The Sumatra Trench Tsunami: Politics, Technologies and Opportunities
Citizenship and Government
The infrequency of major disasters in most parts of the world (excluding those where man made and natural disasters are symbiotic, e.g. the Caribbean, Bangladesh, sub Saharan Africa, North Korea (means that any warning and relief communications system should not be self standing (except for initial meteorological and seismological analysis) but should be an integral part of a citizenship communications network. This is an exemplar instance of using disaster relief funding to establish a long term, solid development gain.
In this context citizenship is defined as: The ability of people to operate individually and collectively in pursuit of the optimisation of their life chances. Participating in multi party democracy might be part of this but cannot be co-terminal with it. In countries without democracy as The United States of America or the European Union would recognise it there is still ample scope for optimising life chances in spheres such as the judicial, community and gender solidarity, self help, socio economic development, health and hygiene, agricultural development and veterinary science, art and culture and religion and ritual. In the case of all the countries seriously affected by the Tsunami people could have taken legitimate citizenship action, regardless of the political and military superstructure, if they had been communicationally and technologically empowered. That empowerment must not be dependent entirely upon de jure sovereignty and is not conditional upon an abstract benchmark of democratic probity.
The exercise of citizenship can only operate within the context of trusted information and an ability to communicate with designated points of contact. In the context of the Tsunami people needed:
- At best, properly equipped community leaders trusted by the authorities and the community but, if not, at the very least trusted sources of information
- The technological capability to receive and send information.