[AktiviX-discuss] [Fwd: [Fwd: WSIS Tunisia 2005]]

[Josh Robinson]

This might be of interest.

J

-----Forwarded Message-----
From: londonscn at riseup.net
Subject: WSIS Tunisia 2005
Date: Sun, 02 Jan 2005 14:33:39 -0800

The next World Summit on the Information Society will be held in Tunis, 
Tunisia. The organizers want to concentrate on governmental and 
corporate use of information and communication technologies.

This approach fits the choice of place. Tunisia is not only a much 
praised ally of the West, it is even seen as a so called Western model 
in the otherwise backward Arab world. Why? Because Tunisia has 
radically privatized and has managed to stimulate its economy with the 
opening of low wage textile and spare part factories, also called sweat 
shops, which export their goods to Europe and the US. However, at the 
same time the president Ben Ali runs a merciless dictatorship silencing 
any dissent.

Thus, the choice of place for a UN summit on information society is 
more than hypocritical. While Tunisia is catching up economically with 
the capitalist North, it is far from any information society if you are 
talking about the freedom to information.

Yet, the summit does not only give legitimacy to a repressive regime, 
its focus also ignores the social and technological situation in the 
region. The majority of people in this part of the world do not have 
access to internet. If they do through internet cafes or in 
universities, they often lack the technological knowledge to 
appropriate the world of the World Wide Web for their own needs as 
people in the North have done. And e-commerce is certainly the last 
thing they need.

A closer look at what governmental use of Information Communication 
Technologies means and what therefore may be discussed in Tunis, shows 
that this is not just about ministries designing user friendly website 
for citizens. It also means getting more control of technologies, thus 
also allowing more censorship and persecution of activists. It is 
currently being debated whether internet governance should stay with 
(business-dominated)
ICANN or move to (state-dominated) ITU. A country like Tunisia would 
certainly welcome such a shift. But the topic is relevant anywhere in 
the world, as governments are trying to cut civil liberties everywhere 
in the name of the so called war on terror.

In a counter summit we want to address these issues together with civil 
society organizations, media and human rights activists from the 
region. Some ideas for further discussions, actions and practical 
workshop at the Counter Summit:

1. Censorship
In the whole of the Arab World and much of Africa freedom of expression 
does not exist. Most countries have state censors who decide what is 
fit to read or watch for the people, all these countries regulate media 
through the issuing of licenses which are hard to get. In the frame of 
the WSIS we want to call for the abolishing of all types of censorship.

2. Repression of media activists
More and more people have discovered the internet to express themselves 
and to organize opposition in countries where both is punished with 
jail. While at first the regimes seemed unaware of this activism, they 
have now started
to hit back. Many media activists were arrested and face prison terms, 
an example is the gay community in Egypt. Also in Tunisia and Syria 
internet activists are being persecuted. The Summit could be a great 
opportunity to
spread information about these conditions and call for solidarity.

3. Creating access
To some extend the internet can be a tool to go around restrictive 
censorship policies as can low power FM radios be a solution against 
governments who only hand out licenses to those who support them. We 
want to discuss how we can set up alternative media and community 
websites or FM radios in impoverished areas and villages, keeping in 
mind that teaching people how to administrate their own media is a core 
concept for media democracy. We hope to also set up a volunteer based 
consultancy group for people who want to build websites providing 
assistance as well as software.

4. Right to technology
Access to technology is a human right in a world where knowledge and 
information is decisive for people's well being, their career, their 
lives. However, much more even than in the North, INTEL and Microsoft 
are controlling technologies and their access in most developing 
countries and especially in the Arab world. One of their strategies is 
to set up ready
made centers for NGOs for a period of two years for free. Thus, 
Microsoft and INTEL look like the good guys, creating themselves a huge 
advertising billboard, and can, at the same time, study new markets 
with local sensibilities, while doing low-cost development of 
Arabic-software. The output on the other hand, for civil society is 
low. As basically none of these NGOs can maintain the center after two 
years, they loose it. Thus even if some good work is done, it is not 
sustainable and has no impact on society, like much of foreign aid it 
may even stifle activity and tame grass root groups.

5. Precarity of Information workers
Whether North or South information workers are ignored by the unions. 
In much of the developing world they may not even get any social 
security as state policies don't recognize them. This new emerging work 
force may still seem better off than the rest. However, this will 
change with its growth while at the same time the deterioration of 
workers' rights
can be pushed further into society. Many of us belong to this workforce 
ourselves. We want to discuss at the summit how we can organize and 
create unions defending our rights world wide.

6. Digitization and Access to Resources
A small and limited amount of funding for ICT projects and programs 
goes to developing localization tools, specifically translation into 
local languages and digitization of local knowledge. Indigenous 
language localization tools, such as OCR programs, are still very 
costly and underdeveloped. We suggest restructuring ICT and ICT4D 
funding and investment to take into consideration both local needs and 
localization of knowledge tools.

7. Freedom of Movement as a right to communication
People move across physical and virtual borders. People push the 
electronic frontiers through digital and physical communication. States 
and multinationals are enforcing control of both flows. To keep people 
from moving where they want, means to keep them from communicating in 
the way they have chosen.

If you want to contribute to the discussions and plans for a counter 
summit, sign up to:
tunis at lists.riseup.net