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Istanbul, Turkey 14 August 2011
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14 August 2011, Istanbul, TurkeyRestoring Confidence of Civil Society Activists through Capacity Building and Education
SOCIAL MEDIA IN CROSS BORDER ARMENIA-AZERBAIJAN COMMUNICATION, COOPERATION, CONFLICT TRANSFORMATION AND GRASS ROOTS ACTIVISM
ISTANBUL, TURKEY
Onnik Krikorian
Caucasus Regional Editor, Global Voices
http://www.globalvoicesonline.org
14 August 2011, Istanbul, TurkeyRestoring Confidence of Civil Society Activists through Capacity Building and Education
Nagorno Karabakh• 1994 ceasefire
• Approx 25,000 dead
• Approx 1 million refugees and IDPs
• 14-16 percent of Azerbaijan controlled by Armenian and Nagorno Karabakh forces
• Border skirmishes and clashes, increase in sniper incidents
• Peace deal still elusive
• Territorial integrity vs. Right to self-determination
• Threat of new war
14 August 2011, Istanbul, TurkeyRestoring Confidence of Civil Society Activists through Capacity Building and Education
Media Perpetuating Conflict?
[A] negative context [is set] in the public consciousness, which hinders dialogue and mutual
understanding […] Without more accurate and unbiased information […] free of negative rhetoric
and stereotypes, Armenians and Azerbaijanis will continue to see themselves as enemies without
any common ground.
Armenian and Azerbaijani International News Coverage – Empirical Findings and Recommendations
for Improvement, Caucasus Resource Research Centers (CRRC)
http://epfound.am/files/mb_fg_report_finalized_edited_12.27.2008.doc
14 August 2011, Istanbul, TurkeyRestoring Confidence of Civil Society Activists through Capacity Building and Education
Media Perpetuating Conflict?
[...] people are often inclined to consider their existing attitudes and beliefs to be true and filter the
news through this lens. Thus, they accept messages in order to maintain their original perceptions. […]
bias in the local media [...] serves as a means to fuel and perpetuate hatred. This is a role the media
has and continues to play with regards to the conflict over Nagorno Karabakh.
Armenian and Azerbaijani International News Coverage – Empirical Findings and Recommendations
for Improvement, Caucasus Resource Research Centers (CRRC)
http://epfound.am/files/mb_fg_report_finalized_edited_12.27.2008.doc
14 August 2011, Istanbul, TurkeyRestoring Confidence of Civil Society Activists through Capacity Building and Education
Attitudes in Armenia
14 August 2011, Istanbul, TurkeyRestoring Confidence of Civil Society Activists through Capacity Building and Education
Attitudes in Azerbaijan
14 August 2011, Istanbul, TurkeyRestoring Confidence of Civil Society Activists through Capacity Building and Education
Attitudes in Georgia
14 August 2011, Istanbul, TurkeyRestoring Confidence of Civil Society Activists through Capacity Building and Education
Another Alternative?
Throughout history, war has affected media, with conflict often creating an information void. In the
21st century, media has begun to affect war more than ever before. Digital media technologies [...]
have increased communication and information dissemination in conflict settings [...]. These new tools
can be used to foment violence or to foster peace, and it is possible to build communication systems
that encourage dialogue and nonviolent political solutions.
Ivan Sigal, Global Voices Executive Director, Digital media in conflict-prone societies, Center for
International Media Assistance (CIMA)
http://cima.ned.org/publications/research-reports/digital-media-conflict-prone-societies
14 August 2011, Istanbul, TurkeyRestoring Confidence of Civil Society Activists through Capacity Building and Education
Social Media Crossing Borders
14 August 2011, Istanbul, TurkeyRestoring Confidence of Civil Society Activists through Capacity Building and Education
14 August 2011, Istanbul, TurkeyRestoring Confidence of Civil Society Activists through Capacity Building and Education
Twitter Communication
14 August 2011, Istanbul, TurkeyRestoring Confidence of Civil Society Activists through Capacity Building and Education
Conflict Sensitive Journalism
Peace Journalism (also called conflict solution journalism, conflict sensitive journalism, constructive
conflict coverage, and reporting the world) has been developed from research that indicates that all
too often news about conflict has a value bias toward violence. It also includes practical methods for
correcting this bias by producing journalism in both the mainstream and alternative media; and
working with journalists, media professionals, audiences and organisations in conflict. The concept was
proposed by Johan Galtung.
Wikipedia, Peace Journalism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace_Journalism
14 August 2011, Istanbul, TurkeyRestoring Confidence of Civil Society Activists through Capacity Building and Education
14 August 2011, Istanbul, TurkeyRestoring Confidence of Civil Society Activists through Capacity Building and Education
Alternative Narratives
Nowhere in the world can you find two groups of people closer to each other. That is why we often
have these stupid disputes between Armenians and Azeris. "This house is Armenian" or "this house is
Azeri." Or "this music is Armenian or Azeri." This is exactly because the two have so much in common.
[...] I normally say, and people don't like this, that Armenians are just Christian Azeris and Azeris are
just Muslim Armenians. That is how much they are alike.
Seymur Baycan, Re-arming the Caucasus, Al Jazeera English
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cz47DkYn4Kk
14 August 2011, Istanbul, TurkeyRestoring Confidence of Civil Society Activists through Capacity Building and Education
Alternative Narratives
Re-arming the Caucasus, Al Jazeera Englishhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cz47DkYn4Kk
14 August 2011, Istanbul, TurkeyRestoring Confidence of Civil Society Activists through Capacity Building and Education
Alternative Narratives
Re-arming the Caucasus, Al Jazeera Englishhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cz47DkYn4Kk
14 August 2011, Istanbul, TurkeyRestoring Confidence of Civil Society Activists through Capacity Building and Education
Alternative Narratives
We hear far too little of what I call this “third narrative” of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict, a
narrative of peace. It spins the idea that the two peoples are capable of getting along fine, have lived
together in the past and, if politicians are able to overcome differences on the Karabakh conflict, can
live together in the future. International mediators are too timid to speak this narrative or feel that it is
not their business. The media in both countries suppresses it.
Thomas de Waal, senior associate in the Russia and Eurasia Program at the Carnegie Endowment and
author of Black Garden: Armenia and Azerbaijan through Peace and War
http://peace.oneworld.am/conflict_voices_may_2011.html
14 August 2011, Istanbul, TurkeyRestoring Confidence of Civil Society Activists through Capacity Building and Education
http://peace.oneworld.am
Caucasus Conflict Voices
14 August 2011, Istanbul, TurkeyRestoring Confidence of Civil Society Activists through Capacity Building and Education
http://peace.oneworld.am
Caucasus Conflict Voices
14 August 2011, Istanbul, TurkeyRestoring Confidence of Civil Society Activists through Capacity Building and Education
Alternative Narratives
14 August 2011, Istanbul, TurkeyRestoring Confidence of Civil Society Activists through Capacity Building and Education
Alternative Narratives
14 August 2011, Istanbul, TurkeyRestoring Confidence of Civil Society Activists through Capacity Building and Education
Identifying Activist Networks
The reason why the KGB wants you to join Facebook is because it allows them to learn more about you
from afar. It allows them to identify certain social graphs and social connections between activists.
Many of these relationships are now self-disclosed by activists by joining various groups.
Evgeny Morozov, author of The Net Delusion: The Dark Side of Internet Freedom
http://www.rferl.org/content/interview_morozov_internet_democracy_promotion/2284105.html
14 August 2011, Istanbul, TurkeyRestoring Confidence of Civil Society Activists through Capacity Building and Education
Identifying Activist Networks
14 August 2011, Istanbul, TurkeyRestoring Confidence of Civil Society Activists through Capacity Building and Education
Imaginary Cosmopolitanism
14 August 2011, Istanbul, TurkeyRestoring Confidence of Civil Society Activists through Capacity Building and Education
Imaginary Cosmopolitanism
I study the ways new media shapes people's perceptions of the world. It's my fond hope that social
networks such as Facebook will help users broaden their perspectives by listening to a different set of
people than they encounter in their daily life. But I fear services such as Facebook may be turning us
into imaginary cosmopolitans.
[...]
Is Facebook a space for cross-cultural interaction? For fomenting reactionary hatred? Or is it primarily a
space for online interaction with our local, offline friends?
Ethan Zuckerman, Global Voices co-founder, Does Facebook unite us or divide us?
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/08/03/zuckerman.facebook.global/index.html
14 August 2011, Istanbul, TurkeyRestoring Confidence of Civil Society Activists through Capacity Building and Education
Cyber Realism
New media tools will certainly help in getting people better acquainted with each other, but at the
same time can also be used to reaffirm existing biases. Just search on the Internet for Armenian and
Azerbaijani web sites and you can find a lot of trash and very harmful discourse from nationalist
websites. I’m mildly optimistic, but at the same time think we should be very cautious about what
we find on the Internet as well.
Bart Woord, International Federation of Liberal Youth (IFLRY) Secretary General
http://globalvoicesonline.org/2009/08/03/caucasus-an-interview-with-bart-woord/
14 August 2011, Istanbul, TurkeyRestoring Confidence of Civil Society Activists through Capacity Building and Education
Need for a holistic approach
There's a strong interest in developing an online civic space where there can be level-headed
discussion of controversial topics across communities. [...] But like most other places the existing
NGO sector seems poorly prepared to make the most of the digital opportunities [...]
Dan McQuillan, Twitter activism in Tbilisi
http://www.internetartizans.co.uk/taking_twitter_activism_to_tbilisi
14 August 2011, Istanbul, TurkeyRestoring Confidence of Civil Society Activists through Capacity Building and Education
Need for a holistic approach
I think you can’t do it just with social media tools, but as we’ve seen over the past 15 years, you
definitely can’t do it by meeting in Tbilisi for a weekend every summer. It becomes an “entertainment”
and I’ve had experience with those conferences in Georgia where it’s just one big coffee break and a
waste of money. However, I think that both approaches combined could propel things along.
Micael Bogar, Projects Manager at the American University's Center for Social Media
http://globalvoicesonline.org/2009/08/01/caucasus-an-interview-with-micael-bogar/
14 August 2011, Istanbul, TurkeyRestoring Confidence of Civil Society Activists through Capacity Building and Education
Need for a holistic approach
Also use:- Social Networks - Blogs - Twitter...
14 August 2011, Istanbul, TurkeyRestoring Confidence of Civil Society Activists through Capacity Building and Education
Questions & Discussion
[…] the internet is not magic; it is a tool. Anyone who wants to use it to bring nations closer together
has to show initiative, and be ready to travel physically as well as virtually. As with the telegraph before
it—also hailed as a tool of peace—the internet does nothing on its own.
The Economist, A cyber-house divided
http://www.economist.com/node/16943885?story_id=16943885
14 August 2011, Istanbul, TurkeyRestoring Confidence of Civil Society Activists through Capacity Building and Education
Links
Global Voices Online
http://www.globalvoicesonline.org
Global Voices Advocacy
http://advocacy.globalvoicesonline.org/
Rising Voices
http://rising.globalvoicesonline.org/
Technology for Transparency
http://transparency.globalvoicesonline.org/
Caucasus Conflict Voices
http://peace.oneworld.am/