ARTICLES

How activists have used the Internet

Marlyn Tadros 2004

There have been many debates about the ability of activists to make proper use of the Internet, as well as debates on the 'democratizing' impact of the Internet. Many have clearly expressed doubts about its effectiveness, given that it is ultimately a 'place of chaos', where no one is sure any more of the truth or merit of anything published. With other kinds of controls such as filtering and censorship, some scholars and activists alike believe it could never be effective enough. Nevertheless, activists have been using, and continue to use, the Internet in the most creative ways. It has become an almost indispensible tool for many nonprofits, whether they work in development or human rights, and whether they are city dwellers or in the remotest regions of the world.

Here are some of the uses of the Internet, as expressed by its users nonprofit organizations users around the world. While some users are 'starry-eyed' about the Internet's potential, there is no doubt that it has facilitated communication and cut down on expenses in a dramatic way. The following opinions were expressed during Virtual Activism's online workshops, and they may be categorized into the following main categories:

1. Daily Communication and management
2. Critical access to and dissemintation of information
3. Networking and Connectivity

 

1- Daily Communication and management:

• People can now do work while at home even without going to office and still get paid.
• Arranging meetings no longer requires typing letters and distributing letters, just a single message is enough. [For an organization like Sophia Mesembe of Connect-ED, Uganda, which has different centers across regions, getting in touch with her colleagues was rather hard. However exchange of ideas on how to handle problems has been made possible by ICT which makes their work a little more smooth running.]
• Joint assignments can now be accomplished without a single physical meeting. Some meetings were with funders, even without moving. [Rehema Beguma, Council for Economic Empowerment for women of Africa-Uganda, whose organization had virtual meetings with one of their funders].
• One can get very fast responses and replies, hence allowing one to take decisions at a faster pace.
• Communication as power, by just sitting in front of computers one can receive and send messages easily and faster.
• Angela-Jo Medina ConcienciAccion.org, USA: "In my case, much of the work I have done is completely contigent on the Internet. Our team is spread around the world. Had it not been for the Internet our cooperation would have been if not impossible, much more difficult to coordinate. Furthermore, I feel that the immediacy of communcations at present fosters increased responsiveness to certain situations."

2- Critical access to, and dissemintation of, information

• Going to the library or other resource centers to seek information has been reduced greatly. The internet has become a global library.
• One can learn skills from someone sitting somewhere else in the world. It has therefore changed the learning culture and influenced the way one acquires knowledge and skills.
• Research: the Internet offers the richest knowledge depository today most of them free on anything any one can think about.
• It has proved to be a very interactive platform compared to traditional media. It is particularly significant in that ICTs have made it possible for alternative media to exist. In an age of corporate-controlled media (in the West) and government-controlled media (in much of the third world) the emergence of independent civic media is absolutely crucial.
• Henry O maina of the LEGAL RESOURCES FOUNDATION, Kenya, says "ICT has enabled me and the people we work with to monitor human rights violations and place the agenda of the poor people in rural areas on the national and international agenda through use of Email, tele-conferencing, digital and satellite telephony. Storage and retrieval of information ia also quite easy.
• Nabi Zilani Syed from the Foundation for Legal Aid, Environment and Social Action, India, says:
  "The developments in the area of 'Information and Communication Technology (ICT) have changed our life and made communication quicker and easier. In the area of Human Rights it has revolutionary impact but still a long way to go to reach to the unreachable. With the help of ICT and Internet our organization (FLESA) could join various coalitions to combact women and child abuse, recieve urgent action updates, share research and field experiences etc."
• It has facilitated the work of journalists, especially those working on human rights issues, by providing them the ability to publish directly to a website and to receive information about human rights violations and abuses that were otherwise not possible to access.
  

3- Networking and Connectivity:

• The Internet ' removed isolation'. Organizations are now capable of sharing their views globally. Activities on Culture and Human Rights were limit within the country where some organizations were. With the Internet, activities could now touch every corner of the world. It widened an organization's working circle.
• Sharing of information and experience: organizations are now enjoying valuable comments, suggestions and advice from many knowledgeable persons across the Globe. Organizations/people are able to receive much information everyday [though we do not read all of them]. At a glance we got information about many unknown subjects.
• Organizations can participate in different meaningful movements of the present world-which was not possible before.
• It is an intermediary tool for friendship, development, education, innovation, business and knowledge.
• Networking with partners like funders, relevant NGOs, government departments has also been much simplified.
• "ICT has made life easier," said Mary Kajumba, CEEWA-Uganda. "Communication has made the world a global village through the use of Internet. One is able to communicate with friends, relatives who are thousand and thousand of mails away with in a second. There has been a collapse of space and time and one is able to get a message across the world in minutes at an affordable cost."