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Building community in your area? Check out the newly-launched Community Organizers Handbook! Everything you need to start and grow a NetSquared Local group or any other community-powered program.
An Anti-Genocide Community: Building the Political Will to End Genocide
Challenges Entered:
Empowering anti-genocide activists with the tools for community-based education, user-generated content and strong shared connections, the anti-genocide community will pool the collective knowledge of a growing movement for change.
The burgeoning Darfur movement — student rallies, Sudan divestment, green Save Darfur bracelets — is on the verge of truly transformative change: changing the way the world responds to genocide and mass atrocities. Whereas previous crises saw only inaction by politicians, there is a growing sense of political will for the responsibility to protect civilians anywhere from annihilation. In short, the movement is shifting “Never Again†from a promise we make to a commitment we keep.
The Genocide Intervention Network exists to empower individuals and communities to stop genocide — to build a permanent anti-genocide constituency that makes inaction in the face of mass atrocities politically unthinkable.
With the anti-genocide community website, we hope to empower individuals with the tools for community-based education, the strength for collective action and the connective tissue for long-term resilience. What was once only achievable with national rallies (difficult to plan, exclusionary by geography, organization-centric and hierarchical) is now being realized on a local level through community empowerment (organic, inclusive, local, network-centric and decentralized).
We want to expand the discussion beyond Darfur alone to a broader commitment to ending genocide, while engendering both local leadership and a sense of accountability to the communities facing genocidal crises that activists hope to represent.
We want to give anti-genocide activists ownership over their own participation, by encouraging them to develop their own pledge for action, their own slideshow on the crisis, their own map of their impact on the network — in short, their own voice for standing against genocide.
WHAT WE NEED:
Expenses for web hosting and bandwidth would be covered in-house, but a few thousand dollars in seed money would help us initiate this project and acquire buy-in from our board. Beyond hosting costs, however, the true cost is staff time and expertise.
Thus, what we most seek from the NetSquared community is technical knowledge, consulting and advice on moving forward. In building a website amplifying the knowledge of a network, we want to take advantage of the deep knowledge present in the NetSquared community to make this the most feasible, accountable and effective project for social change possible.
Profile editing/appearance: Editing your profile info presents you with 7 tabs and each has its own options. This is a perfect example of too many options (most aren't even displayed in the profiles). For some points, take a look at the new myspace profile editor and the Ning platform. There's no clear direction with regards to what kind of widgets can be displayed either. online political science masters degree and online masters degree in music and online psychology bachelor degree
Newfangled has been helping advertising agencies build better websites for their clients since our inception in 1995. We've continually helped our partners stay on top of it all through smart website design and development including our innovative grayscreen prototyping process and easy to use CMS. We also write Web Smart Newsletters, post to the Web Smart Blog, and engage in Web Smart Agency Consulting. online psychology masters degree and online marketing degree
Submitted by Laura Breeden (not verified) on April 13, 2007 - 9:53am.
What is very attractive about this project, in addition to its thoughtful design and its direct link to on-the-ground action in Darfur, is that the platform "works" for any number of social/political issues -- making it a very high "return on investment" project.
Just a note to say I think this is a great project. We're including in the emails Grassroots.org is sending out this week as a staff pick.
Your planned work with Drupal sounds very intriguing; I'd especially like to see a Forwardtrack module integrated with Drupal's SimpleNews (or other mail system) at some point. Do you have anyone in mind to develop it?
We're working on a free, hosted nonprofit toolbox that will include Drupal-based tools, EGroupware, Democracy In Action's Salsa platform, telephone search engine optimization consulting, and free first-year domain name registrations (all integrated happily). We'll add more tools as our capacity to support them grows, but your work sounds more advanced than what we can support for free. Still, there may be some room for cross-talk on this, and I'd definitely like to stay posted on your project.
After voting for our project Social Web tools for Developing Countries: Yankana.org, I voted for this initiative, because I believe it addresses a great cause. I personally support the Save Darfur Coalition so any related initiative focused on promoting a solution for terrible conflicts like this will be important.
In fact we even seem to be using the same technology. I would be happy to colaborate with you and share ideas and resources as we are taking similar paths for differnt causes.
Like everyone on here, I'm selecting projects to vote on in addition to submitting a proposal. To see what I picked -- many of them involving similar ideas of empowerment and participatory media -- take a look at my slate.
Submitted by Dennis Argall (not verified) on April 7, 2007 - 2:26pm.
I am surprised that the approach to a better world should be focused simply on either speaking or pointing. Yes there will always be issues in public policy and yes there is a need to speak and a need to point. But in the approach you are taking (I ask, not assert) is there not still a presumption of American omnipotent [a] pointing capacity and [b, most presumptively] pointing entitlement. The world is not made a safer place by assertion of singular entitlement to point. Can you come down from the speaking and pointing platform and encourage people on the fertile grounds where genocide has occurred to build programs positive in their poor communities, rather than live in the comfort of the information world, above the glass ceiling separating us from the developing world, talking and pointing?
You are absolutely right that throughout history (and especially the history of social change) there is an arrogant mentality that runs through nonprofits and similar organizations talking about how they will "save" various people in the Global South.
I want to explain to you why I think we are doing our best not to engage in this kind of neo-colonialism.
First, you should know that our main program as the Genocide Intervention Network is to support civilian protection in Darfur by the African Union. The AU peacekeepers in Darfur are made up primarily of South African, Rwandan and Ghanaian soldiers. I think it's important that our work is about fulfilling the need that Darfurians themselves have declared, in countless interviews with at least a dozen humanitarian organizations (Oxfam, Amnesty, Human Rights Watch, International Crisis Group, Physicians for Human Rights, International Rescue Committee, the Red Cross, UNICEF, Caritas, etc.). Darfurians are asking for protection, and our main focus — more than half of all the donations we receive — go to supporting that goal.
Second, I would encourage you to read Ethan Zuckerman's whole post that I refer to in the "pointing and not speaking" statement. He is not suggesting, and we are certainly not endorsing the idea that only the Global North or those in the United States are allowed to or interested in or benefit anyone by pointing. Ethan himself is involved in a project called Global Voices Online, which amplifies the voices of those who, as you say, are below the "glass ceiling." Blogs and commentary on Global Voices comes directly from the communities and countries being discussed — there is no third-party representation there. So I don't want to inadvertently cause you to think that Ethan is working to silence voices from the Global South, because I think he is really doing exactly the opposite.
Third, and this is really where the rubber meets the road, so to speak: What we are trying to find is the best way for people in the United States — who have, as you correctly note, a huge amount of privilege and wealth and power — to support and empower those individuals and communities which are victims of genocide and mass atrocities. As described in Samantha Power's book , the United States (and other countries in the Global North) have historically not done anything in the face of genocide or mass atrocities due simply to a lack of political will among citizens — essentially, it was easier for politicians to do nothing and apologize later than take a political risk by acting to stop the genocide.
Now, I want to be clear here, there are certainly many possible ways of intervening poorly, in an arrogant, disempowering, or militaristic way. The case of Iraq has, I think, put brutal clarity to that point. But we are not simply trying to mobilize people to blindly call for intervention at any cost. All of our projects fall under the framework of the Responsibility to Protect, an in-depth report created to address the failures of the world community following the Rwandan genocide. It lists specific criteria for intervention and methods for doing so (and in so doing excludes the war on Iraq). Our project is about how to mobilize people in the United States around this specific kind of intervention, and around the larger notion that when genocide occurs, we all have a human responsibility to work to end it. That's what this NetSquared proposal is about.
I agree that creating on-the-ground community organizations, truth and reconciliation commissions, nonviolent peace teams or other similar organizations (e.g. the Fellowship of Reconciliation or Nonviolent Peaceforce) is an important project. We believe that it's just as necessary to mobilize people in the Global North — people who have wealth and privilege, but are sadly unaware of what they can (responsibly) do with it — to support and empower these communities and civilian protection initiatives like the African Union peacekeeping force.
You are right to outline the minefields of elitism that often keep nonprofits in the Global North from truly serving the communities they wish to help. I have done my best to explain why I think we have successfully navigated around those mines, at least for the moment. But any suggestions for improvement from you would be most helpful.
I want to leave you with one of my favorite quotes, which comes from a group of aboriginal activists in Australia from the 1970s, and I think sums up the kind of work I try to do: "If you have come to help me you are wasting your time. But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together."
As I mentioned to Bryan at the NTC conference yesterday, I see a LOT of room for collaboration between this project and WITNESS's Hub. Essentially I see the Hub as fulfilling a vital role of recording human rights abuses "in the field" and propagating them into the Global North. And I see the anti-genocide community being well-positioned to remix that footage into compelling, user-generated, participatory media for use in any number of compelling advocacy initiatives.
So if both of these projects move forward one way or another, I see a lot of cross-pollinating happening, and to great effect.
The burgeoning Darfur movement — student rallies, Sudan divestment, green Save Darfur bracelets — is on the verge of truly transformative change: changing the way the world responds to genocide and mass atrocities. Whereas previous crises saw only inaction by politicians, there is a growing sense of political will for the responsibility to protect civilians anywhere from annihilation. In short, the movement is shifting “Never Again†from a promise we make to a commitment we keep.
Profile editing/appearance:
Profile editing/appearance: Editing your profile info presents you with 7 tabs and each has its own options. This is a perfect example of too many options (most aren't even displayed in the profiles). For some points, take a look at the new myspace profile editor and the Ning platform. There's no clear direction with regards to what kind of widgets can be displayed either.
online political science masters degree and online masters degree in music and online psychology bachelor degree
Newfangled has been helping
Newfangled has been helping advertising agencies build better websites for their clients since our inception in 1995. We've continually helped our partners stay on top of it all through smart website design and development including our innovative grayscreen prototyping process and easy to use CMS. We also write Web Smart Newsletters, post to the Web Smart Blog, and engage in Web Smart Agency Consulting.
online psychology masters degree and online marketing degree
Anti-Genocide Campaign
What is very attractive about this project, in addition to its thoughtful design and its direct link to on-the-ground action in Darfur, is that the platform "works" for any number of social/political issues -- making it a very high "return on investment" project.
This looks great - I also
This looks great - I also vote for this project. I think a lot can be learned here and like how Ivan has identified some of the concerns.
Eric
Good luck!
Just a note to say I think this is a great project. We're including in the emails Grassroots.org is sending out this week as a staff pick.
Your planned work with Drupal sounds very intriguing; I'd especially like to see a Forwardtrack module integrated with Drupal's SimpleNews (or other mail system) at some point. Do you have anyone in mind to develop it?
We're working on a free, hosted nonprofit toolbox that will include Drupal-based tools, EGroupware, Democracy In Action's Salsa platform, telephone search engine optimization consulting, and free first-year domain name registrations (all integrated happily). We'll add more tools as our capacity to support them grows, but your work sounds more advanced than what we can support for free. Still, there may be some room for cross-talk on this, and I'd definitely like to stay posted on your project.
Netsquared project site: Grassroots Toolbox.
Good luck!
Dave.
I also voted for this project
After voting for our project Social Web tools for Developing Countries: Yankana.org, I voted for this initiative, because I believe it addresses a great cause. I personally support the Save Darfur Coalition so any related initiative focused on promoting a solution for terrible conflicts like this will be important.
Good luck!
Regards,
Eduardo Bejar
great plan!
I admire the work you have been doing. Your progect is similar to the one we are doing at TEN: http://www.netsquared.org/projects/proposals/building-a-community-of-mod...
In fact we even seem to be using the same technology. I would be happy to colaborate with you and share ideas and resources as we are taking similar paths for differnt causes.
More proposals about empowerment and participatory media
Like everyone on here, I'm selecting projects to vote on in addition to submitting a proposal. To see what I picked -- many of them involving similar ideas of empowerment and participatory media -- take a look at my slate.
--ivan
?? “less about speaking and more about pointing.†??
I am surprised that the approach to a better world should be focused simply on either speaking or pointing. Yes there will always be issues in public policy and yes there is a need to speak and a need to point. But in the approach you are taking (I ask, not assert) is there not still a presumption of American omnipotent [a] pointing capacity and [b, most presumptively] pointing entitlement. The world is not made a safer place by assertion of singular entitlement to point. Can you come down from the speaking and pointing platform and encourage people on the fertile grounds where genocide has occurred to build programs positive in their poor communities, rather than live in the comfort of the information world, above the glass ceiling separating us from the developing world, talking and pointing?
Colonialism and empowerment
Dennis,
You are absolutely right that throughout history (and especially the history of social change) there is an arrogant mentality that runs through nonprofits and similar organizations talking about how they will "save" various people in the Global South.
I want to explain to you why I think we are doing our best not to engage in this kind of neo-colonialism.
First, you should know that our main program as the Genocide Intervention Network is to support civilian protection in Darfur by the African Union. The AU peacekeepers in Darfur are made up primarily of South African, Rwandan and Ghanaian soldiers. I think it's important that our work is about fulfilling the need that Darfurians themselves have declared, in countless interviews with at least a dozen humanitarian organizations (Oxfam, Amnesty, Human Rights Watch, International Crisis Group, Physicians for Human Rights, International Rescue Committee, the Red Cross, UNICEF, Caritas, etc.). Darfurians are asking for protection, and our main focus — more than half of all the donations we receive — go to supporting that goal.
Second, I would encourage you to read Ethan Zuckerman's whole post that I refer to in the "pointing and not speaking" statement. He is not suggesting, and we are certainly not endorsing the idea that only the Global North or those in the United States are allowed to or interested in or benefit anyone by pointing. Ethan himself is involved in a project called Global Voices Online, which amplifies the voices of those who, as you say, are below the "glass ceiling." Blogs and commentary on Global Voices comes directly from the communities and countries being discussed — there is no third-party representation there. So I don't want to inadvertently cause you to think that Ethan is working to silence voices from the Global South, because I think he is really doing exactly the opposite.
Third, and this is really where the rubber meets the road, so to speak: What we are trying to find is the best way for people in the United States — who have, as you correctly note, a huge amount of privilege and wealth and power — to support and empower those individuals and communities which are victims of genocide and mass atrocities. As described in Samantha Power's book , the United States (and other countries in the Global North) have historically not done anything in the face of genocide or mass atrocities due simply to a lack of political will among citizens — essentially, it was easier for politicians to do nothing and apologize later than take a political risk by acting to stop the genocide.
Now, I want to be clear here, there are certainly many possible ways of intervening poorly, in an arrogant, disempowering, or militaristic way. The case of Iraq has, I think, put brutal clarity to that point. But we are not simply trying to mobilize people to blindly call for intervention at any cost. All of our projects fall under the framework of the Responsibility to Protect, an in-depth report created to address the failures of the world community following the Rwandan genocide. It lists specific criteria for intervention and methods for doing so (and in so doing excludes the war on Iraq). Our project is about how to mobilize people in the United States around this specific kind of intervention, and around the larger notion that when genocide occurs, we all have a human responsibility to work to end it. That's what this NetSquared proposal is about.
I agree that creating on-the-ground community organizations, truth and reconciliation commissions, nonviolent peace teams or other similar organizations (e.g. the Fellowship of Reconciliation or Nonviolent Peaceforce) is an important project. We believe that it's just as necessary to mobilize people in the Global North — people who have wealth and privilege, but are sadly unaware of what they can (responsibly) do with it — to support and empower these communities and civilian protection initiatives like the African Union peacekeeping force.
You are right to outline the minefields of elitism that often keep nonprofits in the Global North from truly serving the communities they wish to help. I have done my best to explain why I think we have successfully navigated around those mines, at least for the moment. But any suggestions for improvement from you would be most helpful.
I want to leave you with one of my favorite quotes, which comes from a group of aboriginal activists in Australia from the 1970s, and I think sums up the kind of work I try to do: "If you have come to help me you are wasting your time. But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together."
Thanks for taking the time to write!
Not OFFICIALLY part of this proposal, BUT
As I mentioned to Bryan at the NTC conference yesterday, I see a LOT of room for collaboration between this project and WITNESS's Hub. Essentially I see the Hub as fulfilling a vital role of recording human rights abuses "in the field" and propagating them into the Global North. And I see the anti-genocide community being well-positioned to remix that footage into compelling, user-generated, participatory media for use in any number of compelling advocacy initiatives.
So if both of these projects move forward one way or another, I see a lot of cross-pollinating happening, and to great effect.