Back home in our African countries, a number of organisations from both civil society and government have put in a lot of effort to inform people about what is going on in the world of information, with specific emphasis on the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). However, the reach of these campaigns has been disappointing.
In Geneva in September at the time of PrepCom 3 (the third Preparatory Committee meeting), I was stunned by the level of ignorance about one of the biggest events ever. Arriving in Geneva for the Summit, I decided to find out how informed the locals were. It was amazing to find out that even among people on the periphery of the event, knowledge of the Summit was poor, to say the least.
I first went to Geneva International Airport – right next to the Palais des Expositions (Palexpo), where the Summit is taking place – with the intention of quizzing people working at the airport and visitors as they arrived. I was looking for two things: to see if they were aware of the reason for the extra hustle and bustle at the airport and if so, how much they knew about the Summit.
A police officer outshone all others with his knowledge of the Summit. I asked if security personnel had been briefed about it, but no, he said, the information was widely available. Not only had he read about it and heard about it on radio, he had also stumbled across a television channel – which he could not name – that was giving extensive coverage to the Summit. The one thing that had stood out for him that day was a story of an African farmer who had made a success of his farm thanks to access to the Internet at a cyber café in the nearby village.
During the whole conversation, his partner next to him showed no signs of knowing what we were talking about. He knew there was additional security, but this in itself had not tickled his curiosity. I was amazed that at no point did he use the fact that he was ‘security” to cut short the interview.
When I tried the various service counters in the Arrivals area, the response was not what I had expected, given that a whole Summit counter has been set up right in their midst. At the Swiss Airlines counter, the assistant deliberated about it for a second with a blank expression, concluding, ‘I know something about it, but I don’t really care.” At the Turkish Airlines counter, the answer was straight and frank: ‘I have never heard about the Summit.” At the Hertz car rental company, the assistant confirmed that bookings were higher, but thought that it had to do with the skiing season.
I then turned to the arriving visitors, asking if they were coming from Africa and whether they were regular visitors to Geneva. Passengers from Africa were either coming for the Summit, or had not heard about it. Of the regular visitors that I approached, one was able to tell me what was going on. Pointing to the Summit counter metres away, he gave an accurate description of the event. Asked about his professional activities, he said he was in business in the ICT industry. However, he didn’t feel that the airport was busier than usual for the time of the year. The other four who confirmed that they were regular visitors also knew nothing about the Summit.
I then took a bus ride into town and when the bulk of the passengers got off at Geneva’s central station – Cornavin – I began approaching the people left on the bus. It soon dawned on me that we were heading for a suburb of old people, as most were over 60. I wasn’t sure about making a direct connection with the fact that we were driving past a whole street where tombstones were being cut and sold – and then the Cemetiere de St George came into view.
The Porsche dealership felt oddly out of place in the next block. I spoke to a number of elderly people, and about half had heard of the Summit. When I asked about the medium, two pointed out that they had no television. One blue-rinsed lady said that though she knew about the event, she had not paid much attention, as she had felt that it would not be something that would have any consequences in her lifetime.
As the bus returned to Cornavin, I got off and went back to the hotel where I had stayed in September. Whereas in September all they knew was that an events agency had block-booked the hotel, this time they knew about the Summit, but nothing else. The receptionist – who said she had no television – said she had been curious to ask people she knew about it, but that nobody could tell her anything about it. She ventured to say that if the level of ignorance was bad in Geneva, it would be even worse in the rest of Switzerland.
During the September visit, of all the hotels I visited, the only one that knew about the Summit was one that had not been selected by the events company – they possibly did some rooting around to find out about the event for which he had been overlooked. At a more upmarket hotel, most of the staff knew about the Summit, explaining that besides the media, the police issued regular bulletins about events taking place in the city.
Out in the streets, the 20-somethings were oblivious to the event, barring one youngster who explained that he knew about it because of his involvement with Open Source – he said he was a ‘militant defender”.
At a newsagent, one of the assistants knew about the Summit, but only because their normal bus route had been affected by preparations for it. They had also been notified by the police about the possibility of demonstrations in the vicinity of Palexpo. The other assistant – who also lived on the same route – gave a surprised cry: ‘Ah! So that is what is going on.” As to the publications most likely to carry information on the Summit, they suggested Le Temps, Le Courier and La Tribune.
To round off, I tried to single out immigrants, targeting the easy-to-spot Latins in the hope of finding some citizens from developing countries. A Chilean who operates a travel agency was well informed, which he attributed to watching television. When I told him how he differed from the majority, he said people experienced too much hardship to sit and watch news – they would rather watch variety programmes. When I asked if it had anything to do with a difference in perceptions between people from poor countries and rich countries, he said, ‘Chile is not a poor country – and besides, look at that,” pointing at a white beggar sitting on the pavement nearby. I had noted these white beggars in September, always accompanied by large, well-fed dogs, oddly enough.
This story would not be complete if I did not relate a little incident that I witnessed outside the Media Centre at the Summit. A group of three presented themselves at the helpdesk – duly accredited with delegates’ badges – and proceeded to ask what events were on, which ones they were allowed to go to and if there were any information packs on the Summit. It was heartening to realise that it is not only people from our continent who can be accused of going on free trips.