London: It’s official. The Internet, which has virtually revolutionised the world, has been nominated for the ‘2010 Nobel Peace Prize´.
Bridging borders: Surfers at a cyber cafe in China. Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi is one of the main endorsers of the nomination. Reuters
The Internet was proposed by the Italian edition of the popular
Wired magazine for promoting “dialogue, debate and consensus through communication” as well as democracy, the media reported.
Premier endorsers of Internet for Nobel Peace Prize nomination include 2003 Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi and famous Italian surgeon, known for his contributions to breast cancer treatments, Umberto Veronesi.
Wired Italy has also launched a dedicated campaign, ‘Internet for Peace´, which will carry on till September 2010, featuring different stories and experiences of those who with the web have tried to do something concrete to promote peace and harmony in the world.
“We have to look at the Internet as a huge community where men and women from all over the world and with very different religious views can communicate and sympathise, spreading a new culture centred on collaboration and sharing of knowledge that breaks all barriers.
“For this reason, the Internet can be considered the first weapon of mass construction, which we can deploy to destroy hate and conflict and propagate peace and democracy.
“What happened in Iran after the latest election and the role the web played in spreading information that would otherwise have been censored, are only the newest examples of how the Internet can become a weapon of global hope,” Riccardo Luna, editor of Wired Italy, said at the launch.