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Empowered Communities ? Role of the Internet and the New Media

Empowered Communities ? Role of the Internet and the New Media. People’s Strategic New Media Engagements for S ocial Development in a Glocalizing World On-Kwok Lai Professor, Graduate School of Policy Studies , Kwansei Gakuin U niversity, Japan

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Empowered Communities ? Role of the Internet and the New Media

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  1. Empowered Communities?Role of the Internet and the New Media People’s Strategic New MediaEngagementsfor Social Developmentin aGlocalizing World On-Kwok Lai Professor, Graduate School of Policy Studies, Kwansei Gakuin University, Japan Honorary Professorship (Social Administration), The University of Hong Kong

  2. 21st Century: Civilized Globalization?Emerging New Communities • Employ–Exploitability – Migrant Workers? • Employment Security  Nomadic Production • Winners and Losers in Globalization? • Promoting (Anti-) Which Version of Globalization? • Global Ageing with Hyper-Modernization • Globalization with Benevolence-Decent Work? • What Left for the Least Advantaged Groups? • Managing (Promoting Good) Work–Family Life

  3. Asian Societies  Globalization? • Globalization  Welfare State Restructuring: Fine-Tuning, Nominal Downsizing, Liberalization of Welfare Market, Selective Targeting – Mean Test • Differential Exposure to Globalization: Compresses Modernization minus Welfare = Asian Miracle? • Competitive Capital / Commodity / Labor Global Market in Post 1997 Asian Financial Crisis • Reducing the State’s Role in the Social (e.g., Education is considered as ‘Investment’ • Dilemma: Economic Competitiveness (Selective Targeting vs. Universal Social Protection

  4. New CommunitiesSocial Citizenshipvs. Labor Mobility • Territorial Bound Social Citizenship NOT Compatible with High Mobility of Labor • Migrants/Migrant Workers – functional necessity for Globalization Versus Social Costing (Welfare?) for Mobility • Heterogeneity – Mixed Migrants Problematic for Differentiated Social Welfare

  5. Foreign Home/Domestic Helper : 21st Century Care by Migrant Workers?

  6. Asian (Migrant) Societies  Globalization & Diversity? • Differential Migration Regimes & Labor Market: Exceptionalism: Japan & S.Korea • China: >30%Rural  Urban Migration:Social Citizenship for Migrant-Workers? • Hong Kong: >250K Migrant Workers • Taiwan: >110K Migrant Nursing Workers • Labor Mobilities in SE Asia (Exporting / Host Localities) & Labor-Skills Matching

  7. Japan 22% Hong Kong 12% Taiwan 11% South Korea 10% Singapore 9% China 8% Italy 20% Sweden 19% Germany 18% Norway 17% Spain 17% Austria 16% France 16% Swiss 16% U.K. 15% Netherlands 14% USA 13% Australia 13% Canada 13% Global Ageing (=>65, mid-2008)

  8. Hyper-Modernization driven Ageing

  9. TWO VIEWS ON GLOBALIZATION • Globalization: problematic & contradictory  life chance of people? • Globalization: a benign and automatic force  better economic benefits for everyone, even the poorest group can be better off. • Political Extreme Left: unbridled capitalism does produce effects of exploitation of the weak and socio-ecological degradation • Political Extreme Right: the malignant forces of globalization engender xenophobia, the demising local people’s jobs, culture, language and hence identity

  10. Global or Local – Others’ or Self?Globalization  reinforces  Polarization? • Productivity Increase-Job Mobility Social Insecurity? • Winners and Losers in Globalization? • Promoting (Anti-)Globalization? • Which Versions of (Benevolent) Globalization? • What Left for the Least Advantaged Groups? • Advocacies for/with/by Disadvantaged Groups • Proxy Advocacies = Self-Control / Self-Determination?

  11. Global-Flexibility Driven Crises • Lost of Social Contract? • Demising Occupational-Welfare Model? • ALMP Fail to meet moving Targets • Knowledge (Class)? • Emergence of ‘In-exploitable Class’? • Crises of Asian Firms-Families (the State)? • Myths of Asian Economic Miracle? • High-Cost f. ‘Equitable’ Life Chance (Who Pay for it)?

  12. (De-)Coupling the Globalization? • Regional/Global Divisions of Labors –cum- Competitiveness & New Policy Discourse • Informational Society  Time+Space Compression • Hyper-Flexible Production Regime: Borrowed Time+Space Compression –/ Job–Life Course? • De-Skilling  Derived Job / Life-Chance: Redundancy, Early Retirement, Downsizing • Anti-Globalization Protests & Processes?

  13. Globalization – Driven Social Dualism • widespread poverty in affluent societies / localities, rural-urban divided • deregulatory policy initiatives favour commodification / privatization of social services  social dualism • China: Economic Miracle: >7% GDP Growth since 1978 • per capita income of city dwellers in China increased by 8%, compared to rural residents of 2% (2000-08) • Working in cities accounted 70% of the total annual increase

  14. Modernization-driven Divides

  15. G22 & BRICs Agenda (2003) for Fair Globalization? • Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, Egypt, Guatemala, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, South Africa, Thailand, Venezuela + BRICs • Ethical, Fair & Equitable Trading Regime? • “Rich Countries Should Make Bigger Efforts to Enable (bio-eco-human) Ethical Trade” • Anti- GM Regime of Food Production?

  16. NGOs Questing for Alternative Development!

  17. NGOs’ Anti-Globalization Communicative Actions & ProcessPolitics for the Under-Dog? • Fair Trade for All? (G22 Agenda) • 1st May, ‘1999 Battle-in-Seattle’, other Protests • Global Peace Movement(15. Feb. 2003) • ‘Anti-G‘ information and ideas in/beyond cyberspace, bypassing the mass media, turn into global real time social actions

  18. Differential LOGICSof Globalization • Global Civil Society: Mobile Communicative Actions by NGOs – articulating their human, bio-eco ethical demands through non-institutional politics of protest movements • WTO though sticks to its multi-lateral summit (protected by strong police force), yet it has to deal with human (eco-cultural) rights & animal rights! • Socio-Cultural Diversity: Ethics of Development • Extent / Mode of Self-Control – Self Determination? • ICT: a crucial factor to empower the (presumably) powerless NGOs; global civil society has learned quick, adopting wire and wireless communication set up to champion their project, in cyber and mass media

  19. Digital-Ubiquitous Capitalism‘e’-Strategy – Embryo for Anti-Pro-Growth • Post-financial crisis: pro-growth development model for e-commerce, e-government, e-technopolis, cyber-corridor… • E-Singapore • ‘e-‘ project: Ubiquitous-Japan • South Korea tops cable connection • China is catching up its mobile communications networking, • Taiwan is becoming a silicon island • Malaysia’s (e-)Vision 2020: Multi-Media Super Corridorper se? • Embryo for e-mobilization / Anti-Pro-Growth Development Movements?

  20. Status of Diffusion of Mobile Phones - Japan

  21. Total Internet User Population &Internet Diffusion Rate

  22. Current Status of Household Ownership of ICT Devices

  23. TRANSNATIONAL ACTIVISMGlobal Local • ICT’s shaping of individual’s identity & actions that transcend territorial borders & socio-ecological issues (Katz, Ed. 2008; Woolgar, Ed., 2002, Lai 20041/b,2008) • Transnational Advocacy Networks Margarett E. Keck & Kathryn Sikkink (1998, 1999), Lai (2004) • ‘Globalized Space’ thesis James N. Rosenau (1997, 1998)

  24. CYBER-ACTIVISM & EMPOWERMENT • Participatory politics at global/local scale is possible with all forms of communications: one-to-one, one-to-many, many-to-one and many-to-many. • Internet (cable, wireless and satellite) multi-modal of communications, representing both micro as well as mass media functioning.

  25. Dynamics of CyberspaceMultiple Differentiated Engagements • Individualistic, Profit-Seeking, Self-Promotion and Greedy Encounters • Enlightened Individual driven e-Mobilization for ESC Rights to Glocal Sustainability • Wired and Wireless Communication to develop Size, Power Base and Influence of Critical Mass for Alternative Politicking, Empowerment!

  26. Challenging the Hegemony of Flexibility & Efficiency • New Political / Policy / Social Discourse on the Market – Pricing be challenged • Ethno-Cultural Specificity of Life Chance at Locality Level be Emphasized • Making Meaningful Engagements for the Emerging ‘Nonstate’ Agencies • Empower Local/Global Communities - Networks • Re-regulated the Market: Profits vs. Social Benefits • Global Citizenship, Corporate Citizenship – Socio-Eco Responsibility

  27. Cyber-Advocacy (for ESC) Rights • Amnesty International • Human Rights Watch • Association of Progressive Communications • Opendemocracy.net • South Korean Jinbo.net • Greenpeace International • Local Groups, Communities & Networks…

  28. iNGOs Growth

  29. NGOs’Advocacies:Voices of Empowered Communities • e-Focal point, platform and network for information gathering and researchrequired to challenge, as well as creating new policy debate. • Foundation for articulating particular local/community issue • Mobilizing agencies for articulating various forms and modes of confrontational protests and demonstrations, targeting to IGOs and against their allies of Transnational Corporations (TNCs). • Facilitating agency for transnational advocacies and communication networks in pushing local, regional and international government bodies to react critical development issues. • With good local supports, iNGO activities can reshape the contours (for the benefits of local development) for national policy or constitutionaldomain, which are more likely to promote a shift in the worldview towards global society.

  30. New Social e-Movement forGlobal Norms & Local Rights • Questioning Socio-Cultural Rights • Advocating Human Rights for All! • Against TNCs’ Labor Standards? • Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) of TNCs? • Against Un-Ethical Trade! • ESC Rights – Biodiversity? • Profits vs. Ethics – Human Rights: CSR? • Local Community & Ecology vs. Global TNCs

  31. Advocacies & Appeals New Ethics-Norms for ESC Rights • Choreographed - Visualized Reality • Sensational Advocacies & Appeals • Dramatized Clear Role for Victims - Predators • Binary Code for Winner / Loser • Ethical & Moral Appeal – Support for Victims • Back to Humanity (Fundamentalist) Appeals • Appeal for Personal / Individual Actions

  32. Globalized Space Internet, the World Wide Web and the other electronic technologies that are shrinking the world offers considerable potential as a source of democracy... by facilitating the continued proliferation of networks that know no boundaries, these technologies have introduced a horizontal dimension to the politics of Globalized Space. They enable like-minded people in distant places to converge, share perspectives, protest abuses, provide information and mobilize resources – dynamics that seem bound to constrain vertical structures that sustain governments, corporation and any other hierarchical organizations (Rosenau 1998: 46).

  33. Communicative Praxis Action + Identity@ Time+Space • cyberspace (for novices as well as veteran activists) is a learning-by-doing, action-oriented media at both individual and collective levels • Communicative Praxis: Creation of new political activism of NGOs in global civil society, with the praxis of broad access avenues of civic participation at national, regional, international levels. • e-platforms for exchanges of information, in-house action-strategies, and recruitment of volunteers for e-mobilization • just a few clicks, sending support and appeal letters or animated e-cards to the targets • Global Citizen (Guardian for Humanity?)

  34. Glocal Communicative ActivismBoomeranging with ESC Rights! • Transnational Advocacies Networks (TAN) for people empowerment - the global civil society: Boomerang Strategies: Local  Global Local • ICT (mobile communicative actions in a progressive mode) in enabling Global Communicative Activism • ICT - the leverage for the resource-poor and/or under-privileged groups in articulating their justifiable demand for a fair / equitable life chance.

  35. Outsiders -as- InsidersOthers’ ESC Rights versus Self- Determination? • ICT enhanced social mobilization extends the territorial (ir)relevance of ESC Rights • Individual makes a Difference! • Co-Determination as Self-Determination? • enables “outsiders”, non-reference-persons, to have influence in and beyond the locally and regionally specific, territorially defined, ESC struggles • extending to numerous individuals who used to be passive observers (of the mass media) and call upon their participation in a less militant, yet supportive, role for the protest movements.

  36. BARRIERS AGAINST GLOBAL ECO-(CYBER-)ACTIVISM • Digital Divides & Regional/Local Differences • Censorship + Control the Internet • Cyber-Imperialism & Ideologies • Geo-Comparative (Dis-)Advantage of (i)NGOs • Differential State-Society Conflicts

  37. Age-Specific Digital Divide: Mobile Phone Users by Age (Japan, 2007)

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