Re: Regional iTLDs Question

["Tierno S. Bah" <tiernojo@his.com>]

Dr Nii Narku Quaynor wrote:
 
> I come from a distinct group of people in Ghana known 
> as the Ga. The legend say that we are descendants of the Jews. 

Arabo-Muslims and/or Judeo-Christians prozelytizers 
(preachers/conquerors) and the subsequent colonial
system imposed on most African communities the dogmas 
of Middle East-born monotheist religions. This was 
particularly the focus of the TV series "The Africans" 
by Dr. Ali Mazrui, who argued extensively on the interaction 
between religion and  African history. In my opinion, 
the Ga people share with many other African communities, 
the Islam or Christian myths and belief of an Oriental 
genesis of the world. I am a Fulani from Guinea. The Fuuta Jaloo 
islamic theocracy ruled part of pre-colonial Guinea and beyond. 
It, too, relied on legends and myths (as ideological and 
hegemonic artifacts) similar to the Ga's, with respect to 
the oriental genesis of culture and civilization... 
However, such claims may be just that.   

> Our language is different and our customs are different.

This terse statement begs for some clarification. I hope it's 
not meant to be an absolute affirmation. For even though the 
taxonomy of African languages  is not as well documented as 
that of Indo-European and Romance idioms, most African languages 
share genetic or typological features with neighboring or distant 
communities. Therefore the question remains: what affiliations are 
out there between Ga and any other culture area in West, Central or 
Southern Africa?
 
> This is not a good criteria for iTLDs. These kind of things 
> have the potantial of hightening ethnic differences leading 
> to problems. 

The current debate on iTLD has is partly rooted in the ethnocentric 
nature of the Internet. Quite a few French call it anglo-centric. 
Canadian experts are unrelenting on their frontal attacks, on this 
list and elsewhere, against the real or perceived US dominance of 
the Net. Notwithstanding the Web's GUI and friendliness, the Net 
is overwhelmingly an English-speaking and writing phenomenon. However,  
it's one thing to have English as the meta-language or machine-tool 
of the digital internetworking era: all IETF Drafts and RFCs are 
written in English --the de facto common denominator for scientific 
and technical production on the Internet. It's another thing to create 
and disseminate content on the Net, because content takes on a more 
sensitive dimension. It's almost always culturally, politically and
economically embedded. Content publishing requires that the Internet 
evolves into an environment that underscores similarities while, 
at the same time, heightening diversity and, yes, ethnolinguistic
identity. 
Also, the Internet must keep entry barriers low so that disenfranchised 
communities and individuals can take part in the online publishing 
revolution. That's what the i18n Draft, for instance, with its emphasis 
on character sets and HTML, clearly seeks to achieve: a truly
multilingual 
Internet. i18n points to HTML's shortcomings but also defines methods 
for building an Internet that includes more languages than it does
currently. 
Africa's rich and diverse linguistic landscape should leverage i18n and 
similar initiatives. African developers, ISPs, universities should
implement 
it when becomes an RFC. But the written code by itself will not do for 
illiterate people. That's why the iTLD debate should include emerging 
technologies: streaming, compression, network appliances, etc.
Ultimately, 
the challenges facing the Internet may be twofold:
- it must strive to reach out interactively to the non-PC literate and 
to the illiterate in their native languages, idioms, dialects 
- it must appeal to traditional communities worldwide and particularly
in 
Africa by fostering and heightening their heritage and their values.  

As far as problems are concerned, they will always be around. The
question 
is whether we evade them or face them in a genuine quest for solutions .

-Tierno S. Bah
AfriQ*Access, Inc.

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Midho yhawi e tulde gandun am		On my little knowledge I stand
No mi yheewira nibhe majjere am.	To gauge the depth of my ignorance.
	(T.S. Mombeya)