I made a rough list of things that I needed to take. The list was just a random brainstorm of things that I might need. Placing the pencil in my ear, I looked at the list, which went something like this – Clothes, (five T-Shirts, five Trousers, five shirts, three suits, Ties, shorts, undies, pyjamas) two pairs of Shoes, flip flops, tooth paste, tooth brush, sun block, shades, basic medicines, face wash, body wash, shampoo, moisturizer, mosquito repellent. I felt I was missing something. After a bit of thought, I realized that I had not included something – Money and oh yes, I also forgot to add towels. Towels could be taken care of in a bit, so I had no worries on that front, I realized I should make an exact estimate of the money that I might need for me and my team.
To look up the currency details, I looked up the internet. My eyes popped out at what I had seen. It said One American dollar was equal to Zimbabwean $ 26,000. At first, I thought I had gotten it wrong and so I looked again. And YES, it was right. One American dollar was equal to twenty six thousand zim dollars! I was surprised but not so surprised. I knew that Zimbabwe had a soaring inflation rate due to which the value of the Zim dollar had gone down drastically.
So, the real question now was how much and how do I take the money? I realized that there was clearly a need for more research on that front. So, I looked up the comments posted by tourists who visited Zimbabwe before. Some suggested very strongly not to use credit cards for safety reasons saying that I would get “ripped off” and suggested that I use currency so that I could exchange it in the “parallel market” to get a better deal. It said that although the official rate for one American dollar was Zim $ 26,000, an American dollar can fetch something close to ninety thousand zim dollars in the “parallel market.”
Looking at the exchange rate, I wondered how much a loaf of bread would cost, about how much a pair of shoes would cost, about how much a bottle of orange juice or an ice cream would cost. I had loads and loads of other questions in my mind, that were much more than just the trivial orange juice or a pair of shoes. Questions that really mattered, questions that would help me communicate, Questions that I wanted to find answers for from my own first hand experience of the situation that was in “Africa’s paradise” - Zimbabwe.
Slowly, I realized that the initial excitement was sinking into my blood. I made a list of things to do with clear, practical goals. I was glad that I was making good practical progress at my first adventure to Africa despite my very strained personal circumstances. While drinking my glass of milk in the night, I closed my diary wondering about what it would bee like in Zimbabwe. I went to bed that night reminding myself of what my professor at the London School of Economics had once told me – “Do not limit yourself with what you know but rather what you do not know!”
I still can’t figure out if it was pure co-incidence or a strange twist of destiny - I received a fax. Something very unusual and extraordinary - a letter granting me permission to film in Zimbabwe when I was watching Eddie Murphy’s Coming to America. I loved that film ever since I was a little boy and it has always made me curious about Africa. It’s hard to explain how excited I was to see the letter just when I was watching a film, which has inspired me to go to Africa.
I couldn’t believe that I was going to Zimbabwe. I had a rush of adrenalin run through my blood stream. It took me a few minutes to control my excitement. I was very excited about the fact that I got the permission to film in one of the most controversial countries, which for years has not allowed access to the international media. I had read a great deal about its politicians – both good and bad. And I was looking forward to my first visit to Africa, despite protests from my worried mother.
I was excited about the prospect of visiting Victoria falls, about going on a lion safari, about Bungee jumping from the worlds highest falls. But, even more exciting was the prospect of questioning people who were at the helm of affairs in Zimbabwe and to communicate to the rest of the world about what it was really like there.
I put together a team of people – a production executive and a cameraman – chalked out a plan of action, got my tickets booked, looked at the other nitty-gritty of travel and was roaring to go. I was to leave on the 7th of October 2005, from Hyderabad, a South Indian city famous for new wealth from information technology enterprise and fat, vulgar, Telugu film stars. My travel itenary said – Hyderabad – Mumbai – Nairobi - Harare. It seemed like a long journey. But I was looking forward, really looking forward to exploring the unknown.
I was reminded at what a Professor of mine at the LSE has said - "Do not limit yourself with what you know but rather what you do not know"!
9/11, 7/7, 7/11 ! To most of the world, which was connected with some form of communication, watching the twin towers collapse on 9/11 came as a shock. It was because it was an unprecedented, barbaric attack on The United States of America. And what happened in London on the 7th of July and what happened in Kashmir and Mumbai on the 11th of July is, but an inexcusable and unjustifiable repetition of such barbaric, faceless, acts of terror.
Unfortunately, such acts of terror seem to have become a common ritual in the media, the world over. Day in and night out – on TV, in the newspaper, on the mobile phone – everywhere, not a day goes by without a story on terror in some part of the world. Peace comes as a surprise or as a lip service. Watching, listening and reading about it, we seem to be accepting terror, as a common ‘global phenomenon’. We seem to be accepting that resilience is the only option left to us, quietly learning to acquaint ourselves to living in, what Ulrich Beck calls, a ‘world risk society’.
As pedagogic pundits pontificate and predict, slowly and steadily, we seem to be getting used to expecting the unexpected, and preparing ourselves for the worst. Some look at it as a ‘Clash of civilizations’ and some call it a consequence of ‘enforced cosmopolitanism’ in a globalized, ‘post-modern’ world. Some blame the tenets of ‘organized religion’ while others blame the ‘interpreters of organized religion – the Imams, Rabbis, priests and pundits’, who, it is said, invoke the almighty, distort the organizing principles of organized religion, provoke people to destroy the ‘otherness of the other’, all in the name of ideology and religion. The power exercised by religious preachers is perceptible. ‘Organized religion’ seems like the root cause of all evil.
It is beyond doubt that “human history bears testimony to the fact that the name of ‘god’ has been invoked to destroy that which should be most holy – life itself”. There are examples from the world over. Mention can be made of the pundits during the Vedic period, the priests in ancient Egypt, the excesses of the Catholic church and so on and so forth. Today, history is repeating itself. There are many examples, specifically from the Indian Sub-continent – the ruthless massacre of the Kashmiri Pundits, the ruthless murder of the christian missionary Graham steines, the murder of countless numbers of Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs in religious riots. Is this what religion was meant for? Was this what “God” intended? Would “Allah” agree of the murder of innocent civilians? Would Rama have approved of the murder of Graham Steines and his children? Would Jesus approve of such acts of violence?
Morality’, as Gandhi said, ‘is the basis of religion’. Servitude to the almighty is the antidote of egotism - in principle. But it seems otherwise in practice. I find it hard to fathom why it so difficult to celebrate the diversity and ‘otherness of the other’? Why is it so difficult to celebrate and acknowledge the differences of the others and the mystery of the unknown?
GLOBALIZATION AND OFFSHORE OUTSOURCING OF SOFTWARE SERVICES
"Globalization" has undoubtedly changed the face of the world. Enabled by a massive surge in user-friendly communication and technological innovations, the process of "Globalization" has enabled many a things, which were, just a few years ago, considered impossible. It has indeed changed the means, the method and medium in which individuals, corporations and governments, the world over, communicate, contact and interact with each other.
One of the outcomes of Globalization has been the "outsourcing" of services, which has, in the recent past, become very politicized. Economic necessity and reciprocity of interest fuelled by intense competition and cost-effective alternatives enabled by a drastic reduction in the costs of transport and communication has helped many a corporations in focussing on the "bottom lines" and maximizing profits. This "bottom-line orientation", led to the outsourcing of many a services to "low-wage countries" such as India and China, thereby putting the issue of job losses to "low-wage countries" at the top of the political agenda. A recent international study organized by the computing professional society ACM on Globalization and Offshore outsourcing of Soft ware Services, tries to elaborate on the enablers and economics of offshore outsourcing, the reasons why companies send work to other countries, globalization of research - associated security and intellectual property risks, educational and policy responses to address the issue of job losses to "low-wage countries". Alerted by the issue of "Job losses", the ACM job migration task force consisting of thirty members from UK, India, Germany, Sweden, Israel, Japan, China and India attempted to analyze and review literature on the Outsourcing of software services to "low-wage countries" and the consequent job losses within a time frame of eighteen months.
The executive consultant of the study, Prof. Willaim Aspray, Rudy Professor of Informatics at the Indiana University School of Informatics said that the study aims to look at the issues from an international perspective and has come out with conclusions more "as analysis and not as recommendations". It must be noted that no new research has been done and that most of the conclusions have been drawn from collating secondary sources, expert testimony and literature review. Moshe Vardi and Frank Mavada are the co-chairs, John White, CEO of ACM is the Ex-officio chair.
While the United States of America, United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, and Australia are countries, which outsource work, the principal destinations to which the work is outsourced remain India and China. Many Indian companies like WIPRO, INFOSYS, TCS, Satyam (to name a few) have been able to establish themselves as global players in the realm of Software services because of the immense outsourcing of software services to India.
The study reports that, in the recent past, several companies in India have been outsourcing work to china as the wage rates are going up in India. A new trend that has been indicated has been the "near sourcing" of work by Indian companies by setting up satellite centres in countries like Poland, Czech Republic etc. to capture western markets. KEY DRIVERS OF OFF-SHORE OUTSOURCING
The study lists out the key drivers of off shore outsourcing. The drastic reduction of costs in the telecommunications sector has been one of the key driver's of Globalization and the offshore outsourcing of software services.
The fact that the cost of international telephony has dropped by more than eighty percent and that world-class communication facilities can be available at reasonably good prices has boosted the process of offshore outsourcing of services.Intense competition brought about by globalization, coupled with "bottom-line" orientation of companies has led many a corporations to focus on core operations. This has led to the "downsizing" or "restructuring" of corporations thereby outsourcing of back end services to "low wage countries."
The move away from customized software to standardized IT platforms, the pace of innovation, the directional influence of thought leaders like Jack welsh in the business community, the emphasis of the venture capitalist community to push offshore outsourcing of software services to India and China to reduce the burn rate in the capital investments, increased willingness to divide work process, dramatic increase in the number of graduates in India with a large pool of English speaking skilled workers, the role played by well educated immigrant students from India and China who remain as "go-betweens," and their entrepreneurial endeavour, English as the primary language of work process, the opening up of the markets in India and china, ageing population in the west are some of the factors that the study claims, have driven the process of off shore outsourcing of software services. In addition, outsourcing of software services has not only occurred due to the cost and capacity, language skills or due to cultural proximity, but also due to a high-end niche of specific countries for example outsourcing of software services to Israel for security software.
Outsourcing has become politically sensitive due to the vulnerability predictions that are being made. It is estimated that in the United States, about twelve to fourteen million jobs are vulnerable with a maximum loss of around 2-3% per year over a period of ten years. However, the study predicts that there would be 40% increase in jobs per year over a period of ten years. The situation in Europe is not a gloomy one. It is estimated that Europe, overall is not losing jobs. In fact, in every country in Europe, with the exception of Denmark, business service job creation has been larger than IT service job loss. The number of jobs lost in Europe is going to be fairly low compared to the United States.
While the economics of globalization dictate off shore outsourcing of software services, safety net for workers and communities like wage insurance, retraining etc. prove to be very expensive and not politically and economically palatable.
Although many seem to argue for offshore outsourcing of software services, it does indeed come with a package of negatives. In some cases where job processes cannot be done at a distance or job process cannot be routinized, outsourcing can prove to be an unworkable strategy. Many a times, lack of appropriate infrastructure in the vendor country can impact negatively on the client firms.
There are inherent risks in "off shoring" of research due to globalization. The heightened risks due to data privacy, intellectual property and other trade secrets can have legal systems consequences, which may make the client companies and governments vulnerable.
The study has also come with policy alternatives for both the "High wage countries" and "low wage countries." Professor Aspray has acknowledged the fact that protectionist rules and tariffs have almost entirely failed inn the "high wage" countries, and has emphasized the need to encourage innovation, from foreign students, workers etc. by enhancing the educational system by funding research and development and promoting indigenous careers while providing safety nets for workers and communities. For the "Low wage" countries, he underlined the need for regulation for FDI trade, creating infrastructure, protecting Intellectual property, privacy and security
Globalization and the dynamics of such a technology-enabled change can be extremely unpredictable, fluctuating between the real, virtual and the ambiguous. The tacit yet perceptible nature of such a change and the incredible pace at which such change is occurring can pose epistemological limitations in understanding such politically sensitive phenomenon. Therefore, understanding trends in the dynamics of such interaction and the consequences of changes in the socio-cultural and political realms, both at the microcosmic individual and the macrocosmic societal levels, can prove to be very challenging.
The Internet is a relatively recent means of digital communication and information distribution, which has enabled a quicker, almost instantaneous, means of communication around the world. However, it is not merely a technical expression. “The Internet is above all a source of Information” (IBRD, 2001; 93), which is profuse and prolific, embracing an extraordinary variety and diversity.
In this essay, I would argue that, the Internet is not an inherently global technology. Rather, it is a matrixically trans-physical technology, a network that links computer networks all over the world, connecting physically disjuncted, non-digital, plural physicalities, the world over, by digitizing and thus, as Sassen (2004; 299) calls it,‘liquefying’, ‘dematerializing’ and ‘hypermobilizing’ the non-digital, rendering the non-digital to move across space and time.
My argument that the Internet is a matrixically trans-physical technology rather than a global technology is not just an attempt at a lexical rearrangement. Rather, it is an attempt to examine the terminology, structure, and form that convey the nature of the Internet in a precise, coherent and comprehensible manner.
It is based on three assumptions:
1.It is a network of digitized physicalities, which are partially ‘liquefied’ and ‘dematerialized’, forming a circuit of networked elements, which are embedded in socio-cultural, politico-economic structures, is Organic, digitally connecting plural physicalities all over the world (distribution and pervasion), by being functional, reciprocal, interdependent and Vice-versa.
2.The term ‘global’ is inadequate, in the sense that it implies connections all over the world, but fails to convey the liquified, dematerialized and hypermobilized, character that the Internet renders to the digitally connected non-digital, plural physicalities, across the world.
3.The term Matrixically trans-physical technology is much more precise for the Internet than ‘Global’ because it implies that it is multidimensional and multidirectional but NOT necessarily and inherently ubiquitous and universal. It is organic, distributive and pervasive but not inherently and symmetrically so. It is digital, functional, reciprocal and inter-dependent.But, it does not imply that it is necessarily and inherently utilitarian.
However, being multi dimensional, multidirectional and complex, the Internet is enormous in its empirical reality. It is more than a sum of similarities and contradictions and is perhaps incomprehensible and inexpressible in its entirety.
Therefore, to substantiate my argument that the Internet is not an inherently ‘Global’ technology, but is matrixically trans-physical, I will attempt to establish, with the help of illustrations, that the Internet is (1) Organic, (2) digitally connecting plural physicalities all over the world (digitized distribution and pervasion), by being (3) Functional (because it is embedded in Social, political, environmental, cultural, technological structures), and (4) is thus reciprocal and interdependent and Vice-versa.
ORGANIC
“The diffusion of the Internet is one of the most rapid and extensive of any advanced technology in history. Like any widely adopted technology, the Internet is not just technical, but also involves social, political, and economic dimensions.” (Wolcott and Goodman, 2003; 1-2)
It was not long after Marshal McLuhan conceptualized of a ‘Global village’ (1964; 11-12) that the ARPANET was started on an experimental basis. “In 1969, the experimental ARPANET being developed by the Advanced Research Projects Agency of the U.S. Department of Defense consisted of four host computers, all located in the United States. England and Norway were added in the early 1970s. In 1980, 213 host computers in fewer than a half dozen NATO countries were connected. By 1989, only a few years after the ARPANET migrated out of the Department of Defense and became the Internet, connectivity jumped to more than 20 countries and 100,000 host computers” (Wolcott and Goodman, 2003; 1).
“During the 1990s, annual worldwide growth of both hosts and users was often in the neighborhood of 100 percent, and much higher in some countries. The millionth host was connected in 1992. Today over 200 countries enjoy full TCP/IP connectivity, and by some accounts, over 500 million users access the Internet regularly” [Cited by Wolcott and Goodman 2003; 1 from ‘Internet Domain Survey’, 2002).
The proliferation and adaptation of the Internet at an unprecedented speed is palpable. Take for instance, a relatively recent facet of the Internet – ‘Blogging’ or ‘Web logging’. What was, till recently a typing error, ‘Blogging’, the process of maintaining an online personal journal –(‘Blog’/ ‘Web Log’), has been multiplying and proliferating at an unprecedented pace. A blog tracking real time search engine, which monitors the world of web logs, called Technorati, claims to be monitoring over 36.8 million sites and 2.3 billion links, with about 75,000 new blogs being created a day – (that’s about one a second), 700,000 posts daily or about 29,100 blog updates an hour (http://www.technorati.com/about/).
In China, “Internet connectivity has been growing especially fast, albeit from a very low base. According to china Internet Network Information Centre, there were 22.5 million internet users in china in January 2001, quintupling from a year and a half earlier” (IBRD, 2001; 84). “According to Total Telecom, there are around 520 internet service providers (ISP’s) and 600 Internet content providers (ICP’s) in china” (IBRD, 2001; 84).
More recently, “the Internet is increasingly becoming a part of our media and telecommunication systems, and a genuine technological convergence is taking place” (Schiller and McChesney, 2003; 15). “Accessing the Internet through alternative means such as mobile phones and personal digital assistants is showing strong growth, from 200,000 in March to 590,000 in June 2000, almost tripling in three months” (IBRD, 2001; 92). (The figures mentioned above are for china alone)
A phenomenon, which began as an experiment less than four decades ago, has been growing rapidly, revolutionizing the sphere of communication because of its ability to digitize the non-digital, digitally connecting them to form a digitized network of dematerialized physicalities.
DIGITAL CONNECTIVITY
It is undeniable that the Internet is growing at an unprecedented pace. It is rapidly growing, I would argue, because of its ability to connect the physically disjuncted, non-digital, plural physicalities all over the world by digitizing and thus, as Saskia Sassen puts it (2004; 299), ‘liquefying’, ‘dematerializing’ and ‘hypermobilizing’ the non-digital. This is because, “digitization brings with it an amplification of those capacities that make possible the liquefying of what is not liquid. Therefore, digitization raises the mobility of what we have customarily thought of as non-mobile or barely mobile. At its most extreme, this liquefying dematerializes its object. Once dematerialized, it gains hypermobility - instantaneous circulation through digital networks” (Sassen, 2004; 299). However, “much of what is liquefied and circulates in digital networks is marked by hypermobility, remains physical in some of its components”(Sassen, 2004; 300). Take for instance ‘Transport for London’ (TFL), which “is responsible for London's buses, the Underground, the Docklands Light Railway (DLR) and the management of Croydon Tramlink and London River Services.” Through its website, www.tfl.gov.uk, the physical aspects of Transport for London (buses, underground, Dockland light railways, etc), in many ways, convey a certain ‘liquification’ and ‘dematerialization’ of London’s transport services, thus enabling them to circulate in digital networks, across time and space. Yet, part of what constitutes TFL remains very physical. “The real estate industry further illustrates some of these issues. Financial service firms have invented instruments that liquefy real estate, thereby facilitating investment and circulation of these instruments in global markets. Yet part of what constitutes real estate remains very physical. At the same time, however, that which remains very physical has been transformed by the fact that it is represented by highly liquid instruments that can circulate in global markets. It may look the same, but it is a transformed entity” (Sassen, 2004; 300). “The World’s not so rigid anymore”(http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/Dispatcher?menuid=plans_flext&chosenPricePlan=pmt).
Digital connectivity makes the network (Internet) of digitized, physicalities distributive and pervasive by means of disjuncted yet embedded interconnections all over the world. Thus by digitization, the Internet has rendered a character of duality (‘fixity and mobility’) to plural physicalities, connecting them digitally and creating a circuit of digitized, networked physicalities, thus enabling them to move across space and time. This implies that the Internet as a technology is Matrixically Trans-physical.
FUNCTIONAL
The Internet is Organic, Digitally connective and pervasive because it is functional and vice-versa. It is functional because “digital networks are embedded in the technical features and standards of hardware and software as well as in societal structures and power dynamics”(Sassen, 2004; 296). Socio-economic, technological, cultural, environmental, political factors interact and influence its functionality and thus its distribution. As Saskia Sassen puts it, “network power is not inherently distributive. Intervening mechanisms that may have little to do with the technology per se can reshape its organization” (Sassen, 2004, 296). Therefore, examining the role of socio-economic, political, cultural, and technical factors in influencing the functionality of the Internet is imperative.
Disparities in distribution
As Pippa Norris (2000; 3) pointed out, “globally the regional disparities are marked” in the distribution and use of the Internet. Arguably, “the Internet does not touch the lives of most inhabitants of the planet. In spite of its growth over the last decade, the Internet is used by less than 10% of the world’s population, making it less widespread than the telephone or television or radio. Moreover, its growth is non-uniform. In the vast majority of countries, fewer than one percent of the population uses the Internet” (Wolcott and Goodman, 2003). Today almost two-thirds of the world's online community is located in just five countries: the United States, Japan, the UK, Canada, and Germany” (Norris, 2000; 3).
Economic Factors
Disparities arise because “the ability to use Internet resources is unevenly spread” (James, 2004; 209). “The relationship between costs and usage is most apparent in the poorest countries, where costs are exorbitant and usage rates are lowest ”(Mann, 2003, 72). In Uzbekistan, “the prohibitive expense for Internet access indicates that using the Internet is a luxury for local citizens” (Kolko etal, 2003; 9).
“Beyond the issues of intentionality and use lie the question of infrastructure and access”(Sassen, 2004; 297). “Basic access is required before the potential benefits of the Internet can flow to poorer societies”(Norris, 2000; 2). However,as Karanja Gaiko, the Vice-President of Africa online, stated at the Harvard conference on Internet and Society, (Cited by James, 2004; 210), “a lot is dependent on economic realities”. Arguably, “for most people in the developing world, the problem of survival is far more acute than the problem of being unconnected” (James, 20004; 210).
Economic realities act as barriers to building basic technical infrastructure necessary for using the Internet. For instance, “connecting to the Internet can be problematic in Uzbekistan; the telephone lines are poor and relatively low bandwidth is available” (kolko et al, 2003; 12). In 1998, India had “one of the lowest fixed telephony penetration rates in all of Asia, at 1.5 lines per 100 people. In addition, there were fewer than two personal computers per 1000 people“(Wolcott and Goodman, 2003;).
Moreover, “electronic space is going to be far more present in highly industrialized countries than in the less developed world, and it is going to be far more present for middle class households in developed countries than for poor households in those same countries” (Sassen, 2004; 297). For instance, “29 OECD member states, representing post-industrial economies and developed democracies, contain 97% of all Internet hosts, 92% of the market in production and consumption of computer hardware, software and services, and 86% of all Internet users.In contrast the whole of Sub-Saharan Africa contains only 2.5 million Internet users, or less than 1% of the world’s online community. Indeed there are more users within affluent Sweden than in the entire continent of Africa.” (Norris, 2003; 3.) In China, ”Internet services are less developed; less than 2% of china’s 1.2 billion people are online, compared with 50% of the United States”(IBRD, 2001; 91) “The best available evidence on the distribution of users, hosts and hardware indicate that in the emerging Internet Age the information revolution has transformed communications in post-industrial states like Sweden, Australia, and the United States at the cutting edge of technological change, reinforcing their lead in the new economy. But in the early twenty-first century so far the benefits of the Internet have failed to reach most of the poorer nations in Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia and Middle East” (Norris, 2000; 3).
Cultural and Political Factors
“Cultural attitudes towards using computers may also contribute towards some of the differences evident between relatively similar societies, like the UK, Germany, France, and Italy”(Norris, 2000; 4). In Uzbekistan, significant use of the Internet at a commercial site would signal to one’s peers that one has access to large amounts of cash than would be generated by one’s salary. Because Uzbeks tend not to use the banking system for their savings, it is important not to advertise to one’s neighbors that one has large amounts of cash” (Kolko etal, 2003; 9)
“Power, contestation, inequality and hierarchy inscribe electronic space” (Sassen, 2004; 296). For instance, in China, the “government is very strict in regulating content, and the Telecom administration bureau in the ministry of information industry insists that the government retain control” (IBRD, 2001; 93). “The government’s intention is to supervise internet content by issuing new rules, supervising Internet café’s (the primary access points for most young Chinese users), deliberately holding back private web development while selectively favoring government supervised web content” (IBRD, 2001; 93). Arguably, “the Internet has changed the structure of opportunities for political actors in many post-industrial societies. Yet the evidence from established democracies, at least in the emerging years of the Internet Age, throws a skeptical light on popular claims that the Internet will automatically transform the mass basis of political activism” (Norris, 2000; 1). The embeddedness of the matrixical trans-physicality in social and render the manifestations of the Internet to be varied and unpredictable.
RECIPROCAL AND INTERDEPENDENT
“The Internet involves a two way flow of messages (James, 2000; 206). “It is an interchange which is created by the active involvement of all those concerned”(James, 2004; 209), and thus “involves transmission of a plurality of cultures” (James, 2004; 209), “transforming the complex relationships between local activities and interaction across distance” (James, 2000; 198). And within the given limitations, “it allows a ‘very natural, free form, liquid relationship between human beings to take place”(Douglas Rushkoff, as cited by James, 2004; 208). For instance, “Blogs are a fluid, dynamic medium, more akin to a 'conversation' than to a library — which is how the Web has often been described in the past. An increasing number of people are reading, writing, and commenting on blogs. Instead of being passive consumers of information, more and more Internet users are becoming active participants”(http://www.technorati.com/about).
The Internet is reciprocal and Interdependent with the social environment because it is “embedded in the technical features and standards of hardware and software as well as in societal structures and power dymanics” (Sassen, 2004; 296). It reciprocity enables it to be functional and its functionality enables it to be reciprocal. Thus on the one hand “the internet is creating new opportunities for developing local sensitivity on a global scale, helping aid to remedy problems of global inequality rather than exacerbate them”(James, 2004; 212) and on the other hand, as Cukier (2004,1) points out, “the Net creates new areas of national interest and foreign policy concerns.”
“People are now jumping into use the net, not only to absorb the knowledge or information from the advanced countries but to share their own with others”(Izumi Aizu at the Harvard Conference on Internet and Society (James, 2004; 209). “Public and private universities are already embracing the Internet and distance education. Many stand alone universities offer world-class education because they have access to much larger, more up-to-date, and cheaper online libraries. University researchers are also forming networks” (IBRD, 2001; 95/96).
Functionality, inter-dependability and reciprocity of a social environment, enabled by digital connectivity by means of technical infrastructure, make the Internet Organic.
CONCLUSION
The Internet is reciprocal, functional, interdependent and organic because it is matrixically trans-physical and vice-versa. Thus the Internet is not an inherently global technology. Rather, it is matrixically trans-physical, but not inherently so.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Cukier, N.K., 2004: Internet Governance, National Interest and International Relations, Background Paper for theUnited Nations ICT Task Force Meeting, 24-26 March 2004, in New York
FLEXT ADVERT: ‘The World’s not so rigid anymore’ (http://www.tmobile.co.uk/Dispatcher?menuid=plans_flext&chosenPricePlan=pmt)
IBRD, 2001: China and the Knowledge Economy; Seizing the twenty first century; Washington D.C
James, S., 2004: Internet and Globalization
Kolko.E.B, Wei.Y.C, Spyridakis,J.H., 2004: Internet Use in Uzbekistan: Developing a methodology for tracking information technology implementation success, Information Technologies and International development. Volume 1, Number 2. 1-19
Mann, C. L., 2004: Information Technologies and International Development: Conceptual clarity in the search for commonality and Diversity, Volume 1, Number 2, pp 67-69
McLuhan, M., 1964: Understanding Media: The Extensions of man, Routledge, London
McChesney, RW &Schiller, D., 2003: The Political Economy of International Communications- Foundations for the emerging global debate about Media Ownership and Regulation, United nations Research Institute for social development, Technology, Business and society, programme paper number 11
Norris, P., 2000:The Worldwide Digital Divide: Information Poverty, the Internet and Development
Wolcott.P, Goodman S.E., 2003: Introducing the Global diffusion of the Internet series. Communications of the Association for Information systems (Volume II, 2003) 555-559
Wolcott, P. and Goodman, S., 2003: Global Diffusion of the Internet: India: Is the Elephant learning to Dance? Communications of Associations for information systems (Volume II, 2003) 560-646
“The ‘Diffusion of Innovation theory’ helps explain how innovations diffuse through a social system”(Rai et al, 1998; 98). This is because “the value of adopting some innovation increases along with the number of adopters and promotes diffusion across a population”(Rai et al, 1998; 98-99). Therefore, in defining ‘diffusion’, this essay borrows from Rogers (1983), who defines ‘Diffusion of innovation’, as “the process by which an innovation is communicated through certain channels over time among members of a social system”, and combines it with utility theory which “suggests that users subscribe to a technology only if it provides a net positive utility”(Rai et al, 1998; 100). Therefore, ‘diffusion’ is to be understood as dependant on “the concrete application and use of available modern technologies”(IBRD, 2001; 101) in specific social contexts because “communication flows intersect with the situated contexts within which activities are carried out in a knowledgeable and creative way” (James, 2000; 199). “Thus, the rate of diffusion is determined by the size of the adopter and potential-adopter populations at any given time”(Rai et al, 1998; 100). But, “achieving critical mass depends on the utility of the technology for the early users”(Rai et al, 1998; 100)
“Innovation is to be understood as products, processes, practises that are new in the local contexts, down to different regions and localities. In no way should innovation be perceived as referring only to brand new technologies in a global context”(IBRD, 2001; 101).
Empirical Examples –Role of New Media and Internet
An award winning, “Outstanding story of South Asia – (Print)”, reported by Jonathan Karp for the Wall street Journal in February 1998 (http://ushome.rediff.com/news/1999/jun/28us3.htm), is of relevance to this essay, in that, it offers a cue to ponder about the relevance of technology to the ‘Social context’.
Cotton farmers and computers in Kadavendi, India
“A. Narsoji rose from his restless sleep in this southern Indian village on a recent night to get something to drink.
The 45-year-old farmer had reason to be anxious. His cotton crop had failed, he had already sold his two oxen to repay one loan and had nothing more to offer usurious moneylenders who were hounding him. He owed about $3,300, equal to two-and-a-half years' earnings -- in good harvests. Yet this season, caterpillars, immune to pesticides that he sprayed frantically, ravaged his cotton. What failed to rid him of that plague at least ended his torment that Jan. 25 night:
Mr. Narsoji gulped pesticide and collapsed in a fit of convulsions in his open-air kitchen.
Two days later in a nearby village, S. Sailam finished lunch and told his wife he was off to spray pesticide on his besieged cotton. Instead, he squirted it down his throat. Recounting the story, his illiterate widow, six months pregnant with their third child and saddled with debt, sobs as she throws herself on a visitor's feet to beg for help. Advice from villagers gathered in the moonlight hardly consoles her.
Current (not any more) state leader N. Chandrababu Naidu, Who surfs the Internet with his IBM ThinkPad, projects modernity and is a darling of the World Bank. He has made the capital city, Hyderabad, a magnet for high-tech investment. Mr. Naidu was slow to recognize the cotton farmers' distress, despite a computer database that he touts as the key to improving his government's performance. The on-line system offers daily reports on electricity production and tax collection, and reveals, for instance, that a lazy bureaucrat has been sitting on a particular file for 276 days. The system also tracks rainfall and agricultural output.”
In a place like Kadavendi, given the Social context, will a smart citizen’s service like e-seva (http://esevaonline.com), initiated by the government of Andhra Pradesh, seeking to redefine the citizen’s service using state-of-the art-technologiessucceed in ‘diffusing’ itself? Will this one stop shop for 66 G2C and B2C services be of any use at Kadavendi? Will the government’s long term vision of creating a “knowledge society by using information technology appeal to Mr.Sailam’s widow? Is it relevant to her social context, where many lack the resources, the ‘know-how’ and more importantly the need for such a service? Given the abject poverty, will instant access to world-wide information through Internet and the other ‘New Media’ technologies be perceived to be actually needful in fulfilling an immediate NEED? Will Mr.Sailam’s widow with a burgeoning debt, with barely anything to feed herself and her two children, see the need for New Media and access to the Internet? Answers to these questions are not very difficult to anticipate. People at Kadavendi not only articulate meanings in accordance with habits and fixed formulas, but are also thinking individuals.
“The internet is seen as a tool for empowerment of disadvantaged groups and rural communities (Bhatnagar, 2004; 17). Arguably, “the new medium is expected to act as a moderator of inequality by making low cost information available to everyone”(Hargittai, 1999; 2) and “State-of-the-art technologies are supposed to enable better government-citizen interaction, allowing, for instance, filing of forms or registering concerns online, increasing both efficiency and transparency” (IBRD, 2001; 96). But, the Kadavendi case illustrates that “for most people, “the problem of survival is far more acute than the problem of being unconnected” (James, 2000; 210). Indeed. It illustrates that people will not feel the need to use the New Media and Internet, if they don’t perceive and get an actual net utility value. Without relevance to the social context, New Media and Internet will be rendered ineffective. In fact, introducing state-of-the art-technologies irrespective of the social context conveys the imminence of irrelevance. It can be counter-productive, compounding the problems for the poor.
The Uzbekistan case study
A survey conducted among the IT professionals in Uzbekistan by Kolko etal on the perceived use, revealed that a majority of respondents (85.7% of them) stated that the Internet played a role in their jobs. Communication with other IT professionals was important to people in the computer industry. (kolko et al, 2004; 16). Many reported that they used the Internet to gather information, for communicating with others, for software, presumably to download it or install patches or updates. Some respondents reported more than one Internet role in their jobs (Kolko, et al, 2004; 16).
Most of the respondents first used the computer, either at School, University or a place of higher educational setting. The second most common place where the computer was first used was work. The clear majority of respondents first used a computer in a school or University setting or at work suggesting that computers in Uzbekistan are more common in those settings”(Kolko et al, 2004; 15). It is very likely that these IT professionals will use the Internet as it is perceived as a need, which is directly related to their sphere of work. But, on the other hand, will the “28% of the people living below poverty line” (http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/uz.html) in Uzbekistan perceive the same use of the Internet and New Media as the IT professionals? Will they see a need to communicate with the others through the Internet, especially when “the prohibitive expense for Internet access, indicates that using the Internet is a luxury for local citizens” (Kolko etal, 2003; 9)?
Another interesting example, which the study highlights is that “many users do not use the Internet when they pay for computer access” (Kolko etal, 2004; 9), not only because “Internet access in Uzbekistan is expensive” (The average cost per hour of access was 1,656 sum, or about US$1.35 where as the salary standards are estimated at US$20 to US$30 per month) but also because, “significant use of the Internet at a commercial site would signal to one’s peers that one has access to larger amounts of cash than would be generated by one’s salary. Because Uzbeks tend not to use banking systems for their savings, it is important not to advertise to one’s neighbours that one has large amounts of cash. For example, people who work with foreigners and thus have access to hard currency try to minimize or obscure the source of their income because it can make them a target for robbery. Additionally, signalling such wealth might attract attention from the local tax police”(Kolko et al, 2004; 9). Will they see the need to put themselves at the risk of making themselves conspicuous?
“Many hope that new media, -- particularly the speed, global reach, and interactivity of the Internet, -- will transform civic engagement and political mobilization in democracies. This process is believed to be particularly important in giving voice to the voiceless, strengthening NGO’s in civil society, linking citizens with government services, and helping parties generate support among new groups in the electorate” (Norris,l 2003; 1) But, in Uzbekistan, which has an “authoritarian presidential rule, with little power outside the executive branch” (http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/uz.html.), “with something of a reputation for rights abuses”(Kolko et al, 2004; 13), “the government monitors Internet activity” (Kolko et al, 2004; 13), the “customers cannot access some Web sites because of government policies” (Kolko et al, 2004; 14) and “ it has been impossible to access the web sites of the government opposition parties from inside Uzbekistan.” (kolko et al 2004; 8). The researchers argue that many people may not have been aware of the rules and regulations. “Engaging in activity that may or may not be considered illegal carries with it relatively high risks. It is possible that people’s unfamiliarity with regulations and concurrent penalties provides a barrier to entry: better to be safe than sorry” (Kolko etal, 2004; 13-14). As Pippa Norris puts it, it is only “in the rosy scenario, the Internet promises to level the playing field and strengthen the voice of the voiceless”(Norris, 2003; 2).
MCTs in Rural Mexico
Robert Wade points out from the World Bank policy paper on ICT - ‘Networking Revolution: Opportunities and challenges for developing countries’, that “of the twenty three MCTs (Multipurpose community Tele-centers, facilities that provide public access to a variety of information and community services) built recently in a rural Mexico village, only five were working two years later. This is a failure rate of 80 percent” (Wade, 2002; 445). “Was there a good use for the services the MCT’s offered? Or more generally, what sense did the MCTs make to local people? If their business was mainly local, they may have seen little gain from the sudden access to world-wide opportunities”(Wade, 2002; 446). His questions and observations point out precisely to the perceived relevance and the net utility of a technology to the social context. And as is demonstrated by the MCTs in Mexico, technologies, which have no relevance to the social context, will be rendered ineffective, both in adoption and use.
The InformationVillage – MSSRF, India
The ‘InformationVillage’ project, which is being carried out near Pondicherry, India, by the M.S.Swaminathan Research foundation (MSSRF), is a good experiment in electronic knowledge delivery, with a view to exploring the impact of modern ICTs on rural development. “The project is designed to provide knowledge on demand to meet local needs, using a mix of wired and wireless technologies and through a local website”(Arunachalam, 1999; 473). The project is a tremendous success and the Internet and New Media technologies are accepted because “villagers get value-added locale specific information in a wide range of fields: health information (often not discussed in traditional societies), advice on growing crops and protecting them from diseases, market prices for these crops, local weather forecasts and clear information about the many programmes run by the government and other agencies. Much of the information is keyed in Tamil, the local language. Some key information, such as the day’s prices for rice varieties and changes in bus timings are written on a display board at all centres. Most of the system operators are women. Thus the programme enhances the status and influence of women by making them providers of primary source of information” (Arunachalam, 1999; 474).
“The entire project emphasises an integrated pro-poor, pro-women, pro-nature orientation to development and community ownership of technological tools against personal or collective ownership, and encourages collective action for spread of technology”(Arunachalam, 1999; 474). This is indeed an example of successful ‘diffusion’ of New Media and Internet by “delivering locale-specific knowledge that people actually need and can use to improve their lot”, following a “bottom up approach”, by “involving the user community as partners right from the beginning”(Arunachalam, 1999; 465).
This project underscores the point that “the emergence of an information communication technology is always, in part, the slow process through which particular technological possibilities are articulated into specific social and cultural contexts of action so that merely potential uses become not only actual but stable”(Couldry, 20003; 92) and highlights the importance of a synthesis of perceived and the actual use by giving the users of technology in a specific social context, the net utility value.
Conclusion
“The vast online universe of information and entertainment cannot be assumed to be a universal good, having the same value to everyone. The use you or I make of the internet depends not only on the speed and reliability of our modems and our individual predilections, but on our particular needs and capabilities to do something with the resources we believe are available” (Couldry, 2003; 92). As Saskia Sassen points out, “digital networks are embedded in technical features and standards of the hardware and software as well as in actual societal structures and power dynamics” (Sassen, 2004; 296). Therefore, “network power is not inherently distributive. Intervening mechanisms that may have little to do with the technology per se can reshape its organization” (Sassen, 2004; 296).
The objective of this essay is not to put forward a pessimistic argument against the ‘diffusion’ of New Media and Information technology. My aim is not to take on the mantle of an Advocatus Diaboli. But, it was an attempt to illustrate that, “technology is a cultural artefact. Its shape is determined in part by the context in which it is developed” (Kolko, 2004; 3) which variously affect the diffusion of innovation and thus different strategies.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Arunachhalam.S., 1998: Information and Knowledge in the age of electronic communication: A developing country perspective, Journal of Information Science, 25 (6) 1999, pp 465-476) {Paper presented at the sixth symposium on ‘Information and Knowledge in the age of Electronic communication’ Organized by Volkswagon foundation on the 7th may 1999 in Darmstadt}
Bhatnagar.S., 2004: E-Government- From vision to Implementation
Couldry,N., 2003:Digital divide or discursive design? On the emerging ethics of information space, Ethics and Information technology 5: 89-97, 2003. Kluwer academic publishers, printed in the Netherlands
Hargittai,E., 1999: Weaving the western web: Explaining differences in Internet connectivity among OECD countries. Telecommunications Policy. 23(10/11)
IBRD, 2001: China and the Knowledge Economy - Seizing the twenty first century; World Bank Institute, Washington D.C
James, S., 2004: Internet and Globalization
Kolko.E.B, Wei.Y.C, Spyridakis,J.H., 2004: Internet Use in Uzbekistan: Developing a methodology for tracking information technology implementation success, Information Technologies and International development. Volume 1, Number 2. 1-19
Rai, A., Ravichandran.T., Samaddar.S., 1998: How to Anticipate the Internet’s global diffusion, Communications of the ACM. October 1998, Volume 41. No. 10
Wade, R.H., 2002:Bridging the digital Divide: New route to development or New form of dependency? Global governance 8 (2002), 443-446
“The Hindu”, India’s national news paper has written about the importance of blogging. (http://www.thehindu.com/mp/2006/03/18/stories/2006031803670400.htm.)
This article underlines the adaptive co-existence of new technologies with the old. Can the Internet – websites, blogging etc, completely phase out older, more traditional forms of media like Newspapers, Television and Radio ? I doubt it. On the emergence of every new technology, doomsayers and cynics habitually predict that the new will end the old. But such simplistic versions amuse me. As technology enables newer, cost effective platforms of communication, it is also creating a complex dynamic media environment in which the state of equilibrium is very short livedIn the constant process of media evolution, the traditional and the new forms of media adapt and morphing themselves according to the demands of the time. They contradict and complement each other. A constant symphony of digital revolution destabilizes the ephemeral equilibrium. Digital revolution is changing the character of the globe. Wonder what the future will hold?
Media and Communication technologies like Television, Radio, Internet and Telecommunications are converging together and are fast becoming the utilitarian tool of the masses. They are making people more connected and bringing them closer. “The recent expansion of global access to voice-telephony has almost been violent. During the 1990’s, wireline phone access shot upward; while, increasing from a tiny base as recently as 1990, one billion mobile phones were in use by 2002” (McChesney and Schiller; 17) “The Internet is increasingly becoming a part of our media and telecommunication systems, The relatively recent phenomenon of blogging or Web Logging, (the process of maintaining a personal journal on the web, which can be accessed by any one any where in the world with an access to the internet or the world wide web), has been growing at a phenomenal pace too. A blog tracking real time search engine, which monitors what is going on in the world of web logs, called Technocrati, claims to be monitoring over 34.3 million sites and 2.3 billion links, with about 70,000 new blogs being created a day – that’s about one a second, 700,000 posts daily or about 29,100 blog updates an hour”. ‘Blog’ – What was till recently a typing error has now become an organic phenomenon, multiplying and proliferating across the globe at an unprecedented pace. But still does Global mean Universal? Think !
“Sarojini Naidu, the first woman President of the Indian National congress, was elected in 1925, fifty years earlier than the election of the first woman leader of major British political party (Margaret Thatcher in 1975). The second woman ahead of the Indian National Congress, Nellie Sengupta, was elected in 1933”
Whoever said women were a marginalized lot in India?
“The first ever printed book (or more exactly, the first ever printed book that is actually dated) was the Chinese translation of an Indian Sanskrit treatise (Vajracchedikaprajnaparamita), the so called ‘Diamond sutra’. This was translated into Chinese by Kumarajiva (a half-Indian, half Turkish Buddhist)in 402 CE and this manuscript was printed in 868. The introductory note that went with the volume explicitly explained that it was made for ‘Universal Free Distribution”. Interesting fact noted by Amartya Sen in his incredibly interesting book ‘The Argumentative Indian’.
As I was walking through the narrow Drury lane, my usually dreamy eyes wandered off on to a little interesting shop that was selling away loads of used books. Out of my intemperate affection for books, I curiously popped in to see if I could find a book that I may like to flirt with.
As I wandered in the little confines of the charity shop, my eyes fell on to a plastered creamish white book on the top shelf. As I walked closer to it, I saw the words, Adolf Hitler. As some one who is a bit of a sucker for biographies and autobiographies, I wondered if Hitler is someone who I can flirt with? I could not resist the temptation to see if there was a different perspective on his life. One different from his own that was presented in Mein kampf
I found myself flirting with John Toland's fascinating account of Adolf Hitler. Although much has been written about Hitler, he is a man who remains a creature of conception, an enigmatic evil who makes me wonder about the consequences of an innate intemperate obsession for power.
What would happen if we have more of them in the Nuclear era? Scary! Wouldn’t you think? Think!
India - Midnight to Millennium is a fascinating account of India, written by the noted author, journalist and diplomat, Shashi Tharoor. It discusses the plurality that India represents and the contradictions it manifests. I was very impressed with his in depth knowledge about India and his passionate presentation.
He has been the Under Secretary General has been nominated for the UN's top post after Kofin Annan. My prayers and good wishes are for him.
Germaine Greere in her book, The Female Eunuch, wrote ... “even if he is crushed against his brother in the tube, the average Englishman pretends desperately that he is alone.” This statement Sounds true especially when I commute in the London Underground. At a first, I would have thought it was just the ‘British’ reticence at work. But, as I think a little more about it, there seems to be more to this. I think it is not only the unidentifiable “Englishman” traveling on the London Underground, but also with everyone else on the tube including myself. It’s a strange characteristic that every one who commutes on the London Underground shares.
Instinctively, I would think it has got to do with the strangities of living in a cosmopolitan city. To a certain extent, it is a reflection of how little we trust "others". The "Enforced Cosmopolitanism" of living in a city is often full of insecurities that arise out of our own perceptions of the others. This may be partly because of uncertainties of arising out of our own ignorance of the otherness of the other and Partly, because we fail to intuitively acknowledge such otherness as co-existent and harmonic with our own.
The “Others” bring with them, a sense of curiosity and a sense of intimidation, drawing a line between the “our” and the “other”. A drastic affirmation of "ourness" by the other can only increase a sense of intimidation to the preceptors of such an affirmation. In retrospect, the created perceptions of such divergent otherness of the other, has manifested itself in nasty ways. It has created unseen and unknown ideas of identity and unwanted structures of power, laid the foundations of war and led to the destruction of vast masses of humanity, yet "it is stupefying that society does not revolt as a unit against the very sound of the word "war."
DECENTRALIZED COMMUNICATION AND THE DEVIL'S ADVOCATE
Victoria Carty, in her article, “Technology and Counter hegemonic movements,” argued that the “Internet plays a major role in enhancing and redefining political struggle by providing for a “cohesive organized resistance to corporate culture.” Although it would be hard to deny that “Globalization” and “Digitization” have unveiled a dynamic and striking phase, I wondered if these metaphorical “alternative”, “decentralized” modes of communication, lacking a clear incentive and structure, were indeed powerful, effective and sustainable in fighting the colossal structures of capitalism.
Implicit in the argument is the assumption that dissemination of information by itself would effect change. But given the fact that there is an information overload, information exchange through interconnected networks, runs the risk of becoming meaningless and disempowering. Especially in metaphorical democracies, where global structures of corporate capitalism ferment with traditional structures of feudalism, such mediation can pave the way for twisted interpretation and vested implementation, strengthening the linkages between corruption and power. Hence it is important to distinguish between dissemination of information and the ability to effectively resist things to effect change.
I am by no means suggesting that dissemination of information has not been helpful in enlightening people and shaping public opinion. It is and has been. But how many of us would agree that it has effected change or has achieved its desired goals? Let us consider the War in Iraq as an example. Information was disseminated through “alternative” modes of communication, millions of people marched against the war in Iraq. But the war was prosecuted; the occupation is in full stride. Intervention and activism through decentralized structures run the risk of being ephemeral.
In such an instance, multiple centers of decentralized modes of communication may create parallel layers of localized hierarchy by promoting “activists,” “public thinkers”, and other such self styled messiahs of social good, helping them to accumulate tacit power through the display of self-righteousness. After all, fame is a brand - created, nurtured and cultivated. It would be pertinent to mention that pristinely ideological didactic dogmas professing “perfection” can be lethal prescriptions and “non-conformism” can become a conformist trap without necessarily being useful in dismantling or resisting global structures of vested interests.
As a prisoner of mediated cognition, juxtaposing the apparently right and the apparently wrong, I struggle to find my place in this continuum of conflicting interests.
The violent events that are unfolding all over the world are being dubbed as a prelude to the “clash of civilizations”. But I wonder if “civilizations,” which are based on the very foundations of civility can clash. As the former President of India Shri K.R.Narayanan articulated, “it is not civilizations that clash but barbarism. Civilizations give rise to dialogue, cross fertilization of ideas and the confluence of different streams of mankind.”
Having said that, it is important to take cognizance of the fact that “dissonance between creed and deed is the root of innumerable wrongs in our civilization… which gives institutions and men split personalities.” This requires correction and that can be achieved only through peaceful means and passive resistance, by establishing a harmonic relationship between doctrine and deed.
Misconstructing and integrating barbaric acts of violence to certain cultures or civilizations only lays the foundation for pitting the “our” against the “other.” A discourse on such a constructed dichotomy and clash between the perceived otherness further deepens the chasm. This can have catastrophic consequences. Therefore, such an approach is misconstructed and it is important for us to take cognizance of this, as “it is imperative that, for a better tomorrow, interaction among nations be based on coexistence not conflict, co-operation not confrontation, concord not coercion”.
