“Offline”, was the only message shown on the supposed-to-be the live streaming page of the TEDx event that was held yesterday in Algiers. An event that has its prestige around the globe, and which was announced to be a success even before it started [refer to twitter for evidence!].
The excuse of the organizers was that there was no internet connection and that it was the CERIST’s fault, not theirs. The most prestigious institute of informatics had no internet connection! and worst, no internet connection during a TEDx event! That same institute that is ranked 7842 among the world’s universities.
Internet is not a luxury anymore, but yet, we still see that Algeria cannot provide a reliable internet connection during a supposed-to-be global event like TED. While the organizers deserve a big part of the reproach, the only thing to be said is Shame on you Algeria, it is 2011 in case you didn’t notice yet!
Identity is a crucial part of such global events, and language is the main player in this; A quick look at the TEDxCarthage or TEDxCairo shows pretty much how the speakers are using their native language mostly, but unfortunately TEDxAlger was a pure French spectacle.
Some are arguing that as far as we can understand what the speakers say, language is just an illusionary abstract layer, which is of course scandalously fallacious when it comes to an official statement from a government member (yeah, remember the Algerian ministers and such?), or when a global event is concerned where the city (or the country in Algeria’s case) is to be represented. (We could change the name of the event to TEDxMarseille and no one will notice, trust me)
There was a competition where people can vote for the best video and article written about TEDxAlger, and it is not strange at all to know that the video that was ranked 1st is a stolen video.. from YouTube (seriously)
Some have been discussing the fact that more than a half of the speakers are living abroad (France) and the moral impact of this on the event after all. As someone said, “what I can understand from this, is that, the only way to be successful is to leave Algeria [Redacted]”.
Once again, that might be a wrong move of the organizers to invite only Francophone speakers (thought I’m sure ALL of them know at least some Algerian Darja), or it was a smart one, who knows.
More on the subject :
Grindaizer's Mind: Alors ce #TedxAlger ?
