The heart of any living democracy is information and communication. Democracy means people's rule, and for the people to have influence in the government they have first to be informed about what can be done and is to be done, and then they must have the way to manifest their opinion in an effective way.

A taxi drivers' strike had been announced in a certain city. I boarded a taxi on the day previous to the strike. I asked the driver what he thought of the strike. He was clear and definite: 'I am fully against the strike, and so are all the companions I know in my trade. The decision for the strike has been taken only by the leaders of the workers' union for their own political interest. It has nothing to do with our welfare. If we would have been able to vote for or against the strike, there certainly would be no strike. In fact, tomorrow I'm going to take my taxi on the street..., but only for a short round in my own area as a protest against the strike. I don't dare to go into the city, because my car would certainly be smashed by the pickets. And they call that democracy!'

Suppose now that there had been a ready way for all taxi drivers to vote on the issue, with anonymity and quickness, there would have been no strike. I don't say this for or against strikes; I say it for real and actual democracy. And the point I want to make is that, with the advances

in electronic technology, we'll soon have in our hands the material means to make such quick and effective mass consultations for any important national or regional decision. In other words, we will have the means to have an effective democracy in our hands, that is, means of information and communication, and if we train ourselves to their use, we can make real democracy a fact in our government.

Gandhiji achieved democracy by these very means. He could not use television or Internet, but he had the intuition of the impact of the word and the image through the radio and the press; and a gesture of his achieved instant communication with the whole country, and united the masses in an effective consensus that led to freedom. His simple clothing, his third class travel in trains, his obedience to the rules when in jail, and above all his genial 'audio-visual' magnificence in the 'Dandi March' were superb examples of that gift of communication that woke up the nation and the world in a unique movement in modern history.

We therefore, need more information and more communication, and we have increasingly in our hands the means to make that information and communication a reality in our days. We have technicians who lead the electronic revolution, and through it we can achieve a level of communication that would establish real democratic ways in government. It is true that we cannot give a computer to every citizen, but we can awaken the conscience of those among us who do use electronic means to keep themselves better informed and to inform those around them; and then, to determine the true desires of all citizens at the grass roots level, and process that information and make it reach and influence those who take the practical decisions at the higher level.

Thus I see cybernetics as a great help in establishing a living democracy, and if we lead in cybernetics, we should also lead in democracy. This is the challenge for the present generation among us.