Jain Spirit 2003 03 No 14

Author(s): Jain Spirit UK
Publisher: UK Young Jains

Page 35

JAMES MATURIN-BAIRD
YOUTH
OPEN YOUR EYES TO THE WORLD
In conversation with Jain Spirit, Anup Shah talks about the motivation. behind his web site www.globalissues.org
By profession, Anup Shah is a software engineer and consultant, a full-time career in itself. Around five years ago, he also established his own web site, www.globalissues.org, which explores inter-related issues such as social justice, the environment, geopolitics and poverty amongst others. Although developing and maintaining this highly informative and thought-provoking web site is almost another full-time job, Anup does not ask for payment or funding for this valuable work. He does it all in his spare time, often
Checking out www.globalissues.org staying up into the early hours to work on the site, driven by eagerness to understand the world better.
Anup's interest in global issues was first sparked by a conversation about careers with a university friend. His friend was adamant that he could never work in the defence industry because 'whatever you do, you're building systems that kill people', an argument to which Anup had no answer. Anup recalls that the conversation then turned to the question of world poverty, and his friend told him about some of the shocking social injustices in poor countries. That conversation drove Anup to start
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Jain Spirit March May 2003
OPEN YOUR EYES TO THE WORLD
reading and learning more about poverty, social justice, development and politics. After graduating, he moved to the U.S.A for work, at which time he decided to improve his web development skills: he actually only started the Global Issues web site to practise these skills and to frame his growing interest in the issues first introduced to him by this university friend of his, unaware that it would grow the way it has.
In exploring these global issues, Anup felt he wanted to write about
them: "That was the only way I knew how to shout out: 'Hey, look what's going on around the world."" Evidently, Anup is doing an excellent job of reaching people: the Global Issues web site currently has 5000 to 6000 visitors a day, and is cited on university reading lists as well as major newspapers, social justiceand development-related web sites.
As he pursued his quest to understand global issues better, Anup realised that even in the most democratic countries such as the U.S.A, the perspectives on many important issues offered by mainstream media was narrow and very limited. He found this disturbing because, as he states on his web site, he believes that: "Constructive criticism and debate should be a necessary part in the development and continual improvement process in all of us so that we can always evaluate ourselves as individuals, collective peoples and societies. This helps avoid stagnation, complacency and blind conformity, while enhancing democracy and diversity."
Now, through his own web site, Anup tries to present different perspectives from different sources: from the third world and from lesserknown individuals and organisations, not just the BBCs and CNNs of this world. The Global Issues web site has over 5000 links because Anup is keen that visitors are not "...stuck on my web site. I want them to go elsewhere, to other web sites. I want people to see that it's not just me saying this, there are many people out there saying it with far more research and detail than I am, and I want them to make their own decisions."
Anup feels that some of his concerns for social justice come from a background of Jainism, through his parents. He feels that Jainism offers a valuable framework for understanding social justice. In particular, he finds inspiration in the idea of non-violence.
"People are working hard, sacrificing their own lives in various ways to fight for what they believe in. We've heard stories of famous people like Mahatma Gandhi or Martin Luther King and others, but there are so many of those types of people in the world today that don't get a voice. To be honest, I feel they are the ones doing the hard work. All I'm doing is reading their stuff and trying to put it together in a different way, and at the same time it helps me see the world in another way. Maybe I can use my skills in this way to give back the things I've received through reading from other people's sweat and blood."
Anup Shah is a Senior Software Consultant, and lives in London.