Subject: Re: Response to Annapurna Re: Query
Date: Tue, 17 Aug 1999 20:11:39 PDT



" Surfing the 'net has allowed educated but *neglected* and
*marginalized* women, especially, an opportunity to have knowledge at our 
fingertips, to be fully informed should we choose to be, rather than be kept 
in the dark and ignorant because organizations strategically withold 
information necessary for our very survival."

dear manjusree,

i speak from a situation where this 'empowerment' is yet to happen...i also 
speak from a position where technology generated for use in western contexts 
is pushed down our throats as empowering.

[ this is the 'oh you wicked capitalists' routine...sorry]

in villages in south india, television and phone cables are laid before 
roads are or water supply lines are....the state has decided its priorities. 
well if people are going to get the internet before they get water, it 
better be worth it.



"Those of us women equally physically involved in our commmunities can apply 
the information wisely and well to help our sisters all over the world.  The 
Internet has been an empowering tool for such women and their sisters."

i am very nervous of these definintions...i dont question that these 
women/us are well intentioned...but is there enough rigour going into  
examining its impact in a different context...the west is able to  [is it?] 
stop its children from becoming couch potatoes by having legislation and by 
prosecuting companies that dont adhere to the laws...here the structure is 
different...we have our own problems, where women in teleserials are made 
into little weeping whipping boy saints...we dont need to import 'baywatch' 
and santa barbara....

"My description of someone living in a "cocoon" would be anyone resistant to 
change made possible by tools we create.  In the event of misuse or 
inappropriate use of such tools by sociopaths, psycopaths, and tyrants, a  
very real fear, we simply must guard ourselves against them for they are 
with us both physically and virtually.  Escaping oppression and misuse 
requires concerted effort, strategy, alliance, and knowledge, *not* less 
tools and thus less control over our environment and our very lives."

this i agree with totally. i am just saying that the job is yet to be 
done...the internet as it is is not perfect...obviously we feel it has 
potential ...thats why we are here.

regards
a.


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