IT: the Long Distance Politics
Even though the primary focus of Sreeram Chaulia is on Thaksin in Thailand he mentions ALtaf Hussain's long distance campaigining ~~t
Thaksin is not the first Asian politician to organize Internet-based revolts. Altaf Hussain, the leader of Pakistan's mohajir community that migrated from India to Pakistan during and after the partition of 1947, has been in exile in London since 1992. A colorful politician who was once a taxi driver in New York City, Hussain's Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) has long remained Pakistan's third-largest political party behind the Pakistan Muslim League of Nawaz Sharif and the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) of the Bhutto dynasty. Hussain has a murky history as a creation of the Pakistani military to weaken the PPP's hold over the Pakistani southern port city of Karachi in the province of Sindh. During Nawaz Sharif's first term, he was persecuted under the bloody "Operation Clean Up", a military offensive to cleanse Karachi of "anti-social elements", a codeword for the MQM. After escaping the state's dragnet, he settled in London and began a new career as a long-distance leader of the MQM. Like Thaksin today, Hussain has directed his political machinery on the ground in Pakistan through regular public teleconference broadcasts from London. In moments of great violence and disturbances in Karachi, Hussain issued video-link highly emotional speeches challenging various Pakistani governments of the past two decades for labeling him a "terrorist", and telling his supporters to fight for their rights. With advances in IT applications, MQM's media wing has grown quite sophisticated in shooting video clips that purportedly show rival political parties indulging in mob violence on its party members. The clips are released in Pakistan via the Internet and television channels and used to challenge the official version of riots and gang warfare in Karachi. Hussain has even conducted full-length election campaigns for the MQM through audio and video messages that his candidates play at mass gatherings. Laced with songs praising Hussain as a fearless fighter against oppression, the videos are highlights of the MQM's political rallies. Improvements in web-based technology have allowed the MQM to graduate from the recorded messages of the 1990s to live addresses in which he invites a virtual audience of thousands in Pakistan to shout back, dance and cheer with fanatic devotion.
Thaksin is not the first Asian politician to organize Internet-based revolts. Altaf Hussain, the leader of Pakistan's mohajir community that migrated from India to Pakistan during and after the partition of 1947, has been in exile in London since 1992. A colorful politician who was once a taxi driver in New York City, Hussain's Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) has long remained Pakistan's third-largest political party behind the Pakistan Muslim League of Nawaz Sharif and the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) of the Bhutto dynasty. Hussain has a murky history as a creation of the Pakistani military to weaken the PPP's hold over the Pakistani southern port city of Karachi in the province of Sindh. During Nawaz Sharif's first term, he was persecuted under the bloody "Operation Clean Up", a military offensive to cleanse Karachi of "anti-social elements", a codeword for the MQM. After escaping the state's dragnet, he settled in London and began a new career as a long-distance leader of the MQM. Like Thaksin today, Hussain has directed his political machinery on the ground in Pakistan through regular public teleconference broadcasts from London. In moments of great violence and disturbances in Karachi, Hussain issued video-link highly emotional speeches challenging various Pakistani governments of the past two decades for labeling him a "terrorist", and telling his supporters to fight for their rights. With advances in IT applications, MQM's media wing has grown quite sophisticated in shooting video clips that purportedly show rival political parties indulging in mob violence on its party members. The clips are released in Pakistan via the Internet and television channels and used to challenge the official version of riots and gang warfare in Karachi. Hussain has even conducted full-length election campaigns for the MQM through audio and video messages that his candidates play at mass gatherings. Laced with songs praising Hussain as a fearless fighter against oppression, the videos are highlights of the MQM's political rallies. Improvements in web-based technology have allowed the MQM to graduate from the recorded messages of the 1990s to live addresses in which he invites a virtual audience of thousands in Pakistan to shout back, dance and cheer with fanatic devotion.
posted by temporal at 4/17/2009
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