Hillary
Clinton on open and closed societies. Link to this video
Nations
will be divided not between east and west, or along religious lines, but
between open and closed societies, the US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton,
has said.
Countries
that are closed to "change, ideas, cultures and beliefs that are different
from theirs will quickly find that in an internet world they will be left
behind", Clinton said.
Speaking
at the inaugural meeting of the Open Government Partnership in Brasilia, she
said countries could only become more secure and peaceful if they were open.
"In the 21st century, the US is convinced that one of the most significant
divisions between nations will be not between east or west, nor over religion,
so much as between open and closed societies," she said.
"We
believe those governments that hide from public view and dismiss ideas of
openness and the aspirations of their people for greater freedom will find it
increasingly difficult to create a secure society."
Clinton
said the "remarkable events" in north Africa and elsewhere in the
past year had opened up the potential for more open societies, and she welcomed
government representatives from Libya to the Brazilian conference. "Before
this year, they could never have participated in this open government
partnership," she said.
The 55
members of the Open Government Partnership have each published a national
action plan to outline how they will make their governments more transparent
and strengthen democracy. The countries represent more than a quarter of the
world's citizens, but Clinton acknowledged that simply signing up to the ideas
of open government would not be enough.
"If
ideas just remain theoretical, they are not much use to anyone," she said.
"But we now have tools that previous advocates of open information could
not even dream of. We are releasing enormous quantities of public data, making
complex budgets available online, and connecting leaders with citizens, as we
have seen in this past year of the Arab awakening."
She said
Chile, Estonia, Spain and Tanzania had created websites to make government data
accessible to the public, and Bulgaria and Croatia had set up systems to
explain in clear language to their citizens how public money was spent.
The US
under-secretary of state Maria Otero said the conference demonstrated the
global appetite for more transparent government, aand the internet had played a
huge part in supporting transparency. "The position of the US has always
been that the internet should be a completely free method of expression,"
she said.
Related Article:
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US
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrives at Itamaraty
Palace in Brasilia, on
April 16 (AFP, Evaristo Sa)
|
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