Rating the Nonviolent Web

By John M. Miller

LIKE THE UNIVERSE itself, the World Wide Web just keeps on expanding. Whether either will implode, expand forever or someday be superseded, astrophysicists and engineers (respectively) will determine. We can say for sure that increasing numbers of people are logging on to the Internet; that, after e-mail, the Web is its favored part; and that political activists and organizations—right, left and indeterminate—are setting up more and more websites to take advantage of the growth. War Resisters League’s own website, which premiered earlier this year, is promoting our own brand of progressive politics and nonviolence at www.warresisters.org.

It has become easier both to get on line and to make information available to others—but with so much information on such a broad range of topics it has also become harder and harder for users to find what they want (or need) and to separate the worthy web pages from the shoddy. Browsing at random can be rewarding but slow; for those with limited time we offer some productive starting points. Below we rate some websites focused on nonviolence. We looked at a mix of sites focused on history, organizing technique, activist organizations, and international campaigns.

The quantity of available information on nonviolence is growing, but its quality varies greatly. While there were good-looking sites, overall there was very little innovative use of web technology (not much use of frames, no fancy Java apps, only limited integration of graphics, sound or video with text) in the sites we visited.

On the plus side, these sites are accessible to those with slow connections or older web browsers, but the downside is that novices to nonviolence are unlikely to spend much time at many of these sites when snazzier presentations are just a mouse click away.

There remains plenty of room for innovation in promoting nonviolence via the Internet. There are gaps and a tremendous need for more sites. Classics on nonviolence need to be scanned and posted (a page of links to those already on line, like works by Thoreau, should be compiled). The Web is also a place to chronicle crucial campaigns and actions with texts of calls to action, photos and snippets of oral history by participants. Over time, the Nonviolent Activist hopes to contribute by putting more back articles and graphics into our website (http://www.nonviolence.org/~nvweb/wrl/nva.htm), and as WRL’s 75th anniversary approaches, the League plans to post more of its history, including memorable photos from its archives.

The ratings below reflect each site’s content at the time of writing. This is just a sampling of what is out there. No doubt there were many sites we didn’t visit (suggestions are welcome) and some of those we did will improve over time, so you may want to go back and take a look at some of the low-rated sites in a few months.

[The Ratings] [Where Else to Look]

John M. Miller is a member of the WRL Executive Committee and a computer consultant. He can be reached on line at fbp@igc.org.

The Nonviolent Activist is published bi-monthly by:
WAR RESISTERS LEAGUE
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