Computing as Strategic Tool for Glocal Human Rights Movement

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Computing as Strategic Tool for Glocal Human
Rights Movement?

• Positioning Socio-Cultural-Ethical Aspects of
  Cyberpower in their Context
• On-Kwok Lai
• School of Policy Studies, Kwansei Gakuin
  University, Japan

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Globalizationdriven Social Dualism

• widespread poverty in affluent societies /
  localities, rural-urban divided
• deregulatory policy initiatives favour
  commodification / privatization of social
  services ? social dualism
• Economic, Social Cultural Rights Challenged!
• China Economic Miracle 8 GDP Growth since
  1978
• per capita income of city dwellers in China
  increased by 8, compared to rural residents of
  2.5 (2000-06)
• Working in cities accounted 70 of the total
  annual increase

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Global Crisis Local Solutions?

• World War for Economic Development?
• Trading - Mobility Regime reduces Peoples
  Eco-Humanity Sensitivity
• Decoupling Production-Consumption Eco-Nexus and
  ESC Rights
• Development Divides Sourcing / Utilization /
  Mis-Match between Rich-Poor, Developed-Developing
• Under-developing/investment for Future

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Against Human ESC Rights?Globalization ?
reinforces ? Polarization?

• Productivity Increase ? ESC Rights Challenged!
• Job Mobility ? Employment Insecurity?
• Winners and Losers in Globalization?
• Promoting (Anti-)Globalization?
• Which Versions of Globalization?
• Globalization with Benevolence?
• What ESC Rights, esp. Left for the Least
  Advantaged Groups?

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Humanity under Siege in a Globalizing World?

• Regional/Global Divisions of Labors cum-
  Competitiveness Discourse
• Informational Society ? TimeSpace Compression
• Hyper-Flexible Production Regime Borrowed
  TimeSpace Compression / JobLife Course?
• De-Skilling ? Derived Job / Life-Chance
  Redundancy, Early Retirement, Downsizing
• Anti-Globalization Protests Processes?

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Human (ESC) Rights in a Globalizing World

• Globalization problematic contradictory ?
  life chance / ESC Rights 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 peoples jobs, culture, language and hence
  identity

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NGOs Questing for Social, Alternative Development!
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NGOs Anti-Globalization Communicative Actions
Process

• Fair Trade for All? (G22 Agenda)
• 1st May, 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

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Differential LOGICS of 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-social-cultural) rights
  animal rights!
• Bio-Diversity Ethics of Bio-production (Bio vs.
  GM)
• 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

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Anti- Pro-Development Advocacies New
Humanity?Deep-to-Shallow Ecology

• glo(bal-lo)cal communicative actions using of
  all wired and wireless media of communications in
  both cyber / in real communications enable
  peoples participation in bio-eco-ethical debates
  and communication
• Local Global Dialectics of Development

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Post-Asian Crisis Digital Capitalism
e-Strategy

• Post-financial crisis pro-growth development
  model for e-commerce, e-government,
  e-technopolis
• E-Singapore
• e- project e-Japan
• South Korea tops cable connection
• China is catching up its mobile communications
  networking,
• Taiwan is becoming a silicon island

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Status of Diffusion of Mobile Phones - Japan
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Trend of Household Ownership of ICT Devices
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Total Internet User Population Internet
Diffusion Rate
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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).

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TRANSNATIONAL ACTIVISMGlobal-Local

• Globalized Space thesis
• James N. Rosenau (1997, 1998)
• ICT affects the shaping of individuals identity
  and actions that transcend territorial borders
  anchoring upon ecological issues
• (Katz Aakhus Eds., 2002 Woolgar
  Ed., 2002)
• Transnational Advocacy Networks
• Margarett E. Keck Kathryn Sikkink (1998,
  1999), Lai (2004)

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HUMAN SUSTAINABILITYCYBER-ACTIVISM

• 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.

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Communicative Actions, Logics Green Praxis of
Cyber-Rainbow Warriors in/out of Everyday Life
e-Mobilization for Transnational Ecological
Activism (TEA) in/beyond Cyberspace Human ESC
Rights Communication
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Eco-Cyber-Activism-Advocacy?!!

• Association of Progressive Communications
• Amnesty International
• Human Rights Watch
• Opendemocracy.net
• South Korean Jinbo.net
• Friends of the Earth International
• Greenpeace International
• PETA.org

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Redefining New Humanity?New Human Rights Movement

• Questioning Economic Development?
• Against outsiders on indigenous Development?
• Questioning CSR of TNCs?
• Against neo-liberal / Trading Regime?
• Indigenous Rights?
• Profits vs. ESC Rights?
• Local Community Ecology vs. Global TNCs

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Advocacies Appeals for ESC Rights

• Choreographed - Visualized Reality
• Sensational Advocacies Appeals
• Dramatized Clear Role for Victims - Predators
• Binary Code(s) for Winner / Loser
• Ethical Moral Appeal Support for Victims
• Normal-Natural (Fundamentalist) Appeals
• Appeal for Personal / Individual Actions

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COMMUNICATIVE Ethics PRAXIS _at_TRANSNATIONAL
ACTIVISM

• 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.
• Ethical Communications!
• e-platforms for exchanges of information,
  in-house action-strategies, and recruitment of
  volunteers for e-mobilization

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Communicative Praxis Action Identity _at_
TimeSpace

• cyberspace (for novices as well as veteran
  activists) is a learning-by-doing,
  action-oriented media at both individual and
  collective levels.
• just a few clicks, sending support and appeal
  letters or animated e-cards to the targets
• Global Citizen (Guardian for Humanity)

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Glocal Communicative Activism Boomeranging!!! Bi
o-Eco-Human Ethical Diplomacy!!

• 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.

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Outsiders -as- InsidersComputer-Comunnicative
Ethics?

• ICT enhanced cyber-cum-social mobilization
  extends the territorial (ir)relevance of human
  ESC rights issues
• enables outsiders, non-reference-persons, to
  have influence in and beyond the locally and
  regionally specific, territorially defined, human
  ESC rights struggles

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Local-Global Eco-Humanity Links

• Selectivity Reversibility for
• Local Action Global Outcome / Global Action
  Local Consequence
• Selectivity of Ethical Dialectics (Thesis
  Anti-thesis Synthesis
• Individual Behavior ? Collective Reciprocity ?
  Global Action ? Sustainability?
• (Non-)Common Sense Approaches
• ESC Rights Compatible Consumption Consumerism
• Ethics of New Modernity in the Informational Age?

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Individual makes Difference in the Global
Humanity Politics

• multiple linkages of TAN in and beyond the
  cyberspace stretch geographical localities
• Global - Humanity Citizenship?
• 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

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Rediscovering Biodiversity - Humanity?
Expanding Asian Cyber-Space Embryo for
Cyber-Activism?

• Geo-Politics Anchorage of Social Agencies?
• Asian states e-government projects
• Burgeoning ICT Market in Asia
• Wired Wireless Access for Communication ?
  Expansion???

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BARRIERS AGAINST GLOBAL ESC Rights-(CYBER-)ACTIVI
SM

• Censorship Control the Internet
• Cyber-Imperialism
• Geo-Comparative (Dis-)Advantage of (i)NGOs
• Digital Divides Regional/Local Differences
• Differential State-Society Conflicts

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Age-Specific Digital Divide Mobile Phone Users
by Age (2005) - Japan
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Hyper-Modernization forNew Modernity
Eco-Humanity

• Re-organization or disorganization of
  Socio-Economic Life through ICT?
• Facilitating Differential Cultural Formation and
  the Change of Everyday Social Practice in Various
  Domains

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Dynamics of Cyberspace Multiple Differentiated
Engagements

• Individualistic, Profit-Seeking, Self-Promotion
  and Greedy Encounters
• Enlightened Individual driven e-Mobilization for
  nano-scale objects to yotta (1024)-scale Global
  Sustainability
• Wired and Wireless Communication to develop Size,
  Power Base and Influence of Critical Mass for
  Alternative Politicking

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Cosmopolitan Participatory Democracy versus / for
Individual Existence?

• Creation of new political institutions and a
  diversity of NGOs in global civil society ?
  Global Governance for ones Survival?
• New democratic participatory (critical
  engaging) principle and praxis of broad access to
  avenues of civic participation at national,
  regional and international levels

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e-MOBILIZATION Global/Local Sustainability

• Transnational Advocacy Networks Activism a
  powerful challenge / reminder for supra-national
  bodies to abide the basic condition / morality
  for development
• But the question is how to do it, by market
  force, the supra-national state or civic forces?

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Positioning Humanity in Hyper-Modernization

• High Economic Growth Social Change
• Economic Liberalization - Globalization
• ICT Sophistication Mobile Communication
• Communicative Actions in Mobile ICT Regime
• Cyberspace e-Mobilization
• Articulating Ones Presence Ethics in Blogs,
  SMS, MMS, SNS onto e-platform of YouTube,
  MySpace, MSN

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Eco-HumanRights Ethics Norms Ideas / Ideals
of New Humanity

• Questions revolve around / against Corporate
  and/or State Agencies for Sustainable
  Development/Progressiveness towards next
  (Eco-)Modernity?
• ICTs Articulation of Animal - Human Existential,
  and International (humanity and bio-ethics)
  Norms and Justice, for a more Open and
  Participatory Regime of Global Governance
• Science (Knowledge) or Religion (Belief)?

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Humanity Objects as Subjectivity?Human Value
versus (ICT) Knowledge

• Cultural, ideological and value base of
  scientific knowledge questioned?
• Disorganized-Uncoupled Communications on
  Scientific, Humanity and (Eco-System)
  Sustainability Risks
• Emerging or Ending of Paradigmatic Shift?
• Whose Value? What Scientific Knowledge?
  Individual, Church, Community, NGOs, Market or
  the State as Proxy of Final Appeal and Judgment?

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New Ethical-Communicative Praxis_at_ New
Humanity-Modernity?

• New Communicative Praxis Promotion of
  Communicative Independence - guard against the
  expert- imperialist controls.
• Cyber-Activism towards Socio-Eco E-quity
  Justice call for normative development agenda
  for the humanization of the informational society
  and global sustainability equity, participation
  and social justice in the system of global/local
  governance

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New Humanity SustainabilityNew Praxis?

• Pooling of Global-Flexibility Risks?
• Diversified Regime of Development?
• From Dependency to Self-Sufficiency?
• New Socio-Eco Contract for Sustainability!
• Beyond Market Approaches CSR? Local Capacity
  Building, Self-Help Cooperatives, Benevolent
  Regime for Development