29 Set What Are International Alternative Networks?
International alternative networks are believed to be non-commercial organizations that are able to keep pace with improvements in the top quality of information and media in their countries. They are distinct from imperialist power structures which might be on the inside governed and are self-sufficient and noncommercial alternatives that attempt to bring multimedia into the 21st century. They typically began in the 1990s but have grown to include all types of media, including video tutorials, reports sites and alternative internet based websites that offer video content. Many of them have evolved to become multinational corporations and are a crucial element of any democratic media strategies.
These groups are united by their noncommercial ethos, and opposition to imperialist structures of power. These groups promote their beliefs by organizing information and communication reform efforts and promoting an inclusive and egalitarian Internet. They also create new networks of communication that facilitate local connections regional and global developments in relation to social movements.
The strength of these networks is built through cooperation, through organizing campaigns for social movements, as well as media reform campaigns that adapt information and communication to the benefit of everyone. They are creating a complex network of transnational, local-local (especially south-south) regional and other links that evade the traditional power dynamics of colonialism and links between south and north.
While these international networks face numerous obstacles such as insufficient capital and skilled personnel, they continue to establish regional links and promote the democratization of information and communication reforms. They have become a vital part of the fight for better human rights as well as environmental sustainability.