True Ease in Writing comes from Art, not Chance, As those move easiest who have learned to dance. - Alexander Pope
Now, a topic as broad as this one would require a book of many volumes, but I shall attempt to compress my thoughts in as few words as possible, hopefully limiting myself to my usual 2 A4 sized papers.
Politics
a : the art or science of government
b : the art or science concerned with guiding or influencing governmental policy
c : the art or science concerned with winning and holding control over a government
Philosophy
a : pursuit of wisdom
b : a search for a general understanding of values and reality by chiefly speculative rather than observational means
c : an analysis of the grounds of and concepts expressing fundamental beliefs
There have been many political schools of thought over the past centuries which have led to governments of sorts leading from monarchy, through tyranny, aristocracy, oligarchy to democracy (western philosophy) which can be further linked to various forms of Eastern, Christian, Islamic (Mutazilitic and Asharitic schools of philosophy) amongst others.
The basic difference between all these forms of government at the sources of their philosophies rely mainly on the question “to whom does power belong?”. Does power belong to those that have been crowned the purest and wisest of bloods; Does it belong to the wealthiest; Does it belong to the bravest; Or does it belong to the People?
For centuries, the homo-sapien has tried to answer this simple yet still complex question knowing that throughout history, many forms of government have risen and fallen; in some cases leading to the evolution of such forms and in other cases leading to utter chaos.
As political philosophy seemed too simple and minute to solve our urgent need for some form of leadership, the world moved from looking at Politics as a result of Philosophy to that of pragmatic analysis and observation. It was no longer enough to answer the Question; “To whom does power belong?” but now humankind had to answer another Question; “Does Power have to belong to anyone?”
By the end of the 20th century, the world had welcomed in a new addition to our lines of invention and this new addition had two necessary tools – an electrical/electronic box we call the computer and a boundless magician’s hat we call the internet.
I believe governments all around the world saw this as a useful means of monitoring the activities of their respective peoples and a better means of solving the issues tagged to communication without fully understanding the implications that this invention had/would have to their stability.
As people adapted to this new invention, the human mind began to further develop this into more useful means which allowed for free speech regardless of one’s form of government and a more definitive, practical response to Gandhi’s solution of civil disobedience.
When Mark Zuckerberg started Facemash in 2003, it stemmed from the simple idea of a university “Facebook” with perhaps, no intention of it evolving into what it is today. By the end of last year, Facebook had registered 24 million users in Indonesia alone which is over 15 times the population of The Gambia.
People all over the world have complained about the biasness of News networks and their portrayal of events as they unfold. Occupants of various countries have complained about the scenes they see on international news networks about the state of affairs in their countries and now the internet has given them an option of self journalism that has moved beyond the control of governments regardless of philosophy or type.
We have seen a serious attempt at using the internet to topple the government of an Islamic republic and that was one close call for the government of Iran. We have seen the effects of the internet on the semi-communist nation of China even as they try to ban many free-speech tolerant sites which mention anything about the freedom of the Tibetan people. We have seen Obama’s most prominent campaign tool – the internet – being used by the American people to discuss issues as simple as the “don’t ask – don’t tell” policy and most recently, we have witnessed the beginning of what many historians and political analysts would like to believe is the domino effect in the politics of Arab states in a land of semi-democracy.
Now, as the world starts to discover that American generals had encouraged top officials of the Tunisian military to assist the people to topple the rule of a semi-democratically elected leader, it is still a certain fact that the internet – facebook in particular – was one of the most undeniable tools used to light up an idea that stemmed from the hunger of the Tunisian people.
With the technological revolution that is the internet, there is a need to recognize that thoughts have evolved beyond the philosophies of the Greeks and the people of our ancient world. Even as their thoughts can be dutifully applied to current situations, there is need for serious amendment.
The biggest threat to governments, democratic or not do not lie in the hands of terrorists, weapons of mass destruction, another world war, civil wars e.t.c but in the power that the internet has given to the masses.
The more literate nations in the world have seen the threat of the internet and the organized chaos of websites like facebook. The real problem here lies with the same doctrine that took the United States years to tackle the problems of dictatorships in Cuba and in Iraq; “Will the dictator be toppled only to be replaced with an even bigger dictator”?
Even in the absence of facebook, it will take barely one week for an even better idea that supports free speech to be the new tool on the internet.
This my dear friends is another version of Darwin’s evolution…