kea was having a ‘50 per cent off’ sale. Paris Hilton was making yet another mind-numbing press statement. AT&T was hawking its latest flavour of VOIP calling plan. Martha Stewart’s handlers were carefully planting stories on TV networks about an upcoming television show she would star in when released from prison. In other words, 26 December 2004 was a day just like any other day – dominated by marketing, business, gossip and fads.
But the movement of the India plate of the earth’s crust, some 10,000 miles away, would change everything in a country where the latest iPod or a seven-zero CEO bonus is news. The word ‘tsunami’ was the equivalent of the word ‘iceberg’ in post-Titanic 1912, as it smashed into our collective consciousness. Then, it was an unsinkable ship. This time, it was about an unthinkable wave – a primal force that no amount of technology could have averted. Perhaps an early-warning system could have dramatically reduced the death toll. But a sea that disobeys the laws of nature and rips out your roof gives one something more important than technology to think about: how fragile we all are…
It’s a given that every new high-tech idea draws on a common theme of how networks reshape our lives. Every new gadget and ‘paradigm shift’ that enhances how we work and live proves our planet’s ability to collaborate. Networks are pretty amazing, because people from all walks of life can participate. What drives networks is the stunning enthusiasm of individuals behind those dull terminals. Collective affiliations, hubs and transnational groups are the future.
We need each other more than we are sometimes humble enough to realise. The networks – both formal and informal – sprang into action, and are eager to do whatever it takes to get us back on our feet. We now have to include the sweeping forces of the Red Cross and Red Crescent, mosques, churches and temples in foreign capitals, student associations, NGOs and ad-hoc business networks that have come to play a role in nation building. It was as if the waves that smashed into our beautiful island were followed by a wave of hope. The world came to the rescue of its global family.
This may sound soft and unbusinesslike, but how else can you explain the following? Israel – which has no diplomatic ties with Sri Lanka – sent medical teams to help. An engineer from England – who contacted me via my website – is now in Pottuvil, building houses. Children from my daughter’s Montessori school have brought in their piggy banks to raise funds, as have three teenagers in Scottsdale, Arizona, who collected US$ 500 by selling overpriced lollipops.
I personally experienced the remarkable potential of networks – the human, not the technical kind. My wife made a few calls to friends saying we were planning to ship three boxes of infant formula and medicines via a container leaving for Colombo. I posted the list on my weblog, which was copied and circulated. Within a few hours, the phones began to ring. Soon, people we never knew were dropping off boxes outside our house. Then someone came forward and volunteered to drive the load to California. Some 40 boxes later, we loaded a truck and trailer and made a 900-mile round trip from Arizona to California. In the business world, this tactic – word-of-mouth – is the dirty little secret of great communication. Our ‘network’ – driven by one part technology and three parts personal contacts – has almost shamed me into realising its awesome power.
From now on, it would be impossible to write any business story without recognising this theme: how interconnected we are in this global village. Networks and globalisation have sticky political, social and geographic implications; but one of the aftershocks of the tsunami may be how we can learn to pull together and put our petty agendas aside. As one of the first journalists from the south to enter the Wanni after the tsunami observed, even the LTTE appealed for international help and welcomed Sarvodaya. The global village in action, indeed.
Three weeks into the tragedy, the story in the US has moved to the back of the newspapers and broadcast channels. That’s to be expected. In a perfect world, bad news shouldn’t be headline news. We can never forget the stories about the killer waves, shattered lives and the body bags. But there are other stories we must continue to tell, about your gama and mine, as our networks intersect in our global village.