The release of secret documents chronicling the wrongdoings and intrigue of governments around the world, made public on the Wiki-Leaks New Media site by Julian Assange and the more than 800 volunteers who work at securing and releasing classified government information on the site, is indicative of a new information order threatening to be brought into existence. It is an order which can completely transform the established structures of governance, political and economic systems in countries across the world, and the relationship between governments and people. The blocking out of the WikiLeaks site in China, making it inaccessible to workers in the federal government in the US, similar action by countries such as Australia, Britain, Germany and the incarceration of the WikiLeaks founder in what seems like a trumped-up charge of sexual assault are indicative of the transforming power of information previously hidden from the public. Understandably, the release of information on the secret operations of governments has triggered widespread panic in the established or-der. The Obama administration has called on its European allies to bring criminal charges against Assange for releasing information on the war against Afghanistan. The US also wants its partners to prevent Assange from travelling freely across the world to make contacts.
This panic that has set in over the operations of WikiLeaks is based on the understanding that information on the inner workings of government (whatever the ideological hew) kept secret in the hands of those who control the power in societies allows them to maintain that stranglehold; the last thing power brokers want is for information on their dealings to become public. For readers not completely aware of the WikiLeaks initiative, it is a non-government organisation founded by Australian Assange in 2006-2007. The organisation claims to have 1.2 million secret documents in its possession and is intent on strategically releasing them on its Website for public consumption. That is a mighty challenge to the established order of government and governance structure established by those who have fashioned the systems of governance to maintain control. One element of securing the order has been the socialisation of the governed to believe that governments and their leaders have superior knowledge and rights over them as ordinary people. Indeed, governments have historically been established on the basis of a small cadre of elites having a divine right to govern.
One of the best examples of how populations have been duped because of the secret operations of government was the unconscionable and wholly indefensible war conducted against the people of Iraq. George Bush and Tony Blair invented the fiction of the weapons of mass destruction being in the hands of the madman (who was created in part by both the British and the Americans) Saddam Hussein. It was one of the greatest con jobs ever perpetrated on the international community. Military might was used to secure oil and gas fields for the benefit of the western world, while Bush and Blair feigned religious fervour for the welfare of innocent Iraqis. If you cannot conceive of how the suppression of information about motivation and operational initiatives at the level of western-Middle Eastern politics, think of how different the last eight years would have been if full information was available on the operations of succeeding Manning governments. Similarly, the People's Partnership Government would have functioned very differently since May if it were known that information on its policy-making and operations would soon become available to the public.
Nevertheless, there will always be the argument made by the established order that for government to operate effectively, then there could never be anything close to complete transparency. Those making the strongest arguments are the ones who benefit most from the secrecy of their operations. Succeeding governments here in T&T have argued that it is in the national interest that the price at which gas is sold to the international energy companies should remain secret. Similarly opaque were decisions made by the previous government about hosting international conferences here. Never did the population receive a logical and believable rationale for the expenditure of billions. Indeed, more revelations are being made about the distribution of state land and state patronage for a well-placed minister of religion. The historical violent brutalisation and the exploitation of the economic resources of the developing world have always been carried out on the basis of concocted myths while the real motivations have remained hidden from view.
In addition to allowing for the exercise of physical control, secrecy facilitates mythical image-making. Public relations specialists are constantly finding ways to sell images of leaders to followers for popular consumption. The release of information that shows leaders for what they really are would destroy the image fabricated by the "mind benders." Think of if we could really have stripped bare leaders such as Will-iams, GW Bush, Panday and Manning, to name a few from a list of thousands. Ironically, while the advancement of technology has always worked in favour of governments to exercise even greater control over their populations, this time the technological revolution in information technology and mass communications is portending great benefits to the governed. Working together with WikiLeaks in this enterprise of information-release have been a few of the major newspapers of the US and Europe. In an environment in which information on governance becomes freely available, governments and individuals will think twice about engaging in corrupt and sordid behaviours.
Transparency in the relations between and amongst states is likely to transform such behaviours, making governments, especially the militarily and economically powerful states, far more honest and genuine.
Almost as a reflex action, because greed and the need for secrecy are so built into the culture, there will be attempts to counter the information leaks. Surely, however, once people have tasted of this new power over their leaders they will in turn find counters to continue the mining of information to make it available through WikiLeaks and other channels. Will mankind look back on this period as the start of a completely revolutionary process of governance and the empowerment of ordinary people over their leaders? Or is this likely to be a flash-in-the-pan democratisation which will soon fizzle?