Building Civil Society: Internet Skills Are Not Enough
Gustavo González

Civil society organisations should appropriate the new information technologies to promote their objectives, but doing so will not be enough if they do not also renovate their strategies and mechanisms for grassroots participation, action and theories in the field of communications.

This was the consensus of experts and civil society representatives at a seminar Monday at the second World Social Forum that was facilitated by the founder of Inter Press Service (IPS), Roberto Savio.

The five panellists spoke about international experiences involving alternatives to the communications media system controlled by major corporations and to the predominance of corporate-driven media found in most countries.

The Association for Progress in Communications (APC), the Agencia Latinoamericana de Información (ALAI), the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC) and IPS itself were cited as examples of organisations that seek structural and content changes as an alternative to the mainstream communications media that dominate today.

The members of the panel highlighted the importance of the United Nations-sponsored World Summit on the Information Society, which is to take place in two phases, in Geneva in 2003 and Tunis in 2005.

The Campaign for the Right to Communication in the Information Society (CRIES) is mobilising with sights on the summit, and will urge governments to incorporate civil society demands in international accords that involve the communications media.

Expert Sean O'Siochru, of Ireland, said that civil society must engage in campaigns in the time remaining before the summits to oppose the market-driven communications structure.

Sally Burch, of Alai, advocated for a joint strategy involving groups from across the spectrum of non-governmental organisations to appropriate new technologies, which should then be adapted to the needs and policies as determined by civil society.

The top priority, said Burch, is to design policies that respond to the different realities of different peoples, but that allows groups of peasant farmers, women, environmentalists and other grassroots groups to build networks and alliances.

AMARC, with 5,000 radio stations around the world, was cited at the Forum as one of the most effective experiences in the creation of popular communication networks, reaching out to impoverished areas - where there are few telephone lines and even fewer computers with Internet connection.