Photo Courtesy of Abhayah
On my recent trip to Barcelona I stopped for couple of meetings in Paris, where I overheard on the LCI TV channel a discussion about a new French "invention":
After coming up with Fracture Sociale ( Social Divide ) - now my countrymen are talking about Fracture d'Internet !
What is Fracture d'Internet? - Well, we are talking here about broken structure.
The French are arguing that internet will further divide classes into those with internet access and those without, thus breaking traditional structure of social ascension.
I have to say that I am just totally dismayed.
Why would anyone want to popularize internet, that is bringing thousands of people together, as a source of social division?
The new internet that empowers individuals to self produce and self promote themselves ( via blogs, podcasts, Youtube, Flickr, MySpace and many other net services ) is in my opinion the best hope for the youngsters in French suburbs and actually for young people around the world.
Those youngsters have been depending on the system forever- the system that promised jobs and good retirement for life . Now that the system has hickups and it is obvious that jobs are not guaranteed anymore even for the university students in France - the young people are desillusioned. They question whether it makes sense to study at all if at the end nothing is going to happen or change.
So why not relying on social aid while it lasts and let go of trying?
Instead of promoting internet as source of the division- the french government should promote internet as a new source of empowerment. Developing countries such as India show that internet access in itself is an obstacle but not a major one ( many people over there do not have internet access at home, but they can access it via endless street based Internet cafes). Those countries focus on educating their people how internet can change their lives with a very small investment.
I woke up yesterday morning thinking " je refuse" the idea of "fracture d'internet".
As an entrepeneur I am lucky to know that I have a freedom: I have ability to act quickly, I can bring people and ressources around the idea and somehow contribute to a change in the world.
And so the constant rebel in me - pushed me to send couple of emails to my friends entrepreneurs in France telling them that as a Net Generation we have a role to play- we can educate and share our experience to inspire other young people to use great tools we have been all developing and invite them to use them to take control of their lives.
I was happy to see that my french friends were already reacting: They are creating an intitiative called "100 entrepreneurs" that has as a vocation a cycle of visits to local high schools in dissadvantaged areas to share with students how they can use their own interest and hobbies to impact others using internet.
