other victims of human rights abuses in repressive African countries through instantaneous contact with supporters and foreign governments around the world.
E-mail also frees human rights workers from the time-consuming and expensive process of faxing or mailing action alerts to large numbers of individual supporters. It thus allows more time and resources to be spent on human rights activism - researching and publicizing violations. This, in turn, has led to greater information sharing and efficiency, reduced duplication of efforts, as well as enhanced knowledge and understanding of issues. Although access to the Web is severely restricted by high costs and inadequate bandwidth, growing numbers of African human rights NGOs are setting up websites to promote their agendas on issues ranging from the environment to women's rights.
With increased knowledge comes increased power. As civil society organizations become more and more articulate and effective in using the new technology for human rights, they are increasingly making their voices heard in Africa. However, as the Internet grows in importance, smaller human rights NGOs outside the major cities - while doing equally, if not more, valuable work - are becoming increasingly sidelined by the disproportionate exposure which Internet-connected organizations are receiving in the human rights world.
The Mail & Guardian was the first African newspaper to go online, prompted by MISA's news exchange, and the newspaper has won tens of thousands of new readers around the world. Now, more than 70 African newspapers and news services have websites. According to the Electronic Mail & Guardian's editor, online journalism began as a clone of print journalism but is now developing its own character. Through links to original or alternative news sources-such as government reports and policy papers-readers have access to a greater variety of viewpoints and are not forced to accept only the interpretation offered by a particular newspaper. E-mail has also greatly reduced the cost of campaigning on behalf of detained journalists.
The opportunities offered by the Internet to enhance the free flow of news and information seem unlimited. Electronic publishing is vastly cheaper and faster, photographs can be distributed instantly, and the Net can combine multimedia formats, such as video and sound bites. E-mail has dramatically enhanced the efforts of Africa-based freedom of expression organizations to expose specific cases of government censorship and persecution of journalists, and to galvanize international concern and action for media freedom and plurality as an essential prerequisite of democracy.
The Namibian government has also included Internet access to parliamentary archives as part of a project to make the legislature more transparent. During Malawi's political transition in 1993-94, a new draft constitution was widely circulated via the Internet, allowing constitutional experts, Malawian exiles and others to express their comments. However, such positive examples of how the Internet can be used as a tool to make official information more widely available are unfortunately rare. The revolutionary power of the Internet has been demonstrated in the case of the Mexican Zapatista rebels who sidestepped traditional media by sending out communiqués via the Internet.
Similarly, e-mail played a role in the overthrow of former Zairean dictator Mobutu Sese Seko and the rise to power of his successor in the renamed Democratic Republic of Congo - President Laurent Kabila -through the efforts of a local human rights NGO, the Association Zairoise de défense des droits de l'homme (AZADHO), which used e-mail to stay in touch with journalists and supporters worldwide.
The Net can enhance people's participation in the political process. A Senegalese woman, for example, was unable to find data locally on the number of women ministers in African governments. She contacted the international women's network of the Association for Progressive Communications (APC) via its mailing list. A woman in Geneva with access to UN agency information was able to fax relevant information to Senegal, so that her colleague could use it to support advocacy concerning women's participation in African governments.
E-mail discussion lists, newsgroups and chat groups have united African political exiles and expatriates in an unprecedented way. These lists and groups exist for almost every African country, geopolitical regions within the continent, as well as specific subject areas. They are often the best sources of the latest news, views and information on any topic.
It also enables doctors in rural areas to track essential supplies and equipment and schedule appointments and referrals for patients, eliminating the need for ill patients to travel long distances with no guarantee of seeing a doctor. Further, the Internet has become a key ally in dealing with humanitarian disasters since information is vital in creating an early warning mechanism in areas of conflict.
Sally Burnheim ARTICLE 19
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