A brand new institution providing online education for peace will start operations in January 2003. In this paper Tina Ebey and Olivier Urbain will present their vision for the promotion of peace education through the use of the internet, focusing on the case of Transcend Peace University (TPU). Information can be found on the TRANSCEND website: http:www.transcend.org

The internet is a neutral tool, and it can be used freely for the most noble endeavors, saving lives and promoting human dignity, but also for the basest purposes, degrading both women and men and enabling hate groups to communicate effectively. The authors believe that this double-edge sword needs to be used fully by those who wish to promote peace and human dignity, and this paper is divided into three main parts.

First, a description of the present state of TPU itself, providing a concrete example of an institution devoted to peace by peaceful means. TPU has an on-site components. Its instructors and students are welcome to hold courses in about twenty-five sites in the world, including universities, cultural centers, and even the Peace Boat based in Japan. In this paper, we will focus on the very important online components of TPU.

Next, the authors will present the results of a pilot online course entitled 'The Role of Art in Peace Building', offered by TPU in February 2003. What grew out of this pilot course is a whole network, entitled the Transcend: Art and Peace Network (T:AP), which has become an online educational organization by itself, while ensuring the development of the actual TPU course. This part of the paper will focus on a brief history of T:AP.

Finally Tina Ebey will present her personal experience with the T:AP Network, highlighting the need to use the internet in order to increase freedom, equality and participation, leading to a more peaceful world.

In January 2003 Transcend Peace University (TPU) will open its doors to students world wide. TPU is the educational branch of TRANSCEND, a peace and development network offering about twenty different programs such as Peaceful Conflict Transformation, Peace Building and Empowerment, Peace Journalism, Peace and Business, Global Governance, Peace, Women and Men, Peace and the Arts and many other programs.

The mission statement of TRANSCEND is: "To bring about a more peaceful world by using action, education, networking and research to handle conflicts with creativity, nonviolence and empathy". TPU is the educational branch of TRANSCEND, and the first six courses will be offered online in January 2003: Conflict Transformation by Peaceful Means, Nonmilitary Aspects of Security, Global Conflicts and Nonviolence, Peace-building and Empowerment, Peace Journalism, Peace and the Arts.

According to Johan Galtung, one of the founders of peace studies, and the founder of TRANSCEND and TPU, the TRANSCEND method is based on 'deep dialogues with the parties of a conflict one at a time, to know their goals better, to stimulate creativity and to identify outcomes acceptable to all. Rather than compromises we try something new and better, often beyond what the parties first had in mind.' (excerpt from an e-mail message sent Nov. 1,2002). All information concerning TPU will be posted on the TRANSCEND website at www.transcend.org, including course descriptions and online registration details. The online course about 'The Role of Art in Peace Building ' offered by Olivier Urbain for TPU can be found at www.succ.soka.ac.jp/~our/aolc.html.

Participants in the TPU courses can expect to learn skills enabling them to improve their work for peace, and each course will last fifteen weeks. Course materials, reading lists, homework, exchanges with the instructors and with other students will all be online, making full use of the possibilities offered by the internet.

In November 1999 Olivier Urbain was encouraged by Johan Galtung (today TPU Rector) and George Kent (today TPU senior advisor) to develop an online course for the future TPU. In January 2000, he started an e-group and a website, which was the basis for the Transcend: Art and Peace Network (T:AP), a virtual organization bringing together about fifty members from all continents. The website provides a common space to which all members can refer, allowing them to develop a sense of community from whichever location they find themselves in. It can be found at <www.tap.mailme.org>.

The mission statement of T:AP is based on the work of TRANSCEND, and it reads: The purpose of the Transcend Art and Peace Network (TAP) is to support creativity and the arts in working for peace. TAP is one of the programs of TRANSCEND, a peace and development network. Our common goal is: "To bring about a more peaceful world by using action, education, research and networking to handle conflicts with creativity, nonviolence and empathy."

The TAP e-group itself has grown into a full-scale online educational experience. At present all 50 members learn from each other constantly and we exchange crucial information about art and peace based on our own expertise, we all become e-students and e-teachers in turn.

This year a small board of directors was created and all 10 members (5 men, and 5 women, 2 on each major continent) discuss the content of each monthly topic (since October 2002), centralize members' opinions concerning the mission statement, etc.

October's theme was the Earth Charter which Tina Ebey was happy to host. She tried to cultivate as much dialogue as possible based on the contributing artists desire to be part of the Earth Charter process. There may be more on the EC in the future. Beside the T:AP e-group, Olivier Urbain has used the website as the basis of several T:AP courses at his university in Japan, Soka University. The class meets once a week, but all homework and reading material is on the website and sent by e-mail. Some examples of highly successful projects are: Erika Ohshiro developed her passion for movies into a whole part of the T:AP website at www.succ.soka.ac.jp/~our/m/eo.MOM.html, and Udara de Silva continues to learn together with other students even though she went back to her native Sri Lanka. Her homepage is www.succ.soka.ac.jp/~our/m/cats.ui.html.

Even though the T:AP e-group, website and network was serving as the pilot project for the art and peace course to be offered by TPU in January 2003, it became an independent activity with a great future, judging from the level of participation of the members from all corners of the world.

Working with TAP gave Tina Ebey an opportunity to engage in a wonderful and carefully designed online educational project that bridged the gap between administration and personal experience. In the past she was able to participate with coordination of substantial distance learning resources including the Peace Corps and Smithsonian for the Educational Coalition (www.tecweb.org) but wanted to be able to come closer to student-centered learning and peace education.

The dedication and vision of Dr. Galtung and TRANSCEND provided the opportunity to create fusion with Dr. Urbain and his colleagues toward the future of TPU with peace studies. Issues of communication and cultural differences were worked out with humanity and wit to overcome seemingly unsolvable problems. Over time the possibility of evaluating effectiveness became less volatile with more self-definition within the group and the lively, truly gifted contribution and insights of the students and artists online.

Being able to write, air views, show work and pictures stimulating online dialogue has been important to sustaining confidence within the group and for the individual contributors. Inspired by great leaders from the past and present, Daisaku Ikeda, Dr. Martin Luther King, Mahatma Gandhi, and Rosa Parks, to name a few, Tina felt drawn to continue to embolden an engaged process of reasoning based on the heartfelt dedication of the TAPpers.

Creating community activities for peace with new friends from around the world including learning strands like the Earth Charter, provided the opportunity for an interactive peace forum.

Tina's dream is to create an environment for multilateral disarmament. Inspired by the sunflower and the work of Dr. David Krieger, President of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation (www.wagingpeace.org) she hopes to be part of cultivating globally engaged reasoning that will resonate with the TRANSCEND philosophy. In the words of Daisaku Ikeda, "Today, we confront the need to turn human history away from its customary course of war and violence and toward peace and harmonious existence. One of the most important aspects of the task is the abolition of nuclear weapons." The life work of Dr. Urbain is a bridge to help build the dream of peace. My hope is that the youth of the future will empower themselves to make peace happen.