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Goodbye, peace activism?

When social media takes over for physical local teams and meetings, the ideology of peace can slowly ebb out. 




(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)

 

In the 1980 century, the peace movement gathered hundreds of thousands of signatures against nuclear weapons. In 2003, over 115 demonstrated 000 people against Norwegian participation in the US war on Iraq. But in 2011 and 2016, more than 300 – 400 people failed to mobilize to demonstrate against Norwegian participation in the war against Libya and meddling in the civil war in Syria. Where have all the peace activists been?

"Must be present throughout the country." Ny Tid asks Alexander Harang, who is chairman of the board of the Norwegian Peace League, which was formed in 1885 and has around 370 paying members. "The fundamental problem is that all the solidarity movements lost a large number of members in the 2000s," says Harang. «Classic local team work has been weakened by social media, and virtual spaces have taken over for local, physical activity. It is easier to invite people to a Facebook group than to gather people for a physical meeting, "says Harang. "But to make something work over time, you need local organization. None of the peace organizations have succeeded here, but Fredslaget is now focusing on building up more local activity around the country. "

In the 1960 century, local peace offices had 19 locations in the country. What made you succeed then?

“The peace offices were part of a mass mobilization that managed to channel people's fears of nuclear war into peace work. There is a strong tradition of peace activism in Norway, which goes far back. At the beginning of the 1900th century, there were 16 regional peace teams in the country, which in turn had many local teams. In 1907 they collected 385 signatures against Norway arming Sweden – at a time when Norway had only two million inhabitants! They achieved this by being physically present in all parts of the country and sending activists from one neighbor to another. ”

Today, there is a tendency for organizations to prioritize making a few spokespeople visible in the public sphere and mobilize "likes" and shares on social media, according to Harang.

"But if we are to maintain the ideology of peace in the long run, we depend on people coming together physically, working together and being educated. Let's say I move from Oslo to Kristiansand. If I know there is a local team there, I can continue my commitment to peace within a community. If not, my commitment is reduced from concrete experiences to an abstract idea. We who are to change society must do so together with others, as a collective. It must be an environment for critical thinking where you can test your views and learn from each other. "

If someone in Mandal, for example, asks you what they can do for the peace cause, what do you answer?

"That they can start a local team with some like-minded people. You do not have to be many. They can start by sitting down and discussing what is in the newspapers. Then it can lead to practical activity: work with conflict management, signature campaigns, debate meetings and lectures, distribution of leaflets and reader contributions in the local newspaper. With 400 local newspapers in the country, one can influence national politics locally, if enough people write. The goal should be for all newspapers to know of any local activists they can go to if they want a peace policy comment, "Harang concludes.

The grandmothers. One organization that prioritizes classical peace activism is Grandmothers for Peace. "The organization was formed in 1982 under the name Grandmothers against nuclear weapons," says Trine Eklund, who takes the time to talk to Ny Tid during a leaflet distribution. Eklund joined the peace movement when women from all the Nordic countries marched against nuclear weapons from Copenhagen to Paris in 1981, from Stockholm to Minsk in 1982 and from Oslo to Washington in 1983. It made an impression to take part in the peace marches. "In the Soviet Union, thousands of people greeted us in the streets and showed great gratitude that someone from the West came with a message of peace instead of war. In the United States, it was completely different, we had to go with police escorts on the sidewalk. "People showed us the thumbs down, and the politicians were not interested in our message."

In Oslo, the Grandmothers meet every Wednesday and hand out current peace policy leaflets to Karl Johan, and decide next week's theme afterwards. "But it keeps being two or three pieces that meet once a month," says Eklund. "Just get a girlfriend, and we'll send out flyers to anyone who's interested."

The grandmothers are active in Oslo, Fredrikstad, Sandefjord, Florø and Sandes, and work is underway to establish local teams in Lillehammer, Hamar, Bergen and Arendal. "The response goes up and down a bit, but we experience that we reach out to many people in this way," says Eklund. "Many are despairing about Norway's warlike rhetoric, and worried that preparedness is weakening in favor of the F-35 and foreign operations. Our goal is first and foremost to reach out to the young, and the grassroots. "

"Experiences from all the wars from 1999 until today show that the peace movement was right – all the conflicts Norway got involved in have gotten worse."

Social environment important. If the established organizations do not succeed in channeling the grassroots' commitment to peace into political activism, may the opportunity arise for new, local organizations? An organization that is new this year is Stop NATO, founded at the House of Literature in Bergen on 9 April. They are working to end "NATO's ravages and war incitement", and for Norway to withdraw from the defense alliance.

«We run information activities through our website Antikrig.org, and through social media. In addition, we arrange or participate in demonstrations and celebrations, "Stopp NATO's leader Henrik Hjelle tells Ny Tid. "We are working to establish local teams in several places in the country. One is already in place, and several are just around the corner. We have received a great response on social media. In addition, we have recruited people of all ages, from different political backgrounds, "he adds.

An organization that prioritises local peace work is the Peace Movement on Nesodden, which was formed in 2011 and has just under 40 members. Ny Tid got to be with four of them at the annual meeting, which was held after a better dinner at the home of the leader Gudveig Havstad. "It is important to build a social environment around what you are doing. You become much less warlike by eating good food together, »Havstad smiles. The peace movement has arranged open meetings on Afghanistan, Syria, Palestine, drones and arms exports, and mobilizes by handing out leaflets ahead of the events. The meetings have gathered between 12 and 30 participants. "There are many who want to contribute in different ways, and appreciate that the organization is not party political," says Havstad. Initiator Geir Christensen believes that there is a great potential for local activism that the established organizations are unable to capture. "The Norwegian peace work takes place mostly in top-heavy organizations without any active ground plan," he says. "There are almost no local organizations that have activities and leaflet distribution on the streets. I was part of the Vietnam movement in the 1970s, and the reason we succeeded in turning public opinion against the Vietnam War was that we were constantly out on the streets talking to people. " Christensen hopes that more people will take the initiative to build up local peace activist groups, and the Peace Movement on Nesodden is happy to provide practical advice if anyone needs guidance. "People exist, they are just poorly organized. We very much want more groups to work with. "

New discussion climate. The Peace Team's Alexander Harang also believes there is potential for reviving traditional peace activism. "In 2011, the bombing of Libya was underway before the public debate, and no one wanted to discuss with us. The situation today is completely different. Both the military circles and the Middle East experts are skeptical of the Syrian intervention, and the climate of discussion is favorable for opponents of the war. The experiences from all the wars from 1999 until today show that the peace movement was right – all the conflicts Norway has been involved in have gotten worse, "says Harang.

"We have the best arguments, we just have to get into the big public debate. Living in Førde or Arendal should not be an obstacle to joining a peace organization. It's just a matter of knowing their visiting hours. "

Aslak Storaker
Aslak Storaker
Storaker is a regular writer in Ny Tid, and a member of Rødt's international committee.

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