Sheldon Himelfarb
Sheldon Himelfarb
Sheldon Himelfarb is the founder and CEO of the PeaceTech Lab in Washington D.C.[1][2] Himelfarb coined the term "PeaceTech" and has been the lead proponent of the movement to provide technology tools to peace activists around the world.[1][2] Over the course of his career, Himelfarb has engaged in peace building activities in Bosnia, Iraq, Angola, Liberia, Macedonia and Burundi, and he was awarded American University's Capital Area Peacemaker Award.[3] Himelfarb has argued that the fusion of technology and peace building activities is the future of conflict prevention, and he successfully wooed major tech firms including Amazon and British venture capital firm C5 to back his idea.[1]
Himelfarb's core argument is that "governments simply do not have the resources to move upstream and do conflict prevention in the world. Partnerships with the private sector like this are good business and good for the future of the planet."[1] Himelfarb is also a major proponent of data driven peace building, arguing that more sophisticated data analytics can help governments, civil society and the private sector access "new early warning insights on social and economic disruptions in conflict zones."[4] The United Nations Technology Innovative Labs credited Himelfarb as a "pioneer and leader" of the peacetech movement and with being instrumental in pushing the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee to consider technological solutions to conflicts, rather than just military or traditional diplomatic options.[5]
Prior to creating the PeaceTech Lab in 2014, Himelfarb developed media aimed at fostering understanding between ethnic groups and defusing conflict in the Balkans so as to prevent ethnic cleansing similar to what had occurred in Rwanda in 1994.[2] He also produced several documentaries, including Follow the Flag, about the 1983 Beirut barracks bombing, and From Fury to Forgiveness, which was about forgiveness and the death penalty and was narrated by Susan Sarandon.[2] The events around the production of From Fury to Forgiveness and Himelfarb's interviews with the families of murder victims were recounted by Bill Pelke in his 2003 book, Journey of Hope... From Violence to Healing, and he argued that Himelfarb's portrayal of Marietta Jaeger, whose daughter had been kidnapped and killed by serial killer David G. Meirhofer, was "one of the most powerful stories of forgiveness I had ever heard."[6] The Los Angeles Times reviewed the film favorably in 1994 when it was released in the U.S. by the Discovery Channel, calling From Fury to Forgiveness "a rare television hour of moral probity,"[7] although reviewer Robert Koehler cautioned that "Himelfarb's film ... ignores the inherent virtue of ultimate punishment for ultimate crime," which "makes From Fury to Forgiveness a virtual anti-death-penalty propaganda work."[7]
Himelfarb began his career as a staffer for Senator Charles Matthias (R-Maryland) and advised him during the crisis in Lebanon.[2]
The PeaceTech Lab
The non-profit PeaceTech Lab was originally created by Himelfarb under the auspices of the United States Institute of Peace[4] but became an independent entity in 2014 under Himelfarb's direction.[8] It functions by putting together teams of American engineers and innovators, with backing from major tech companies, with activists on the ground around the world. These teams create apps and tech solutions for everything from mapping attacks against journalists to documenting outbreaks of disease in refugee camps.[8] One of the lab's early successes, which built upon Himelfarb's experiences with media in the Balkans, was OSRx, a software suite which can be used to monitor and map hate speech on social media around the world.[2] The U.S. Department of Defense has backed the PeaceTech Lab's efforts to prevent violent outbreaks globally.[2] The PeaceTech Lab's tools were key in monitoring hate speech in South Sudan beginning in 2015, and their researchers were actually able to tie real-world violence to messaging spread on social media.[9]
Personal Life
Himelfarb was born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1956, and his father worked for the Social Security Administration. Himelfarb studied Political Science at Johns Hopkins and then attended Oxford University where he earned a PhD and wrote a dissertation on the British Parliament.[2] Himelfarb originally applied as a Rhodes Scholar, but when he was rejected, he chose to attend anyway.[2]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Fortson, Danny (2017-12-24). "What Amazon boss Jeff Bezos wants for Christmas is. . .world peace (With the help of some spies and special forces types)". The Sunday Times. ISSN 0956-1382. Retrieved 2019-10-24.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 Reeves, Benjamin (1/4/2016). ""Profits of Peace"" (PDF). Worth magazine. Worth. Retrieved 10/22/19. Check date values in:
|access-date=, |date=(help) - ↑ Azevedo, Mary Ann (2018-06-28). "PeaceTechLab Funds Startups To Build Out Global Peacebuilding Efforts". Crunchbase News. Retrieved 2019-10-22.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Sheldon Himelfarb, CEO of PeaceTech Lab: Interview". mediapeaceproject.smpa.gwu.edu. Retrieved 2019-11-29.
- ↑ "UNTIL Interview with Dr. Sheldon Himelfarb: The Search For Peace Has New Digital Tools | UN Technology Innovation Labs". until.un.org. Retrieved 2019-10-24.
- ↑ Pelke, Bill. (2003). Journey of hope : from violence to healing. XLibris. pp. 235–237. ISBN 1413419917. OCLC 53319339. Search this book on
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 "TV REVIEWS : Victims' Families Show 'Forgiveness'". Los Angeles Times. 1994-10-26. Retrieved 2019-11-29.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Field, Anne. "Can Tech And Data Science Prevent Violence In Conflict Zones?". Forbes. Retrieved 2019-10-22.
- ↑ "Online fake news and hate speech are fueling tribal 'genocide' in South Sudan". Public Radio International. Retrieved 2019-10-22.
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