Establishing Democracy in Afghanistan

In a 2003 article “The True Clash of Civilizations” Inglehart and Norris noted the frustration of Democratic Representative Christopher Shays of Connecticut.  “What is there about the culture and the people and so on where democracy just doesn’t seem to be something they strive for and work for?”

It is one thing to point out a problem but quite another to resolve it. Only problem is how. “You can’t force the local people to in their valley … you can’t make them want to work with us,” echoed Capt. Morettti, a 28-year-old commander of the U.S. troops in Korengal Valley in Afghanistan (The Washington Post, Thursday, April 15, 2010).

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Capt. Moretti seems to have the pulse of an answer. But his answer echoed not only the growing frustration of the administration to tackle situation in Afghanistan, it also accentuated the divide between the two very different cultures.

The two cultures, one from the West and the other from the East, divide vastly on the premise of eros, not the demos (Inglehart & Norris). This means the idea of democracy should be examined from a cultural context and not on the political context.

According to Ingelhart & Norris, a World Values Survey (WVS) data showed that the idea of democratic reform had a promising outcome in countries like Bangladesh, Albania, Egypt, Azerbaijan, and Morocco. But how people view democracy in those countries is vastly different from that of the West.

To establish a sustainable democracy, institutions must be built and developed to resolve issues like women’s rights and education, religious tolerance, and sexual liberation.

The Post story on Capt. Moretti’s troops described how after five years in a remote valley in Afghanistan, the troops are planning to pull out. Their objective was to root out the extremist groups. There were no extremists groups in that valley. They were fighting the locals who did not like the outsiders – the Americans.

“I think leaving is the right thing to do,” recommended Capt. Moretti to his superior. There is a sense of resignation in his comment (p. A10). But it is understandable.

The locals vowed “If you surrender to the law of God then our war against you will end … if you keep fighting for man’s law then we will fight you until Doomsday.” (p. A10).

For U.S., submitting resignation to the efforts of democratic reform in countries like Afghanistan seems to be premature. The world needs an interlocutor of peace and democracy.

But it must be done strategically and timely.

Tradition and Islam: a paradoxical confrontation within Islam

The idea of traditional Islamic culture has a negative connotation, especially in its religious context. This idea is more pervasive among the westerners. Ali Mazrui wrote an op-ed piece in Foreign Affairs (1997 -- http://www.foreignaffairs.com/print/53386) and according to him the negative or perhaps the misunderstood western view is a result of how it perceives “traditional” against its own secular views and ideas. I tend to agree with him.

Understanding Islam could be difficult, especially with our post-9/11 view of Islam. Islam is not just a religion. It is a way of life and a civilization, much like any other culture or a religion. Westerners, by and large, tend to believe that there is a wide gap between the western and Islamic values. Not so. Islam has institutions that teach moral values and humility much the same way as the secular and liberal western school of thoughts. The causal effect may be taking much longer.

The backwardness of Islam also took place in the west. For example, Mazrui pointed out that until 1960s, homosexuality was considered a crime in the UK. Now it is a way of life. It is, however, true that technological and cultural progress in the west has taken place at a much higher pace. Islam, on the other hand, has not kept up with the same pace.

The reform of Islam is not a clash between Islam the western civilization. It is a clash of culture within Islam. Islamic societies are on their path to establish modern institutions to assert their traditional views. Traditional and “backward” are not the two sides of a same coin.

They are entirely different.

The Culture of Poverty: an acculturation of social behavior

What is culture of poverty?
The culture of poverty is a social theory explaining the cycle of poverty. Culture of poverty theory suggests the poor remain in poverty because of their adaptations to the burdens of poverty.

Author Sudhir Vankatesh said of Oscar Lewis, “Maybe there's something in the way they live, in their lifestyle … that certain behaviors get transmitted from generation to generation.”

Sen. Moynihan suggested that perhaps there are cultural issues at place. He said, “ … the family structure in most inner-city communities is so weak that it transmits these values to generations over and over, so that we have to take it - we have to find ways to take care of the family structure.”

The liberals and conservatives argue against each other on this issue. The liberals argue that poverty is a result of discrimination and racism. The conservatives, on the other hand, argue that the poor need to change their behavior to get out of poverty. Money alone would not change poverty.

Point of view
I agree with the conservative’s view. And I also believe that changing behavior requires resources, not just the money as the liberals argue.

Culture is learned not innate. Poverty is our social construct. Out of it grew a distinct culture – culture of poverty. Senator Moynihan is right about changing family structure to resolve the crisis of poverty. But it won’t work alone. Money, resources, and institutions need to be built and restored.  Furthermore, people need to change in order to bring change to society.

Author Tom Friedman mentioned in his book The World is Flat about how self-centered we have become.  We focus on too much on ourselves.  Today, he said, we live in a "me, me, me" society.

But we can do better.  In today’s fast moving society, we need to look back and find a way to help others who can’t help themselves.

What Is Progress?

The notion of progress is relative to different cultures and societies. The first thing we may need to examine is what progress means in the context of a global community. Cultures and value systems vary from country to country, continent to continent, and even within countries.

In his research of the Amish population, Wetmore (2007) asserted that Amish do not necessarily hold any apathy towards technology but their reluctance to embrace technology stems from the hereditary need to preserve their own culture and identity. To do so, they adapt and configure technologies that best fit their needs, means of operation, and serve the same purposes that the non-Amish, meaning we, benefit from. There’s absolutely nothing wrong that. In fact, their determination, perseverance, and dedication to retain their heritage are enviable. The quality and preservation of life is of utmost important to Amish.

This cultural belief of the Amish echoes what our Founding Fathers believed about the progress of technology. According to Marx (1993) Thomas Jefferson was reluctant to bring in industrial technology in this relatively new country to preserve its quality of life. He was an ardent believer of the advancement of technology. Yet, he thought the industrial import in the U.S. “would be too high a price to pay for any potential improvement in the American material standard of living” (p. 6).

We discover similar attitude among the 19th century Luddites (Winner 1997) who vigorously opposed advanced looming technology in favor of the traditional technology. But their action stemmed from the idea of preserving their own culture and identity. They did not have anything against technology per se. They were not “fear of change” (Wikipedia). Further, the technology conflict of the Luddites did not start with the invention of the technology. It was a social movement to preserve the displaced workers. I’d argue that, technology was not responsible for their uprising. The society simply could not cope with the new invention.

So, what have we found about the idea of progress from the ideology of these three groups? The common thread that binds these groups is the preservation of identity. I’d argue that this very notion of preserving identities is the essence of progress for the Amish, the Luddites, and our Founding Fathers.

Progress is also driven by the economy and democracy. Let’s discuss the advancement of cell phone technology in the context of economic prosperity and democracy. The culture of cell phone using in the U.S. is based on video graphics, music, picture-taking capabilities and such. The technology targets to meet the esoteric needs of a relatively young generation and the idea of The Enlightenment (Marx 1993) through the progress of technology in the U.S., I’d argue, means achieving a status of “blending in” and maintaining a social hierarchy among peers, a trend that supports the western individualism.

By contrast, according to The Economist (Sept. 26 – Oct. 2, 2009), developing countries in Asia and Africa are using modern cell phone technology to strengthen and raise the economic productivity. The cell phone is a necessity not a luxury in Asia and Africa. The modern technology has also made it possible for the cell phone to become cheaper and available to more people. In 1997, a cell phone in Bangladesh cost $200. Today, one can get a cell phone with added services for under $20. With the proliferation of cell phone technology along with other social initiatives like micro lending, the women in rural Bangladesh now can own her own cell phone business. The trend has empowered and educated women in Bangladesh. They have become the “Telephone ladies” (p. 6).

In Ethiopia, fishermen now can call ahead and find out where the buyers are while they are at sea, fishing. The phone calls prevent waste of the fish stock because they know the exact location of the buyers.

The self-empowerment and economic prosperity provide people with wealth, knowledge, and new cognitive beliefs, which are essential in empowering people to bring about and restore democratic idealism and democracy.

So, I conclude that progress has different meanings in different cultures. In addition, progress is constantly evolving, defining, and shaping humankind. And therein lays the true value of the progress.

Broadband Internet: to be or not to be

Bringing broadband internet to U.S. homes is one of key IT goals for the Obama administration.  But the initiative requires examining other related issues as well.  They include, for example, net neutrality and spectrum.  It is difficult to say what the policy future holds for broadband internet.  But to not pursue this, to not fulfill this necessity would be highly counterproductive to the growth of this society as a whole.

Pew Research Center's internet division produced a brilliant study on broadband use in the U.S.  The link follows:

http://www.pewinternet.org/~/media//Files/Reports/2010/Home%20broadband%202010.pdf

Source: www.pewinternet.org

Other resources on broadband internet follow (more will appear on this blog):

http://www.itif.org/publications/move-broadband-policy-debate-congress
http://www.oecd.org/document/27/0,3343,en_2649_34225_25496027_1_1_1_1,00.html#broadband
http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Government-IT/Schools-to-Get-Broadband-Internet-Under-FCC-Policy-443184/
http://www.high-speed-internet-access-guide.com/articles/broadband-statistics-for-2008.html
http://www.broadband.gov/

Integrated IT Solutions: cities pull together to aid government

The geographical distance among Chicago, Los Angeles, Boston, New York, Seattle, Wasington, DC, and San Francisco on a map remains the same. What has changed is the how we connect and converge these cities with the power of technology -- the internet. It's not just the cities that have come together, the world has too. People and societies are breaking barriers of knowledge gap and information sharing. The flattening of the world is taking at a head-spinning velocity. At this speed, we must also survive. To survive, we must be efficient.

The U.S. government has taken bold steps to become technologically efficient. President Obama has set up a new body of administration to oversee the progress of technological advancement. Recently, seven U.S. cities have decided to pull together their resources to create robust IT networks and infreastructures for the government. The following article offers a snapshot of that initiative.

G7: CIOs From Seven Big-Cities Work Together to Develop Open-Source IT Solutions

Source: www.govtech.com

The Story of Slave Trade To Genocide

From slave trade to genocide: the story of women oppressed.  Please follow the link.

Source: The World Today

http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2010/s3034874.htm

History of Internet: a learning in motion

Ok, we can google history of internet, read about it on Wiki, a book, or some other sources.  All of these tools require reading.  Here’s a variation from reading – watching and listening.  The following is a brilliant animated audio-visual presentation of the history of internet.



Source: YouTube

Google Geography: a new perspective in learning

From a meager funding of $100,000 in 1998 to becoming a $150 billion company (Wikipedia), Google on one hand may have exceeded its business expectations.  But on the other, its dominance and prominence as an innovator of technology continue to excel.  Google revolutionized the way we surf the internet, it dazzled us the way we look at our world, from above, beyond, and every conceivable angles.  Google’s technology has become invaluable tools of learning in the classrooms across the world.  Once such learning is geography.  With 3D images and interactive capabilities, Google Earth is now home to educators, collaborators, scientists, and technologists who have the ability to design and model data into their relative fields. 

The following PSA narrates why geography is important to learning about our past, present, and future. 

Source: National Geographic

Snippets: news on technology

Snippet # 1
Source: Technology Review, October 13, 2010

Topic:
Clean Energy

Link:
http://www.technologyreview.com/energy/26494/

Description:
This report describes the paradoxes that the makers of the plastic-based thin solar panels are facing.  The plastic-based solar panels are cheap, light, easy to transport, and durable.  They are also water-resistant.  These features give the plastic-based solar panels great market leverage on the conventional glass-based solar panels.  However, plastic-based solar panels have a major disadvantage -- the capacity of converting sunlight to electricity is usually lower, about seven percent.  Companies must continue their R&D to develop higher yielding energy from the plastic-based solar panels.

Why do I like it:
I like this story because it explains the advantages and disadvantages of the plastic-based thin solar panels.  I only knew about the conventional solar panels until I read this report.

Snippet # 2
Source: C-Net News, October 15, 2010

Topic:
Internet and web

Link:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-30685_3-20019705-264.html?tag=topStories3

Description:
This report describes the evolution of cascading style sheet (CSS) to produce visually attractive web documents.  CSS is a powerful tool, used in conjunction with HTML, to format web documents.  The creator of CSS, Hakon Wium Lie, is currently developing new CSS features using next-generation HTML (version 5) codes to create interactive web documents.  Publishing web documents would be a new addition where CSS would allow users to create document layouts.

Why do I like it:
I like this article because I worked as a web designer for a number of years and I know how important and valuable cascading style sheet (CSS) can be to produce visually attractive web documents.

Snippet # 3
Source: HS (Homeland Security) Today, August 3, 2010

Topic:
Cybersecurity

Link:
http://www.hstoday.us/content/view/14195/149/

Description:
The report illustrates Congressional findings of the challenges of the U.S. cybersecurity programs.  GAO conducted this study, which outlined various challenges.  Some of these challenges include: bureaucratic inefficiency, national and international priorities, leadership, and U.S. trade.  One key concern is the inability of the federal agencies to work together to combat cyberthreats.  They must act together, the report sites.

Why do I like it:
I like this article because I am particularly interested in this topic.  Knowing the challenges of cybersecurity programs illustrates the uncertainty of cyber attacks. 

Technology As We See IT

This week's IT news are on the following two areas.

Digital divide:
http://download.broadband.gov/plan/national-broadband-plan.pdf
http://www.internetforeveryone.org/americaoffline
http://www.ntia.doc.gov/reports/anol/index.html
http://connectedplanetonline.com/iptv/news/targeted-advertising-iptv-0221/

Regional -- Fairfax County’s new Silver line metro:
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/virginiapolitics/2010/07/metros_silver_line_possibly_de_1.html
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1554758/silver_line_of_dc_metro_to_expand_to.html
http://wapedia.mobi/en/Silver_Line_(Washington_Metro)http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/living/transportation/dullesmetro/