ZaMirNET
This article relies largely or entirely on a single source. (November 2018) |
ZaMirNET (ForPeaceNET) is a Croatia-based non-governmental organisation working in the field of ICT (information and communication technology). It describes itself as "a citizen association (not-for-profit organization) dedicated toward civil society development, promoting the culture of peace and the idea of sustainable development in Croatia and the region."
Roots
AdvocacyNet.org describes its formation during the turmoil in the former Yugoslavia.[1] It says, "Electronic information became an instrument of war and peace during the collapse of Yugoslavia." Amidst the "worst crimes committed in Europe this century" the first major experiment in email was launched in June 1992 in Zagreb and Belgrade, almost exactly a year after Croatia seceded from Yugoslavia, triggering a brutal response from Serbia.
This venture got the support of the
A research work titled Documenting the impact of the community peacebuilding practices in the post-Yugoslav region as a basis for policy framework development conducted by Marina Škrabalo, an activist of the
It says: "(The) initial steps to enable communication among emerging peace groups separated by the lines of conflict took place in October 1991, when an improvised fax relay system was set up, with the help of international solidarity organizations such as
"Trust link"
According to a report by
Marina Škrabalo's research says: "In February/March 1994, ZaMir servers were installed in
The impact of ZTN on the development and sustainability of the post-Yugoslav peace movement during the most intense war period from 1992 until the signing of
Peace, human rights activists and journalists
This network connected and provided training and technical support to more than 1700 peace, human rights and humanitarian workers and independent journalists from all the countries in war, including dozens of local and international NGOs that used this communication channel to assist in the search for the missing persons and tracing relatives stuck in war zones, plan joint peace-building projects, political campaigns and send out independent news reports and access more than 150 regional and international news conferences.
Two international volunteers, Kathryn Turnipseed and Cecilia Hansen, under a project name "Electronic Witches", created the first ZTN training manual for women-users ensuring that gender specific barriers to use of ICT would be overcome in the trainings they delivered to hundreds of women activists throughout Croatia, Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
As the intense war period in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia passed, the telephone lines and direct Internet access became more viable, ZTN did not manage to achieve its goal of adjusting its system to more advanced technology, due to lack of resources and weariness of the core groups of volunteers who kept it going during the difficult war years.
Several web-based networking and media outlets have in the meantime emerged in the post-Yugoslav region—such as Ljudmila, Kontrapunkt Festival, out of which ZaMirNET in Zagreb has built on—in terms of values, activist networks and human resources of ZTN.
Current operations
ZaMirNet has an office in Zagreb, Croatia with a staff of around six. Until 2004, ZaMirNet had several local offices in war affected areas of Croatia.
Current program areas include:
- Strategic use of ICTs
- Education
- Networking
- Independent media initiatives
It is a member of the
Recently (2004), it was involved with a media-project called ZaMirZINE—an electronic news magazine specialising in themes related to civil society. This interactive e-journal, was aimed at serving as a media outlet for a situation of otherwise scarce news on youth, peace-building, women's rights, gay and lesbian issues, environment and independent cultural initiatives. It combined articles with columns on national, regional and international events of relevance to human rights, social and economic justice and peace. ZaMirZINE is based on cooperation and knowledge-transfer between activists, young journalists and established journalists. ZaMirZINE was voted the best Croatian electronic zine of the year 2004 by the
Through its MEDIAnet project, launched in 2004 too, ZaMirNET says it aims to encourage and facilitate the establishment of locally based independent media in Croatia and the neighbouring countries—Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro. NGOs, through this project, are supported to expand their outreach and communication strategies to the media—including via community-based, alternative, and internet-based media outlets.
ZaMirNET says its research indicates that the mainstream media "tend to represent
ZaMirNET believes its ZaMirZINE could offer an inclusive media environment, based on a "knowledge transfer between
ZaMirNET team
Last ZaMirNET's governing board was composed of Vatroslav Zovko, Srđan Dvornik, Davor Gjenero, Predrag Bejaković, and Nebojša Gavrilov.
Due to the lack of funding ZaMirNET ceased its operations in 2016.
Notes
- ^ "Newsletter". Archived from the original on 2006-10-04. Retrieved 2006-10-05.
- ^ "DOCUMENTING THE IMPACT OF COMMUNITY PEACEBUILDING PRACTICES IN THE POST-YUGOSLAV REGION AS A BASIS FOR POLICY FRAMEWORK DEVELOPMENT" (PDF). Retrieved 2023-08-25.
- ^ "Start | Digitalcourage".