Globalization and the internet are two major themes of our times. A Nepali in New York or the US can do almost everything for Nepal as the Nepalis in Nepal, especially if there is close collaboration from both ends. And that collaboration is to be online. It is cheap, it is faster than fast, it is instant. We create virtual parliaments. We donate time, money, ideas. We seek time, ideas, experiences, observations, data. We invest down the line. We launch multi-national companies. "Brain drain" was a colonial term. Now there are only globalization and the internet. We are all global citizens.
A new democracy is being born. Invented thanks to new technologies and "media of the masses" (internet, blogs, SMS, chats...) by the citizens of the world. Neither the traditional media nor the politicians truly understand what is at stake.
Instead, being a technology activist is something more basic: fostering equitable access to tools that will improve people's quality of life - quality as they define it, on their own terms.... At its root, it's not about the technology. Being a technology activist is being a community activist, a social justice activist, a political activist, an education activist, a development activist. We've got these amazing tools that are revolutionizing the way we all live, learn, earn and interact. Shouldn't everyone have the same opportunity to benefit from these tools, so they too can make a better life for themselves?
Finally I’ve resolved it in my head, I think, that this too, this whole mess, is democracy. And that what nobody warned us is that when democracy is a baby, it cries a lot, it poops a lot, it cannot feed itself, and it demands round the clock attention. But it’s our baby, and no one else’s. And no one else is going to grow it up but us.
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