Big Change with Everyday Things: Is the Cell Phone Revolutionizing Africa?

The unequal reaches of globalization have often skipped over the African continent, but to each rule there are always a few exceptions. While the West utilizes Blackberries and iPhones to facilitate business deals, social networking and online banking, a new phenomenon appears to be emerging in Africa using much simpler technology. A Google search of "mobile phones in Africa" retrieves articles about the use of mobile technology to ensure honest elections, in the fight against HIV/AIDs, and even to improve the grain market. While computers and laptops have failed to reach the masses of Africans, cell phone penetration has grown unprecedentedly, with a rate of 30.4% of the population being mobile subscribers - 280.7 million people! In an interview done in September, economist Jeffrey Sachs calls the cell phone the single most transformative technology for development, citing its reach into isolated rural markets as its most striking feature (exemplified by the image above of the Maasai "warriors" in Kenya). Yet, while reading the multitude of articles on the beneficial uses of mobile phones, I couldn't help but wonder whether our unabated praise for the potential of the phone may be idealistic. I recalled living in a small village in Kenya called Kaloleni, where my host sister had a cell phone but our home had no electricity for her to recharge the battery. Every few days, she would take time off from working at the church to walk to another village and pay a family with electricity some of her hard-earned money, all to charge her phone. While this does not subtract from the potential benefits of the mobile phone, it does present some questions that may be being ignored in development field. To expand upon my own internal pondering, this week I roamed the blogosphere for African perspectives on the spread of the cell phone and then opened up communication by responding to their posts. My first comment is on a post on a blog called What an African Woman Thinks, whose author is a Kenyan woman. It highlights the rise of the "mobile phone revolution" and questions how the industry will evolve and mature. The second post I responded to is written by a white Kenyan whose blog, The White African, is quite popular in the world of technology in Africa. His article discusses Ushahidi, a program developed during the period of post-election violence in Kenya that allows citizens to send SMS messages and report localized crisis information. Last week the tool reached the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where the violent crisis is rapidly spinning out of control. I have included both of my comments below, but they can also be read in context by following the links.

"The Mobile Phone Revolution"

Comment:

I would like to thank you for commenting on a topic that is so timely and interesting. While studying abroad in Kenya last fall, I found the phenomenon of cell phone use and its accompanying culture fascinating. Indeed, the prevalence and affordability of phones across the country surprised me. In the past few weeks I have read articles on the indigenous, and often ingenious, uses of mobile technology sprouting up across the continent. Yet I wonder if, in your perspective, there are perhaps any downfalls to the potentially exciting "mobile revolution." In your article, you say that in the study of university students, all of them used "25% of their allocated spending funds on prepaid mobile airtime." If this is being repeated across the country, is it possible that Kenyans are spending crucial money on cellphones and airtime in order to keep up with this global culture rather than more urgent necessities? Especially as an African woman, do you find that the use of cell phones is really reaching the masses, or is it more concentrated than the numbers may have us believe? The idea of having to buy prepaid minutes is somewhat foreign in the United States, and took some getting use to while living in Kenya. I am glad you focused on this aspect of cell phone use, because I wonder if those in the development circles realize how much of an added cost this is creating and how that may limit the use of mobile phones for development projects around the continent. Without intending to subtract from the exciting potential of mobile technology in Africa, are these concerns valid enough to step back and take another look at?

"Ushahidi in the Congo (DRC)"

Comment:

Congratulations on the expansion of Ushahidi, though how unfortunate that it is needed in another crisis in the region. As a college student in the United States, I find the innovative uses of the cell phone all across Africa fascinating. When I first travelled to Kenya to study abroad, I had no idea how accessible and popular mobile phones would be, but quickly learned from the national "mobile culture" that has sprouted up amongst my Kenyan peers. Honestly, the prevalence of cell phones was a bit shocking, to the point that I met people who lived in complete poverty, sometimes without access to clean water or electricity, spending a large proportion of their income on mobile phones and prepaid minutes. Do you think that this is a phenomenon that we should worry about, or is it simply a shaky bridge that will inevitably lead to economic growth and development?

Another question I had is about the raw numbers of cell phone users in the areas that you work in. While mobile penetration has indeed surprised us all, there are still millions of Africans who do not own a phone. In areas of crisis, violence and poverty, do those who really are in need have access to phones to use Ushahidi? Further, even if they do have phones, do they have access to prepaid minutes in order to use the SMS feature? In conclusion, what I am asking if we should really believe the hype about mobile technology reaching the masses and single-handedly revolutionizing development on the continent?

Finally, I would like to thank you for all of the work you do, especially by focusing on all of the indigenous innovations popping up in Africa. Your blog goes a long way in dispelling many of the stereotypes of Africa that are so prevalent in mainstream Western media and that really make me cringe.

Preserving Diversity to Create Unity: Saving Indigenous Languages in Modern Times

The tolls of globalization have hit indigenous communities harder than any other. After surviving literal extermination at the hands of European colonialists, native cultures around the world now face a more symbolic eradication as the world shrinks smaller and increasingly homogeneous. National Geographic anthropologist Wade Davis sees the extinction of language as one of the most vital factors in the loss of culture and ethnicity: "language isn't just a body of vocabulary, it's a flash of the human spirit...the vehicle through which the soul of each culture comes into the material world." He says that every two weeks a language dies. Today, of the 6,000 linguistic groups still alive in the world, some are spoken by such minuscule numbers of people that less than 0.2% of the world's population speaks half of our languages. The loss of traditional communication is a slippery slope toward the assimilation, acculturation, and possibly eventual annihilation of indigenous peoples.

Ten years ago, the phenomenon of language loss was largely regarded as an inevitable consequence of modernization. Davis notes that traditional societies were often seen as failed attempts at modernity, best to be left in history. The threats to local languages arise from discrimination by government and majority populations, which led indigenous citizens - especially the younger members - to choose mainstream assimilation in order to advance socio-economically. This led to a generational divide where elders were no longer passing language down to their youth. But culture is not static, no matter how ancient it is, and in recent years a new force for the preservation of languages has emerged and strengthened. Largely through the widespread facility of telecommunication, indigenous groups from around the world began to converse and realize that they face the same threats from Australia to Peru to North America. These commonalities have led to the unity amongst threatened communities and a global struggle to adapt technology to their reality. Today this movement has become full-force, and even the United Nations has taken notice by declaring 2008 the "International Year of Languages."

With this recognition that multi-lingualism is an important part of our society, many tools have emerged to preserve endangered languages. Using simple digital recording, local communities can record conversations, stories and songs to then send via e-mail or upload online. One of the biggest tasks in making the internet a more inclusive tool has been to translate browsers into minority languages. This has been especially important in Africa, where the inequality that has increased with globalization is so visible. By making the web more accessible, and therefore more democratic, education is improved by allowing more people to master basic computer skills which then spurs them to continue to enhance local language content, increasing the diversity of voices expressed online. This also has implications for traditional cultures that were historically held in low-esteem and seen as contrary to development. Enlace Quiche is an organization that is creating information communication technologies (ICTs) to train intercultural and bilingual educators in Guatemala. They have developed an online vocabulary in the local language, K'iche', and have found that when children use computers in their native language, "the lessons learned go far beyond mastering basic computer skills. Students are learning that their indigenous language and culture are a vital part of their society."

With the growth of esteem within native communities, the rising generation has sought out ways to merge their grandparents' traditions with the universal youth culture that they are surrounded by. One format that has lent itself with facility to indigenous youth is hip hop, which is all the more easily accessible and transmittable with new forms of global telecommunications on the web. In Africa, there was a period where hip hop thrived merely imitating American gangsta rap, using English slang and profanities. Today we see the emergence of hip hop that relates more to the realities of Africans, and with this the expanding use of local languages in the music. Often the fusion of native dialects with English and French creates wholly new vocabularies, which also has the effect of reviving and incorporating older, dying languages into modern society. In similar vein, Local Noise is a site funded by the Australian Research Council that focuses on Australian hip hop. They found that the storytelling aspects and multicultural roots of hip hop give it particular strength to be adapted to the aboriginal context. In "Indigenising Hip-Hop," one female MC talks about the ease in relating the four essential elements of hip hop to her Fijian traditions: DJing is like alali drumming; graffiti like cave painting; MCing is like her grandfather's public speaking around the kava bowl; and breakdancing is like traditional Fijian dance. Today there are numerous blogs, record labels, festivals and competitions dedicated to promoting native hip hop and cultural exchange. While often times the listeners cannot understand the language that the musician is rapping in, they comprehend the subject because they too have lived through such experiences.

As the International Year of Languages comes to a close, the evolving inclusiveness of the web and the capitalization of this trend by native communities is hopeful. While it remains to be seen if this will stem the disappearance of languages, the mere global concentration on preservation seems to be reversing the trend. With the rising recognition that encouraging the development of multi-cultural, multi-lingual citizens is beneficial for not only traditional communities but also for overall progress of the nation-state, the youngest generation around the world is in the perfect situation to pursue this potential. They no longer need to choose between modernization and the customs of their ancestors, between globalization and traditions. By beginning to view cultures as a dynamic, progressive entity we can promote preservation of endangered societies rather than leaving them to the history books.

As The World Watches On: Youth Participation in the US Elections

With less than 24 hours until the United States elects a new president and consequently ushers in a new era, scouring the blogosphere for posts about the election seemed logical. In the US, the youth vote has received an unprecedented amount of attention this year. Both optimists and pessimists have captured headlines predicting youth turn-out and their effect on the polls tomorrow. Candidates and get-out-the-vote organizations alike have fought to capture the hearts of young Americans using innovative forms of technology, media, and celebrity culture (as evidenced by the Vote or Die ad campaign, seen on the left featuring Paris Hilton). Yet historically the youngest segment of American voters has been the least likely to vote. At CIRCLE, a non-partisan research center focusing on civic engagement of young Americans, studies have found that the youth vote dropped steadily from 1972 to 2000. A surge in the 2004 elections still left less than 50% of young Americans actually voting, the lowest turn-out of any age group. With the world watching, a focus this election cycle has been how to get and keep young citizens engaged. This week I felt motivated to comment on a post that talks about a popular online video that can be personalized to show a fake post-election broadcast revealing the name of a single person whose failure to vote led to Senator John McCain’s victory by one vote. Featured on the New York Times political blog The Caucus, it stresses the great lengths groups have gone to urge American youth to vote and the prominence of the issue in national media.

Secondly, I used a site called Voices Without Votes which seeks to highlight conversations in the global blogosphere about the US election. There I found a post written by a young Brazilian journalist, Paula Góes, on Brazilian perspectives of the candidates. I found the juxtaposition between Brazil and the US particularly relevant because Brazil is one of a handful of countries that has a controversial compulsory voting process, where every literate citizen between the ages of 18 and 70 is required to vote. Although beyond the scope of this week's post, it is worth questioning whether compulsory voting in Brazil is a more effective way of engaging minority voters such as youth than the US system. At first glance it may seem to be so, but in Brazil it also makes it easier for corrupt politicians to buy apathetic citizens' votes and to make many resentful of the political process. Both Brazil and the United States are large, diverse nations facing a myriad of issues involving democratic inclusion of minority groups. They are also becoming so interconnected that the importance this election will have on foreigners' everyday lives is clear. I have included my comments on both blog posts below, though you can also read then in context by following the links.

"Using the Blame Game to Get Out the Vote"

Comment:

Upon reading your article, my first reaction as a young American was sadness that being “humiliated” into voting is a successful technique! I can only imagine how many young Iraqis or Mexican citizens would die to have a say in the election of the American president, yet the youngest age-group of voters in the US is the most historically apathetic. But as I continued down your post, my optimism (and perhaps idealism) returned and I began to take pride in all of the innovative ways young people are being targeted in election campaigns. While researching youth using technology around the world for a university project, I have been inspired by the different ways my generation is becoming socially active. In this election alone young people are using text-messages, online video-conferences, Facebook and a variety of other tools to get involved. A survey done at the Harvard Institute of Politics this fall even found that over two-thirds of 18-24 year olds see political engagement as an effective way of solving our nation’s problems.

I was also curious about your opinion on the overall effect these turn-out efforts will have. Looking back to the 2004 elections, all of the talk about youth registering in droves ended up having a very small effect on the presidential outcome. Do you think that the new era of interactive, individualized technology will have a more positive effect on the numbers of youth voters this time around? You cite in your post that young people are statistically unlikely to go to the polls. Does this stem from historically low levels of out-reach to the young American population or is it a more systematic issue emanating from the overall structure of our election processes? One website I recently came across, WhyTuesday.org questions why our nation lags behind almost all others in voter-turnout and what practical solutions we can take to change the act of voting from a right to an imperative. In other words, will these innovative, get-out-the-vote tools have any effect on voter participation without reforming the current system? Thank you for your time, and I would also like to thank you for your focus on the benefits that technology can have when put to positive youth and for creating avenues for dialogue on the youth vote this election cycle.

"Obama or McCain - Who is Better (Or Less Bad) For Brazil?"

Comment:

I wanted to write and thank you for all of your interesting posts. I spent a semester studying abroad in Brazil this spring and found it fascinating to talk to my Brazilian friends about the contentious primary race between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Now that I am home, it is nice to read your posts and stay in touch with the Brazilian perspective as the election nears. It is interesting that you open your post by saying that this is the first US election where Brazilians clearly see issues close to their heart at stake. Do you think this is due to an increasing interconnectedness arising from globalization, or perhaps the severity of problems we are facing in present-day? I indeed often heard my peers in Salvador say that the rest of the world should be able to vote for the American president because what he does so affects other nations, which I always found interesting.

One thing that interests me is to compare is youth participation in the US and Brazil. In the United States, my generation has the lowest turn-out rates of any age group. In Brazil this problem seems to be solved by the compulsory voting system, but while there I found that many expressed resentment at being forced to vote. While compulsory voting should, in theory, increase minority participation in Brazilian politics, it seemed as though the system remains very elitist and white, not very different from politics in the US. From an outsider’s perspective looking in to the American system, how do you think we could get more young people involved? Would a compulsory voting system help the issue or simply mask youth apathy?

One last comment I would like to make is on the popularity of Barack Obama in Brazil (see the Brazilian Obama ad on the right). In a past post, “Will the Elections End up In Another Bradley Effect,” you discuss the racial factor of Barack Obama. The US and Brazil both have a deep racial history, though this is caused by different historical factors that today manifest quite differently. It is interesting that so many Brazilians support Barack Obama (I also saw his face splashed across billboards all over Brazil), when there are so few Afro-Brazilian politicians in relation to their large percentage of the population. Do you think the popularity of Obama in Brazil relates to evolving racial ideals held by the rising generation? Many in the US contribute this to Obama’s popularity amongst the young generation; could it be that Brazilian and American youth are beginning to look more alike as globalization brings us closer together?

Between Jihad and Facebook: Middle Eastern Youth Caught in the Crossroads of Cyberspace

Internet Jihad. A term the Prophet Mohammed never could have fathomed in 7th century Arabia. But today it has become synonymous with the global Jihadist movement thanks to Al-Qa'ida's technological sophistication. As a New York Times op-ed piece professed in June, Al-Qa'ida "made its name in blood and pixels." With online video messages and websites aimed at spreading ideology and global recruitment, technology in the Middle East has largely been regarded solely as the tool of terrorists by Western policy-makers and mainstream media, thereby virtually ignoring the majority of more moderate Middle Easterners. This bias promotes the image of Islam as primitive, except for its most violent elements that will stop at nothing to use technology for their evil purposes; however, while convenient in promoting such a worldview, the above-mentioned paradigm is one-sided. In fact, like any multidimensional society the Muslim world is experimenting with many positive uses of technology, and again the rising generation is at the forefront of such innovation. Last fall I spent a semester in the Muslim community of Mombasa, Kenya, where the stereotypes of Islam that I subconsciously held were first confronted and very quickly conquered. Since returning to the US, I have often thought that if my fellow Americans were also able to appreciate the diversity within the Muslim community, we could get a better sense of important currents within modern Islam. This is crucial in order to see how the center of that ancient culture, under great stress, is adapting modern technology, and even using it to promote more widespread communication and interchange.

Censorship in the Middle East may be a key factor in the rise of religious extremism, particularly amongst youth. In countries such as Egypt, where President Hosni Mubarak has largely repressed the freedom of political expression, many marginalized Muslims have given up on politics and resorted to a more fundamental Islam. Due to decades of corruption, inequality, and foreign intervention, violence became the only forum for dissent in the region. But there are signs that the rising generation, who has only known injustice, may be searching for alternatives to violent opposition. As youth struggle between violence and submission, they seem to have adapted the tool of the internet to their local milieu. 

Facebook, a social networking site used by nearly every American college and high school student, has recently exploded throughout the world and has begun to reflect the debates going on in classrooms and coffee shops in the Middle Eastern world. In September, a Voice of America article wrote about the impact of Facebook on Turkish politics. Turkey is historically a secular state, but Islamism is rising due to the religious roots of the ruling government. According to the article, fundamentalism has been on the rise since the 1980s, when Turkey's military rule began a zero-tolerance response to the traditional platforms of civil society. Today, marginalized youth are turning to the internet as an agent for dialogue and free association. As one young Facebook user put it in reference to the internet, "we don't have assets we don't have capital, but we have a tool for free." This lack of capital and power has also been used as causation for suicide bombers, but Turkish youth have found another outlet via networking sites. In September, The Los Angeles Times continued the conversation on the Islamic use of Facebook. Author Jeffrey Fleisman focused on the struggle between secularists and Islamists, as played out on Facebook. With millions of users on the site, many individuals have started groups that represent their views as Muslims or Middle Easterners. Groups have titles that vary from "Brave Bold Liberal Muslim Girls," which has over 1,000 members, to "Against Any People who Insult Prophet Mohammed and Islam" with over 3,000. While some groups are forums for disagreement between secularists and Islamists, others open communication with their Western counterparts. As the Egyptian leader of the group "We the Muslim Youth Can Change this World" illustrates: "I now have a relationship with an American guy on Facebook. He first contacted me by calling me a terrorist...Now he and I discuss Islam and Buddhism." This is a perfect example of the possibilities for the modernity of globalization to work in synch with the traditions of religion. It is also a wonderful illustration of how a tool that we in the West universally use (and nearly as universally take for advantage) can be adapted to localized conditions around the world to create positive change.

Connecting through bits and bytes on the internet rather than flesh and blood has been criticized for its dehumanizing effect, which could bolster the image of Muslim youth as isolated and desperate connected soullessly through the internet with terrorist leaders. In fact, the emergence of social-networking and the interactive web--known as Web 2.0--is providing opportunities for social and human contact. As a young Bahraini blogged in June, Web 2.0 has given the moderate majority of Muslims such a voice that it has overtaken the effectiveness of terrorist organizations' propaganda proliferated through the more basic Web 1.0 (see the New York Times article which calls Al-Oa'ida "behind the curve"). Al-Qa'ida has been targeting millions of Middle Eastern internet users with its online campaigns, but those same users can be empowered with the creativity provided through the interactive tools of the internet. MidEast Youth, a site I featured in my most recent post, has capitalized on the social-networking capabilities of Web 2.0 to give a human element to the news coming out of the Middle East through online video-conferences with their American peers. This month they conducted their third teleconference with American high schoolers, which can be heard online. Questions ranged from the popularity of Senator Obama abroad to the similarities and differences of health care in each region. The participants from the Middle East featured three females, one Jew, and one Palestinian calling in from a refugee camp. 

The benefits of cross-cultural communication have not gone completely unnoticed, and the international NGO community has taken cues from such homegrown initiatives. Mercy Corps, an international development and relief organization, has created Why Not, a youth internet exchange program using Skype's online video chat. With the goal of building cross-cultural connections between regions defined by stereotypes, the initiative seeks to reduce isolation in the Middle East, create more accurate perceptions and deepen each group's understanding of the other's political and social realities. Mercy Corps, while doing development projects in war-torn and drought-stricken countries around the world, has found that living through everyday violence often leads to feelings of abandonment by the international community, and these human-to-human chats separate the average American, or Muslim, from what each side sees in mainstream media. In this instance technology has become a tool for the humanization of conflicts, war and politics starting at the roots.

There are many reasons why it is important to recognize and validate these positive uses of the internet. The Middle East is currently experiencing what is known as a "youth bulge," a high proportion of 15-29 year olds relative to the adult population that is considered a causal factor for political violence. Indeed, 60% of the region's population is under 25 and their rate of unemployment has reached dangerous levels (see interactive demographic map above). As a marginalized constituency, the likelihood of violence is high, but can be countered with the creation of opportunities to choose another, non-violent path. In addition, the cross-cultural connections which are facilitated by technology is giving a human face to the war and suffering that many Americans do not yet understand. To think of Islam's youth as not using technology in familiar ways, but only to promote violence and terrorism is the opposite of humanizing, it is demonizing. For American students to be able to talk with their Muslim peers about topics like dating, parents and music has a very enlightening effect. Globalization is often criticized for making the world smaller. Yet it is a force that cannot be stopped, and therefore must be molded for the betterment of humanity. Apparently the world's youth are one step ahead of those pessimists by accepting, contextualizing, and adapting what they have to their generational realities.

Democratizing Knowledge: A List of Online Resources for Young Activists

Using search tools on the internet can sometimes feel like hunting for a needle in a haystack. The plethora of information can be daunting, and it is often difficult to know whether a site has academic authority, biases, or hidden motives. With this in mind, I decided to create a list of online resources to supplement my posts. I focused on sites created by and for young people, and the sheer number of pages that I sorted through (and their overall quality and diversity) is inspiring. I ended up with the following list by applying Webby and IMSA criteria to judge each blog or site based on content, functionality, interactivity, navigation and visual design, keeping in mind that many of these sites are geared toward the young technological generation. I have added all of the links to my linkroll (on the left) and will also discuss them here.

I would like to begin with a site that I often use for my own research and whose content really cannot be beat. Global Voices Online is a non-profit founded at Harvard University that features blogs and articles written by credible authors around the world who are normally marginalized from mainstream media, and utilizes a network of volunteers to translate dozens of languages daily. The site is easy to use, with articles sorted by region and topic. It does not have many graphics or tools that may distract from the great content, although this also limits reader interaction with the site. Another, more specialized news source is WireTap Online Magazine, which is created by and for youth on national news and culture. WireTap has well-researched, diverse content using videos, blogs and stories. The graphics are complementary to the content, and even the advertisements on the sidebars are for youth voting organizations!

As the premier organization in the international community, the UN created Youth and The United Nations, which contains information on all of their programs that focus on youth, lists internships, ways to get involved, and relevant links from every region in the world. It is straightforward and simple, but important nonetheless. Two of the United Nations topic-specific programs also have sites geared toward kids, the UN Environmental Program's Tunza initiative and UNICEF's Voices of Youth. Both represent the UN's long-term strategy to engage children and contain information on what the UN and people around the world are doing. While both are quite basic, UNICEF's "e-consultation" is particularly noteworthy by giving young visitors a much needed voice on many issues. Another influential non-profit is the International Youth Foundation, which focuses on the holistic development of the world's rising generation. Like the UN sites, IYF has a lot of information from the field, but mostly publicizes its own programs. Mercy Corps' extremely well-designed page on their global engagement initiatives also has a wealth of information for those interested in global development (see image above of their Global Envision Online Magazine). All of these sites are important in the intellectual and policy circles, but may not appeal to young people simply because they appear to have been created by adults. However, there are many organizations run by young people. One example is the Global Youth Partnership for Africa, which was founded by a 22 year-old American and a 31 year-old Ugandan with the mission to foster understanding between rising American and African leaders through engagement. While largely self-promotional, this web page contains many ways to get involved for budding activists. Another organization, The Freechild Project, strives to aid and celebrate change led by young people around the world. It has pages with lists of resources that represent "guerilla research" that grows out of the community. While this site is more "grassroots," it lacks interaction and excitement with its basic layout and few graphics.

Western universities have been the leaders in the link between technology, media, and social change. One initiative is MIT's Center for Future Civic Media, which is essentially a blog whose posts present innovations in the field of media and technology. Yet its plain white background and lack of graphics reveal its academic origins and make it pretty dry. A much more interactive site in the US is GenerationEngage, a non-partisan initiative that seeks to give young Americans information to engage them in the political process. They do this through video-conferences and informative videos that are posted online and which you can download onto your iPod. The site is at the forefront of technology, but its primary target audience, young people who are not attending college and tend to be less engaged, may have a hard time navigating through such a complex site. Video-conferences are an example of the rise in global telecommunications, which has also facilitated the creation of social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook. The youth culture associated with these sites tends to have a negative connotation, but the socially-conscious networks I found illustrate an active response to such criticisms. One example, YouthNoise, claims to be a MySpace for those with "deeper interests than Paris Hilton's wardrobe." Its cluttered format may make the site difficult to navigate for those over-18, also a problem on The Global Youth Fund. GYF improves by providing interactive tools such as polls and an "idea bank." The site's advanced level of graphics is seen in its beautiful YouTube promo video. In similar vein, Taking IT Global is a networking site that is easier to tap into, and with membership you get access to IT tools, discussion boards, and lists of global events. Its legitimacy is derived from partnerships with the UN, NGOs and corporations.

One of the most striking characteristics of social activism online is the sheer creativity in the ways that people are creating change. Inspired by the politically-conscious rap in Senegal, undergrad Ben Herson created the Nomadic Wax Global Hip-Hop Blog, full of cutting-edge graphics (see image on left), that focuses on hip-hop from the Palestine to Laos and Brazil. The Global Action Project also promotes arts and social change around the world, and supports itself by selling exceptional videos created by its young members on the site. Even the short clips are worth a visit. While not focusing explicitly on youth, National Geographic's All Roads Film Project promotes documentary filmmaking as a medium to enhance indigenous culture. I Buy Different is an environmentally-focused site that teaches young consumers how to make a difference just by buying differently. Like all of these youth-led sites, it is especially interactive with striking design. MobileActive.org focuses on the cell-phone and its 3 billion users worldwide to create social impact. It is a basic blog, but puts into focus another innovative topic that is below the radar of mainstream media.

I would like to end with one of the best examples of young people using technology for social change. MidEast Youth is a student-owned, unfunded network that promotes constructive dialogue within the Middle East and Northern Africa. It is homegrown, and uses freedom of expression to create social change in a region were speech is often censored, stereotypes abound, and minority voices are suppressed. Its simplicity gives an air of academia to a blog created by youth, which has given it credibility in the international community. The components of the site and overall content relate to different issues that the authors face, from interfaith to sex to comics. It is one of the best and most inspiring examples that I found that shows the true potential of youth putting technology to good use.

From Woodstock to Worldstock: International Music Festivals and their Effect on the Global Youth Culture

This Sunday at sunset, the Santa Monica beach just south of the pier was taken over by a Brazilian priestess praising the ocean in Yoruba followed by women in white throwing offerings of flowers into the sea and West African drummers keeping the beat. It was the culmination of the two-week long Los Angeles World Festival of Sacred Music. Anyone who happened to stumble across it would have a hard time processing the stark contrasts between the bikini-clad tourists snapping photos and the sanctity of these Brazilian elder women honoring the age-old fisherman's tradition of offering gifts to Iemenja, the revered goddess of the

sea (see image at right) . The festival's vision states that music is a way to transcend borders of all kinds: linguistic, national, religious, ideological, racial and cultural. Indeed, music can be considered the most universal agent of globalization, as telecommunication techniques have increased our ability to share music with peers around the world. Despite such positive aspects of globalization, the scene I saw on the beach in Santa Monica also made me think about the deeper consequences of the global exchange of traditions and musical manifestations. Through international music festivals, the Western ability to import "exotic" and often enlightening art mediums from abroad is assymetrically balanced by our export of the MTV and rap cultures. Indeed, blogger Andrew Woolford of the Phuzion Magazine blog was quite baffled by the violence that American hip hop apparently inspired on the island of Trinidad as well as the influence that our hip hop culture has on the diamond industry in Western Africa.

Inspired by the impact that the World Festival of Sacred Music had on me, I decided to scour the blogosphere for the opinions of other young bloggers on international music festivals and open dialogue with them by commenting on their posts. The first post that interested me is on a blog called al Maktabah. It is written by a young Muslim on the reactions in Morocco to the ever-increasing international music festivals. It is an example of how some youth abroad may feel about the export of Western music (and culture). The second blog I commented on is from the perspective of young American hip hop afficionados on the site Flight 808, a blog that focuses on branching out from the local hip hop scene to broaden perspectives on the "diversity and talent amongst foreign hip hop artists." The article, on an international hip hop festival at Trinity University in Hartford, Connecticut, is a good example of the influences that global music-in this case mostly African hip hop-has on American youth. Both of these posts captured my attention becuase they revolve around transnational communication between young people through the mediums of music and culture. I have included my comments below.

"Bread and circuses versus the class of ignorance; Moroccan state's promotion of cultural festivals hangs from a political skeleton"

Comment:

I would like to thank you for your fair, objective reporting on the music festivals in the Middle East. I have also noticed a growing occurrence of such international music festivals here in the United States, and have often wondered about the social effects they leave in other parts of the world.

It seems as though global music festivals in the West increasingly have positive themes of peace and global activism, leaving the young people who attend them with a more open, worldly, and enlightened perspective. I was curious if the Moroccan government has made any effort to include musicians from around the world with positive messages. I often worry that the negative aspects of Western culture are perpetrated through mainstream media, so I hope that a focus on positive messages from global musicians could off-set the negative image created by such aspects of American culture.

In regard to religious backlash against the festivals, do you believe that there is anything that the government could do to stem these criticisms? For example, you mention that the budget of just one such festival is $3.18 million, and that is contrasted with the sprawling slums as background to the festival and the high unemployment amongst Morocco's youth. Is the amount of money spent on such cultural activities further marginalizing Morocco's poor, more traditionally Islamic groups? Is there a way that they could incorporate a donation or service component to the festivals that would heighten concert-goers attention to the country's social issues?

My final question regards the participation of young citizens in organizing music festivals. It is clear that in Morocco, the governmental elite are the sole organizers leaving little room for suggestions from the main consumers, the youth themselves. On MideastYouth.com, I read an article about an underground Iranian music festival that is disseminated through the internet. Because the event is organized through grassroots youth movements, it seems to have a lot of legitimacy amongst Iranian youth and to be creating a new social movement. In response to the government authority over the music festivals in Morocco and Jordan, have the young people searched for alternative forms of expression and legitimacy in regards to music? Maybe something that goes beyond just fun and relates back to their day-to-day lives and issues?

Again, thank you for such a well-researched post on a rarely-reported topic.

"African Hip Hop, Represent"

Comment:

I would like to commend you all on a well-rounded, informative website on global hip hop, a phenomenon that is rapidly seeping into youth cultural spheres around the world.

I have been researching global music festivals, in particular with regards to the exportation of American music to the rest of the world. I agree with you when you say that the American influence of their money sex, and violence ethos has perpetuated around the globe (see the photo on the left that shows an African man wearing a t-shirt with the image of rapper 50 Cent holding a gun), and I was glad to see that young hip hop lovers have come up to a response to such a culture. I hope that learning about the African tendency to focus of social and political activism in their hip hop will now influence young Americans to begin to change the image of hip hop culture, while at the same time supporting global artists in their national struggles advanced through music.

Around the world, people are taking notice of the power of youth culture and music. The United Nations has established an African Hip Hop Summit, acknowledging the belief that music speaks louder than words and the youths role in shaping their country's future.

In response to your post about the festival and the overall focus of this blog, I was curious what you recommend young Americans in the music community do to change our image abroad. It seems as though mainstream Western culture is increasingly marginalizing traditional communities and creating antipathy toward American citizens as well. Seeing as there is such an extensive underground network of young Americans supporting socially responsible music, how can we use the telecommunications mediums that we have access to to even the playing field amongst our peers across the globe?

Again, thank you for your post and your efforts in the field.

Yo Soy Blogger: New Forms of Communication in Cuba

Cuba never strays from American media for long. From reports on which presidential candidate is pandering for Cuban-American votes in Florida, to the debate on whether the economic embargo allows post-hurricane relief aid, this fall is no exception. Despite such interest, the average American knows very little about the realities of life in Cuba due to the US travel embargo and media that is often politically-biased (both on the left and the right of the political spectrum). However, since Fidel Castro passed the presidential torch to his slightly younger brother Raul this past year, a more liberal allowance of luxury goods (such as the legalization of cell phones and computers) has opened up passages of communication to enterprising Cuban citizens, and it is especially encouraging to note that Cuba's youth have been the first to master and capitalize on the tools to spread their voices throughout the global community. As a young American, I feel as though my generation is often criticized for eroding morals and increasing apathy, often it is said, due to the proliferation of technology. Yet I argue that political participation and social activism are in fact facilitated and even spurned by the new forms of technology, as witnessed in the recent presidential elections. It would seem that my generational peers in Cuba are also using  using the same resources as channels of change, which signifies an important process of democratization in Cuba, a country known to have little freedom of speech and political dissent.

Since Fidel Castro stepped down from power in February, many predictions and recommendations for a post-Castro transition to democracy have been explored in the academic and policy-making communities. Within this context, a focus on Cuba's youth as a key component of the transition has emerged. The Latell Report, written by Cuba analyst Brian Latell from the Cuba-Transition Project at the University of Miami, has published a number of articles of the state on Cuba's youth and their role in the political shifts that may be ahead. In the article "Cuba's Lost Generation," Latell warns that "popular expectations for liberalizing change already are high, especially among the youth...given their frustrations and the hardships they endure." He continues to say that this has indeed been recognized as a threat by the Cuban government, who have "openly acknowledged the dangerously profound alienation of Cuba's youth." In the international community, it is generally accepted that such levels of alienation often lead to political violence. Looking ahead to the transition, it is possible that new forms of dissent, such as the internet, have been capitalized on by the rising generation as an alternative to violence. In this respect, I find Raul Castro's efforts to gradually liberalize many government policies on the island as an acknowledgement of this and an attempt at a more peaceful transition. 

According to Latell, it is yet to be seen if Cuba's youth has substantial political organization to tangibly confront their leaders and this is echoed in an article by Sarah Miller Llana and Matthew Clark in the Christian Science Monitor. The article's title calls Cuban youth "Restless but Not Often Political," and starts off with a tag line of: "They just want the freedom to travel and access to the tech touchstones of their generation: iPods, Facebook, and text messages." What some may not be seeing is that the fight for such material items is political in itself, as the demand of these "tech touchstones" is, in the context of globalization, in fact a demand for the freedoms of speech and assembly. While the adult generation in the United States is use to viewing technology as an idle pastime for their youth, the recent presidential elections proved that text messages and Facebook are in fact tools for youth political organization. This is

also the case with our peers 90 miles south of the Florida straits, as seen in February when the call for such social liberalization certainly turned political. At the University of Information Sciences in Havana, students pressed National Assembly president Ricardo Alarcon for answers to questions that ranged from the right to travel, low wages, and access to the internet (see the image at the right which contains a Cuban youth wearing a t-shirt with the @ symbol, peppering Alarcon for answers). In what could only be possible in the current age of technology, a video of the meeting was later posted on the internet site YouTube, sharing with the world this unprecedented, open confrontation between Cuban youths and their government.

In a less formal and much more clandestine setting, Cuban university students capitalized on another form of technology to communicate with their American peers. In a video-conference organized by University of Miami Assistant Provost Dr. Andy Gomez, who is also a Senior Research Associate at the Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies, the Cuban students (whose names were kept secret) sat in an unknown living-room type setting and chatted with their peers for an hour. They asked for university materials and expressed the hope for more contact across the Florida straits, implying that the revolutionary zeal that has historically classified the Cuban milieu has possibly not been passed down to the rising generation. This is an example of an opening of dialogue across national lines--a new phenomenon for both American and Cuban citizens--which is facilitated by access to technology. The new voice that technology gives young Cubans is an alternative to their often limited options of dissent, including the last-resort option of violent protest which is predicted to be a possibility in Cuba's future (see Latell's report on "Cuba's Unquiet Youth"). 

Perhaps the most illustrative example of technology giving a big voice to a marginalized segment of society is the case of one young Cuban woman, Yoani Sanchez, who has used her blog Generation Y to express dissatisfaction with her local reality to readers around the globe. Sanchez's blog, in only a short while since Cuba gained limited access to internet, has promoted an ordinary young Cuban to one of Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People and garnered enough support in Cuba to pose a threat to the government (they shut down access to Generation Y in March). Sanchez dedicates her blog to "the people like me...Born in Cuba in the 1970s and 80s, marked by rural schools, Russian dolls, illegal emigration and frustration" and discusses a range of topics such as the effects of Hurricane Gustav, the difficulty to get food at government-owned stores and what visitors to the island should bring (potable water tabs, vitamins, school materials, soap, shampoo, children clothes). Apparently Sanchez is not alone as a Cuban blogger, as she lists over a dozen other Cuban blogs and sites in her linkroll. This popular site (see advertisement in the top left of post) not only shows the innovation of Cuban youth to express themselves in a sometimes repressive political environment, but also demonstrates the importance that participation in the global community has for our generation. As the Christian Science Monitor reporter Sara Miller Llana reports in her article about Yoani, when access to Generation Y was shut down in Cuba, she continued e-mailing her entries to friends abroad who then e-mailed her back the thousands of responses from readers, leading Sanchez to consider herself a "blind blogger." The advantages of this creative use of technology as a tool is best understood how Yoani Sanchez describes it to Sara Miller LLana: "though the government has been physically able to stop her, she says, the technology that has made her--inadvertently from her perspective--the spokesperson of her generation is beyond their grasp...'They can try to restrict technology, but we Cubans are very adept.'"

All of the cases we have witnessed in the past year, since Raul Castro came to power, show young people using new technology to advance their marginalized position through the communication of their needs, wants and realities. By garnering support and attention in their local and international communities, these young people are also indirectly getting a voice in the government, who must realize that if they do not pay heed to the voices of the rising generation, they could potentially face outbursts in the streets. This "informal democracy" that the youth are creating for themselves could, in the best of situations, lead to further social openings that would hopefully provide dissatisfied youth with more forms of expression. It is also an important revelation for us in the United States that the ways that young people are using technology go far beyond entertainment and social scenes.