INDIGENOUS PEOPLES AND THE INFORMATION SOCIETY IN LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN: a framework for action

INDIGENOUS PEOPLES AND THE INFORMATION SOCIETY IN LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN: a framework for action

Isabel Hernï¿½ndez yï¿½ Silvia Calcagno

Officials of the Population and Development Latin American & Caribbean Demographic Centre (CELADE)[1] at ECLAC.ï¿½ Joint research with The Institute for Connectivity in the Americas (ICA) ï¿½[2]

Latin America is home to four hundred indigenous communities, composed of about 50 million people, the majority of whom suffer from various forms of discrimination due to their ethno-cultural background and survive under marginalized conditions that contrast with the modern world around them. Their economic exclusion is based on general discrimination, similar to that experienced by the impoverished strata in rural and urban environments; however, their marginalization is intensified due to the intolerance and ethno-cultural discrimination existing in the national societies of the region.

The paradigm of economic globalization is sharpening the historical processes of social marginalization of the indigenous peoples. Meanwhile, in the cultural arena, a process of ï¿½homogenizationï¿½ is beginning, which attempts to undermine the pluricultural identity of the continent, ignoring the fact that the construction of modern citizenship involves the challenge of reconciling the historical and cultural specific features of each community with world development and modernity.

However, the causes of the increase in indigenous exclusion and their current marginalization from the information society are not exclusively attributable to the unequal relations generated between the center and the periphery. Furthermore, the analysis must be focused on the internal dynamics of these societies and their forms of leadership, on gender relations and the migratory processes that define the differences between indigenous groups and individuals with respect to the educational level, ethnic awareness and acceptance of oneï¿½s identity, possibilities for involvement in non-traditional activities and on the acceptance or rejection of the digital means of communication. In some cases, intellectuals, directors and indigenous organizations have seen the ICTs as a valuable opportunity to transcend the local level and achieve a regional, national and international presence. Digital technology has rapidly and efficiently been appropriated and has the potential to strengthen their political-organizational and communication processes, as well as those of linguistic and cultural revitalization. Also, other indigenous sectors have criticized the ICTs as a new form of interference from the national society that attempts to add the communities to the established information consumption in order to serve the interests of others.

To promote indigenous involvement in the information society, it is necessary to define proposals of innovation and reparatory social policies, which strengthen indigenous attempts to overcome the challenge of information marginalization. The strategies to achieve this end come from the native people who have achieved greater levels of community cohesion and representation, direct and legitimate, in second- and third-tier organizations. In some cases, the non-indigenous political and civil societies start to support these processes, generally at the local level. However, as far as public policies are concerned, the consensus necessary to act in an integral and coordinated manner has not been reached. Such a consensus would join governmental forces with those of the international community and civil society associations, in order to stimulate the so-called ï¿½digital opportunityï¿½.

The current Virtual Workshop on Indigenous Involvement in the ICTs provides a space to deepen the conceptual debate and contribute to the development of a framework for action that facilitates indigenous access to the ICTs by serving as a vehicle of social transformation. The Virtual Workshop is a window of opportunity that adds proposals for an integrated course of action from a great diversity of criteria, experiences and cultural perspectives.

Challenges		Opportunities		Proposals
* Cultural prejudice of governmental agencies, NGOs and broad sectors of the national societies. * High levels of distrust within the indigenous communities with respect to the possible disruptive impact of the ICTs on cultural and social guidelines. * The gap between the cultural conception of time and space of the indigenous society and the global		* The indigenous communitiesï¿½ historically successful appropriation of the global societyï¿½s cultural goods. * Ascent of the ethnic movement to the continental level. * Existence of new types of leadership. * Rise of second- and third-tier organizations.		* Reduction in the levels of prejudice and discrimination in the national societies, through specific communication strategies. * Promotion of favorable attitudes towards the ICTs in the indigenous population and leadership. * Implementation of specific access programs (short, medium and long-range), designed following integral diagnostics carried out with the active
society. * Low levels of literacy and computer literacy of the indigenous peoples. * Intra-community processes that impede the appropriation of the ICTs. * High unemployment indices; weak indigenous economic base. * Rate of technological change that impedes the community decision-making process. * Elevated costs of technological infrastructure, associated with geographical isolation and a lack of basic infrastructure services. * High levels of technological obsoleteness. * Absence of legal frameworks that facilitate access to credit lines and/or funding for technological programs. * Expansion of the ICTs according to market logic. * Concentrated production of hardware and software in a small nucleus of industrialized countries. * Predominance of English in the technological arena.	Greater recognition of the global society of the role of the indigenous peoples in the sustainability of development. Increase of the international social sensitivity towards indigenous demands. * Experiences of economic, political, cultural and information self-management. * Increase in the educational level of the population, especially the migrants, leading to a significant number of indigenous professionals. * Greater acceptance of the incorporation of the gender equity approach. * Social experience accumulated starting from the effective appropriation of the ICTs by the people and organizations that independently manage the communication and information strategies. * Installed capacity in technical and human resources. * Experiences of e-involvement carried out through the model of shared access (telecenters). * Increase in social capital of the communities. * Increase in the technological incorporation of information literacy in basic education.		participation of the indigenous communities and respectful of their social, cultural and economic structures. * Articulation with long-range economic, social and cultural programs that involve strategic investment to provide basic services (electricity, telephones, education) and promote the autonomous organization of the indigenous peoples. * Legal regulation of the participation of the private sector in such programs and support of the public sector when the market cannot provide effective solutions to combat social inequality. * Implementation of long-range programs that permit intra-community exploration to decide in what way the ICTs will be incorporated, on the premise that the indigenous communities can decide to use them in a different way than other groups of the national societies.

[1] Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). ECLAC, which is headquartered in Santiago, Chile, is one of the five regional commissions of the United Nations. It was founded for the purposes of contributing to the economic development of Latin America, coordinating actions directed towards this end, and reinforcing economic relationships among the countries and with the other nations of the world. The promotion of the region's social development was later included among its primary objectives. In June 1951 the Commission established the ECLAC subregional headquarters in Mexico City, which serves the needs of the Central American subregion, and in December 1966, the ECLAC subregional headquarters for the Caribbean was founded in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. In addition, ECLAC maintains country offices in Buenos Aires, Brasilia, Montevideo and Bogotï¿½, as well as a liaison office in Washington, D.C.

[2] The Institute for Connectivity in the Americas (ICA) promotes the implementation of innovative uses of information and communication technologies (ICTs) for development in Latin America and the Caribbean. The Institute strives to connect the Americas by supporting knowledge creation and capacity building, actively enabling partnerships, and co-funding projects. ICAï¿½s vision is that by connecting the people of the Americas, we will strengthen democracy, create prosperity, and help realize the regionï¿½s human potential. As one of Canada's contributions to the 2001 Summit of the Americas, ICA was created and provided seed funding to build on the success and experience of the Connecting Canadians Strategy and Canadaï¿½s international development and ICT programs. ICA has offices in Ottawa and Montevideo; and, is currently being incubated at the International Development Research Centre (IDRC). http://www.icamericas.net. This document has been reviewed by Luis Barnola (ICA), who made many valuable contributions which were incorporated into the text.