A country with over 900 million mobile phone subscribers across different social strata eminently fits the description of a network society, in which information can be both created and transmitted instantaneously. In normal times, such an enviable user base keeps the cash registers of corporates ringing with call minutes, Internet access and countless SMS texts. But that apple cart can be upset when the power of the networks surprises the elites in unexpected ways. For, as the sociologist Manuel Castells argues, by producing mass media messages and developing horizontal networks of communication, citizens of the Information Age are able to invent new programmes for their lives based on their sufferings, fears, dreams and hopes. They achieve that using the same channels that make governments nervous, but businesses prosperous. That is the essence of the crisis: false text messages, real fears and eroded governmental credibility provoked thousands of people from the northeast to flee the dynamic cities that gave them jobs and hope of a better life, back to the safety of their homes in distant places. Managing a challenge of this sort requires an approach that addresses the new citizen power of autonomous communication. Using a kill switch to cut access can only fuel public resentment.
Evidently, governments have much to do to restore confidence in their systems and processes. It is no secret that to the average citizen, the credibility of the political class as a whole is dangerously low. The corruption of institutions of governance has alienated millions. The insecurity is made worse by the climate of intolerance and bigotry that is asserting itself in the public space. All this provides fertile ground for the kind of mischief witnessed recently, in the form of distorted pictures, baseless threats and fictional reports of violence being used to cause an exodus of people. The speed with which messages flowed in the digital realm was obviously too much to handle for a government that has an antiquated vision of power enforced mainly through physical means. It must respond to the new reality in two ways — use the same power of the networks to tell the real story and ensure reform on the ground by building trust in institutions starting with the police. Social media present some examples of such confidence building by government departments, although they are quickly and publicly exposed by citizens when they err. Choking off SMS gateways may offer a reprieve, but they must inevitably reopen, and will then be available for the next big scare. Influencing the public mind with the correct messages and dispelling the atmosphere of fear are the more effective antidotes to such crises.
