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What's Being Done On . . .
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Advocacy Capacity Building Civic Education News & Information Research Other Links 
Interview with Gabriel Williams, former Secretary General of the Press Union of Liberia and author of a recently published book Liberia: the Heart of Darkness. World Movement Participants Database Search for more information about groups using the Internet and other media in their activities. |
Information flow within government, between citizens and government, and among citizens and civil society is crucial for building a successful democratic society. Media has always been an effective tool for making information available. Many democracy activists around the world have used various kinds of conventional media, such as radio programs, newspapers, and TV, to educate citizens about democratic values and participation. The rapid development of new information and communications technologies (ICTs), however, has brought new opportunities for democracy activists to conduct their democracy-building activities in innovative ways.
At the World Movement's Second Assembly, the Democracy Resource Center at the National Endowment for Democracy, in collaboration with other NGOs and practitioners, organized a workshop on Using the Internet and Other Media to Promote Democracy. The workshop participants discussed the use of ICTs in promoting democracy, and shared experiences in several countries, such as Malaysia, Cuba, and Serbia. A Democracy Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Group emerged from this workshop and has established a Web site (www.wmd.org/dict/index.html) that features a practical guide to Internet resources and assistance.
We encourage you to review the workshop report and to send us any information on work your organization may be doing that is related to the recommendations listed. Please send the information via email the or by fax to +1-202-293-0755.
Of additional interest are the following items that participants may wish to read;
- As a special feature for this section, the World Movement Secretariat recently interviewed Gabriel I.H. Williams, former Secretary General of the Press Union of Liberia and author of a recently published book Liberia: the Heart of Darkness, on the role of the press in Liberia during and after the civil war. He fled the country in 1993 to the United States, and he and his colleagues have since established the Association of Liberian Journalists in America to promote democracy and freedom of the press in Liberia. In the interview, Mr. Williams discusses the challenges that the press faced during the war and those faced currently, as well as the ways in which the Press Union has tried to address them. To view the transcript of the interview, please go to: www.wmd.org/action/jun-jul02/gabrielwilliams.html.
- Carl Gershman, member of the World Movement's Steering Committee and president of the Washington-based National Endowment for Democracy (NED), spoke on The Internet and Democracy Building - the NED Experience at an international workshop on the Internet and Democracy Building, organized by Great Britain's Foreign and Commonwealth Office, in Wilton Park, UK, on April 27-28, 2001. In his speech, Mr. Gershman discusses the ways that many democracy organizations around the world take advantage of the Internet and other new ICTs in their activities.
- Nina Hachigian, co-organizer of the workshop on "Using Internet and Other Media to Promote Democracy" at the World Movement Second Assembly, has written an article on "China's Cyber-Strategy," published in the Foreign Affairs March/April 2001 issue. She also recently published an article on "The Internet and Power in One-Party East Asian States" in the Washington Quarterly Summer 2002 issue. In her article, she argues that "authoritarian states and illiberal democracies do not all try to maximize their control of the Internet."
About "What's Being Done On . . . "
For three months at a time, we highlight the activities of various organizations in different global regions, and links to important resources, that are focused on a particular theme or area of democracy work. Each new theme is announced via DemocracyNews, and the information from the previous installment is placed in the archives below. We hope to receive and post information about the work you or others may be doing that is focused on these issues. Send information via e-mail to the or by fax to (202) 378-9889.
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