The whole world is moving to establish the peace and happiness, and fighting with the degradation of human values! In this situation ‘New Media’, the Internet can provide all the facts to prevent confusion; and can gives clear guidance for the betterment of individuals and leadership based on true love, responsibility and commitment. Today’s world even our mind is divided based on information; which is prominently reflected to our personality, family, community, nation, philosophy, even in religions. The divisions should unite immediately to establish peace and happiness, which only possible by loving, serving and understanding others.
Although demand and need created, but reality and view are not changing much. An example I would like to say an fact. An Imam’s wife was seriously sick and needed a blood transfusion but she had AB- blood, a very rare type. The hopeless Imam begged help of the local MP to find the blood. After a long search they found only one donor, a Hindu woman. When the Imam discovered the donor is an non-Muslim, he was disappointed and refused to take blood! The wife was died at last for blood! Everybody was surprised for decision of Imam!
This is the common and abhorrent attitude of various religious in developing world because of information gaping. Although all religions are having same mission to establish peace and happiness; the religious are satisfied in prayer conditions and lifestyle, but refuse to accept each-another’s religion and idea. The situation is more critical when militant groups create conflict and kill people in the name of religion. This ongoing situation of the world creates the demand the emerging of ‘New Truth’ along with ‘New Media’.
Although we are living in the era of information, but the majority world doesn’t know the values of a Global family and the purpose of life yet. Both religious and science are moving with same mission to establish the ‘Peace and Prosperity’. Religious people can contribute more than politicians, educators and social leaders in peace and development process. But they are silent and isolated. There is needed to unite , today and now.
The attributes of the new truth should be unique, with combination of both internal and external essences, with unity of mind and body, religion and science. Science represents external form of truth, where as religions stand for internal feature of truth. The truth only can be completed when external and internal; science and religion will be united. Last two centuries science – the body of truth, have been developed and expanded tremendously. But religions – the spirit of truth, could not overcome yet the original and ancient formats. The big gap between science and religions prominent in developing world. Not only fanatic groups of Jews, Muslim and Christian; but also the secular leaders have uncompromising resentments on religions and spirituality. It makes agitation and unrest as common circumstances.
A true personality that real believer has no race, no country, and no boundaries. We are all bothers and sisters that is members of God’s Family. Our life motto should be ‘Living for the sake of others’. We will be successful when will inherit God’s love, God’s life and God’s lineage, and will take in mind God is our living Parent. The important information 90% world populations believe in God and religion. If we truly believe and practice ‘Global family values – one family under one God’ as part of our life and traditions, we will be able to unite, and achieve ultimate goal- world peace easily.
Bangladesh ICT Realities!
The Internet and multimedia as well as ICT can play a prophetic role to promote the Global family values. It can unite the whole world into a community. In Bangladesh, priests never touch the internet; avoid the cyber culture and expand propaganda in sermon also, “Internet is a satanic culture, and is a trap of Jews-Christian to destroy Muslim young generation!” Not only this, but also there is hidden conflict between parents and children about the using the internet. Middle class parents’ feel that the internet is a pornographic media, will destroy children’s morality! But most of the parents and social leaders don’t have the experience with the new media. They don’t know through the Internet anybody can know anything, anytime from anywhere of the world!
The blames of parents and priests are of commonly true. Last three years in Dhaka and surrounding areas, a huge number of private cyber cafés have been established. It is true, more than 90% subscribers of those cyber cafes are young and teenagers. What do they visit? Almost 2/3 of the time they are visiting pornographic sites, chatting or playing sex games. Very fractional number is used only web mail and job search engine. Dhaka’s cyber cafés are very congested but the monitors are safely surrounded by boards to insure the user’s privacy. Over serving common practices, the parents are very worried that the use of the computer will lead to the dilapidation of their children’s characters. The religious leaders are also very tense about the expansion of a so-called free sex culture. We must need to stop the misuse of digital technology.
My desire to see the priests as good Internet users, and the establishment of a cyber café in religious institutes. If those cyber cafés would open for all; priests could arrange online peace dialogue positively with other believers centering on one God. The global consciousness will easily be matured. Better understanding, consciousness for unity will be easily created.
Bangladeshi Steps:
In early 1994 DrikTAP Bangladesh’s first electronic mail was set up with the vision to provide global network facilities to local and international development activist organizations. Within short time, the situation has been developed. Now Bangladesh has almost 70 ISPs. Including the biggest NGO Grameen Bank, Proshika and BRAC has also own satellite connectivity. But the service providers are only focusing to the city area and are not interested in the rural areas, even though 80% of the country’s population lives in the villages. They are reluctant to provide digital communication to the poor, with the thought that the villages are not profitable regions. Even though there is a great prospect and need for a rural internet program as like as ‘Grameen Phone’.
There are many challenges but we have to find a way to unite together the villagers and city dwellers, poor and rich. The most crucial problem for Bangladesh is lack of ICT leadership and strategy both in Government and NGO level, which come from the lacking of technical knowledge and expertise of senior citizens who are policy makers and top of the society. Even though more than 90% people don’t know about Internet even haven’t seen computer yet!
In order to harmonize the modern technology with indigenous culture, Bangladesh demands to establish ‘Grammen Cyber Café’ in each village, which can be also rural computer training centre. Computer and ICT related initiatives could create large number of IT related jobs for rural educated youth, particularly for girls. Consequently, the serious unemployment problem and the need to migrate from the villages to the city will reduce. The rural e-commerce can bring the villagers to the Global market directly without interference and exploitation by the middlemen. In order to access quality and relevant information to the people, Bangladesh needs to launch websites on e-governance, e-learning e-commerce in which the target and subject can be the village people and life, covering agriculture, products and market related information, flood and disaster management, HIV/AIDS and health consciousness, human rights and gender equalization, cultural heritage and social justice.
Vision to Change
I have a dear vision and faith, in Bangladesh new media can play a successful role to build up unity and tolerance within the nation, especially in political sectors by popularizing the patriotic slogan, “Unity saving the people, unity saving the nation.” From the beginning people of Bangladesh are suffering because of political leaders selfish thinking, subjective practices and non-cooperative attitudes.
With out love and unity there is no success. Today’s Global Family is broken and divided due to misunderstandings. God has been crying and suffering for a long time losing children. We have to eliminate our heavenly Parents’ sufferings. The absolute achievement of the human life is ‘Peace’ means the absence of conflicts between two entities as they interact in a harmonious partnership. When the extremes live together, there appear most beautiful scenarios as like as the unity of sharp mountains and valleys.
By the proper use of internet and media we can promote and practices three qualities of the unity: participation, living together and inheritance. To make true Global family, ICT opens a great opportunity for the people participation. Living together points toward sharing each other’s situation, joy and sorrow, sickness and health, wealth and poverty. The unity of the future world is characterized by interdependence, mutual prosperity and universally shared values. In the unified world we can recognize our independence with all people, indeed with entire web of nature. Through sharing universal values, humankind will be enlightened to pursue the holistic solutions of the world problems.
Published in TIG/ Panorama / 11 Feb 2004