On Gaza and a decade of digital peacebuilding

by Helena Puig Larrauri

In just a few weeks, we will be holding the 10th Build Peace conference, marking a decade of gatherings to discuss the intersection of technology, the arts, conflict and peace. It’s set to be another vibrant gathering, and as we get closer I’ve been reflecting on what we have learned over the past ten years of digital peacebuilding. That reflection has become all the more poignant as the war in Gaza escalates: more than any other conflict I have witnessed, this war is playing out in digital spaces and foregrounding tactics of information warfare, citizen journalism, internationalized advocacy and censorship, and divisive discourse at a new magnitude of scale. From this, I think we can derive five important lessons for digital peacebuilders that both apply to the war in Gaza and reflect what we have learned over the past decade. [... ]