Amplifying Peace Across Borders
(Original)

Anna Rosario A. Elicaño
(Age 24, The Philippines)

I met two of my closest friends at an international youth conference. Although the three of us went home to places with different zip codes, we were still able to talk to each other every week afterwards. Thanks to the Internet, a computer, and a headset, our long distance talks— just like friendship—have remained completely free.

Never before has media and communication technologies been as personal and encompassing as it is today. When my parents were teenagers, what they knew about their Asian neighbors came from an encyclopedia and black and white television. I imagine that the information they got was general, maybe even stereotypical. Four decades later, despite the oceans between us, I have the benefit of knowing foreign friends better. I can easily direct them to the website of my favorite local band. They can, just as easily, tell me how their day at work went via instant messenger.

I celebrate the intimate connection brought about by media and communication technologies because it allows me to understand people and their cultures more. This is the same reason why I think my generation has a better capacity for bringing about a more peaceful world. Media and communication technologies have exposed us to a wide and multi-cultural range of information. If hatred and prejudice is bred by ignorance, then it follows that information and understanding can bring about compassion and empathy.

I am inspired by the story of a youth organization in the Philippines which initiated a video conference between students from a school in Metro Manila and a school in Mindanao. Seeing each other for the first time on widescreens, a panel of student representatives from each school spoke to each other in real time. They talked about their favorite classes and fun extra-curricular activities. They talked about the conflict in Mindanao and what they thought about peace. More importantly, they talked about their first impressions of each other and how so much had changed after just 30 minutes of the video conference. And as they did that, their teachers, parents, fellow schoolmates, and communities watched.

I am certain that not a few lives were changed that day. For the students in Metro Manila, Muslim Mindanaoans in the south would no longer be compartmentalized into labels such as "separatists" or "terrorists". As for the students in Mindanao, Metro Manila is no longer embodied by soldiers who can turn them and their families into refugees in an instant. What students from both sides saw were children not unlike themselves. We can only hope that what began with that 30-minute video conference can continue on with a lifetime of understanding and truthful connection.

What happens when media and communication technologies are used with evil intent? The result is disastrous. Media is, after all, just a tool. In the wrong hands, misinformation and "hate speech" can be easily spread. Peacemakers of today and of the future have to capitalize on these tools to amplify the truth as loud as they can, across borders. Tony Blair, Britain's former prime minister, aptly describes the new struggle: "…because mass media and communication convey powerful images in an instant across the globe, it dictates that struggles are fought as much through propaganda, ideas and values as through conventional means, military or diplomatic."

It is clear that, in this "information age", peacemakers are not those who remain silent in the sidelines for the sake of harmony. Bono does it with his music and anonymous writers in Iran do it with their blogs. It is a relief to know that, with media and communication technologies, there are several platforms for peacemakers to speak out.

Each generation has its peacemakers. What this generation will see are peacemakers who will not only sow peace but amplify it across borders, empowered by media and communication technologies. Some will speak about specific advocacies. Others, by simply sharing aspects of themselves and their cultures, will foster connection and understanding.

In the information age, the new batch of peacemakers will say that it chooses the Internet, blogs, and television over guns, bombs, and tanks.