Re: <eyebeam><blast> Other

[Saskia Sassen <sassen@columbia.edu>]

Damian Toro's  "privileged" and the majority who have no access or
dreams about the Net. 
Yes. But: cheap satellite access is on its way. That won't be enough
even for those who could afford the very cheap rates --still out of the
reach of 2 billion poor on the earth--in principle at least. But for
those who can  they will need to know why to bother. it will take
activism on the ground to get people to move on line. I know of poor
women's organizations in India, So. America and No. America who are now
connected with each other; idem with community organizers around
community issues in large cities. They gain insights, strategies,
resources, etc. from this locality to locality communication. There is
work to be done.
Pedro Meyer writes about class stratification on the Net. Yes, I agree.
The Net is embedded in larger realities, But it does create openings
--operational and of the imagination-- to cut across. It is a dynamic
space, not frozen and your interesting figures on growth of Spanish use
is part of it. I still think that what/who is active on the Net will
contribute to shape it. So I say: let 's see more diversity. You are
right, in US. very unequal distribution of participation by class, race,
etc. (many inside the US. don't self-identify as "Western". I am
convinced --coming from and limited by my work on ec globalization--
that we can no longer simply identify countries with "Western" or "rich"
and "poor." I do not worry about the elites in Mexico City and in Sao
Paulo. This is not to disagree with you, but just to elaborate and
clarify my position.

Saskia Sassen 


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