Signs of the Information Revolution
The recent wave of elections in the Arab East and its neighbour Islamic Iran has directed the attention of observers and researchers to this political mobility and media activity in the countries where different kinds of elections were held: Municipal elections in Iraq; parliamentary in Kuwait and Lebanon; presidential in Iran.
The most remarkable phenomena in
these elections were the huge number of voters, the younger generation in the lead,
and the use of advanced technology in election management, propaganda and
monitoring.
The outcome of these elections as
influenced by the political and social conditions of each country is a
significant indicator of the changes taking place in the social structure of
the peoples of the region, the development of their political awareness and
their understanding of current changes worldwide.
This phenomenon manifested itself in
Kuwait in the winning of women in National Assembly elections for the first
time. Four women have been elected members of the 50-member Assembly, i.e. 8%.
More importantly, they won a huge number of votes, with some of them ranking
first and second in their constituencies. These four MPs are all graduates of
prestigious international universities. This reflects a major shift in the
manner of electing candidates who are no longer elected on tribal grounds or
according to hollow promises, but on the basis of expertise and high education.
This phenomenon occurred in the
Lebanese elections as well, as a number of young men and women have succeeded
in becoming MPs, and the number of representatives of traditional and rightist
political forces diminished, though the sectarian structure in Lebanon remained
somewhat intact. All parties failed to receive a sweeping victory for
themselves, as was the case in -Lebanon in the past. Old political forces have
realized that these elections will be the last for them to stand for, giving
way to a younger generation who do not acknowledge such sectarian legacies
much.
The elections in Iran were very noisy, and its noise spread -to all corners of the world. The results of these elections triggered a massive wave of protests and rejection and were not recognized by the other forces which shared in the elections and regarded the results as rigged by the authorities in favour of right-wing ad stringent religious groups.
There were street protests, of
course, led by university and other educational institution students. It is
interesting, however, to note that these protests were not related to the
elections only and were not voiced against particular persons, but were an
expression of rejection of an extremist, ultraconservative political group
which not only fails to understand current changes but also rejects any
adaptation to the movement of international human progress.
The coming transformation
It is therefore necessary to monitor
these election phenomena and understand the nature of the transformation taking
place in our societies and the impact of scientific advances and of
globalization which is re-forming the world according to its new tools. We have
to acknowledge that information highway has been changing the face of the
world, which has become open for the first time, breaking down barriers among
peoples and countries, including our Arab and Muslim world, which may look
stagnant on the surface, but is in -fact full of changes inside. The first tool
which allows the younger generation to access the information highway, of
course, is the personal computer (PC). As Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft,
put it in the mid-1990s: The PC-with its ever-developing hardware, applications
in the world of business, direct communication service systems, internet, email
and multimedia addresses ports, and games is the basis for the coming
revolution.
The impact of this scientific
revolution launched by the computer several years ago on the current social
movements in the Arab World, through rejection or acceptance, begins to be
clearly felt. The hierarchic social structure of Arab traditional societies is
scientifically backward, but the younger generation, resisting the forces which
control the movement of society, has emerged keeping up with the pace of world
development, and their possession of this open space and this unprecedented of
the freedom of expression made them determined to manage their own affairs,
rejecting the old guard s argument that they need to be under their custody.
Dr. Nabil Ali, the researcher in information
technology, stressing the impact of this scientific revolution, said: "The
Internet has become an information medium embodying all other communication
media print, audio and visual as well as mass and personal media. The impact of
these technological advances reflects on all such media, and, more importantly,
on the nature of the relationships between the producers, distributors and
recipients of the media message; the world has diminished in terms of place and
time, and barriers have been broken down."
The impact of these scientific and
technological -developments in the area of communication was keenly felt on the
election process and its results, particularly in the Iranian presidential
elections and the incidents provoked by these results. Dramatic advances in
mobiles and their enormous -capability for high precision in the recording and
instant transmission of sound and picture to satellites made live transmission
of the incidents on Tehran s streets possible, despite attempts by the Iranian
authorities to contain and hide them, and even cut off communication with the
outside world, closed foreign correspondents offices and arrested embassies personnel.
However, all that did not prevent the
publication of a photograph of a girl who was killed in street protests just as
she wanted to express herself and has thus become a martyr in the eyes of
people worldwide.
-Moving backwards in time
We have definitely received Gill
Gates message about this future revolution which is now unstoppable as it has
become part of everyday realities, and all attempts by reactionary forces to
reject, prevent, contain or control it is something of the past which can not
resist the liveliness of the future, particularly in view of the mark of
cooperation and understanding among all peoples of the world it bears.
One conclusion is that a new
awareness of global values is being developed. It favours renewal and progress
and expresses peoples genuine desire to keep up with the spirit of the age and
reject reactionary and extremist attitudes as it is influenced by many changes
taking place in the world today the so-called global framework.
In recent decades, the process of
change in the Arab region and its Islamic neighbours has been slow, with a low
level of ability to keep up with world developments in the areas of culture,
science, liberties, political and intellectual awareness, comprehensive and
sustainable development and other areas in which the world has made
considerable strides and achieved unprecedented progress in man s history, but
that is likely to change. Our region is no longer isolated from the rest of the
world but has come under the spotlight in terms of knowledge, as we have been
as far s geography is concerned, despite the slow rate of change and widespread
poverty and backwardness as well as low levels of education, which helped
reactionary forces dominate society and its NGOs, parties and unions and many
positions of power alike.
The culture of the margins
The globalization culture has created
communication and even integration and mutual influence among world cultures,
forming new cultures, values and morals. Even active, influential central
cultures are being influenced by the so-called culture of the margins, i.e.
culture of weak, poor and isolated countries. The effect of this revolution on
carrying the message of Islam through fast communication channels can not be
ignored. There is a widespread movement worldwide to introduce Islam and its
basic values, teachings and principles and their impact on individuals and
their behaviour.
There is also a strong movement in
the West which is influenced by the arts and culture of such societies that
were long considered marginal, such as that of East Asia, Africa and even the
Arab World. European culture is thus influenced in various areas, such as arts,
architecture, fashion design, jewellery, oriental cuisine, even philosophy and
religion, as well as interior design, ornamental plants, textile printing, etc.
All this reflects the effect of communication on the culture of world societies
and their mutual influence and shows they can not escape such changes and new
conditions which are no longer dictated by governments but by the force of
capital and cultural, educational and media institutions and modern information
technology.
-From sound to picture
In the past, the radio represented an
international revolution which put an end to people’s isolation and helped them
know what happens in faraway places and follow major -events and even
influenced them. We all remember the role which cassettes played in fomenting
the Iranian revolution and overthrowing the Shah s regime. The mobile camera
has become the modern, alternative technology and a historic landmark in the
free transmission of sound and picture, enabling people thousands of miles away
to watch and not only listen to what is taking place in other countries,
without reliance on governmental transmission systems.
However, the main message given by
the results of these elections is peoples longing for pluralism and belief that
no group can impose its own vision or creed on other groups. These demands are
not just burning desires but have become a force reflecting peoples real will,
and these principles will be a reality in the interest of the future and human
coexistence. The progress of any society can not be achieved in the absence of
such constitutional rules and laws that make such coexistence a basic approach
of governments.
A revolution that can not
be ignored
The conclusion that may be drawn from
the mobility which the results of the elections showed in our region, the
reactions to some of these results and the insistence of opposition forces on
their rights is that our information age forces us to deal with things as they
should really be and not as those living in the past want them to be and try to
recreate the remote past with its laws, values and tools and build a political,
social, moral and economic system upon it. This contemporary revolution makes
it incumbent upon the Muslim Arabs to make use of the achievements of modern
times, develop their systems and societies to adapt to the information age and
place themselves among other peoples in a competitive world in terms of
knowledge and progress. We must all strive to help our societies embark on the
inevitable democratic transformation which secures human rights and -dignity so
that all parties and groups in all Arab societies may realize that the
alternative to this transformation is sectarian violence and bloody conflicts,
as the lessons of history tell us and urge us to avert them as they will not be
in the interest of any party to the conflict if they God forbid arise.
Sulaiman Al-Askary
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