Across the globe it is becoming clear that nations are failing at creating peaceful solutions to international challenges. More bombing does not create more peace or more understanding, but communication does. We are at a cross-roads in history and social media has given us an enormous tool to communicate. Peer-to-peer (person to person) rather than the traditional top-down media model allows for cooperation towards peace and sustainability in ways that we have never experienced before. This emerging, collectively-driven model is imperative for a peaceful, sustainable future and every one of us has a part to play in this process.

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Old School Activists Trailblaze with New Mediums: Groups like CODEPINK are taking the media into their own hands by doing things like attempting a citizen’s arrest of Henry Kissenger at the Senate Armed Services Committee. The publicity stunt drew a lot of international press and attention to America (an imperial super powers) foreign policy. CODEPINK National Coordinator Alli McCracken (26 years old) stated:

We need to stop rehashing these tired old war criminals and come up with a new foreign policy based on diplomacy and compassion –– two things Kissinger knows nothing about.

In stark contrast, before the same Senate Armed Services Committee Former Secretary of State George Shultz stated that people, not solely leaders need to be talking to each other. He highlighted the need for non-military solutions and praised the United Religions Initiative in testimony before the United States Congress. You can see the video and learn more at this link.

Responding to Shultz’s testimony United Religions Initiative Founder and President, Bishop Swing stated:

In the space between one religion and another religion, there is often a hard history of grievances, memories of coerced conversions, and competing claims of ultimate truth. So the space between religions is often toxic. This toxicity drags neighborhoods and regions into religious strife that stymies daily life, sometimes leading to intimidation and, in the worst cases, horrific spectacles like beheadings.
URI’s purpose is to fill the space between religions with interfaith bridges so that the grassroots people of all faith traditions, indigenous communities and humanistic groups can cross over, and discover other believers, and take positive actions together. -Bishop Swing, United Religions Initiative

Flipping the Script: There are a number of grassroots efforts that are using social media to undermine the dominant military paradigm by addressing international issues in a decentralized way. One of them is the Peace Factory, who is building a bridge of communication between the people of the Middle East. Ronny Edry, a graphic designer who started this project by making a simple but profound picture of himself with his young daughter that says, “Iranians we will never bomb your country, we ❤️ you” and posting it on Facebook. The results went viral and people began sharing similar messages across social networks from countries around the world!

If you want to make peace, you don’t talk to your friends. You talk to your enemies. ~Moshe Dayan

It is as simple as shifting the narrative, creating new images, breaking down stereotypes, and sharing inspiration. Dialogue can happen with an image, a hashtag, a blog, it comes with a willingness to listen, to see the humanity in each other and stop buying in to the continued demonization that is spread through mainstream media. We can no longer wait for leaders to act towards peace, now the power is in the hands of the people.

Those who love peace must learn to organize as effectively as those who love war.” ~Martin Luther King, Jr.

The top-down diplomacy of nation-states has failed at bringing peace, it is now up to the people to build these bridges. Ronny’s story is only one story, what will you do to create peer-to-peer open-sourced peace? Whatever ideas you have for this must allow for others to contribute with their voice. Combining your efforts with media and distributing these ideas via social media is becoming a viable model for social change.

This is the moment to let love and compassion transcend national, cultural, and religious boundaries to create the peace we all desire. Corporate media and top-down “nation building” is being exposed for the narrow interests that it represents. Individuals now have the capacity to represent themselves, peer-to-peer and change the narrative that is manufactured to benefit the few at the expense of many. What do you want to contribute to this unfolding and how will you present it?

Article first appeared at UPLIFT


Jacob Devaney

Jacob blogs for Huffington Post and others in addition to Culture Collective. He specializes in social media, and cross-platform (or trans-media) content and campaigns. Meditation, playing piano, exploring nature, seeing live music, and going to Hopi Dances are some of his passions. As a co-founder of unify.org, Jacob lives for community and believes that we are all interconnected with our own special gift to offer the world.

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