Whose Voice Will We Hear?

In my story today on the State Department's grant program to increase the availability of social media and online learning tools in the Middle East, George Washington University professor Henry Farrell calls the program a "sophisticated and interesting approach" to 21st century diplomacy and democracy-building. Given how the events following the Iranian election in June captured the world's attention online, I think most can agree that there is a great deal of untapped potential in social networking tools like Twitter and Facebook, particularly when it comes to increasing citizen engagement.

Developing an infrastructure that will allow for the free exchange of ideas is probably the first step towards crafting a sustainable democracy, which is why Farrell was so encouraged by the State Department's new approach. During our conversation, I compared the new program to Voice of America, which has been broadcasting the American perspective internationally since World War II, but Farrell didn't agree with the analogy.

"This is different. We want to build a platform, create civil societies, educate people and see what they have to say," he replied.

Of course that sounds fantastic, except when you consider the people making use of this new network may not be whom the U.S. government has in mind. Farrell raised the legitimate possibility that Islamic groups like the Muslim Brotherhood may use the new platforms as a means for spreading their message. If that were to happen, it's not hard to envision the State Department coming under fire for using taxpayer dollars to fund Islamic fundamentalism.

"There are political quandaries they're going to have to navigate to apply this money effectively," Farrell said. "It's politically riskier, there's no guarantee what people are going to say when they have the capability."

It's an interesting issue as President Obama considers what types of democracy-building efforts he is willing to engage in going forwards.

A more immediate concern may be what happens to those individuals who choose to embrace the tools despite resistance from their governments. During the Iranian uprising we saw a number of innovative attempts by the international community to provide Iranians with a voice to criticize their leaders. The resulting violence was a sobering reminder that sparking a revolution involves more than just changing your profile picture.

Many Americans took a great deal of satisfaction in cheering the protesters or changing their Twitter location to Tehran. But providing substantive support to pro-democracy advocates is a more serious matter. If we're going to give people a place to voice their opposition to their country's leadership, we should probably be there to help them when those leaders decide to strike back.