[IRPCoalition] Internet Social Forum

parminder parminder.js at gmail.com
Thu Jan 22 18:02:35 EET 2015


Enclosed Spanish version... parminder


On Thursday 22 January 2015 07:16 PM, Norbert Bollow wrote:
> Global Civil Society launches the Internet Social Forum
> – With a call to occupy the Internet
>
> PRESS RELEASE. Geneva, Switzerland, 22st January, 2015.
>
> A group of civil society organisations from around the world has
> announced the Internet Social Forum, to bring together and articulate
> bottom-up perspectives on the 'Internet we want'. Taking inspiration
> from the World Social Forum, and its clarion call, 'Another World is
> possible', the group seeks to draw urgent attention to the increasing
> centralization of the Internet for extraction of monopoly rents and for
> socio-political control, asserting that 'Another Internet is possible'!
>
> The Internet Social Forum will inter alia offer an alternative to the
> recently-launched World Economic Forum's 'Net Mundial Initiative' on
> global Internet governance. While the World Economic Forum (WEF) and
> the 'Net Mundial Initiative' convene global elites, the Internet Social
> Forum will be a participatory and bottom-up space for all those who
> believe that the global Internet must evolve in the public interest; a
> direct parallel to the launch of the World Social Forum in 2001 as a
> counter initiative to the WEF.
>
> The Internet Social Forum will reach out to grassroots groups and
> social movements across the world, catalysing a groundswell that
> challenges the entrenched elite interests that currently control how
> the Internet is managed. The Internet Social Forum's preparatory
> process will kick off during the World Social Forum to take place in
> Tunis, March 24th to 28th, 2015. The Internet Social Forum itself is
> planned to be held either late 2015 or early 2016.
>
> “While the world's biggest companies have every right to debate the
> future of the Internet, we are concerned that their perspectives should
> not drown out those of ordinary people who have no access to the
> privileged terrain WEF occupies – in the end it is this wider public
> interest that must be paramount in governing the Internet. We are
> organising the Internet Social Forum to make sure their voices can't be
> ignored in the corridors of power,” said Norbert Bollow, Co-Convenor of
> the Just Net Coalition, which is one of the groups involved in the
> initiative.
>
> The Internet Social Forum, and its preparatory process, is intended as
> a space to vision and build the 'Internet we want'. It will be
> underpinned by values of democracy, human rights and social justice. It
> will stand for participatory policy making and promote community media.
> It will seek an Internet that is truly decentralized in its
> architecture and based on people's full rights to data, information,
> knowledge and other 'commons' that the Internet has enabled the world
> community to generate and share.
>
> Somewhat similar to Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee’s call for a ‘Magna
> Carta for the Internet', the Internet Social Forum proposes to develop
> a People's Internet Manifesto, through a bottom-up process involving
> all concerned social groups and movements, in different areas, from
> techies and ICT-for-development actors to media reform groups,
> democracy movements and social justice activists.
>
> This year will also see the 10 year high-level review of the World
> Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), to be held in New York in
> December. As a full-scale review of a major UN summit, this will be a
> critical global political event. Since the WSIS, held in 2003 and 2005,
> the Internet, and what it means socially, has undergone a paradigm
> shift. The WSIS witnessed active engagement of civil society and
> technical groups as well as of business. However, currently, there
> seems to be an deliberate attempt to sideline this UN-led initiative on
> governance issues of the information society and Internet in favour of
> private, big-business-dominated initiatives like the WEF's Net Mundial
> Initiative. The Internet Social Forum, while remaining primarily a
> people's forum, will also seek to channel global civil society's
> engagement towards the WSIS +10 review.
>
> The following organisations form the initial group that is proposing
> the Internet Social Forum, and many more are expected to join in the
> immediate future. This is an open call to progressive groups from all
> over the world to join this initiative, and participate in developing a
> People's Internet Manifesto.
>
> Just Net Coalition, Global
> P2P Foundation, Global
> Transnational Institute, Global
> Forum on Communication for Integration of our America, Regional (Latin
> America) Arab NGO Network for Development, Regional
> Agencia Latinoamericana de Información, Regional
> Alternative Informatics Association, Turkey
> Knowledge Commons, India
> Open-Root/EUROLINC, France
> SLFC.in, India
> CODE-IP Trust, Kenya
> GodlyGlobal.org, Switzerland
> Centre for Community Informatics Research, Development and Training,
> Canada IT for Change, India
> Association for Proper Internet Governance, Switzerland
> Computer Professionals Union, Philippines
> Free Press, USA
> Advocates of Science and Technology for the People, Philippines
> Other News, Italy
> Free Software Movement of India
> Global_Geneva, Switzerland
> Solidarius (Solidarity Economy Network), Italy
> All India Peoples Science Network, India
> Institute for Local Self-Reliance - Community Broadband Networks, USA
>
> Please contact us at secretariat at InternetSocialForum.net for further
> information or clarification.
>
> Or the following regional contacts:
>
> Africa:        Alex Gakaru <AlexG at InternetSocialForum.net>
> Asia:          Rishab Bailey <RishabB at InternetSocialForum.net>
> Europe:        Norbert Bollow <NorbertB at InternetSocialForum.net>
> North America: Micheal Gurstein <MichealG at InternetSocialForum.net>
> South America: Sally Burch <SallyB at InternetSocialForum.net>
>
>
> This press release is also available online, e.g. at
> http://justnetcoalition.org/ISF
> _______________________________________________
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