The primary and defining assumption of the citizens network against terror is that people have a direct role to play in promoting democracy and building a world without fear.

The focus on citizens – not states and organizations – is a bold concept. It is an appeal to ordinary people, not experts or political leaders. To those who are at risk and those who want to support and protect them.

To involve people the network design and architecture must stress openness, interaction, peer regulation and collaborative intelligence. Furthermore, an open participatory and interactive platform is not an option. It is the only option. The citizens’ network cannot function within a top-down structure.

The challenge for CAT’s planners is two-fold. On the one hand, they have to lift the barriers to people’s participation. It is up to the participants themselves to decide, through debate and deliberation, which idea and proposals are meaningful and worthwhile.

On the other hand, it is up to CAT’s planners to take the necessary measures to preserve the integrity of the network and prevent political manipulation.

Defining these core values and how we intend to preserve them in the network is in itself, I believe, one of the first and foremost matters to be widely discussed with potential users.

What, then, can such a network produce and accomplish?

There are many possibilities and avenues to explore: developing a common set of core values and purposes; exchanging testimonies and experiences; discussing strategies, policies and actions in support of citizens at risk; raising public awareness and knowledge about different forms of political violence; early warning and rapid reaction systems through the identification of critical situations; providing toolkits to marginalized citizens.