Dear all, I'm writing to ask for your help to support Wikimedia South Africa in the coming weeks and advocate for copyright reform.
*WHAT* Douglas Scott, from Wikimedia South Africa, will be speaking at four provincial hearings starting tomorrow, Feb. 21, to advocate for the Copyright Amendment Bill in South Africa [1]. Efforts to reform copyright laws in South Africa can have a positive ripple-effect across the continent and the free knowledge movement at large. We can support him as part of that same movement. *HOW* 1) Amplify tweets from Wikimedia South Africa [2] and ReCreate South Africa [3], an allied organization. This will be particularly helpful if you do so on the days of the hearings (dates below). 2) Write to the media in South Africa. You can submit an opinion article to South African newspapers and new agencies like Business Day, Daily Maverick, IOL, and GroundUp, where you explain why it is important to have freedom of panorama in the law [4]. If you come from a country that has fair use [5] like the US, Singapore, or Israel, you can focus on how helpful that legal doctrine has been in helping your country promote innovation and free knowledge. Electronic Information for Libraries (EIFL), a nonprofit that works with libraries to enable access to knowledge in developing countries, provides an example of how to help through media support [5]. EIFL explains how they delivered comments on South Africa's CAB and the significance of the process. *WHEN* - 21 February 2023: (17:00-19:00) Stellenbosch Town Hall, Stellenbosch - 1 March 2023: (17:00-19:00) Darling Town Hall, Darling - 6 March 2023: (17:00-19:00) Overstrand Municipal Hall, Hermarnus - 7 March 2023: (17:00-19:00) Provincial Legislature building, Cape Town In solidarity, Ziski & the WMF Global Advocacy Team ________ [1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_South_Africa/Copyright_Amendment_Bill [2] https://twitter.com/Wikimedia_ZA [3] https://twitter.com/SaRecreate [4] https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_Panorama_ZA [5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use [6] https://www.eifl.net/news/eifl-delivers-comments-sas-copyright-bill _______________________________________________ Publicpolicy mailing list -- [email protected] To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected]
