e-pace

WE ALL REALIZE THAT HATRED, violence, international crime, corruption, bullying in schools and workplaces, the radicalization of religious misunderstandings, and the desire for conflict are fueled by powerful tools in cyberspace that compete to sow mistrust, anger, desperation, and isolationism. In the race to destroy the fabric of civil society, seeking to pulverize it and make it truly liquid and lacking solidarity, hateful political influencers, social networks, fake news, so-called deep fakes, seemingly real online videos, and various forms of online fraud with devastating consequences are all involved. Together, they claim millions of victims even before someone shoots someone else out of desperation.

TO EFFECTIVELY RESPOND TO THIS CHALLENGE, strong cyber-pacifism and cyber-nonviolence initiatives have emerged, first in Asia and then across the world. These new "Gandhis on the Web" are committed to helping internet users become informed and responsible netizens who lead conversations and actions for peace online. Whether it's verifying information before sharing it or refraining from sharing unverified news, we all play an important role in building a web that is a safe and inclusive space for all. The world's first online initiative was born in 2005 in India, with the Cyberpeace Foundation, founded and directed by Vineet Kumar. It was later joined by major philanthropic institutions, including Google.org, and over a hundred partners from the internet ecosystem.
In 2019, the Cyberpeace Institute, based in Geneva, was founded with the same goal of strengthening an online educational and preventive network for peace.
The common goals of all cyber-peace activists are to make cyberspace safe, stable, and fair by protecting people from cyberattacks, ensuring human security, and promoting responsible digital behavior. This goes beyond technology to focus on human dignity, human rights, and resilience in digital spaces. This includes assisting vulnerable groups (such as NGOs and healthcare workers), investigating attacks, and promoting international laws that hold perpetrators accountable, creating a digital world centered on human dignity, equality, and global peace.

A PILOT CYBER NONVIOLENCE MOVEMENT HAS BEEN CREATED, with a multilingual online resource center offering 650 hours of free multimedia content and educational materials on identifying and countering misinformation and developing responsible online content, in English and 15 languages, including Hindi, Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Gujarati, Kannada, Odia (Oriya), Malayalam, Punjabi, Assamese, Maithili, Santali, and Kashmiri.

Sandro Calvani
NP January 2026