The Net is not really a 'country with free borders'

Youths are not jaded yet or fettered by years of disillusionment, obstacles or failure like many adults. They fiercely believe that time is on their side and that they can make a difference. 

At the recent World Forum for Democracy in Strasbourg, France, organised by the European Council under the theme “From Participation to Influence: Can Youth Revitalise Democracy?”, many of the 250 young participants from different countries were vociferous in their belief that the Internet would revitalise democracy.

Novel ideas floated at the forum, including creating a public sphere online that translates into offline actions and democracy. 

In Argentina, for instance, the Net Party (Partido de la Red) is setting new standards by allowing every citizen to participate in the country’s governance by using the Internet to get information, join the conversation and vote on what they want their representatives to do. 

This online link between the party and the people is called Democracy OS. 

Pia Mancini, director of Net Democracy in Argentina, said there was a need to re-envision democracy for the online era.

“What is democracy in this digital era?” Mancini asked. 

Meanwhile, Santiago Siri, a young founder of the Net Party, elaborated during a workshop – or “lab” as it was referred to at the forum – explaining that the nature of online communication was fundamentally different from the way things were in the past.

Before the industrial revolution, Siri explained that communication came from the very top – the most powerful person in the land – to the rest of society. In the industrial era, this changed to communication from the few – who are influential and powerful – to the many.

Nowadays, Siri says, the Internet has changed the communication format by becoming a network of “the many to the many”. 

However, I think the reality is still somewhere between the second and the last communication modes, because no matter how horizontal and egalitarian social media might appear to be, Facebook and Twitter users know too well that not everybody can become a dominant voice in spreading their views and opinions. 

Siri claims “the Internet is a country where nobody stops you at the border”, yet the complex reality is that in countries like China, a firewall has been set up restricting its peoples’ access to sensitive and critical information about the country. 

Similarly, in Thailand, sharing anything deemed offensive to the monarchy could land you in prison under the Computer Crimes Act (CCA) and the lese majeste law.

Young Thais who oppose the coup have resorted to bypassing mainstream media, that has been hit by censorship and self-censorship since the May 22 coup, and setting up Twitter accounts, such as the Thai Students Centre for Democracy (@TSCD_EN) to voice their criticism of the junta. However, these university students face real threats and many of them have been summoned, interrogated and pressured by the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO).

Now, more and more Thais have been censoring themselves on the Internet, especially on sensitive topics. 

Obviously, in some places, even the Internet isn’t free from restrictions and repression.