While we celebrate the potential of digital technologies to promote
free expression and access to information, we should also realise there are
lurking dangers as well. It’s crucial to work together to keep them at
bay.
As a child, Nelson Mandela watched the regular tribal meetings at
the Great Place in his village.
“Everyone who wanted to speak did so,” he wrote in his
autobiography. “It was democracy in its purest form. … I was astonished by the
vehemence – and candour – with which people criticised the regent”.
In essence, then, the Great Place was what German philosopher and
sociologist Jürgen Habermas later called the “public sphere”, a place or
platform where individuals can meet to discuss and identify societal problems
and influence political action. This term has become shorthand for any space
provided by the media.
Over the years, control of the mainstream media by state or market
forces has compromised its democratic potential. Today, some argue that digital
technologies are alternative public spheres that provide avenues for political
and social expression outside of formal controls.
New ways to communicate and engage
Without getting too starry eyed, the internet has indeed
transformed the way people communicate, access information, and respond to and
engage with issues.
Platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Google+ have
allowed citizens to become creators of information as well as consumers. The
production and dissemination of news and information is no longer only the
preserve of professional journalists.
Political theorist John Keane, in his 2009 book The Life and Death
of Democracy, contends that a new political type of “monitory democracy” has
spread around the world. He says decision-makers are more exposed to public
scrutiny than before – and digital technologies are playing a crucial role.
Public monitoring happens at the click of a button.
New technologies also enable citizens to mobilise and take action,
no longer limited by distance and boundaries. People can mobilise and voice
dissent easily – often augmenting other forms of protest. Organised action can
bring issues to the attention of the local as well as the global community.
#bringbackourgirls is a good example of this.
While just a few years ago the internet remained out of reach of
many, the proliferation of mobile phones has helped narrow the digital divide.
But it hasn’t erased it. Online engagement requires not only a computer or
mobile phone, but also access to data, which often remains the privilege of
people in urban areas.
As a result, members of the young, educated middle class dominate
social media and the poor and elderly are excluded. The skills needed to use the
internet effectively are perhaps even more stratified than access itself.
While the internet is enabling political and social deliberation in
ways never before imagined, to what degree this leads to genuine civic
engagement is another question.
A fragmented public space
First there is the issue of fragmentation. In the days when
traditional mass media ruled, if you got a story into a big newspaper, a great
number of people would be aware of it. The media provided a shared public and
common space.
In the digital age, this is no longer the case. Yes, there is
dialogue on Facebook, but only in friendship groups, not across society. These
groups back each other in their views and no longer take note of
counter-arguments. Facebook and other social media platforms are thus not only a
boost for democratic campaigns, some say they could also be a threat to an open
society.
When Mozambican journalist Carlos Cardoso was assassinated in 2000,
news of his death galvanised the media fraternity and those interested in
freedom of expression issues across the region and beyond. Fifteen years later,
another Mozambican investigative reporter died in an almost similar fashion as
Cardoso, but the news went almost unnoticed.
Second, there is the issue of the preoccupation with “soft” issues
like entertainment or lifestyle stories, which draw attention away from issues
such as development, democracy and politics. Social media is largely a social
arena. The 2010 Twitter trending topics report showed that only 3% of topics
were about politics, 28% about entertainment and 40% about specific topics like
music and dating. In Africa, like in the rest of the world, celebrities have the
most-followed profiles on Twitter.
Overwhelmed and observed
One aspect of digital technology less talked about is the hazard of
information overload, which can be harmful to democratic governance. People are
finding it hard to pay attention amid the deluge of media messages.
Citizens also face exposure to undemocratic practices by autocratic
governments and manipulation by corporations. In 2012, the United Nations Human
Rights Council passed a resolution affirming that the same human rights that
people are entitled to offline must be respected online as well. However, new
modes of surveillance and regulation by governments are threatening these rights
in many parts of Africa.
The near silence of African civil society on the subject of state
surveillance could indicate the extent to which governments have succeeded,
largely unnoticed, in pursuing policies and legislation that compromise digital
security. Hence, there remains an urgent need for sincere, inclusive dialogue
that can give serious weight to citizens’ rights to online privacy, security and
expression.
All these threats to internet freedom should intensify the fight
for freedom of expression that started with the journalists who gathered at
Windhoek 25 years ago.
It is time to stand up for the rights we want in the digital era.
In much the same way African journalists drafted and promoted the Windhoek
Declaration, we need to once again come together and connect with the different
people and groups fighting for freedom online across the continent.
» Sarah Helen Chiumbu is a
researcher at the Human Sciences Research Council South Africa.This article is an adaptation of a piece that originally appeared in
the African free press, a Misa project supported by DW Akademie.