Page 252 - Information and American Democracy Technology in the Evolution of Political Power

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A Brief Comparison with Other Nations
Some of the most important examples of how information technology
affects politics involve marginalized groups overcoming resource limi-
tations and other more serious barriers to gain political power, as the
Libertarian Party did in the Know Your Customer case. The successful
overthrow of the Suharto government in Indonesia is perhaps the most
9
dramatic and clear-cut case available so far. Despite a weak telecommu-
nicationsinfrastructureandverylowlevelsofcitizenaccesstotheInternet
in the mid-1990s, networks of anti-Suharto students and activists used
the Internet aggressively to circumvent state domination of political in-
formation and news. From as early as the late 1980s, antigovernment or-
ganizing had a strong orientation toward information dissemination be-
cause of state control of broadcast media, bans on antigovernment print
publications, and the jailing of journalists. One of the groups that would
eventually be important in the Internet-based struggle in the mid-1990s
was formed in 1989 as the Center for Information and Reform Action
Network, with the acronym PIJAR. The rise of information technology
provided the perfect means for PIJAR and other groups to advance their
cause. They could employ computer servers outside Indonesia and be-
yond the reach of the state, and through them distribute and coordinate
information back into the country. These networks provided the means
for activists to disseminate news about the regime, solicit international
support, and organize protests, including the eventual occupation of the
Parliament building. What scholarly analysis is available so far largely
confirms the claim of a summer 1998 headline in the Jakarta Post that
compares the overthrow of Suharto with the fight for independence from
the Dutch: “Internet Replaces Bamboo Spears in Fight for Freedom.” 10
Another comparable example has been called “the Zapatista Effect.”
Since 1994, revolutionaries opposing the Mexican government in the
state of Chiapas benefited substantially from the decentralized, inexpen-
sive, and self-organizing nature of communication facilitated through
new information technology. The geographic isolation of Chiapas, in
combination with limited coverage by the Mexican media and efforts by
Mexican military forces to contain the movement, meant that the rebels
faced large obstacles to attracting support and political attention. New
information technology provided a quite successful means for waging

9
The role of the Internet in Indonesian politics has been analyzed by David Hill and
Krishna Sen, and my account is based on theirs. See David Hill and Krishna Sen, “The
Internet in Indonesia’s New Democracy,” in Ferdinand, ed., The Internet, Democracy,
and Democratization, pp. 119–136.
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Citedinibid.
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