By Clayton Crockett
Opinion Editor
ABDELJALIL BOUNHAR / The Associated Press
Pro-democracy protesters march through a lower income neighborhood in Casablanca, Morocco, on Sunday denouncing the newly elected government and the king. Morocco is among the nations to soon receive free mobile access to Wikipedia.
While American political parties bicker over what action should be taken against the anarchic, warring or tyrannical nations in Africa and the Middle East, the American Wikimedia Foundation has provided those subjects of injustice the most potent aid possible: knowledge.
In what should be regarded among the most notable charitable acts of our generation,Wikimedia, parent company of Wikipedia, and French telecommunications company Orange disclosed Tuesday their intentions to offer free mobile access to the world’s largest encyclopedia in North African and Middle Eastern countries.According to Orange’s news release, “Orange and the Wikimedia Foundation will provide more than 70 million Orange customers in Africa and the Middle East with mobile access to Wikipedia — without incurring data usage charges.”
Key countries on Orange’s large client list include Egypt, Kenya, Uganda, Morocco, Bahrain and Jordan, most of which harbored Arab Spring protests.
In such a volatile region, Wikimedia’s actions are by far the best answer to American interventionism to date.
In lieu of nation-building, they’ve provided the how-to. In place of weapons, materials and the tangled allegiances that follow,Wikimedia and Orange are providing the facts.
It’s the rod in place of the fish and the tools in place of the product, and the access is indiscriminate, free and available to those who need it most.
Considering the Arab Spring, one cannot forget the enormous role the Internet has already played in reshaping the cradle of civilization — like Facebook logos graffitiedonto dumpsters or Google executives sparking the Egyptian protests. The potential is massive.
Think about the way mobile access to Google and Wikipedia has changed the lives of Americans — it’s perpetual access to all of the information you could ever need. Think of the menial facts and questions that arise in the daily life of a young American, and can be answered with your pocket professor, like who originally wrote Jeff Buckley’s “Hallelujah” or who directed “AmericanBeauty.”
Instead, Ugandans can learn about the “Anti-Homosexuality Bill” and death penalty that follows. Or Egyptians can access the detailed history of their revolution, from former President Hosni Mubarak’s past to the military leaders who have succeeded him.
With widespread access in sensitive areas, however, comes the dangerous reminder that Wikipedia is user-generated content and has been used for misinformation in the past. Hopefully the safeguards will be in place by the time this program unfolds to prevent corrupt nations from altering their webpages.
This movement should also bolster the case against controversial Internet-monitoring acts like SOPA and PIPA by displaying the prowess of Wikipedia, which would be heavily hindered under the legislation.
Above all else, Wikimedia and Orange’s project exemplifies the value of information. A year ago, in the midst of the Arab Spring, I referred in a column to the Internet’s role as the “window through which the subjects of dictators see freedom,” and the fact remains.
“Wikipedia is an important service, a public good — and so we want people to be able to access it for free,” reads the release. “This partnership with Orange will enable millions of people to read Wikipedia, who previouslycouldn’t.”
If America is to lead by example, as theexceptionalists proclaim in the numerous Republican debates, there is no better way. America is freedom — free information, access and input.
Facebook originated in the states and provided tools for protest organization during the Egyptian revolution. Twitter, also created by an American, provided the world with live feedback from the front for freedom oceans away.
This is America’s Library of Alexandria, and I hope this project, as only part of the broader movement for freedom to the facts, can be our legacy.
Clayton Crockett is a 20-year-old international studies sophomore from Lafayette. Follow him on Twitter@TDR_ccrockett.
