SA celebrated its twelfth Freedom Day this week. As a nation, we held rallies and participated in sporting, musical and cultural events to commemorate the first democratic elections held on 27 April 1994.
The question, however, is how did individual South Africans experience Freedom Day 2006?
Were those of us unable to attend the Freedom Day concert on the lawns of the Union Buildings in Pretoria able to experience the atmosphere in some other way? Was there some way interested South Africans could access information about the meaning of Freedom Day quickly and reliably? How were those outside the President`s inner circle supposed to send their greetings directly to him?
While there are as many definitions of freedom as there are kinds of freedom, in the general sense of the word the online dictionary Wikipedia defines freedom as the state of being free, meaning "unrestricted, unconfined and unfettered". The online resource continues, freedom "can mean an absence of external restraints".
In similar vein, Answers.com defines freedom as the "ease or facility of movement".
Synonymous
Bearing these definitions in mind, one could be forgiven for thinking mobile broadband Internet is a synonym for freedom.
What could be more unrestricting and unfettering than a technology which allows one not to be chained to a specific location to carry on one`s business? Obviously there are exceptions, but it`s almost medieval to think the majority of us need a specific location to do our work, like the potters and weavers of old.
Mobile workers may still be behind computer screens but mobility means they now have a choice of environment which is invigorating in itself.
Thami Mtshali, CEO, iBurst
It is with no disrespect that I write this, but in the past our ancestors were chained to trees while today we live chained to our desks, thanks to copper wire. Yesterday we perished from maltreatment but today we perish from heart disease, diabetes and hypertension because we spend our lives immobile in the same environment day in and day out.
Ask any modern office worker who has accepted that mobility is freedom what their experience has been and I assure you the response will be overwhelmingly positive. Mobile workers may still be behind computer screens but mobility means they now have a choice of environment which is invigorating in itself.
How pleasant it is to work while your children play quietly at your feet? How refreshing it is to work in a coffee shop and be exposed to other people?
Access to mobile broadband Internet can enhance the ordinary citizen`s experience of freedom. I referred to Freedom Day, as video streaming, e-mail and information search facilities offered by the Internet could rapidly increase the number of ordinary South Africans experiencing the occasion.
Mobile broadband Internet can also increase the number of citizens experiencing the fruits of freedom by making government services and information available in their homes.
Power
When one uses the words "freedom" and "Internet" in the same sentence, the reaction is usually disbelief. Those who fought for our freedom using tools like guns and civil disobedience are hard-pressed to believe that something that appears so non-essential to the real issues of the world could possibly be useful in the fight for freedom and in the struggle to maintain freedom.
That is until you remind them how easily it was for the apartheid government to restrict the sale and distribution of books, pamphlets and posters printed by the liberation movement simply because they were in hardcopy format and were easily captured and destroyed. An e-mail will travel around the world several times before restrictors of freedom wake up to the fact that people are receiving banned information.
Many South Africans this week celebrated the freedom won in 1994. Let`s renew our efforts to increase the adoption of mobile broadband Internet so that "many" can become "all".
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