VOF Week 1 (Peaceful and strong: a new female movement using the internet)

When Marshall McLuhan talked about the “Global Village”, maybe he never dreamed about the effects of one thing called Internet… it is normal, he pronounced that precognition at 60’s … but the truth is that even all of us, we never imagined how far could we go through the web to be connected… actually I am sure that the real consequences of this “virtual” global village are just starting to be perceived, the world is changing in front of our eyes, little by little, and step by step and maybe we are not really realizing about the things that are happening around us, because we are in fact concentrated on our “daily global” communications: we send mails, we phone, we chat, we use social webs, sharing pictures, opinions and thoughts… we share our lives, using our computers every day. We are just doing it, and in the meanwhile, things inside and outside us, are changing thanks to that, and because of that.

My own experience says to me, that the most important changes happen when you do not feel that “something is happening”. At least, I really know that the changes occurring without a traumatic experience, means that we are flowing according with the right direction, and not necessarily fighting against a particular situation. I do really believe that this is what is happening to us with web 2.0, we are just using it, sharing experiences, knowing people, mentalities and places that we never imagined to know before, and most of all, the most exciting thing is that: we are really enjoying it.

In the other hand, and getting back in the History, we can remember that for women, the things started to change between the decades of 60-70’s precisely when McLuhan was talking about this “unique world” … at that moment, women movements fighting for freedom and equality, started to weave their own “feminist web”. It was a real empowering period where the female voices were listened for a patriarchal world. It was a strong beginning, but the women of that time (our precursors) and we, we do know that it was not enough.

Although we have today so many (so many) things to do, we have to accept that women’s conditions are completely different that 50 years ago, when the first and brave female voices started to claim for our own rights. Now, our challenge is to continue the movement that they started, but we have also the challenge to do it according with our times, and that means to use our principal tool: internet.

We are also obligated to do it in a “female way”, being as we are: peaceful and strong at the same time… avoiding male exclusions and working together, because our ideal “global village” only will walk properly if we do not deny our differences, but work precisely with them, to construct an equilibrate world.

My personal challenge using the web it is to show peaceful efforts (both, men and women) through the site of Peace Correspondent