karen louise smith

Tim Querengesser is a journalist who has been writing some important pieces about the use of cell phones to propagate hate in Kenya. In a recent Globe and Mail article Querengesser states:

"The technology has pole-vaulted many African countries beyond their crumbling infrastructure and into the information age. But it has also exposed them to risks. No other continent struggles with ethnic conflict like Africa. With SMS the preferred method to communicate (they're cheaper than calls) and with cellphone-happy Kenya now picking up the pieces after ethnic war, the potential for SMS to incite hate is coming into focus."

I have paid close attention to Querengesser’s stories because in 2005, I traveled to Kenya to visit a friend who was completing an internship in Nairobi with a human rights organization. During my holiday, my friend and I threw on our backpacks and traveled around the country.

When we arrived in Lamu, on the eastern coast I remember that two posters made a strong impression on me. The first poster was pasted to the wall in one of the streets showing how fair elections should work. In cartoon style frames, the citizen was shown arriving to the polls, casting a ballot and having her finger stamped with ink. A second poster I saw was in the post office / internet café. The image of a globe, community and connectivity was conveyed.

Querengesser’s piece reminds me that overcoming the digital divide does not necessarily address a society's other inequalities.