Peace activism has been around for years, and the development of mass communication tools, such as the Internet, has allowed protesters across the globe to unite, as was seen Feb. 15 and Jan. 18 in worldwide protests against the potential war in Iraq.
Although the birth of the Internet was in 1981, it wasn’t until the early 1990s that the resource started to take shape. The widely known, user-friendly face of technology didn’t fully catch on until about five years ago.
“Internet communication is expanding and increasing with interaction,” University Professor Kyu Youm said.
Youm, who is the Jonathan Marshall First Amendment Chair and specializes in mass communication law, also said many peace-oriented activists find the Internet to be an effective way to let each other know what
is happening.
Within the past year, various parties have emerged from the woodwork of peace activism to use the power of technology to get information to potential activists around the world.
Brian Bogart, a graduate student at the University, started IntelligentFuture, one such group, to meet his master’s requirements. Bogart, who started the project with the hopes of bringing a peace group to the University, said the group is “seeking a way to maximize the effectiveness of the global peace movement to create a world without war by 2100.”
IntelligentFuture is an idea that has been tossed around in an online chat forum for the past several years. It took form as an organization in September 2001, when Bogart came back to the University to get his graduate degree. After he found allies with Students for Peace in mid-October, however, he decided to work with them and cosponsor events, such as peace rallies.
“It’s really great to get an e-mail from someone in Syria talking about a demonstration,” Bogart said. “I don’t think we could have done that a long time ago. In fact, I’m sure of it.”
Bogart is also in favor of using technology to upgrade the current activist movement. Although he has been actively involved with peace marches since his first in 1964, he said e-mail and the Web are helping to organize rallies better than the news media did in the ’60s.
“Most of us rely on e-mail a lot,” he said. “I know I have connections to hundreds of peace groups around the country.”
While the rallies that took place Feb. 15 had multiple organizers, including International ANSWER and United for Peace and Justice, groups were unified with each other through both e-mail and the Internet.
Carol Van Houten, a peace activist involved with United for Peace and Justice, said technology is aiding in the ability to make information quickly available.
“E-mail and Web pages work wonderfully and effectively at getting a lot of information out to a lot of people in a timely manner,” she said.
Van Houten added that e-mail and the Internet are key components of the current organizing of peace activism.
“(Internet was) not something we had when organizing before,” Van Houten said. “Hence, for the first time, we have an anti-war effort at full steam before the war. During Vietnam, it took years to get where we are today with regards to Iraq.”