Howard Frederick, "Computer Networks and the Emergence of Global Civil Society," in Linda M. Harasim (ed) Global Networks: Computers And International Communication,  Cambridge: MIT Press, 1993.

 

The Main Point

In this article, Frederick outlines the emergence of what he calls the “global civil society” and its NGO (nongovernmental organizations) movement. He explains the problems the global civil society is faced with, and describes how the activities of the Association for Progressive Communications (APC) plays an important role in this global society and it’s solution to those problems.

 

Summary

 

…A global computer communications network has now arisen benefiting the Common Good of Humankind by loosing the bonds of the marketplace and the strictures of governments on the media of communications and allowing that part of human endeavor known as global civil society to communicate outside the barriers imposed by commercial or government interests.

 

         In the last decade, a new global community has emerged. This global civil society, which is neither market nor government, can be seen through worldwide NGO (non-governmental organizations) movements for such things as peace, human rights, and environmental preservation.

         New communication technologies, especially new computer technologies, have sped up the ability of the global civil society to build networks and international relations. These technologies facilitate communication among countless national civil societies and NGO movements, and have benefited the growing global movement for the common good.

 

         The global civil society is faced with two fundamental problems. The first is that markets and governments control most of the world’s information flow. Government monopolies control a huge portion of global air waves and a handful of powerful corporations dominate the world’s mass media. Likewise, only a handful of news agencies around the world control most of the world’s news flow (Mowlana, 1986, 28).

         In addition, global civil society and the NGO movements are faced with its second problem – the growing gap between the world’s info-rich and info-poor populations. For example, an estimated 95 percent of all computers are in developed countries. Also, only ten developed countries that make up 20 percent of the world’s population account for three-quarters of all telephone lines (Frederick, 1993, 75). Even within the United States, this problem is evident. For example, white children are 2.5 times as likely as African-American or Hispanic children to have home computers.

 

         To counter these two problems is the emergence of highly decentralized technologies – computers, fax machines, VCRs, video cameras, etc.  These technologies break down hierarchies of power and facilitate communication from the top to the bottom as well as across the globe. Among many organizations responsible for this development, the Association for Progressive Communications (APC) has distinguished itself and its role in NGO movements.

         In the late 80’s, three California Networks –PeaceNet, EcoNet, and ConflictNet, joined to form the Institute for Global Communications (IGC), the largest computer system in the world dedicated to peace, human rights, and environmental preservation. The IGC began collaborating with a similar network in England known as GreenNet and eventually established five more networks in Sweden, Canada, Brazil, Nicaragua, and Australia. This led to the formation of the APC in 1990. Today, the APC has affiliated networks in many more countries.

         APC subscribers are fully interconnected through low-cost personal computers. Individual users on the APC’s network make a local phone call to connect their host machine. Messages can then be exchanged around the world. Electronic mail (email) connects two correspondents through a computer and a modem to a host computer. Also, APC networks communicate through electronic conferences where people can discuss any topic, publicize events, and find the latest information.

         Aside from its low cost, the system is appropriate for countries with poor telecommunications infrastructures. File transfer between computers have a high level of resiliency to line noise and satellite delays. This is important for transporting large files, when there is a good chance of losing the connection over poor quality telephone lines.

 

         The Association for Progressive Communication has played a role in several international events. The first impact of the APC’s decentralizing technologies was shown in 1989 when the Chinese government massacred citizens near Tiananmen Square. Chinese students sent out detailed reports of the event through fax, telephone and computer networks to activists all over the world, as well as organized protests, fundraisers, and political appeals. Their impact was so great that the Chinese government tried to cut outward telephone lines and screen computer conferences. In addition, the APC played similar roles and opened up channels of communication during the attempted coup in the Soviet Union in 1990 and the Gulf War in 1991. In 1992, the APC provided communications services to environmentalists, NGO’s, and civil activists during the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), which was the largest UN conference in history and the first global gathering on environment since 1972.

 

         The APC is dedicated to the free and balanced flow of information, and its people work towards such issues as peace, the prevention of war, protection of environment, human rights, social and economic justice, and the advancement of democracy. The organization provides a low cost solution for nongovernmental organizations and poor countries, attempts to decentralize and democratize cyberspace, and offers an appropriate way to tighten the gap between the info-rich and info-poor.

 

 

 

Summary by Jasmin Patenia