Isn’t that right? It is not possible. This is the comment we often hear from those, like me, who have the profound certainty that digital technologies are a revolutionary tool to convey our message to the people. But no. It is not possible. 140 characters does not allow enough room for profundity, for nuance, and therefore, it is difficult to convey the complexity and emotion of the political message.
And still, there are many like me who continue to believe. We believe that the digital world is a platform that can be used with skill to portray reality and to modify it; to get our message out there and strengthen it with other people´s contributions in order to give more visibility to our politics and draw them closer to the social realities of our citizens.
We live in a world where traditional written press is inevitably migrating towards digital content, and in turn, this is moving towards mobile devices that we all have in our pockets and though which we keep ourselves informed, and which also gives us the option to immediately choose any content, as well as to give an opinion there and then, without needing to wait and go to the newsstand the next day in order to find out what happened yesterday.
We have all of this technology on hand in order to be at the forefront, to lead, to focus the main ideas of our message and get straight to the point, in order to convey and counterbalance, to carry out pedagogical techniques and immediately fight the enemies of our country with conviction, creativity and intelligence. All of this is what 2.0 offers us.
Yet there are still those who are of the opinion that it is not possible to give a proper argument in 140 characters. I ask myself far too often, despite tangible and spectacular evidence in cases like Barack Obama’s victorious presidential election in the USA, why he still mistrusts the power of 2.0 – most probably due to the fear of the unknown or perhaps because his technocrats haven´t explained it well enough. That is the reason why me and my colleagues from the ICTs at Convergència DemocrĂ tica de Catalunya (The Democratic Convergence of Catalonia) are committed to continue working to show that the Internet is accessible to everyone, and that we must not be scared of technology, and neither should it separate us from humanity nor the political message it contains, because it is technology that defines us as human beings.
Take a look at this image:
This is a map of Europe according to the languages used through short messages on Twitter. Take a look at the prevalence of Catalan in our region. Is it possible to write a text – however long is it – which could illustrate in a more tangible manner the existence of our language and our identity in the eyes of the whole planet?
And this is just an image made out of texts which are much smaller than a thousand words…
Very soon we won´t need these kind of maps in order for the world to know who we are; our government is working towards the national transition of Catalonia; it is walking towards independence, and one day our flag will fly alongside other national flags in front of the United Nations building in New York. And when that happens, that very day, we will all remember the words that an old Catalan genius, Pau Casals, once said back in the 1970s, in order for the entire planet to know of our fight: Catalonia is an oppressed nation. And when we count the number of characters, we will see that there are – only 32. And we will smile, because that day Catalonia will stop being an oppressed nation.
Oi que no? No es pot. Aquest Ă©s el comentari que sentim sovint els qui, com jo, tenim el profund convenciment que les tecnologies digitals sĂłn una eina revolucionĂ ria per fer arribar el nostre missatge a la gent. Però no. No es pot. Amb 140 carĂ cters no hi ha espai per a la profunditat, per al matĂs, i per tant no s’hi pot vehicular la complexitat i l’emotivitat del missatge polĂtic.
I malgrat tot, hi ha molts com jo que hi continuem creient. Creiem que el mĂłn digital Ă©s una plataforma que pot ser usada amb mestratge per copsar la realitat i per modificar-la; per fer arribar el nostre discurs i enfortir-lo amb les aportacions dels altres; per donar mĂ©s visibilitat a les nostres polĂtiques i apropar-les a les realitats socials de la nostra ciutadania.
Vivim en un món on la premsa en paper està migrant de forma inexorable vers els continguts digitals, i aquests vers els dispositius mòbils que duem a la butxaca i a través dels quals ens informem i que ens donen l’oportunitat de seleccionar amb immediatesa continguts i d’opinar aquà i ara, sense necessitat d’esperar a baixar al quiosc al dia següent per saber què va passar ahir.
Tenim tota aquesta tecnologia al nostre abast per anar al capdavant, per liderar, per focalitzar les idees principals del nostre discurs i anar a barraca, per transmetre i contrarestar, per fer pedagogia i combatre els enemics del nostre paĂs, amb immediatesa, contundència, creativitat i intel·ligència. Tot això Ă©s el que ens ofereix el 2.0.
I malgrat tot, encara hi ha qui diu que no es pot argumentar en 140 carĂ cters. Em pregunto massa sovint si, malgrat les evidències de casos tan tangibles i espectaculars com ara les campanyes presidencials victorioses de Barak Obama als Estats Units, qui encara recela del poder del 2.0 no ho fa, en realitat, per la por al desconegut o perquè els tecnòlegs no ens hem explicat encara prou bĂ©. Per aquest motiu, jo i els meus companys de sectorial TIC de Convergència DemocrĂ tica de Catalunya ens comprometem a continuar treballant per mostrar que internet Ă©s accessible a tothom, i que no ens ha de fer por la tecnologia ni ens ha de separar de les humanitats i el discurs polĂtic que contĂ©, car Ă©s exactament la tecnologia allò que ens defineix com a Ă©ssers humans.
Fixeu-vos en aquesta imatge:
Es tracta d’un mapa d’Europa segons les llengües que s’usen a través dels curts missatges de Twitter. Fixeu-vos en la prevalença del català en el nostre territori. És possible escriure un text –per llarg que sigui- que il·lustri de forma més tangible l’existència de la nostra llengua i la nostra identitat a ulls de tot el planeta?
I nomĂ©s Ă©s una imatge feta de textos que sĂłn molt mĂ©s petits que mil paraules…
En breu no ens caldran mapes d’aquesta mena perquè el món sà piga qui som; el nostre Govern està treballant vers la transició nacional de Catalunya; està caminant vers la nostra independència i un dia la nostra bandera onejarà al costat de la resta de banderes nacionals al davant de l’edifici de les Nacions Unides a Nova York. I quan això passi, aquell dia, tots podrem recordar una frase que un vell geni català , de nom Pau Casals, per allà als anys 70 del segle passat, va pronunciar a la seva seu i va fer que tot el planeta conegués la nostra lluita: Catalonia is an oppressed nation. I comptarem els seus carà cters, i ens en sortiran –només- 32. I somriurem, perquè aquell dia Catalunya haurà deixat de ser una nació oprimida.