BAGHDAD, Iraq, Feb. 17 (UPI) — Rounding a corner to discover an Internet cafe in Iraq is a pleasant surprise indeed — and then one actually tries to use it.
A foreign correspondent, arriving in Baghdad to cover the Iraqi crisis with the United Nations and a looming U.S. war, rushed into one of those cafes relieved that she secured a connection with the outside world.
“I sat behind one of the computers in the cafe and confidently logged in to connect my e-mail,” the reporter said. A message appeared on the screen: “Access denied.”
While to hope is human, to control is Iraqi, and Internet access in Saddam Hussein’s tightly managed and monitored country is as centralized as most of its other services.
Internet service was first introduced to the Baath Party-ruled Arab nation in early 2000 and was limited to government institutions, universities, medical doctors, university professors and students preparing their master’s or doctoral degrees. But it soon began to spread because of growing demand by Iraqis eager to discover the new technology.
“It was an attraction for all ages: children, teenagers, men of different professions, women and elderly,” said a worker at a Baghdad Internet cafe who gave his name only as Jassem. “All wanted to see this new world.”
Jassem, a computer sciences graduate, himself learned how to navigate the Web in college when he was completing his bachelor’s degree nine years ago.
“We used disks containing Internet programs to learn how to access the Internet and open sites,” because they couldn’t actually go online in those days, he said.
Today, Internet users in Iraq number an estimated 22,000 and growing daily. Still, in a country of 22 million that offers a relatively cheap subscription of some $100 a year, that isn’t many. And while Iraqis can buy a good computer assembled locally for about $600, many prefer to use one of the 60-odd Internet cafes that sprinkle the Iraqi capital and other cities. After more than a decade of U.N. sanctions, triggered by Iraq’s invasion of neighboring Kuwait, Iraqis have more pressing needs for which to stretch their dinars.
Besides, Internet at home is subject to the same restrictions and control as public terminals. So what’s a typical surfing session like in Iraq?
“Each one is interested in the Internet his own special way,” said Jassem. “The youngsters love the Internet games while teenagers are more into music and especially love to follow up the news and pictures of their Western stars.”
Yahoo! and Hotmail, highly popular sites in most of the world for their extensive services such as shopping, reference, personals and chat rooms, are among the blocked sites in Iraq. Naturally, one can expect the authorities to block any Web page providing political and other sensitive news as well.
But strangely, the Google search site popped up just fine, for example.
When asked why certain “harmless” Internet sites are being blocked, Jassem self-consciously replied, “Yes, it’s true that some sites are banned and could not be accessed. But it’s because they contain materials that violate (rules of social) decency and religion.”
He further explained that sites could be blocked “due to technical problems or for being linked to other sites.” But Jassem himself didn’t seem convinced, and grew rapidly unwilling to pursue a dialogue that could shift easily into a political discussion.
Another more open Iraqi, who still asked that United Press International not use his name, advised: “Don’t bother to understand. There is no logic behind it. It depends on the mood of the employee controlling the sites.”
In fact, Iraq employs some 400 to 500 people to run the government-owned Internet network and the special Internet cafes.
“This large number of employees, compared to the number of users, is for controlling and censoring the Internet,” said an Iraqi engineer living in the Lebanese capital, Beirut. “Their main headache is to make people access the ‘right information’ and this consumes about 60 percent of their time.”
The engineer, who also asked not be identified, said the employees exert much effort to “monitor undesirable channels and sites in order to block them.”
“It’s a 24-hour effort but it’s a process that’s almost impossible to control,” he explained. “There are already hundreds of thousands of Internet sites in the world and there are new ones every day.”
Foreign journalists using the Internet facilities at the al-Rasheed Hotel in Baghdad have likely given Iraqi Internet employees even more work to handle, for virtually each is using a different site — many probably unknown to the Iraqis so far.
U.S. intelligence services may also add to that headache. In recent weeks, hundreds of e-mail messages have reportedly been sent to Baghdad residents encouraging them to prepare themselves for revolt and to assist U.S. forces in ousting Saddam. Iraqi authorities apparently took immediate action to block their spread, but some messages seem to have gotten through to Baghdad inboxes.
Despite its many restrictions, the Internet is one of the very few accesses to the outside world for the Iraqis.
Satellite dishes are forbidden and Iraqis can only watch the official Iraqi television stations, including the Ash Shabab TV run by Saddam’s son Uday. It broadcasts some Western movies — supposedly a fascination of Saddam’s — as well as taped programs and news from Qatar’s Al Jazeera TV, Abu Dhabi TV and Egypt’s Dream TV. On the radio Iraqis can listen to the British Broadcasting Corp.’s Arabic service.
Copyright 2003 by United Press International. All rights reserved.
Kenya’s Monument of Shame
Kenyans were treated to a horrific past that took away peoples individual liberty in the name of security of the state. One of the survivors Wafula Buke, requested the present government to address the socio-economic and political problems which prompted the detainees to be on a war path with the Moi regime. “Unless the problems are solved, the Government might soon require the Nyayo House cells again.”
A grey steel door, 12 ft wide, that led to an underground car park, that led to another steel door, that led to a steel barred gate, that led to an infamous torture cells of Nyayo house. There were 12 cells, each 8 ft by 10 ft and 7 ft high: all without windows and painted either black to absorb all light, or a dark enveloping red, the color of the blood that splashed the concrete walls and flowed on the floor. And this was in the basement of a building christened “Nyayo” from the Nyayo philosophy of following a leader’s footsteps. It is estimated that over 2,000 people passed through this cells including prominent ministers in the present government. Some 500 of this are suspected to have died.
What lesson do Kenyans learn from this sad past? Wafula Buke gives a timely warning, it does not take people with special genes to put up such torture chambers it simply takes a system that is devoid of checks and balances. Following in the footsteps of another delegates extreme powers to one that he ceases to value the freedoms of the follower. It also indicates that over reliance on the government of the day to solve problems that can be handled privately empowers such a government to come up with short cut to destroy voices that are opposed to its system in order to attain “efficiency” in service delivery. Elsewhere a public policy analyst that visited Kenya January last year Dr. Lawrence Reed argued, “that a government that is big enough to give you everything you want, is big enough to take away everything you’ve got.” Individual liberty makes the difference in the world.
The voting pattern last year was a clear indication that Kenyans wanted to be free, they no longer wanted to follow in the footsteps of any leader, and they wanted to make their own imprints. Kenyans wanted the government to minimize its role in the economy and let people have the freedom to choose. Kenyans wanted a limited government, not one that interferes in every sphere of life; they wanted security of persons and property and economic freedom. Kenya was experiencing the fatigue of plunder and wanted rest. How can Kenyans achieve this goal under the new government?
The government must leave the business of wealth creation to private citizens and focus on areas that a profit driven entrepreneur will not venture in. The recent wave of “free things” to Kenyans will be counter productive in the long run. The world over, segments of the society that have been hooked on “free” things tend to be more dependent, in the United States of America, Africa Americans have largely been lulled by the Social welfare system, in Australia, the Aborigines are given special treatment making it difficult for them to prosper, while other communities seek tax waivers to do business and fight excessive licensing procedures the dependent populations simply fight for an increase in the cake. Africa as a continent focuses more on getting assistance from abroad and rarely looks inwards to solve her political and economic problems. Free health care and free education might look appetizing but has hidden costs that will lower efficient service delivery and the incentives that go with it. As of now it may seem to work because of the long queue of willing donors ready to support the initiative but how independent and self sustaining will this be? The dream of Kenyans was to be free from “footsteps” /Nyayo, be it the nyayo of a political leader, and or of a donor agency.
It is a matter of urgency that all children are taken to school to learn and all sick people get treated and in the city people access public toilets. Are Kenyan parents interested in transforming the school system into a conveyor belt of keeping kids in school to simply grow up or are they keen on quality of the education? Are sick people keen to simply be released from hospitals without paying bills and receive no serious medical attention due to lack of incentives? Are Kenyans keen to go to a public toilet that is dirty and with muggers ready to pounce on them? Whereas this initiatives are with good intentions, the message being send to Kenyans is, rely on the government the more! The resultant effect is pressure on the government to borrow from donors, which yet again will finally lure the non-corrupt NARC leaders into corruption.
The focus on aid is best illustrated by a story of a man who moved to a village that had for a long time been terrorized by wild pigs. He sought to assist the villagers tame the wild pigs if they paid him. Knowing how difficult it was to tackle these dangerous animals, the villagers offered a high price with the assumption that the fellow will never live to receive his pay. Using food as bait, he managed to first have the young piglets taste the food. When he got the whole bunch visiting the spot for his handouts, he finally raised the bait that had all the wild pigs netted. On reporting his victory to the villagers he observed, “I can nail anything on earth, as long as it relies on me for a free handout, for there is no such a thing as free lunch”
The free things wave in Kenya will simply “nail” the creative minds of people. Without first addressing the reasons why the cost of education and healthcare is high and what Kenya can do for herself before seeking donor support, the new government is simply pushing Kenyans into a short term world view. Books, chalk, building materials are expensive because of among other reasons high taxes, unnecessary licensing procedures that makes it difficult for some industries to start up and corruption. The Nairobi Central Business District Association best illustrates what the private sector can do in partnership with the government. Private business people are using part of their profits to improve security in Nairobi city, they are using a model of “adopt a light” to light up dark streets and have shown how when people take charge of public toilets by paying fees, it becomes cleaner and safer. Ten years ago, nobody would have imagined that one could seat in a public toilet to read a newspaper! Health care costs are up because of lack of infrastructure and limited avenues for one to choose from. When all this demands are instead directed to the government, it falls in for the “donor trap.”
Once in the trap, Kenyan policy makers will focus more on pleasing donor agencies and not entrepreneurial skills available. The trap will make people to ask more from the government and they will not focus on solving their own private problems. This in turn will create a socio-economic upheaval that will make it mandatory for the torture chambers to spring up yet again to protect the interests of those in whose wisdom will be serving Kenyans. On top of museums of shame, Kenya will have a landscape of museums of hospitals that don’t offer services; schools will cease to be innovative and will be slow to adjust to modern trends of technology. And because the government will be too big in the name of satisfying all Kenyans private investors will be forced to form partnerships with government operatives instead of entrepreneurs with business skills.
If the political “Nyayo Philosophy” produced torture chambers, chances that the economic “Nyayo” will produce poorer Kenyans with a make believe economic growth, are high. Kenyans must remain steadfast in their fight for more freedom both in terms of politics and economics. The private sector must be given a chance to partner with the government in ensuring economic prosperity and trust in individual contribution to a better Kenya. The present government ought to critically evaluate its public policy in order to avoid building monuments of shame in service delivery.
”’James Shikwati is director the Inter Region Economic Network (IREN), in Nairobi, Kenya.”’