International alternative networks are non-commercial agencies that keep pace with the advancement of media and information within their countries. They are not imperialist structures that are internally directed. They are independent noncommercial alternatives that are working to bring multimedia into the 21st Century. They were first introduced in the 1990s, and have expanded to include a variety of types of media, including videos, reports websites and alternative web-based websites that offer video content. Many have turned into multinational businesses and they are an important factor part of any democratic media strategy.
Despite the fact that these groups differ in size their focus and locations, they are united by a noncommercial philosophy and opposition to imperialist power systems. These groups spread their views through organising information and communications reform campaigns and promoting an inclusive and equal Internet. They also create new infrastructures for communication that help local and regional developments that relate to social movements.
The strength of these global networks is due to the co-operation through social movement organizing campaigns and media reform campaigns that alter information and communication to the benefit of all. They are developing a complicated lattice of local-local, regional (especially south-south) and transnational links that circumvent old colonial north-south linkages and power dynamics.
These international networks continue to create regional connections and are promoting the democratization and reforms in information and communications. They are now an essential element in the fight for greater sustainable development and human rights.
