French vote for a citizen's Europe
Here's an article I wrote for OhmyNews about the French vote on the EU constitution. Ronda The url is: http://english.ohmynews.com/articleview/article_view.asp?article_class=3&no=229076&rel_no=1 France Votes for a Citizen's Europe French cast 'no' ballots to counter those who put the market first by Ronda Hauben [EMAIL PROTECTED] By voting "no" on a referendum to approve the EU constitution, French voters have created what has been called "a political earthquake for Europe." (1) The "no" voters won with 54.87 percent of the vote, the "yes" vote, received only 45.13 percent. Thus the "no" voters won with almost a 10 percent lead. Almost 70 percent of the French citizenry voted in the referendum. Celebrating on Sunday night at a party at the Place de la Bastille, the site of the start of the French Revolution, "no" voters expressed their desire that their vote be the start of a social Europe, a citizen's Europe. For many years, the market has been stressed in EU activities. The question of how to provide for the social values and benefits that many cherish as the basis of their view of Europe has been put off until sometime in the future. French citizens, however, by rejecting the current constitution proposal, gave notice to their government and to the EU that the task of building a social Europe, a Europe for the citizen, is a task that has to become a significant aspect of European construction. The desire that the citizen become a primary concern of the European Union was raised during EU negotiations in the 1990s. Quoting Silvio Fagiolo, the first Chairman of the 1996 Intergovernmental Conference under the Italian Presidency, the Polish researcher Leszek Jesien writes (2): "The defining point of this process will be the transition from the concept of the market to that of citizenship, by which I mean a greater direct involvement of the citizens in the running of the Union." (Jesien, page 2) While there has been an effort to label those who voted "no" as being hostile to the EU, this is an inaccurate characterization. Many who voted "no" have stressed that their vote is a vote for an EU that will be constructed on a different basis, on a more social basis than provided for in the proposed constitution. Also, those voting "no" complained that the constitution was too long, that it was too focused on business issues, that it didn't involve the citizens of Europe in its creation. The debate in France over the proposed constitution and over the creation of a vision for the construction of a social Europe, a citizen's Europe, was a democratic event. The major political parties in France called for a "yes" vote. The "no" vote then signifies a rejection of the arguments for the constitution presented by the French political establishment. Can the EU recognize the need to include the goals and desires of its citizens in its decision-making processes? Is it possible for the EU construction process to become a more democratic process? This is the challenge that the French "no" vote presents to the EU. Notes: (1) "The people of France created a political earthquake for their own country and the entire European Union yesterday by becoming the first country to reject the constitutional treaty by a resounding 56 percent." -- The Irish Times, May 30, 2005 (2) "We can only agree with Silvio Fagiolo the first chairman of the 1996 Intergovernmental Conference under the Italian Presidency..." Leszek Jesien, "The 1996 IGC: European Citizenship Reconsidered," Instituets fur den Donauraum und Mitteleuropa, March 1997, page 2. http://www.columbia.edu/~hauben/netizens/list-archive/Related_Articles/Jesien.rtf # distributed via : no commercial use without permission # is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets # more info: [EMAIL PROTECTED] and "info nettime-l" in the msg body # archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: nettime@bbs.thing.net
Telestreet and NGVision achieved the "Award of Distinction" at the Prix Ars Electronica 2005
Telestreet, the Italian network of street televisions and NewGlobalVision, online video archive and distribuition project, achieved the "Award of Distinction" at the Linz Prix Ars Electronica 2005. - press release -=20 The Prix Ars Electronica, currently addressed towards its nineteenth edition, is the most accredited international competition concerning arts, technologies, and digital media-based social practices. The "Digital Communities" category rewards the innovative projects concerning e-democracy, digital cities and citizens' participation. "Evaluations will honor visionary and forward-looking projects; those that display consummate social and technological innovativeness and that have been successfully set up and established. Digital Communities projects should enable human beings to enjoy the widest possible access to technology networks, and the 'Digital Commons'" (Prix's call for works). The international prize represents an acknowledgment for the Telestreet and NewGlobalVision network activity in reclaiming the right of free open access of the means of communications within a country, as Italy, where the right of expression seems loosing value. The movement of "antennas toward people" aims at enabling citizens to freely use the communication channel of television not only to receive information but especially to produce it. By so doing, it places individuals in the position of closely interacting and sharing as much as of producing information. "Don't watch TV, just do it!" is the slogan of the street televisions. The first street television, Orfeo TV, has started to broadcast on June 21st 2002 in Bologna. Since 2002, over 150 street-tvs were born all around Italy. They transmit via ether utilizing the so-called "shadow cones" where the signals of commercial terrestrial broadcasters cannot reach because obstructed by natural or manufacture barriers. We are dealing here with tiny street or neighbourhood televisions. The very low cost of the equipment gives everyone the opportunity of transmitting information usually not gathered by mainstream networks. Moreover, antenna broadcasting is combined with the Internet allowing the sharing of video works and the management of the circuit of the street-tvs scattered all over Italy. The international acknowledgment allows in thinking to claim the media free access even within new grounds like digital terrestrial and wireless. Convergence between terrestrial broadcasting and internet streaming dismantles the mediascape as we know it and creates a new one on the principles of decentralization of production, decentralization of resources and decentralization of points of emissions.The theme uphold by Telestreet in Italy is going exactly toward this direction: the acknowledgment of 10% of the ether frequencies for communitarian use. www.telestreet.it www.ngvision.org Orfeo Tv - Telestreet=09 [EMAIL PROTECTED] NGVision.org [EMAIL PROTECTED] # distributed via : no commercial use without permission # is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets # more info: [EMAIL PROTECTED] and "info nettime-l" in the msg body # archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: nettime@bbs.thing.net
The political sociology of golf in south asia --posting
-Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Mario Rodrigues Sent: May 29, 2005 12:18 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [Reader-list] the political sociology of golf in south asia --posting The political sociology of golf in South Asia--Posting Over the last decade, golf has acquired the status of a four-letter word because of the havoc it has wrought across the globe. These ravages have been most manifest in Asia, and especially in South-East Asia, which has experienced some of the most concentrated golf development as a result of state policy. The so-called "green game" has made millions of people across the world see red because of the excesses and illegalities associated with golf course development. These include: issues relating to illegal and sometimes forcible acquisition of land required to build deluxe resorts and golf courses, the displacement of traditional and/or marginalised communities from their ancestral land, deforestation, destruction/alteration of environment and ecological life systems, use of (harmful) pesticides to keep courses green and pest-free, contamination of soil and neighbouring water systems due to heavy use of pesticides, and the consumption of large amounts of water at the cost of the public. These excesses have been mimicked in almost every country across the globe, including India: this will be highlighted in a future posting. Such excesses have provoked strident protests from environmentalists, activists, NGOs and those affected by golf developments, sometimes erupting in violent incidents. The violence has often been perpetrated by golf developers in collusion with the governments/authorities backing such developments. To combat the scourge of golf, the Global Anti-Golf Movement was founded in 1993 by Japanese market gardener Gen Morita after he discovered that his crops were contaminated by chemicals from the water draining off a nearby golf course. The GAGM has been observing a "World No Golf Day" since the 1990s and its activists have waged sustained campaigns against controversial golf projects, especially in South-East and East Asia, sometimes successfully. Of late, GAGM has not been as active as before due to the economic recession and the setbacks to the "tiger economies" a few years ago, which badly impacted on the golf business. But it seems that golf back is back on the agenda of national governments now and golf courses have become an intrinsic part of the landscape in South-East Asia. Some of the anti-golf struggles that erupted in the region, especially in the 1990s, and excesses connected with golf, include: * THAILAND: The Golden Valley Golf & Country Club designed by Jack Nicklaus allegedly encroached on the famous Khao Yai National Park, with developers dynamiting a hill in the park to join two roads. A number of golf courses in the country have allegedly trespassed on protected forest areas and national parks. * MYANMAR: GAGM activists launched a campaign to try and force Nicklaus to de-link himself from designing a golf course for the Andaman Club on Thahtay Kyan island, a $ 24 million five-star resort and casino project, in view of the economic sanctions that were in force against the Burmese military junta. In another instance, the army used strong-arm tactics to evict traditional residents so that the land could be freed for the development of the Myanmar Golf Club in Rangoon. * MALAYSIA: The Berawan, a small indigenous ethnic group, were locked in grim battle with a Japanese hotel chain and the Sarawak provincial government over plans to build a 200-acre course on their ancestral land in the Mulu National Park. Hundreds of acres of tropical forests were reportedly cleared to pave the way for luxury resorts and golf courses in Langkawi island leading to all-round havoc and deprivation. * INDONESIA: Farmers, students and religious groups launched a bitter though unsuccessful agitation against the forcible acquisition of land by the government to built the 120-acre Le Meridien Nirwana Golf and Spa Resort (with links to the disgraced former dictator General Suharto) near a Hindu shrine overlooking Tanah Lot in Bali. In the Gili Trawangan islands off the picturesque Lombok region, government forces used violence to evict inhabitants and visitors; while in West Java, a developer bulldozed crops to force farmers off their land. * VIETNAM: Security forces cracked down harshly on protestors from the Kim No village outside Hanoi who were protesting the Communist government’s decision to confiscate their farmlands and hand it over to foreign developers to build a golf course. * CHINA: There is a moratorium on golf course development after it was found that almost all courses have been built after illegal acquisition of land. Premier Wen Jiabao warned in Parliament that the government would resolutely put an end to illegal acquisition and use of farmland. According to statistics
EU Software patents directive, 4th episode
Important week for the fight against software patents Some background Information * On 2003/09/24, the European Parliament adopted, in 1st reading, a directive which clearly excluded software and business methods from patentability. * On 2004/05/18, the European Council of Ministers amended the directive to legalise patents on software and business methods. The formal adoption of the directive was postponed after the re-election of the Parliament. * On 2005/03/07, the Council formally adopted the amended directive. In this process, the Luxembourg presidency ignored the Council's rules of procedure by ignoring the will of 3 countries to reopen negotiations. Before that, a formal application by the European Parliament to restart the legislative process got rejected by the Commission of European Countries. * On 2005/07/06, the European Parliament will vote on the Directive in ''2nd Reading''. Each amendment to the Council's directive must be voted by an absolute majority of all members; abstentions and absent members are counted ''in favour'' of the ''unchanged'' Council's directive. Events this week: 1. Conference FFII June 1rst: http://swpat.ffii.org/events/2005/bxl0601/ 2.June 2nd Conference Greens-EFA "Software Patents and Free Software" the panel includes Robert Sutor(IBM),Jason Schultz(Electronic Frontier Foundation),David Sant(European Patent Office),Simon Phipps(SUN Microsystems),Richard M. Stallman(Free Software Foundation),David Axmark(MySQL), etc: http://www.greens-efa.org/en/agenda/detail.php?id=1726 3. Demo in the streets: http://noepatents.eu.org/index.php/Demo_Against_Software_Patents 4. Demo on the web: http://noepatents.eu.org 5.June 2nd: http://wiki.ffii.org/EppSme050602En Here follows the official press release calling for the demo. = Software Patents Directive: Associations Call to Demonstrate All Over Europe = PRESS RELEASE [ Europe / economy / ICT ] Brussels, 2005/05/22 WHAT: Demonstration against software patents WHEN: 2005/06/02, 13:00h WHERE: Brussels, Schumann metro station; other European cities; the Internet CONTACT: Benjamin Henrion, +32 498 292771 MORE INFO: http://noepatents.eu.org ''AEL.be'' and ''Openstandaarden.be'' invite people who are concerned by the dangers of software patents to demonstrate on 2nd June in Brussels and other European cities, as well as on the Internet [1]. On 2005/07/06, the European Parliament will vote about the adoption of a directive which would legalise patents on software and business methods in Europe. Members of the European Parliament are currently visited daily by professional lobbyists to convince them that the Directive by the Council of Ministers would ''not'' introduce software patents, but instead patents on so-called computer-implemented inventions which were a good thing for small enterprises and independent developers [2]. In reality, this directive, commonly known as the ''Software Patent Directive'', would introduce US-style software patents in Europe, as a recent study [3] revealed. The goal of the demonstrations is to rise the awareness of the members of the European Parliament for the importance of the fast-approaching vote. Patents on software would render development more risky and endanger millions of jobs in the European IT sector. Alexandre Dulaunoy (Association Electronique Libre, AEL.be) comments: Software and computer programs have always been subject to copyright law as they are a form of writing. Introducing software patents will be in conflict with well-established and proven author's rights. Software patents will allow patent monopolies to limit innovation within Europe's knowledge-based economy. A free society is closely linked to the ability to create and build a free market. As we want to keep a free society, we are firmly opposed to software patents. Mark Van den Borre (Openstandaarden.be) explains: Moving your own data is a technical problem for every SME right now already. Just try changing bookkeeping software while keeping your old data. If the European Commission, the Council of Ministers and a handful of multinationals have it their way, it would also become a legal problem, because of software patents. The European parliament has already listened to SMEs once, adding interoperability amendments to the proposed directive. The Council of Ministers kicked these out. Now it's the parliament's move again. I hope there are enough parliamentarians who see the importance of interoperability. Otherwise, open standards will be a thing of the past. Background Information * On 2003/09/24, the European Parliament adopted, in 1st reading, a directive which clearly excluded software and business methods from patentability. *
Money and control
This is not about currencies, but, again, about copyright. Maybe pure capitalism: What sux most about Disney etc (pars pro toto), is that they identify control and money. They claim damages, money, that nobody would have spent. We shouldnt make the same mistake. Control is ok, GNU etc, as far as money making is concerned. Nobody makes money out of his files (with maybe exceptions, but are there any direct profits form P2P or whatever?). Disney should be happy with getting money, that somebody else made with their stuff, as far as there is an unfair enrichment. And, see Sony vs Universal etc (Betamax): de minima non curat. H. - End forwarded message - # distributed via : no commercial use without permission # is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets # more info: [EMAIL PROTECTED] and "info nettime-l" in the msg body # archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: nettime@bbs.thing.net
