How to Stop Complaining and Start Improving Government

[Lorien]

For many in Kenya, their government is a black box. Attendance records for members of Parliament are kept secret, and the Parliament website has little to no information on its members. Frustrated by this flagrant lack of transparency, Ory Okolloh co-founded the website Mzalendo to keep an eye on her government. She was motivated by the challenge of acting, rather than just complaining, and because, “if you let them get away with stuff they will.”

Concerned citizens, developers, and bloggers around the world are using the internet to promote transparency, accountability, and civic engagement. In Jordan, where complaints “are really a tradition,” Waheed Al-Barghouthi helped start Ishki, a clearinghouse for Jordanian griping online. In Chile, Felipe Heusser and Rodrigo Mobarec started Vota Inteligente, a website that fact-checks politicians and gives Chilean citizens more information about their government officials.

Projects like these are often disjointed, addressing specific needs of their communities without realizing that there is a vast network of people around the world working on the same problems. The new Technology for Transparency Network is trying to change that by bridging the gap between bloggers and civil society and fostering collaboration among disparate civic-engagement and good-governance projects.

More: http://www.utne.com/Politics/Transparency-Civic-Engagement-Technology-Global-Voices-6445.aspx

[NeeDeep]

1. This is one of the things that make us human

We must protect our ability to care for one another as we see fit, the forces that undermine this are always on the march. Protection comes in the form of democracy and a goverment that keeps the little guy from what would misinterpret the truth and enslave us to selfserving ideology. Our only way out is what brought us here and that is to band together and share resources for the common good, care is our universal language.

[cilla4progress]

4. This is beautiful

Thank you

[Wilms]

2. Seems a lot like how the election reform movement gained momentum.

Encouraging.

[Lorien]

3. I get two replies to a thread about IMPROVING our situation

how many would I have gotten if I wrote a "I'm DONE! FUCK IT ALL!" thread?

[Wilms]

5. That has not escaped my notice. n/t

:(

[LooseWilly]

6. "In Jordan, where complaints 'are really a tradition,' "...

Not just in Jordan. Afghanistan too.

:+

(And yes... the US as well.)