I’ve been reading a book lately called Wild Swans by Jung Chang. It’s a fairly well known book that describes the lives of three generations of Chinese women – the author, her mother and grandmother. Jung Chang explained how Mao Zedong was able to manipulate an entire country because he could control the information that entered, exited and circulated within China. One passage struck me in particular:
“Next, Mao moved in on the media, primarily the People’s Daily, which carried the most authority as it was the official Party newspaper and the population had become accustomed to it being the voice of the regime” (1993, 368).
This led me to wonder whether the same sort of totalitarian control would be possible today?
On the surface, it seems that advances in internet and mobile technology have thrown citizens who live under oppressive governments an information lifeline. Citizen journalism is the process by which ordinary people sidestep traditional news sources to seek out or contribute news information. As We Media states:
“Armed with easy-to-use Web publishing tools, always-on connections and increasingly powerful mobile devices, the online audience has the means to become an active participant in the creation and dissemination of news and information.”
The topics covered by citizen journalism often draw attention to issues that are ignored or inaccessible to the mainstream media, and the combined efforts of online communities means that the content produced is often more up-to-date than the commercial versions. In an article for Time magazine Jodi Zu discusses the huge popularity of video-sharing websites, particularly Tuduo.com, in China. Technology, such as camera phones, has allowed Chinese citizens to view and distribute content that the government has attempted to stamp out (one notable video apparently showed drunk police officers beating a college girl). Outside of China, collectives such as mobileactive.org use mobile technology, (a powerful force when you realize that there are 3.5 billion mobile phones in the world), to push for social change.
Yet although people have greater opportunities to access, record, distribute and receive information, at the end of the day, these intrepid citizen journalists still answer to their respective governments. Simon Elegant’s article for Time magazine related the story of one Chinese ‘netizen’ whose blog covered disputes between Chinese authorities and ordinary citizens. Although Zhou Shuguang’s blog received over 20 000 views per day at the height of its popularity, the authorities intervened and Zhou was given an armed escort to the airport. Zhou’s career as a blogger for social change lasted barely six months, and he has now returned to his previous role as a vegetable seller. Commissioner Faith Pansy Tlakula, a member of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, told worldchanging.org that she receives a ‘considerable number’ of reports that detail incidents of journalists in Africa being harassed, arrested, tortured and even murdered by the authorities in charge.
Totalitarian control of information, as exhibited by Mao Zedong, is certainly no longer possible. Yet while citizen journalism clearly has the power of numbers and technology to draw attention to pressing global issues, irresponsible governments still exist. Robert Mugabe is still in power even though the Zimbabwe elections were followed by eyes the world over, and the results were clearly fabricated. Yet instant results cannot be expected. Installing democratic governments does not automatically occur merely because we become aware of their unjust practices.
I think ‘we’, as a motley crew of politically active and interested citizens, are moving in the right direction. Global online communities are banding together and driving for social change, and oppressive governments are becoming subject to greater scrutiny. Rather than answering to organizations such as the United Nations, where proposals and calls for action can take months to process, undemocratic governments are now feeling the instant glare of global scrutiny. Whether this increasing pressure will bring about lasting change remains to be seen, but for the moment I believe that the vast numbers and strength of online communities is a heartening testament to the number of politically active citizens spread across the globe.
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