New media under threat

On August 28 at 10:39am, Eric Muragana posted a poll question in his Facebook page - "Should the world of internet allow monitoring of Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, blogs and other social networking websites by global governments in tackling internet crime and terrorism?

Mark Weinberg responded to say that Facebook is partly owned by a front company for the CIA. So the question is not "should we allow monitoring", but "how should we respond to monitoring?" One response is to make your web surfing anonymous: www.torproject.org.

In responding to Mark Weinberg’ comments of the post, I took the angle to look deep into what constitute surfing anonymous and whether it limit the world of internet before we even think of internet justice? Anonymous surfing allows internet users not to take any risks due to its nature of surfing anonymously in our personal computers and IP addresses we are using from visited servers.

As you probably might be aware, every email contains much information about its sender, including Internet service provider (ISP) and Internet Protocol (IP) addresses. Having an IP address, everybody can find information about our ISP under certain circumstances. I think that we should make our providers reveal our names, postal addresses, and other details. We are told not to take any risks, but to surf anonymously.

I subscribe to Mr. Weinberg’ comments to consider surfing safely by not leaving information about computers and IP addresses on visited servers. I also subscribe to the view of not sending emails that contain no header information about our computers. I think it is a common trend that we should create complex and secure passwords to remain within our domains.

Despite Facebook as partly owned by a front company for the CIA and in a view that all social networking media have some sort of ownership, much of all these steps we can follow as always. I am not so certain on how we should be marketing our products, brands and activities if we are to subscribe to anonymity holistically.

Those of us who subscribe to plurality, freedom of expression and other media freedoms, the notion of censorship might find these views different. Perhaps anonymous can be categorized as a form of censorship in part.

In the 20th Century, censorship was achieved through the examination of plays, books, television and radio programmes, films, news reports, and other communication forms for the purpose of suppressing and altering ideas found to be offensive or as part of an objection. The rationales for censorship have different angles. Other forms of censorship target material deemed to be seditious or treasonous, indecent or obscene. Ideas have been suppressed for the seek of protecting three basic social organisations - the state, the market and the family or the church.

To understand censorship and the impulse to censor is necessary to strip away the shock value attached to the word when we first utter. Society must recognize that censorship and the ideology supporting it go back to history times, and that every society has customs and laws by which speech, dress, alcohol, religion and even sexual values had been part of various regulations around the world.

In a global context, governments have used powerful arguments and techniques to support censorship at its broadest term. Censorship in a form of intimidation. This has been commonly used in apartheid South Africa and can be in any form of threats against individuals to a government with a view to monitor activities online. It could be a corporation that wheels power over a government. We have seen such examples in Russia, Nepal, Zimbabwe, China and other parts of the world. Truly speaking, if citizens feel their own activities online will be selected and screened by government agencies in a particular country, there will be incline to engage or express in less than if their government shove-off.

Economic censorship is another notion we need to consider, but it cannot be define with easy. The actions and reactions of large corporations to the World Wide Web have to be factored into any discussion of economic censorship. Major global industries have paid search engine companies for placement in subject categories when internet users submit online search inquiries.

One wonders whether information tainted because someone has paid for it or should the standard be that as long as responsive information displayed to users, placement should be considered irrelevant.

For World-Wide Web or rather Internet to succeed achieving its fundamental goal of a free flow of information to bridging the digital divide for a knowledge society, the normal approach of free expression in various covenants and declarations should be followed to enhance freedom and human rights as enacted in the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights (1948), the United Nations Charter (1945), the Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (1966), the UN Covenants on Civil and Political Rights (1966), the Helsinki Final Act (1975), the European Convention on Human Rights (1953), and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (1978).

Education for All is Possible so society can change the world

Issued for Global Campaign for Education: 23 July 2009

Whilst 1 in 3 people in Europe and North America get a university education, the multitudes number of people doesn’t go to school in Africa. The Global Campaign for Education (GCE) is now reviving its efforts to achieve the goal for Education for All by engaging its partners within the campaign on the plight of Global Illiteracy which will be held on United Nations International Literacy Day, September 8, 2009.

Since its formation in 1999, the Global Campaign for Education has mobilized more than 13 million people from various organisations including civil society groups and unions to pace on-going pressure to world governments and financing institutions to make Education for All a reality.

Poor governments around the globe have promised to put the plans in place and rich countries controlling financial institutions promised to help where finances were needed to ensure that the goals for Education for All is Possible by 2015.

Despite huge gains in universal primary education, many children are yet to benefit from a secondary education, while adults literacy rates have also remained with 776 million adults including women lacking basic reading and writing skills.

The GCE call upon its education coalitions partners in over 120 countries to participate in the campaign to debate on education, lobby ministers and mobilize multitude of people around the world and in each city and country to campaign on Education for All is Possible by 2015.

It is in these reasons that the campaign calls major donors to commit aid to public education. The campaign extends its call to achieve the following objectives:

• Improve early childhood care
• Ensure all children, girls, children in difficult circumstance and ethnic have access to primary education
• Ensure that young people and adults receive access to learning and life-skills programmes
• Achieve a 50% improvement in levels of adult literacy by 2015
• Eliminate gender disparities in primary and secondary education by 2015 and achieve gender equality in education by 2015
• Improve quality of education and ensure measurable outcomes are achieved by all.

Since the annual Action Week on education campaign started, the Global Campaign for Education has helped ensure an extra 40 million children are in school.

Like what Nelson 'Madiba' Mandela would urge "Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world". Join the GCE’s campaign on the plight of Global Illiteracy, click here.

Sub-Saharan Africa managed to withstand the impact of the global financial crisis

The discussions and debates on whether southern Africa should redeem its position to sharpen its policies took centre stage at the closing ceremony of this year’s World Economic Forum (WEF) on Africa which was held in Cape Town, South Africa.

When comparing emerging markets SABMiller CE and WEF co-chair Graham Mackay told delegates at his closing address on Africa that “the sub-Saharan African economies had weathered the global economic crisis in good shape”. Mackay further point out in his economic address that “Africa was not near the top of the list of places that had been most affected by the global economic crisis”.

It was argued that, from a business perspective, Africa got a “worse wrap than it deserved” and that there was more to be optimistic about than negative. While agreeing with this perspective, the “South African President Jacob Zuma told African head of states to provide quality leadership in this trying times of global economic crisis”. He further urged them “to be accountable for any actions and promises they made to their governments”.

The South African President who is also a chairperson of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) stressed the need to engage in partnership to mitigate economic crisis. “We cannot agree that the crisis affects everyone and then disagree on the resolutions necessary to solve the crisis,” said Zuma.

The blog extend its invitation to Vicente Garcia-Delgado, CIVICUS UN Representative for the last 8 years. Vicente believe that this “global financial crisis differs from all previous crises that there is a real opportunity right now for people everywhere to make a huge difference in shaping up our common future”. Garcia-Delgado further encourage southern Africa to be guided by the “UN Follow-up process to propose effective, meaningful changes to the way the world is governed and its economy managed, in a manner that is substantially more just, equitable, stable sustainable for all people than what we now have”. For this reason, it is essential that citizens keep a close eye on what's going on, get informed, educated, share with others, organise in towns and villages, link up with civil society at national and regional levels, participate in preparations, mobilize for action in the coming months and make sure that this “UN Follow-up process” achieves its noble goals.

In discussing the challenges of global financial crisis at citizenry level with Gregory Mfisa, a resident in Tembisa, Kempton Park, Johannesburg. Gregory has recently decided to retire from active work after he has spent 16 years as public servant, now he intends to start his own business. He is very concern that since the recent elections, “South Africa has been faced with a number of strikes where people are demanding better conditions of employment, and increase salary scales and fear of job losses due to current waves of the global financial meltdown that some might not survive the storm”, said Gregory Mfisa.

“The impact of the economic crisis should not be mis-judged as it is very strong and people are competing for jobs”, Gregory Mfisa said. It would be very “short-sighted of governments from the global South to start fingering at global financial crisis and not reposition its policies to better prepares its practice”, added Mfisa.

While pressing on the realities of financial crisis of the sub-Saharan, it is also important to note that there had been a "shift in the economic position of Zimbabwe which is viewed as a "nascent" recovery in the economy by the International Monetary Fund (IMF)".

Zimbabwe is being urged to clear its path of more than "$1, 1-billion" in arrears to creditors before it receives consideration for IMF financial aid. The approach from Harare to clear arrears from IMF, World Bank, African Development Bank and Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) will require assistance from donor communities. It is in these reasons that the region should offer financial assistance to stabilize and endorse Zimbabwean economic change under the newly unity government and send a message of confidence to the international community, investors and donors.

In reviewing the impact of the global financial crisis as based on the World Economic Forum, G8 Summit and G-20, including developed economies which have long-term significance of SADC economies; it is too early to tell whether southern Africa has weathered the global economic crisis. It is important to note that most SADC economies rely on exports to grow their economies -the region is likely to see decrease in exports as a result of recession in advanced economies. There is also a talk about remittances to developing economies are a significant source of revenue and these are likely to decrease. The primary commodity prices have plunged at the prospect of falling world demand, foreign direct investment flows are likely to weaken and aid flows will fall.

The developed economies should also lay firm foundations to restore worldwide financial stability, lead the international economic recovery and secure a sustainable future for all countries, including southern African economies.

-Watch the Video results for World Economic Forum 2009

People of the South celebrate Madiba Day

South Africa is ready to tell the world, Africa and the region of the great Madiba Day on 18 July. This is one occasion that people of South are sharing the greatest wisdom of Nelson Mandela when he turns 91 years. This Day is also being mobilized for celebrations through-out the world. “It is time for new hands to lift the burdens” - Nelson Mandela, 2008.

The Nelson Mandela Foundation has already started with initiatives to broaden the Day to other part of the world. It is encouraging that the Day will also bring meaning to the good qualities of leadership from Madiba to the People of the South.

It will be great to note with great concern whether the South African Development Community (SADC) in which its chairmanship is hosted by South Africa to embrace this Day as a regional goodwill of Madiba' integrity.

It is understood that President Jacob Zuma who just return from the G8 Summit in Italy and also chairperson of SADC will celebrate this Day of goodwill with the elderly in a bid to strengthen his call to make a different. This is the Day in which the world, Africa and the people of the South will witness what Nelson Mandela stood for so many years.

I am personal certain that the Day will appeal to all including the aged, youth, business, religious and traditional leaders, sports, artists and labour to join hands in improving the living conditions of the people of the region.

Madiba Day is only happening after Nelson Mandela met with fellow Nobel laureate Professor Mohammed Yunus last Friday, the Nelson Mandela Foundation reported in a statement.

I further hope that the greatest dream and desire of Yunus and Mandela to create a poverty free society and decent jobs will be shared and influence the People of the South. Nelson Mandela appeal to us all in many forms through his leadership and sense of humility.

I am deeply touched and so moved by a number of his greatest quality of leadership. I remember some of his emboding quotes at this moment:

1. "Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world".

2. "During my lifetime I have dedicated myself to this struggle of the African people, I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if it needs be it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die".

Join an International Movement for Good - Madiba Day!

Abuse of public media in Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe is being accused of deception on the US part after its Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai toured the world for three-weeks trying to convince rich Western countries that there is light at the end of tannel in the new unity government in his country.

It is worring that when Mrogan return home find different messages from state owned media like the Chronicle and Herald who now paint him a combrade and trying to monetize Zimbabwe in a small basket in raising state needed funds. This sort of criticism seem to emerge from President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF officials who still remain hostile and unpatritic to the unity government.

In reactions to these kind of thinking and growing attention to influence less service to Prime Minister Tsvangirai, he thought for the formation of his own publication to communicate what is currently unfolding in Zimbabwe.

As citizen outside Zimbabwe, but neighbouring South Africa and wanting to see Zimbabweans back into the mainstream economy and the world. We are concern that some forces within the country have no interest in creating space for all Zimbabweans to work together. Why make me a prime minister when you have no interest in reporting of what I do for you? Why not consider me a leader?

According to the Media Monitoring Project of Zimbabwe (MMPZ) report, people "linked to ZANU PF" continued to indulge in "abuse of public media". It is worrying us in the global South that instead of Zimbabwean press critically examining Morgan' travel from abroad, the state owned media choose to lebel his efforts and merely discredited his intention directed at him personally rather than his effort towards the unity government. This approach from the press is very worrying and sickening.

It is our understanding that the press in a developmental stage should raise above politiking and report news as objevtively as possible without biase and hinderance. We call along state owned media to take total responsibility by being fair, accurate, balance and independent as well as critical in reporting governnance issues in Zimbabwe.

Cry for media and civil society freedom in Zimbabwe

Civil society and independent media organisations in southern Africa should encourage the spirit of activism and defend their actions by resisting severe restrictions.

It is of great concern to note that Zimbabwe still pushes further with NGO bill and restrictions on the independence of the press. These restrictive provisions are of concerns for registration of foreign non-governmental organisations including the press.

In the period moving closer to the formation of the new unity government, civil society and the media has been accused of unpatriotic and hostile to the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF).

Now that Zimbabwe want to promote the values directed at the governance of the new unity government, both ZANU-PF and Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) whom its leader and current Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai are turning to civil society and the press to protect and promote these principles of a new hegemony.

The recent travel of Morgan Tsvangirai to United State of America and other part of the world is a perfect example to further normalise and expand the newly formed government of Zimbabwe. However, it should be considered that they are still laws adopted and implemented which does not free space for civil society and the media to operate.

It is for this reason that, the Peole of the South blogspace is calling on social movements, NGOs, communities, the general media and civil society in the global South to push the new unity government to move faster in the adoption of new constitution which will embrace and enact media and non-governmental organisations rights fin building a health public life. The right to communicate should be viewed as citizens' fundemental human rights as egual to the right to education.

Every citizen a reporter in southern Africa

Wondering what to write in my blog. The idea that came forward from Wits Journalism school while attending an online journalism course was born. I therefore decided to write on the changing phase of citizen journalism in southern African region and its influence.

There had been some discussions during the duration of a course as to whether citizen journalism is a threat to so called professional or real journalism. In my view and that of other scholars, the emergency of the internet in the region has demostrated that the advent of new technology has ushered in new ways for ordinary citizens to engage and participle in the production of online news.

The use of blogging, mobiles, internet and other new modern communication tools have changed the way in which people communicate with one another. This shift in communication put forward old practices in which new media or rather citizen media set an agenda in a society and encourage debates in shaping public opinions.

The author of the book, We the Media, Dan Gilmore says "readers are no longer satisfied with being on the receiving end of the news". I agree with Gilmore and share the notion that readers such as our online communities have taken the internet into their homes, bedrooms and tranform worldwide audience via the Internet.

This suggests to me that conventional media is on its way out to be overtaken by citizen journalism or so-called participatory or public journalism. I turn to believe that the emergence of mobile phones, ordinary citizens input into media production by writing their own articles has broaden the scope of exchange of information in southern Africa and offers citizens the most sounding opportunity to write their opinions, comments and stories in the manner they want.

This contributed a lot in how pepople change the way citizen journalism is being perserved locally, regionally and globally. I think that citizen journalism will shake-up southern African media even though there are challenges around access to internet. The region has became a cornerstone of every citizen a reporter in Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries seem set to unfold with online journalism opportunities, in particular with the buse of new media forms such as facebook, twitter, Youtube, MySpace and many more.

Citizen journalism gaining momentum

Online journalism offer different type of platform to further communicate citizen voices and actions for learning how to write news in a journalistic ways for internet publications, blogs, people centred news sites and other forms of Internet journalism. The Guardian Unlimited assistant editor Neil McIntosh, urges that:

"For many media executives, citizen journalism has taken on the characteristics of the Beast of Bodmin Moor. It's out there, the consensus is it has the capacity to be quite vicious if you cross its path but, so far, nobody's seen much of it. So all that's been done is to discuss, rather nervously, what might happen if it lurches out the mist."

It is understood globally and locally that this form of participatory journalism function best to recapture real or good journalism as part democratic practice rooted in and directly serves citizen' lives and interests.

According to CitizenJournalismAfrica.org-: "Citizen journalism is a concept that advances the idea of those consumers or everyday citizens taking a more active role in the news. It is often referred to as the new media and includes everything from passionate letters to the editor and comments on blogs and news sites, to bloggers scooping stories or exposing doctored or omitted facts from mainstream media reports. Citizen journalism points out bias by particular reporters or news outlets and attempts to give voice to both sides on an issue”.

In today' world, this form of journalistic practice reveal its comprehensive arm on community or citizen news and shared information online or rather in print form. It is most believed that this form of journalistic practice generate its content by users and readers. Citizen journalism reveals itself in text / blogs, storytelling digital, images, graphics, audio file, or video. The general thinking is that its feedback and discussion on issues put forward are received in the same way.

Bowman and Willis urged that "Citizen journalism movement is a bottom-up, emergent phenomenon in which there is little or no editorial oversight or formal journalistic work-flow dictating the decisions of a particular staff".

As for citizen journalism, shape has changed and it turns to focus more on blogging. Blogging is now viewed as the most used medium and a powerful, non-expensive tool for non-journalists to share stories and opinions. There are a number of news sites which are encouraging citizen around the world to comment on issues affacting their lives and society at large.

Jay Rosen, Professor of Journalism at New York University (NYU), offers up his definition of citizen journalism.

Journalistic objectivity revolves around reporting the news

The current state of debate on journalistic objectivity revolves mostly around reporting news. These debates revolves on news commentaries. Jacques Ellul (1973) reflects a standard view of why academics and social commentators argue for widespread use of propaganda in the history of post-World War II democracies which has been viewed as undermining freedom?

On the other hand, Sheryl Tuttle Ross points out that "standard model of propagandans like Herman and Chomsky do not help society to distinguish between political art that is propagandistic in intent and that which is not". Her argues point to the point that "traditional descriptions of propaganda show that “propaganda involves an intention to persuade, a socially significant group of people, on behalf of a political institution, organisation, or cause". Ross further argues for a founding condition of political art as propaganda because the media judge them to be “epistemically defective.”

South Africa's press enjoy more freedom now than any other period in its history, but lately attacks on the media by politicians, claiming bias, poor quality and demanding to be exempted from scrutiny have become deafening. The President of South Africa and leader of the ruling party the African National Congress (ANC), Mr. Jacob Zuma, sacked for alleged corruption, blamed the media in part for his troubles, urged William M. Gumede, former Deputy Editor of The Sowetan newspaper.

Perhaps the former Los Angeles Times editor John Carroll's view of American journalism applies to South Africa as well. He urges that "The very best public-service journalism is probably as good it's ever been, maybe better, but it's being done by fewer and fewer papers (and journalists)". However, the public broadcaster, the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), appears to be taking criticisms by politicians to heart. It often appears in awe of government. The broadcaster has launched an investigation into the claims, but its credibility has been seriously damaged, added Gumede.

It has often been said by many professionals that "journalism's role is to afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted. Sadly, too many media owners - many of whom have great power see the role of the media differently. They believe the role of the media is to comfort the comfortable and ignore the afflicted".

In World Bank circles, the main concerns of journalistic practice may be to find fault than the media in developing countries. The view here is that society need to look at the growing atmosphere taking place in the United States, Russia, China, United Kingdom, South Africa and the rest of the world.

This model of journalistic objectivity construes moral and political beliefs as extraneous noise that a reporter must work towards overcoming to cover the news as objectively as possible. In the words of William Gumede, "Journalists attempt to observe reality as it is. They want you to view everything through their eyes and writing, without their personal intervention (tough to do!).

Greatest challenge facing civil society in the global South

The greatest challenge facing civil society in southern Africa is viewed in the context of an existing vacuum in capacity, values, standards and mechanisms on electronic communication profiling or initiatives. The is a necessity for the creation and promotion of a legitimacy across regional civic space. This can be achieved through information sharing, the formation and support of a broadbased network, further development of concepts, tools and South-South exchanges, and collaboration with international and regional organisations working towards the establishment of a regional information and resource centre (knowledge hub) for civil society remain a crucial challenge in southern African hemisphere.

People of the South blog provide a platform to share experiences, challenges or success stories, and expand civic knowledge throughout the dissemination of information through the use of this blog. Being able to share such information amongst civil society results in human development, social development, environmetal development, economic empowerment through access to information and above all individual empowerment. By persuing an unbias open initiative agenda, the blog through its collection and analysis of regional news represent the perspective of regional news. The e-blogspace, as suggested, a regional civil society in perspective constituting an arena for and by third sector organisations.

The blog or rather online newsletter works towards opening civil society space to communicate through an online medium to analyse regional perspective and applying the formulation of a broader range of responsiveness through civic dialogue. The most valuable focus is to create a platform to enhance debate and lobbying for the adoption of civil society agenda holistically. This independent blogspace works in partnership with other like-minded non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in filling the gaps such as the Coalition of Southern Africa NGOs , Southern African NGO Network (SANGONeT), Media Institute of Southern Africa, Botswana Council of NGO (BACONGO), CIVICUS: Worls Alliance of Citizen Participation, Amnesty International and many others.

Although most parts of the region do not have access to the internet and even when they do, they may not have the necessary skills to use it effectively, through creative marketing and on-line toolkits, this e-regional integration platform aims to develop it’s readers to a level where they can communicate. Access to information in an adequately usefully in the global south village.

The phenomena of regional integration provide an opportunity for sharing information, shaping the mass media and reaching global audiences at the same time.

One of the greatest challenges facing civil society is to mainstream its vision for a better world and to ensure that those of us involved in the struggle for global justice are as well informed as possible.

In a context where the global media environment presents a skewed sense of priorities and where the ownership of mainstream media is being concentrated, initiative such as People of the South blog dedicated to global social justice around the region is hopefully helping to make a difference and provide some balance.